A Very Special Delivery. Myrna Mackenzie
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couldn’t help smiling. “Ah, we’ve done a good day’s work then, love,” she told her baby, kissing the top of her head.
“You have,” Megan agreed, and Laura turned her attention to the beaming eyes of the woman still standing beside her.
Tears came to Laura’s eyes. “Thank you for helping me,” she said softly. “I see now why your clinic has such a good reputation, even among the rich and famous. Do you always give such personal service?”
Abby Maitland chuckled.
For the first time Megan Maitland looked mildly flustered. “Any woman would have done the same. And you are family. Now, you rest. I’ll see you around, my dear,” she said, tucking her hair back into place and smoothing her jacket as she repaired whatever damage had been done. “Come on, Abby,” she told her daughter. “Let’s let Laura have some time to get acquainted with her baby.”
Mick started to move away, too, as the women filed out the door, but Laura reached out and touched his arm.
He stopped.
She realized that they were totally alone for the first time since this ordeal had begun. She realized what an incredibly, stunningly handsome man he was. The kind of man who undoubtedly had women hitting on him every day and not because they needed a labor coach, either.
“I know I’ll see Megan again, but I doubt we’ll meet again, Mr. Hannon. I’d like to repay you in some way. And please don’t say it’s not necessary,” she said as he opened his mouth. “As nice as you’ve been, I know this couldn’t have been on your list of things to do on a busy workday.”
He gave her that “are you crazy?” look that some men are so very good at. “Top of the list,” he insisted. “Holding a beautiful woman’s hand is always a pleasure.”
She smiled. “You’re quite a charmer, Mr. Hannon, but seriously, let me do something for you. At least give me your address so I can send you an appropriate thank-you gift.”
His lips thinned into a stubborn line. “I don’t live in Austin. I’m just in town for the duration of the job.”
“And there’s nothing I can do for you?”
He looked down at where her baby was sleeping on her stomach.
“If she were a boy, I’d gladly name her Mick,” she said gently.
He shook his head. “Thank you, but you wouldn’t want to do that. Just…be careful. Don’t marry the first man who comes along just to give her a father. The results can sometimes be disastrous.”
She widened her eyes. “I suppose you don’t have to worry, then. I don’t intend to marry at all.”
His eyes seemed to turn fiercer than before, but he only gave her a quick nod. “Then that won’t be a problem, will it?”
He gently touched just the tip of his finger to her baby’s cheek, then he took her hand in his and studied it, as if remembering the hours they’d spent with their fingers linked.
Carefully he curled her fingers closed. He lay her hand back on her child. “Sleep,” he whispered. “Rest. Have a good life, Ms. Maitland.”
And quietly he turned to leave her. She watched his broad back disappear.
He wasn’t the first man she’d watched walk out of her life. Her father had walked away many times. Her baby’s father had been offended that she would even ask for him to consider taking home the daughter of a Vegas showgirl to meet his family.
So it shouldn’t have made her feel a bit sad to see Mick Hannon leaving. Heavens, she didn’t even know him. She certainly didn’t want him to stay. She didn’t want any man in her life anymore, especially one as wickedly handsome and tempting as Mick Hannon.
Even so, he wasn’t a man she would turn around and forget by morning. Lifting her hand, palm up, she examined the skin that looked no different than it had this morning. But something had changed. The sensation of Mick Hannon’s strong fingers tangled with hers lingered.
“I hope there’s nothing to this imprinting thing, sweetie,” Laura crooned to her child. “Remember, you’re not a baby duck, angel. The first man you see isn’t going to be your father. So don’t go getting attached to Mr. Hannon. Just don’t.”
Laura woke to the sound of frantic whispers outside her room. She immediately looked toward the small bassinet beside her bed. Her baby had awakened several times during the night, but now she was sleeping quietly. Whatever was going on, it didn’t have anything to do with her child.
The whispers rose a pitch, and she looked expectantly toward the door.
“You can’t go in there, Mr. Maitland. Visiting hours won’t be for several more hours.”
But the door swung back, anyway, and a tall, dark-haired, green-eyed man moved in.
Laura blinked several times, then a smile lifted her lips. “Rafe? It can’t really be my baby brother, can it? You’re here?” She sat up in a rush before remembering what a battering her body had taken yesterday.
A tiny gasp escaped her, and Rafe rolled his eyes and strode to her bedside, catching her up in a gentle hug. “You get out of that bed and I’ll show you that I’m still bigger than you even if you’re two years older. And you bet I’m here. A hundred rattlesnakes couldn’t keep me away once I heard the rumors about what had been going on here yesterday. I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks. Ever since I got that first invitation from Megan to come here for the family reunion.”
“Mine had to be forwarded several times,” she admitted. After Greg, her fiancé, had made it clear he wasn’t going to be a husband or father, she’d left California, needing a fresh start and a place to heal in private.
Rafe’s eyes turned fierce. “You could have told me,” he said, his voice breaking slightly as he looked toward the baby. “Hon, why didn’t you tell me? We talked on the phone often enough up until you moved and we lost touch a few months ago.”
Laura felt the threat of tears as she tried to find some answer that would make sense. She shook her head.
“Maybe because even though I hated Greg for a while after he left me, I didn’t want him dead. And don’t tell me that you wouldn’t have wanted to exact a little retribution.”
Rafe opened his mouth, then closed it, his eyes angry. He couldn’t tell her that he wouldn’t have tried to protect her.
Which led her to the deeper reason she hadn’t turned to her brothers for help. After her shipwrecked romance, she’d really needed to prove that she could survive alone. She just couldn’t be like her mother, leaning on the nearest man in order to stand up. And both her brothers were men made for leaning on.
“I would have told you soon,” she said. “Just as soon as I got settled. I’m here, aren’t I?” she asked, trying to smile.
He took her hand, studying it as if he didn’t believe she was real. It had been weeks since they’d talked on the phone, months since they’d seen each other.
“You didn’t have to go through childbirth alone.”
“I didn’t.” She’d had Mick. She’d leaned on him. The truth was uncomfortable.
“I heard.” There was hurt in his voice.
“I’m sorry, Rafe,” she said, meaning every word. “It’s just that you and Luke and I have been on our own for a long time. Sometimes we just need to go underground.” Like wounded animals who protected themselves by hiding, even from those they loved.
“Yes, we do tend to do that, but two of us weren’t pregnant,” Rafe pointed out. “At least I’m not. Who knows about Luke? Nobody’s heard from him lately.”
In spite of Rafe’s attempt at a joke, a sad, awkward silence followed. Concern for Luke hung