A Very Special Holiday Gift. Barbara Hannay

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СКАЧАТЬ of Liv’s share house, so that he could collect Liv’s belongings. On that sobering note, they departed.

      * * *

      Outside the hospital a brisk December wind whipped at them, lifting their hair and catching at the ends of their scarves. Standing on the footpath on Whitechapel Road, Zac almost welcomed the wind’s buffeting force and the sting to his cheeks. He dragged in an extra deep lungful of chilled air, as if it might somehow clear the raw pain and misery that roiled inside him. But there was no way he could avoid the two images that kept swimming before his vision. The pale, bruised, lifeless face of his beautiful sister and the small, red, but very much alive face of her tiny newborn daughter.

      His niece.

      His new responsibility.

      The frigid air seemed to seep into Zac’s very blood along with this chilling reality. This baby, this brand new human being had no other family. He was it. She would be completely dependent on him.

      He shot a glance to Chloe, whose cheeks had already turned quite pink from the cold. The high colour made her look unexpectedly pretty and he thought how fabulous she’d been this morning. In fact, his decision to bring his PA with him to London had been a stroke of pure genius. On the long flight, at the police station and again at the hospital, Chloe’s no-fuss efficiency and quiet sympathy had been exactly the kind of support he’d needed.

      ‘I vote we go back to the hotel now,’ he said. ‘We can check in and get a few things sorted.’

      Chloe nodded. ‘I’ll check out those funeral parlours, if you like. It might be hard to find a—a place—with Christmas and everything.’

      Zac was about to agree, but then he remembered the heartbreaking decisions he might be required to make. ‘I’d better talk to them, Chloe. Anyway, you’re probably exhausted.’

      ‘I feel fine, actually.’ She smiled. ‘Being outside and grabbing a breath of fresh air makes all the difference.’

      You’re a breath of fresh air, he almost told her, and then thought better of it. Even minor breaches of their boss-PA boundaries seemed to make Chloe uncomfortable and now that she’d given up her Christmas and had come all this way, he didn’t want to upset her. Instead he said, ‘And I’ll also make contact with the share house people.’

      ‘Yes, it might be worth finding out what Liv’s already bought before you start shopping.’

      Zac frowned. Suddenly, his mega-sensible PA wasn’t making any sense at all. ‘Shopping?’

      ‘For the baby.’

      ‘Oh.’ He gulped nervously. ‘Yes, of course.’

      A vision of a mountain of nappies and prams and tins of formula mushroomed in Zac’s imagination. He felt overwhelmed again as he raised a hand to hail their taxi.

      In a matter of moments, they were heading back into the city centre. Chloe leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. She was probably worn out, even though she’d denied it. Zac had never seen her like this—with her eyes closed, her dark lashes lying softly against her flushed cheeks, her lips relaxed and slightly open.

      She looked vulnerable and he found his attention riveted...

      This wasn’t the first time he’d entertained the idea of kissing Chloe, of making love to her, but, just as he had on the other occasions, he quickly cut off the thought.

      From the start, when he’d first employed Chloe, he’d quickly recognised her value as his PA and he’d set himself clear rules. No office affairs. Ever.

      Of course, there’d been times when he’d wished to hell that he wasn’t so principled where Chloe was concerned. More than once they’d been deep in a business discussion when he’d been completely distracted by her quiet beauty, but it was almost certainly for the best that his common sense had always prevailed.

      And now, once again, Zac dismissed ideas of tasting her softly parted lips and he wrenched his thoughts back to his new responsibilities.

      A tiny baby...such an alarming prospect for a commitment-shy bachelor. If he took Liv’s little daughter into his care, she would rely on him for everything—for food, for shelter, clothes...love. As she grew older she would look up to him for wise guidance, for entertainment, for security. She would require vast amounts of his time and patience.

      No doubt she would view him as her father.

      Her daddy...

      The thought brought shivers fingering down Zac’s spine. He couldn’t deny he’d been hoping that the baby’s biological father would emerge and make a claim, but he’d also been worried by the prospect. Knowing Liv, the guy was bound to be a no-hoper. Now, the possibility of a father galloping up on a white charger to save the day was fast disappearing and this left Zac with a different, but equally worrying set of problems...centring on his own, very real inadequacies...

      He was very aware that his personal life was at best...haphazard...but there was a good reason for that—in more recent years he’d been making up for lost time.

      Liv had been so young when their parents died, and for many years Zac had made her his first priority. He’d juggled several part-time jobs so that he could be at home for as much of Liv’s out-of-school time as possible.

      It was only after Liv had turned eighteen and struck out on her own, that he’d decided he might as well have some fun, so when it came to dating women he’d been a late starter. By then he’d also discovered he had a head for business as well as a talent for attracting gorgeous girls. He’d enjoyed the combination of work and play so much that he hadn’t felt a need to settle down.

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