‘Because I think it would be to both our benefits.’

An exchange of labour?

‘I’d real y like you to finish that book project for McBride’s.’

‘Alex—’ she lifted her hands and then let them drop again ‘—there are any number of people at Hal am Enterprises more than capable of finishing that project. Didn’t you read my report?’

‘It was your passion that had that book offer tabled to us in the first place. It was your passion that sold me on the deal. It’s your passion that wil make it a success.’

‘Your name on the cover wil do that—your experience, your expertise.’

‘I can’t write the thing, though. You’re the one who translates al that so-cal ed experience and expertise into a compel ing, readable account. That’s where your expertise lies. We make a good team, Kit.’

She stil ed at his words. A team—her and Alex?

‘I want you to finish overseeing the work on the book because you are the best person for the job.

With an Internet connection here you can work remotely. You won’t need to go into the office.’

‘You said a barter of labour. What wil you be doing?’

‘Fixing your house.’

Her jaw dropped. ‘Alex, you’ve just returned from a month abroad. You can’t afford to take more time off work.’

His chin tilted at an arrogant angle. ‘It’s my company. I can do what I want. Besides, Donald has everything under control in the Sydney office.’ He shrugged and the arrogance vanished behind the beginnings of a smile. A wry smile admittedly, but potent for al that. ‘He’s doing a good job and I am only a phone cal away if there’s an emergency.’

‘But…’ Her mind wouldn’t work.

‘I’l fix the hole in your roof and the hole in your wal . I’l repoint the piers on the southern side of the house and replace the guttering. I’l check for dry rot and—’ his lips twisted ‘—not-so-dry rot. I’l modernise the bathroom and give the whole place a lick of paint, inside and out.’

Her eyes widened as his list grew. Whatever he saw in her face made him leap to his feet and stalk over to the window, hands shoved deep into his pockets.

She moistened her lips. ‘It sounds as if I’m getting the better end of that deal.’

‘Financial y you’d be better off if you stayed on the books at Hal am Enterprises, took the maternity leave you’d be entitled to, and paid a builder to leave you’d be entitled to, and paid a builder to make the repairs.’

She needed a job and she needed the house ready for when the baby came. Alex was offering her both in one fel swoop. He didn’t want to be a father, but he didn’t want to leave her in the lurch. That much was clear.

Maybe the truth of the matter was that Alex couldn’t walk away from his child and he just hadn’t realized that yet.

She remembered the expression on his face when he’d talked about Chad. He had glowed with love, his face soft with it, before the anguish had taken over. He’d wanted a child once.

She lifted her chin. ‘Wil you help me decorate the nursery?’

He shuffled his feet, rol ed his shoulders. His lips turned down but his chin didn’t drop. ‘Consider it added to the list.’

‘Then, Alex Hal am, we have ourselves a deal.’

‘Excel ent!’

Just for a moment, his smile bathed her in light.

‘Ready for breakfast yet?’

‘Yes, please.’ Suddenly she found she was ravenous.

The doctor unwrapped the blood pressure monitor from around her arm. ‘I’m delighted to say you’re as fit as a fiddle.’

To her left she was aware of Alex sagging in his chair. Relief? She wouldn’t be privy to that particular emotion until after the scan. She gripped her hands together and prayed her il ness hadn’t harmed her baby in any way.

‘I’d like you to keep taking it easy for a bit, though.

Rest when you get tired. You also need to make sure you finish the course of antibiotics.’

She could practical y see Alex file those instructions away in case he needed to bring them out and wave them under her nose and recite

‘doctor’s orders’ at her. It made her feel looked after, cared for, as if someone had her back. It was why she hadn’t kicked up a fuss when he’d accompanied her into the doctor’s consulting room. He’d looked after her so comprehensively these past few days.

Besides, this was his baby too. He deserved to know if it was healthy and developing normal y.

‘Okay, let’s do the scan. Jump up onto the table.’

The doctor gestured to an examination table.

Alex leapt to his feet, paled. ‘I’l …um…wait outside.’

‘Alex, no!’ Kit grabbed his hand, her stomach twisting and her heart pounding. If the news wasn’t good she didn’t think she could face it on her own.

His mouth whitened. His shoulders clenched, but he didn’t shake his hand free from her grip. Eventual y he nodded.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered. She tried to release his hand, but found that she couldn’t. Final y he smiled, just a slight drawing up on the right side of his mouth, but it helped ease some of the tension that had her wrapped up tight.

‘C’mon, Kit, up onto the table.’

He helped her up onto it, which was just as wel because her legs had turned to putty. He held her hand when the doctor squirted cold gel onto her stomach.

‘There’s your baby, Kit.’

Kit’s gaze shot to the monitor. ‘Is it okay? Did my high temperature—’

‘Your baby is perfect.’

She closed her eyes and sent up a prayer of thanks.

‘Everything looks exactly as it should,’ the doctor continued. ‘Your temperature came down very quickly. I can’t envisage any problems. Look, here’s the head…an arm.’

Her body went loose and light as relief, joy and gratitude al flooded through her. She turned to grin up at Alex, to share her joy, but Alex wasn’t looking at her, he was staring at the screen. At the picture of their baby. And just for a moment hunger stretched across his face. It thickened her throat. It made her want to throw her arms around him.

