Married To The Mum-To-Be. Helen Lacey

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       Chapter Three

      Alone in his bed hours after he walked out of Kayla’s apartment, Liam spent most of the night staring at the ceiling and twisting in sheets, longing for Kayla’s body beside him. The scent of her perfume seemed to haunt him like a ghost, reminding him that it had been close to a week since they’d spent the night under the same roof.

      The huge, Western red cedar house seemed unusually quiet and all he could hear was the familiar sound of the river nearby and the rhythmic chorus of insects in the trees. He had the house built a couple of years ago on a three-acre block that was mostly forest and very private, with a long gravel driveway that was plowed regularly in the snow season. There was a stone path leading to the river and a jetty where he kept his pair of Jet Skis; the boat he was rebuilding was in the boathouse.

      He sighed, opening his eyes, and then looked directly out the open window. The moonlight filtered light across the river and the water was eerily luminescent. From the roomy loft-style main bedroom he had a great view of the river. On warm summer nights he mostly left the window open and enjoyed the breeze that swept through the upper level. Liam inhaled deeply and the scent of jasmine in the air reminded him of Kayla.

      Everything reminded him of Kayla.

      The air, the sheets...every damned thing.

      His gut was in knots. Today they would find out if she was pregnant. The idea intensified his love for her tenfold. He wanted children and he wanted them with her. He knew what this would do to her family and perhaps his own. But with the idea that they were going to be parents now firmly etched into his mind, Liam didn’t care. They would have to deal with it, or deal out. Kayla and the baby she might be carrying were the only things that mattered.

      He closed his eyes and imagined her belly round with his child. Her beauty would be amplified, her skin would glow, her breasts would be fuller. Then he remembered her pale, smooth skin and her perfect breasts and how they’d fit in his hands, and immediately his palms itched and his groin ached.

      Liam groaned, sat up and swung his legs off the side of the big bed. He checked the clock on the bedside table. Three fifteen. He grabbed his phone and stood, pulling on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, and then headed downstairs.

      The cat, a scruffy-looking black-and-white stray he’d randomly named Peanuts, which had turned up on his doorstep the week after he’d moved in, began meowing the moment he was spotted on the stairs. The cat always slept in a basket by the big fireplace, summer or winter. Liam had no real feelings about the feline one way or another. But he kept it fed and housed and had even installed a cat flap in the back door so it could come and go as it pleased. It did seem to stay more than leave, no doubt due to the comfy bed and endless supply of kibble.

      He flicked on a couple of lights and headed for the huge galley-style kitchen. The Shaker-style cupboards were crafted from local ponderosa pine and the countertops were dark gray marble. The double ceramic sink and stainless-steel appliances were all top-of-the-line and mostly imported. Like with everything in the home, no expense was spared. From the cedar floorboards, Spanish-glass light fittings and handcrafted furniture, it was a showpiece. But Liam had no illusions—it was a house, not a home.

      It needed a family in it. When Kayla was there it felt full, complete and real. When she wasn’t, there was only him, using the bare minimum of the rooms, just the kitchen and den, main bedroom and bathroom. There were three other bedrooms downstairs and a media room and a small home office. He’d built a house for a family he didn’t have, imagining that one day he’d fill it with a wife and a few children. That had been his plan a year ago... He’d intended to find a suitable woman and settle down. And then a certain blonde had crashed into his car and completely derailed his life.

      She was so beautiful. Tall and slender, but surprisingly curvy, with a glorious mane of golden blond hair she rarely allowed anyone to see styled in anything other than a tightly coiled bun. But Liam had seen it out and falling down the length of her back countless times. He’d fisted handfuls of her tresses to expose СКАЧАТЬ