Having Leo's Child. Emma Darcy

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СКАЧАТЬ not appealed to her. Still didn’t. And she didn’t have the right to poke into his.

      Besides, even the mention of marriage might be misinterpreted when she had the highly sensitive subject of her pregnancy waiting in the wings.

      She smiled. “I guess you consider Mavis safe.”

      He relaxed and returned her smile, pleased she wasn’t critical of his employment policy. “Absolutely safe. Mavis is great. Reliable, responsible, has a place for everything and everything in its place.”

      Teri wondered if Leo applied some of those headings to herself...like safe and in her place. She certainly didn’t constitute a distraction from his work. She suspected she was his break from it.

      The big question was...how would he view a baby?

      The shifting of chairs alerted her to the imminent departure of the remaining diners. She glanced around. Yes, all of them up, ready to go. Dylan was at the cash register, waiting to take their money. Mel had cleared the buffet table and was hurrying out of the kitchen to clean up the tables being vacated.

      “Do you want dessert, Leo?” Teri asked, swinging her attention back to him. There’d still be leftovers in the kitchen.

      He gave her a whimsical look. “It’s being taken care of.”

      She raised her eyebrows. “More special service?”

      “I think I’ve won special status by winning your favour.”

      “Leo, I suspect you’d win any woman’s favour if you worked on it.” And that was the plain truth, Teri thought.

      “You miss the point,” he argued, his eyes dancing at her again. “It’s you who’s special, Teri.”

      How special? Was he prepared to accept her as the mother of his child?

      “Well, thanks,” she said as graciously as she could manage when her nerves were getting strung out like piano wires. “It’s nice to be appreciated.”

      “Oh, you are! Very much,” Leo asserted, desire flowing from him in electric waves that instantly screwed the piano pegs up another notch or two and caused her stomach to go into spasms.

      Fortunately Dylan provided distraction, escorting the last of tonight’s customers to the door and locking up behind them. “You and Mel can go, too, Dylan,” Teri instructed. “If there’s anything left to do, I’ll do it in the morning.”

      “Okay. We’ll be off in a minute. Just got to hang up my apron,” Dylan returned cheerfully.

      One more minute and she could start unburdening herself of this dreadful suspense. A sixty-seconds countdown to desertion or togetherness or a continuation of their sometime relationship into sometime fatherhood. And the strange part was, Teri had no idea which outcome would be best in the long run.

      “Is something wrong, Teri?” Leo asked.

      It forced her to meet the quizzical concern in his eyes. “Not really,” she answered, wishing the boys would hurry up.

      “You look a bit strained.”

      “Sorry.” She tried a rueful smile. “There’s nothing wrong.” An innocent baby on the way could hardly be called wrong. “It’s just...well, I have a lot on my mind”

      “Anything I can do to help?”

      The offer was genuine. She could see nothing but sincerity in his expression. Maybe...

      “Happy birthday to you...”

      Dylan’s and Mel’s voices raised raucously in song, instantly jerked her attention away. Her two young employees were marching out of the kitchen, Dylan carrying a cake with a single candle burning on it, Mel bearing a tray with two flute glasses and a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket.

      “Happy birthday to you...”

      Leo rose from his chair to join in.

      “Happy Birthday, dear Teri-i-i...”

      They were all grinning like Cheshire cats.

      “Happy birthday to you!”

      She almost burst into tears. She quickly propped her elbows on the table and covered her face with her hands. Let them think she was embarrassed. Let them think anything as long as she had a few seconds to fight back this awful flood of turbulent emotion.

      She heard the plate with the cake being plonked on the table in front of her. “Come on, Teri. Got to blow the candle out,” Dylan cajoled.

      “Make a wish, too,” Mel pressed.

      A wish...

      Please God, let Leo want our child!

      And why that suddenly meant so much she didn’t know!

      She took a deep breath, dropped her hands, and blew out the candle. It wasn’t difficult to blow out one candle. If there’d been thirty...but they didn’t know about that milestone and she wasn’t about to tell them.

      Her effort was roundly applauded.

      “Thank you,” she managed huskily.

      “It’s an orange cake with lemon icing. Your favourite. Made it myself,” Dylan said proudly.

      “You shouldn’t...” She stopped herself from shaking her head and aimed a wobbly smile at him. “It’s very kind of you, Dylan.”

      “Pleasure. You have a good time, Teri. Everyone should celebrate their birthday.”

      “Yeah,” Mel agreed. “We’re nicking off now so you can have a great celebration. Good night, Teri...Leo...”

      “I’ll lock up after you,” Leo offered, and they all set off for the door, leaving Teri staring at a cake she couldn’t possibly eat and a bottle of champagne that was utterly wasted on this occasion.

      They meant well.

      Any other birthday she would have been delighted at being given such a sweet surprise. She must thank Dylan and Mel again tomorrow. Her eyes misted over again and she blinked furiously, clearing the moisture as best she could. Getting choked up was not going to help anything. She took several deep breaths and was more or less in control of herself by the time Leo returned to the table.

      Her hands fluttered in a dismissive appeal. “I didn’t realise they had anything like this planned. I didn’t even tell them it was my birthday.”

      “I know.” He leaned down and picked something off his chair. “This is from me,” he said, handing her a slim, rectangular packet, wrapped in expensive silver paper. “Happy birthday, Teri.”

      His voice was a warm caress, stroking her heart into pumping with the wild hope that tonight might not be the parting of the ways she feared. She stared down at the packet as Leo slid back onto his chair. It raised a host of questions that clamoured to be answered.

      “How СКАЧАТЬ