And then he went pale. Perspiration beaded his forehead, his top lip.

‘Would you like to know the sex of your baby?’

Alex dropped her hand, he backed up and then he bolted from the room. A chil settled over her. She tried to blink the sting from her eyes.

‘Kit?’ the doctor queried softly.

She stared back at the screen and shook her head. ‘I…uh…think I’d like that to be a surprise.’

He nodded and let her stare at the screen for a bit longer.

‘You know what the pregnancy books say, don’t you?’ he final y said.

It took a force of wil to focus on the doctor’s words rather than the doubts cascading through her mind. ‘What’s that?’

‘A woman becomes a mother the moment she finds out she’s pregnant. A man becomes a father only when his child is placed in his arms.’

She moistened her lips. Could he be right?

Her heart burned. She had a feeling it would take a miracle for Alex to embrace fatherhood again.

Then she recal ed the hunger that had stretched across his face. Maybe it wasn’t a miracle they needed, just some time?

She fastened her jeans again, thanked the doctor and left the consulting room to find Alex pacing in the corridor. Without a word, he took her arm and led her corridor. Without a word, he took her arm and led her outside to the car. He opened the passenger door for her, but she didn’t duck inside. She stood her ground until he met her eyes. ‘I’m sorry I put you through that. I’m sorry I asked you to stay when it quite obviously brought back bad memories for you.’

‘You have nothing to apologise for, Kit.’ His voice was clipped and short. ‘I’m just glad that your baby is wel .’

It’s your baby too! she wanted to shout as he walked around to the driver’s side.

She ducked inside the car and waited until he was seated beside her. ‘If I’d known the scan would remind you of Chad I wouldn’t have asked you to stay.’

He didn’t say anything.

‘The thing is—’ she swal owed ‘—I wouldn’t have thought the memory of Chad’s scan would be a bad thing. I’d have thought it’d be a happy memory.’

‘There is nothing happy to be had in any of those memories!’

She flinched at his tone, its hardness. ‘I…I was afraid that the scan would show something bad. I couldn’t face that on my own. Your being there, it helped…thank you.’

The pounding behind Alex’s eyes intensified at Kit’s simple words. Finding out her baby was wel and healthy—it should have been a moment of joy for her.

He’d ruined that.

But he hadn’t been able to stay in that room a moment longer. His stomach had become a hard bal of anguish that he thought would split him in two.

The picture on the screen and the sound of the baby’s heartbeat had threatened to tear him apart.

A bead of perspiration detached itself from his nape to trickle al the way down his back.

That’s not Kit’s fault.

He closed his eyes and dragged in a breath, tried to grab the tatters of his control and shape them back into place around him. He would fix her house; he would make arrangements to pay her child support. He’d fulfil his obligations. And then he’d get the hel out of her life. He didn’t have anything more to offer her.

He sent her a sidelong glance. She’d gone pale.

The knowledge that he’d robbed her of her joy left a bitter taste in his mouth. He had to clench his hands on the steering wheel to stop from leaning forward and resting his head on it.

He started up the car because there wasn’t anything else he could think to do. ‘I thought we could do some shopping, do something about the woeful state of your freezer. I figured it was time someone taught you to cook.’

His attempt at levity didn’t work.

‘I don’t much feel like shopping.’

Idiot! Why hadn’t he been able to control his reaction to the scan? She’d been il . She was stil recovering. He was supposed to be looking out for her.

He opened his mouth to apologise, to explain, but the words wouldn’t come. He revved the car extra hard. He shoved his shoulders back. ‘You’re right.

It’s time we got back. I’m expecting a delivery from the hardware store.’

The delivery had already arrived by the time they returned. The wood was neatly stacked in the front garden beneath a tarpaulin. Frank was in the process of stacking al the tools Alex had hired onto the veranda out of the weather.

He strode up to Alex and clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Howdy, neighbour.’

The familiarity had him rol ing his shoulders.

‘Hel o, Frank.’ It took a concerted effort not to add, I’m only here temporarily, you know?

‘What did the doctor say, Kitty-Kat?’

Kit lifted her chin and smiled at Frank with an easiness that made his heart burn. She hadn’t smiled at him like that since he’d arrived in Tuncurry.

‘I got the al -clear. Mother and baby are doing fine.’

‘That’s grand news, love.’

It was. And Alex had rained on her parade. He didn’t deserve her smiles.

Frank gestured to the tools. ‘Good to see you haven’t wasted any time. What’s the plan?’

Alex told him because it was easier than fol owing Kit into the house and dealing with the reproachful silence she’d subjected him to in the car.

He’d deserved it, he knew that, but he didn’t know how to put things right. It’d be better for al concerned if she just kept thinking of him as some kind of unfeeling monster.

He battled the scowl building up inside him and told Frank how he meant to replace the joists and wal studs in the living room wal after he’d fixed the broken tiles on the roof, and then how he was going to re-plaster the wal and paint the house.

‘If you need a hand…’

Frank’s eager face final y burned itself into his brain. Frank wanted to help, was dying to be useful, and Alex didn’t have the heart to rain on another person’s parade today. ‘You wouldn’t happen to be handy with a sander by any chance, would you?’