‘Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, lovey. Doctor’s orders.’
Kit had the distinct impression that some days Frank was more of a hindrance than a help. His pleasure at being of use, though, touched her. So did Alex’s patience with him.
It was a side she hadn’t seen to Alex before. As the multi-mil ionaire executive in Sydney, Alex had been demanding, dictatorial and, at times, difficult.
He paid his executives top dol ar and as a result he expected them to be on the bal —no excuses. But this Alex, the builder-tradesman working on her house in Tuncurry, he was more laid-back, more relaxed. More human.
He made her heart beat harder too.
Nonsense! Don’t rhapsodise.
It was just…if Alex could be this good with an eager elderly gentleman, then wouldn’t he be great with a child?
The thought hitched her breath, made her stomach churn and her fingers tremble. She pushed away from the card table to pace. She’d been lucky thus far in her pregnancy—she hadn’t suffered much from nausea. But whenever she thought of Alex’s reaction during her scan, her stomach rebel ed and bile rose in her throat.
He had become so dark!
She paused in her pacing to pul both hands back through her hair. She couldn’t deny it. She wanted a father for her baby. Even a part-time father was better than no father at al . Before she’d found out about Chad, she’d thought Alex the lowest of low lifes. But now she knew he would never hurt their baby the way her father had hurt her.
She remembered al the nights as a child when she’d lain awake yearning for a father, the joy when he’d final y become a part of her life. The devastation when she’d found out how little she’d real y meant to him.
Chad had meant the world to Alex. It didn’t take a genius to figure that one out. Couldn’t this baby mean the world to him too?
She swung away, hands clenched. It wasn’t fair that her baby— their baby—be forced to suffer because of another’s crimes. What was real y holding Alex back from embracing fatherhood a second time? Did he think history would repeat itself?
She stumbled. Was that it? Did he think she would take his baby away from him the way his ex-wife had?
She turned to stare at the door. If that were the case… She bit her lip. She had to get him to un-think that as soon as she could.
Alex glanced around as Kit emerged from the hal way door and careful y closed it behind her.
Keeping it closed kept the worst of the dust out of the bedrooms.
Last week, Alex had moved a camp bed and his clothes into the spare bedroom. The nursery. It shared a wal with Kit’s bedroom. He wasn’t sleeping wel . One wal didn’t seem like much of a barrier and at night, whenever he closed his eyes, al he could see was Kit’s glorious nakedness. It made him ache and burn.
Just like her impersonal politeness made him ache and burn. He missed their easy-going banter, the connection that had once existed between them.
Tel ing himself it was for the best didn’t help.
Grinding his teeth together, he ordered himself to focus back on the sanding, but before he could he caught an eyeful of the way her breasts pressed against the cotton of her simple shirtdress and he found he could barely move let alone get back to work. Her curves had become curvier in the last few days and only a saint could deny noticing.
Both he and Kit knew he wasn’t a saint.
Kit glanced behind him. ‘Ooh, no hole!’ She pointed and moved towards it.
‘Don’t touch. It’s stil wet.’ He’d only just finished plastering it. He glanced back at her, tried to keep his eyes above neck level. ‘How’s your work coming along?’
Her lips turned down and he could’ve kicked himself for asking. He didn’t want her thinking he was checking up on her or anything.
She wrinkled her nose. ‘Slow.’
She thrust out one hip and surveyed him. Her legs went…al the way up. He gulped. She hadn’t been wearing that dress at lunchtime. Just as wel too.
With the memory of that much bare skin on display he’d have made a mess of the wal .
‘Wanna go fishing?’
That jerked his eyes back to her face. The beginnings of a smile played around the corners of her mouth. He’d do a lot to turn it into a ful -blown smile.
‘Fishing?’
She shrugged as if it was no skin off her nose whether he said yes or no, but that smile no longer threatened to come out and play.
He shifted his weight from one leg to the other and then back again. He should stay as far away from this woman as he could. ‘I’ve never been fishing.’
She rol ed her eyes. ‘That’s not what I asked.
Would you like to give it a go?’
Did he? He didn’t know. The thought of spending the rest of the afternoon skiving off with Kit sounded great. Too great if the truth be told. He should resist it, wrestle her house into shape and then get the hel out of here. ‘Where?’
‘On the breakwater.’
He stared at her blankly. Her hands flew to her hips. ‘Alex Hal am, haven’t you explored even the tiniest bit since you’ve been here? Haven’t you had a look at the beaches or the lake or anything?’
He knew where the hardware store and the supermarket were. He didn’t need to know anything else. Besides, he’d had too many other things on his mind—like Kit’s pregnancy—to play tourist.
Garbage! All you’ve done is avoid thinking about Kit’s pregnancy. In fact, he suspected he’d rather staple gun his hand to the wal than talk about pregnancy and babies.
So he’d concentrated al his efforts on her house instead.
Not on the fact that he was going to become a father.
And not on playing tourist.
In case Kit hadn’t noticed, he wasn’t precisely in holiday-maker mode.
She shook her head, almost in pity. ‘C’mon, al work and no play is making Jil a very dul girl.’
She eyed him up and down. It made his skin go tight and hot. Her eyes skittered away and he watched as she swal owed once, twice. ‘What you’re wearing wil do fine, unless you’d rather change into a pair of board shorts.’
He shook his head. She’d said fishing. Not He shook his head. She’d said fishing. Not swimming.
‘Put that down.’ She pointed to the sander. ‘You can come and help me haul the fishing rods out of the garden shed. Chop-chop.’
He kicked himself into action. It was only one afternoon.
Alex parked his car and spent a moment just drinking in the view. Final y he turned to Kit. ‘I had no idea it would be so beautiful.’
The grin she sent him warmed him as effectively as the sun on the bare flesh of his arms. She settled a floppy canvas hat on her head and gestured in the direction of the breakwater. ‘C’mon.’
She insisted on carrying one of the fishing rods—
the lightest one—and Alex carried the other rod, the tackle box, a bucket and the net. He couldn’t explain the primal urge to take her rod, though, and add it to his load.
Perhaps it was just good manners?
Yeah, right! If he had any manners whatsoever he wouldn’t be trying to catch as big an eyeful of those golden legs of hers as he could.
She pointed to their right. ‘This is cal ed the Rock Pool. It’s where al the local kids learn to swim. It’s where I learned to swim.’
A sweep of golden sand and clear water stretched out from the breakwater to a smal er bank of rocks bordering the channel. Kit told him the channel led into Wal is Lake. The breakwater provided a wave trap and this little bay had been roped off to provide a safe place to swim. Tiny waves lapped at the shore in rhythmic whooshes and the water was so clear he could see the sandy bottom, free from rocks and seaweed. He couldn’t think of a prettier place to learn to swim.