to the idea that you will be in Maeve’s life now. In all our lives. But don’t stuff this up.’
So he’d read his mind? Rayne almost laughed, even though it was far from funny. ‘That’s the friend I remember.’
‘Yeah. Merry Christmas.’ Simon punched his shoulder. ‘Let’s go ask Louisa if you can stay. She’ll be over the moon. She likes you.’
‘I get the feeling your grandmother likes everyone.’
Simon laughed. ‘Pretty much.’
Maeve had already asked Louisa.
‘Of course he can stay,’ Louisa enthused. ‘So he’ll be with you when you have the baby.’ She sighed happily. ‘Things have a way of working out.’
Maeve grimaced on the inside. Things weren’t ‘working out’ yet.
There were a lot of things she and Rayne had to sort yet, not the least his attitude of It’s the least I can do. Grrr. But, she reminded herself, this morning she’d been on her own. And he was here!
The magnitude of that overwhelmed her for a moment and she paused in the rhythmic stirring of thickening liquid in the bowl and just soaked that in. Rayne was here. And he was staying. At least until after the birth, and that was all she could ask for. Yet! She wondered if they would actually get much alone time.
Wondered if he was up for that. Wished she was skinny and gorgeous and could drag him off to bed. Or be carried there by her gorgeous sex object ‘partner’, round belly and all.
Partner. She’d always been uncomfortable with that sterile word. Not that Rayne was obviously sterile. And he wasn’t her boyfriend. He certainly wasn’t her lover.
‘You want me to do that?’ Louisa’s worried voice. Maeve jumped and stirred again in the nick of time before she made lumps in the sauce.
‘Wool-gathering.’ Louisa’s favourite saying and she’d picked it up. It described her state of mind perfectly. Little floating fibres of thought creating a mess of tangles in her brain. Mushing together to make a ball of confused emotions and wishes and fears and silly impossible dreams. Like the flotsam of leftover wool collected from the bushes where the sheep had walked past.
Well, Rayne was nobody’s sheep. He’d never been a part of the flock, had never followed the rules of society except when he’d taken his incredibly intelligent brain to med school at Simon’s insistence.
Men’s voices drifted their way.
And here they came. Simon and Rayne. Two men she loved. The thought froze the smile on her face. She really loved Rayne. Did she? Fancied him, oh, yeah. The guy could light her fire from fifty paces away. But love?
Maybe brotherly love. She looked at her brother, smiling at something Louisa had said. Nope. She didn’t feel the way she felt about Simon. And there was another bonus. She could stop fighting with Simon now that Rayne was back. Fait accompli.
Her mind eased back into the previous thought. The scary one. That she did really love Rayne. There was no ‘might’ about it. She really was in no better spot than she had been this morning because though Rayne was physically here she wasn’t stupid enough to think he was in love with her. And he could leave and have any woman he wanted any time he wanted.
The sauce was ready and she poured it into the jug. The beauty of this recipe, the reason she was the only one who made it in her family, was the secret ingredient that stopped the film forming on the top. So it didn’t grow a skin.
That was a joke. She needed the opposite. She needed to grow ten skins so she could quietly peel away a new layer of herself to show Rayne so that she didn’t dump it all on him at once. Because she knew it would require patience if she wanted to help him see he had a chance of a future he’d never dreamed about.
That he could be the kind of man any child would be proud to call his or her father. The kind of man any woman wanted to share her full life with—not just the bedroom.
What was with these pregnancy hormones? She needed to stop thinking about the bedroom. She ran her finger down the spoon handle on the way to the sink. Coated her finger in the rich golden sauce. Lifted it to her lips and closed her eyes. Mmm …
Rayne tried not to stare at Maeve as she parted her lips to admit a custard-covered fingertip. Watched her savour the thick swirl. Shut her eyes. Sigh blissfully as she put the spoon in the sink. Geez. Give a guy a break. If the day hadn’t been enough without the almost overwhelming urge to pick her up from amidst all these people and ravish a heavily pregnant woman.
Louisa was talking to him. ‘Sorry.’ He blinked and turned to the little woman and he had the idea she wasn’t blind to what had distracted him if the twinkle in her eyes was anything to go by.
‘I said if you would like to follow me I’ll show you your room. It’s small but I think you’ll like the position. And all the rooms open out onto a veranda and have their own chair and table setting outside the door.’ She bustled out of the kitchen and he followed.
‘That’s the bathroom. It’s shared with Maeve and Simon and Tara.’
He nodded and paid a bit more attention to the fact that this old country manse had to be at least a hundred years old. The ceilings were a good twelve feet high and the wood-panelled walls looked solid and well built.
Louisa gestured to a door. ‘Maeve said she didn’t mind there was a connecting door between the two. Do you?’ She twinkled up at him.
‘Um. No. That will be fine.’
‘I thought it might be. Especially as she’s getting near to her time and if she wanted to she could leave the door open between you.’
It was a good idea. That look of nervous anticipation he’d seen in Maeve’s eyes this morning, he didn’t like to call it fear, did need addressing. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her without clothes. He brought his mind sternly back to the present.
If he could help by being close then that would give him purpose as he tried to come to grips with becoming an unexpected part of a large, noisy, hugging family—all that contact took a bit of getting used to.
He still couldn’t believe they weren’t all wishing him back to prison away from Maeve. But he knew for a fact Maeve was glad to see him. Maybe too glad, considering the prize she’d won.
Louisa opened the door next to Maeve’s and, sure enough, it was a small room, but it did have a double bed against the wall and a chest of drawers. All he needed. ‘Thanks, Louisa. It’s great. Can I fix you up for it?’
‘Lordy, no. I don’t need money. I’m well looked after. But you may end up working every now and then for Angus at the hospital if he gets stuck. Everyone helps everyone in Lyrebird Lake.’
Well, not where he’d come from. He felt like he’d fallen into some religious sect and they were going to ask for his soul soon, except he knew that Simon was regular. And Maeve. And this sweet, generous older lady was obviously sincere. So it looked like he had a casual job as well as a place to lay his head. Though he couldn’t see him being needed much at the hospital. ‘Maybe I can help around the house. Or the garden? I wouldn’t say no to be able to burn off some energy.’
She
