she said.
Wil took Nina from her, a little awkwardly but with growing confidence. Georgia caught her breath as she watched him.
There was something about a tall, broad-shouldered, manly guy holding a little baby in strong, protective arms that was heart-stoppingly appealing. Even more appealing when the guy in question was her friend Wil, and the little daughter he had only just discovered. He so big and powerful; Nina so small and vulnerable. The way he held her, the intensity of his gaze were as if he was silently assuring Nina he would protect her from every possible bad arrow the world might have in wait for her. But the way the tiny girl looked back up at him with the same dark eyes made Georgia’s heart turn over. There was a connection there. Now she really believed it—Wil was a father.
A wave of yearning swept over her. Not for Wil—of course not for Wil. He was just a friend. Or for his daughter. Her days were filled with looking after other women’s children. She wanted her own baby one day. At twenty-seven going on twenty-eight, her biological clock had started to tick insistently. But as her track record with marriageable-type males was abysmal, that particular dream might not be coming true any time soon.
She’d knocked back three proposals, the first while she’d still been at uni. Commitment was what she’d craved but the guys just hadn’t been quite right. The most recent had been Toby. She’d let the relationship go on for too long, wasting her time and his. But she’d thought that pathway was expected of her—marriage to the steady kind of guy everyone had liked. Children to follow. Even to the fact that Toby had been a fellow schoolteacher—just think how convenient all those school holidays would have been when it came to vacation childcare. But that hadn’t been enough for her to want a ring on her finger. Even after Wil had married and dashed any deeply suppressed hope she’d had of their friendship developing into something deeper.
Wil turned to her and smiled. The dimple was in full force. ‘Do you want to hold her?’ he said, as if offering a gift of inestimable value.
Hold baby Nina? As a potential stepmother? Of course she wanted to hold the dear little thing. But she wasn’t sure what Wil expected of her. To gush that she couldn’t wait to be little Nina’s mummy? That would be going too far in this crazy charade he had thrust her into. She wouldn’t—couldn’t—lie. Instead, she would try to behave as she normally would when offered a cuddle of an adorable baby.
She held out her arms with a smile, was rewarded with the deliciousness of a soft, sweet-smelling baby in her arms. ‘Hello, Nina,’ she murmured. ‘I’m Georgia.’ The baby replied with her cute, four-toothed smile and a string of babble that just might have meant pleased to meet you. Nina was, without a doubt, enchanting.
But how dare Wil put her in a position when she had to pretend to be a doting mum-to-be? Engaged to be married to him? It stretched the boundaries of a newly ignited friendship a step too far. She didn’t want to fall back into the good old Georgia trap—always obliging, always helpful, making excuses for the inexcusable—not for her family, not for her friends and especially not for Wil, who had ignored her for two whole years.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
