instincts about men,’ she added wryly, even as she basked in the unexpected testimonial. ‘How could I have been so wrong about Liam?’
‘Perhaps because he was careful to tell you only what you wanted to hear?’ Jake suggested quietly. ‘Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it or you’ll make me feel even more guilty—after all, I knew how much you were looking forward to starting a family and I was the one who introduced you. You must know I’d never have done it if I’d known he’d had the op.’
It didn’t take more than a glance at him to know that he meant that. And she did know that he wouldn’t have done such a thing. He was far too honest to play stupid games like that.
‘I suppose that next you’ll be telling me that I should be grateful to you for showing me his true colours before we tied the knot,’ she retorted, more relieved than she could say that she hadn’t lost her friend after all.
She allowed herself to relax a little, unaccountably pleased that the two of them hadn’t lost the rapport they’d developed over the last two years. She had several female friends with whom she enjoyed sharing girl talk, but Jake was different. With him she felt so at ease that she didn’t have to think twice before she spoke her mind, knowing he would understand what she meant. Some of their colleagues in the department were all too ready to take offence at the slightest thing or, worse, to spread gossip…
‘Oh, Lord!’ she groaned, dropping her head down to her knees as a less than happy thought crossed her mind. ‘I’m going to have to get another job.’
‘What? Why on earth would you want to do that?’ he demanded. ‘You and Liam don’t even work in the same department. He only comes down if we need him to consult over a patient.’
‘That may be so, but you know as well as I do that A and E is staffed by some of the biggest gossips in the hospital, and most of the ones off duty were invited to the club for a drink tonight. You wait. By the morning, the hospital will be absolutely buzzing with the most amazing rumours about why the wedding’s been called off.’
It was Jake’s turn to groan. ‘There’ll be everything from abduction by aliens to…God knows what! Hey, perhaps I could get people to bet on it. Perhaps we could make a bit of money out of this!’
He let out a startled ‘Ouch!’ when she aimed a blow at his patella with the side of her hand and nearly toppled him from his precarious perch on the arm of the chair.
‘Don’t you dare stir everything up!’ she warned. ‘The less anyone says, the sooner it’ll all be forgotten.’
Forgotten by everyone but her, she added silently, then remembered the two innocent little faces who were the other victims in this fiasco.
‘Oh, Jake!’ she exclaimed. ‘What about Ellie and Jamie? They were so excited about being my attendants—having their day in the limelight all dressed up to the nines. They’re going to be heartbroken when they wake up in the morning and Liam tells them it’s all off.’
‘It can’t be helped…unless you’re willing to go through with the wedding just to stop them being disappointed?’
‘Of course not, you idiot,’ she retorted instantly. When he put it like that, it was obvious. ‘I wouldn’t marry Liam if he was the last man on earth.’
Jake didn’t comment, and the longer he was quiet the heavier the silence seemed to grow.
‘What?’ she demanded with a frown, needing to know what had put that disapproving expression on his face.
‘Well, I’m just a bit…surprised how quickly you can change your mind about someone,’ he said seriously. ‘Just a few hours ago he was the love of your life and your husband-to-be, and now he’s the last man on earth you’d marry.’
His delivery was quiet-voiced enough to sound offhand but landed with the weight of condemnation. Not that she needed him to pile on the guilt. Perhaps this was the time for her to purge her conscience.
‘He was never the love of my life,’ she admitted uncomfortably, deliberately avoiding looking at him in case he was as good at reading her mind as he seemed to be with his patients.
‘What?’ Now he sounded genuinely shocked. ‘Then why the blazes were you going to marry him?’
‘Because he asked me!’ she retorted flippantly, anxious to avoid delving into deeper waters. Jake’s friendship was all she could ever have of him and she wasn’t going to risk losing that by admitting that he was the man she loved. It was far safer to steer the conversation to other waters. ‘And also because I’ll be thirty on my next birthday and I didn’t want to wait too much longer before I had the first of those babies I’ve been wanting all my life.’
‘So your biological clock’s ticking, and you won’t be content just to bring up someone else’s babies,’ he charged grimly. ‘What would you have done if you’d married someone without children and then found out that he couldn’t father any of his own? I suppose you’d have divorced him and gone looking for someone else.’
A tiny alarm sounded in her head at the unexpected vehemence in his tone but, as Liam’s long-time friend, she supposed he was bound to see things from the man’s point of view.
‘Not at all!’ she exclaimed, stung by the implications that she would be so fickle. ‘I’m not just looking for a sperm donor. I want a real marriage to a man I can respect and trust. I thought I’d found that, but even as his friend you have to admit that underneath that charming exterior Liam falls a long way short on every count.’
Unable to sit still any longer, she scrambled to her feet, but there was no room to pace off her returning anger.
‘I’m making another cup of coffee. This one’s gone cold,’ she muttered, needing to do something to ward off the heated prickle of tears that had suddenly tried to overwhelm her.
Was that really what Jake thought of her? Did he honestly see her as someone willing to marry just for what she wanted to get out of the relationship? Didn’t he know that she’d already cared deeply for little Ellie and Jamie and would have loved them just as much as any babies she carried?
She blinked furiously, forbidding a single tear to fall, while she switched the kettle on. She had far too much to think about to waste time on crying.
For example, there was the matter of cancelling the fortnight’s honeymoon she’d paid for—Liam still hadn’t paid her for his share and she had no idea whether she would be able to make a claim on her holiday insurance to recover the money. Then there was the problem of finding herself somewhere to live now that she wouldn’t be moving in with Liam. What were the chances that she’d have somewhere by this time tomorrow? With all the money she’d spent on her dress and the honeymoon she couldn’t afford to splash out on a hotel, so she could very well end up out on the street…
She’d been so involved with her thoughts that she hadn’t heard Jake moving around. The first time she realised that he was standing right behind her was when she swung round with two steaming mugs in her hand and splattered the scalding liquid over both of them.
Jake swore rawly even as he reached out to pull the sodden towelling robe away from her skin. ‘Dammit, Maggie, I’m sorry. I thought you knew I was there.’
‘It’s all over your shirt!’ she exclaimed, ignoring the searing
