beaches, outlined in glossy white. Fresh arrangements of tropical flowers were brought in every week, exotic blooms in orange and scarlet mixed with glowing greenery. Every modern technological aid for business was at her fingertips—no expense spared in providing her with the best of everything.
Then there was the million dollar view—an extension of the vista that could be seen from Jake’s office—Darling Harbour and Balmain directly across the water, Goat Island, and stretching along this shoreline, Luna Park with its cluster of carnival rides and entertainment booths.
Mortified at her own lunacy for giving none of this a thought before barging in to confront Jake, Amy pushed out of her chair and moved over to the picture window overlooking the grinning clown face that marked the entrance to the old amusement park. Fun, it promised. Just like Jake. Except she’d hot-headedly wiped fun off today’s agenda.
She should go back into his office and apologise.
But how to explain her behaviour?
Never had she struck such a blistering attitude with him. He was probably sitting in there, mulling over what it meant, and he wouldn’t gloss over it. Not Jake Carter. No way would he leave it alone. If he wasn’t thinking of firing her for insubordination, he was plotting how to use her outburst to his advantage.
She shivered.
Give Jake even a molehill of an advantage and he could build it into a mountain that put him on top of any game he wanted to play. She’d seen him do it over and over again. If he let her stay on…
The sound of the door between their offices being opened froze her train of thought. It raised prickles around the nape of her neck. Panic screamed along her nerves and cramped her heart. She’d left it too late to take some saving initiative. In helpless anguish she turned to face the man who held her immediate future in his hands.
He stood in the doorway, commanding her attention by the sheer force of his presence. The absence of any hint of a smile was stomach-wrenching. He observed her in silence for several tension-riven seconds, his eyes focused intensely on hers. Amy’s mind screamed at her to say something, offer an olive branch, anything to smooth over what she’d done, but she couldn’t tear her tongue off the roof of her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Soft words…words she should have said. She stared at his mouth. Had they really come from him or had she imagined it? Yet how could she imagine an apology when she hadn’t expected it?
His lips twisted into a rueful grimace. “I was out of line, dumping Joshua on you and taking it for granted you’d mind him for me.”
Incredulity held her tongue-tied.
The grimace tilted up into an appealing smile. “Guess I thought all women melted over babies. I didn’t see it as an imposition. More like a novelty.”
She felt hopelessly screwed up. Her hand shot out in an agitated gesture. “I…over-reacted,” she managed, her voice a bare croak.
He shrugged. “Hell, what do I know? You’re so buttoned up about your private life. There must be some reason you’re not married to the guy you’ve been living with all these years.” His eyebrows slanted in an expression of caring concern. “Is there a problem about having a baby?”
The sympathetic tone did it.
Like the trumpets that brought down the walls of Jericho, it struck chords in Amy that triggered a collapse of her defences. Tears welled into her eyes and she couldn’t find the will to stop them. She wanted to say it wasn’t her fault but the lump in her throat was impassable.
She had a blurry glimpse of shock on Jake Carter’s face, then he was moving, looming towards her, and the next thing she knew his arms had enveloped her and she was weeping on his shoulder and he was muttering a string of appalled comments.
“I didn’t mean it…Honest, Amy!…I was just testing…never thought it was true…”
“’Snot,” she sobbed, her hands clenched against his chest.
“Not true?” His bewilderment echoed in her ears.
She couldn’t bear him thinking she was barren, making her even less of a woman than Steve had left her feeling. She scooped in a deep breath and the necessary words shuddered out. “He didn’t want a baby with me.”
“Didn’t?” He picked up sharply on the past tense.
The betrayal was so fresh and painful, it spilled out. “Having one with her.”
“He knocked up some other woman?”
Jake’s shock on her behalf soothed her wounded pride. “A bwonde,” she explained, her quivering mouth not quite getting around the word.
“Well, I hope you’ve sent him packing.” A fierce admonition, giving Amy the crazy sense he would have done it for her, given the opportunity, probably cracking a bullwhip to effect a very prompt exit.
“Yes,” she lied. It was too humiliating to confess she’d sat like a disembowelled dummy while Steve had gone about dismantling and removing his half of their life together.
“Good riddance,” Jake heartily approved. “You wouldn’t want to have a baby with him, Amy. Couldn’t trust a man like that to stick around.”
“’Sright.” She nodded mournfully, too water-logged to make any cynical parallel to Jake’s attitude to women.
“Still feeling raw about it,” he murmured sympathetically.
“Yes.”
“Guess you only found out this weekend.”
“Tol’ me Sat’day.”
“And I had to slap you in the face with Joshua.”
The self-recrimination stirred her to meet him halfway. “Not your fault.” There, she’d finally got it out. “Sorry,” she added for good measure.
“Don’t worry about it, Amy. Bad timing, that’s all.”
He was being so kind and understanding, patting her on the back, making her feel secure with him, cared for and valued. His warmth seeped into her bones. Her hands relaxed, fingers spreading out across the comforting heat of his chest. She nestled closer to him and he stroked her hair.
Like a wilted sponge, she soaked in his tender compassion, needing it, wanting it. She’d felt so terribly alone these past two days, so bereft of anyone to care about her…
A baby cry pierced the pleasant fuzziness swimming around in her mind. Joshua! Left alone in the other office! Amy lifted her heavy head, reluctant to push out of Jake’s embrace but she couldn’t really stay there. Kind understanding only went so far. This was a place of business. A line had to be drawn.
Jake might start thinking she liked being this close to him. In fact, weren’t his arms tightening around her, subtly shifting their body contact, stirring a consciousness of how very male he was? To Amy’s increasing confusion, she found she wasn’t immune to the virility she’d always privately scorned. For several electrifying moments she was mesmerised by its effect on her.
