Bound By Their Scandalous Baby. Heidi Rice

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      ‘You’re awake, Nikky!’ she said, grinning at him as she stroked the short silky curls of hair that had started to grow back after the latest round of chemo.

      Her heart juddered. Maybe it would even be his last round of chemo.

      ‘I know,’ he said and she laughed.

      He stretched out his arms and yawned. And she gathered him into her arms to hug him. ‘How are you feeling?’

      His breath felt warm against her cheek as he snuggled into her embrace. ‘I’m tired,’ he said.

      ‘Okay, but I’ve got some important news for you. Maybe I should wait till tomorrow to tell you. I don’t want you to fall asleep.’

      He pushed out of her arms and his little face screwed up in a frown of disgust, which only made her smile more. The resemblance to Lukas Blackstone was stunning, especially when Nico looked grumpy, she thought, stupidly tickled by the observation.

      ‘I’m not going to fall asleep,’ Nico said. ‘I’m not a baby. I’m going to be three and three-quarters next week.’ He yawned again, contradicting his assertion somewhat. ‘What’s the ’portant news?’ Nico asked dreamily.

      ‘There’s someone who has come all the way from New York to meet you. Which is a long way away, across an ocean. Remember I told you I was going to look for him, when I had to leave you?’

      She’d made her trip into a story—a story which she had been careful not to imbue with too much hope—but it was hard to contain her optimism now.

      ‘The man with the special bones? Who’s going to make me better?’ Nico’s head lifted. The sparkle of excitement was something she hadn’t seen for a long time in Nico’s brown eyes and she realised that however non-committal she had tried to be, however careful, and however hard she’d tried not to hope too much, Nico had hoped for both of them. ‘Did you find him?’ he asked.

      ‘Yes, I did. Remember I told you he’s your daddy’s brother?’

      ‘My daddy that’s dead?’

      ‘That’s right. Lukas is a very special brother to your daddy called an identical twin, and he’s come all this way to meet you, and hopefully to help you get better.’ If the treatment didn’t work she would deal with it, but right now she wanted to feed the glow in Nico’s eyes. Whatever else Lukas Blackstone did, she would always be grateful to him for giving Nico hope.

      Her eyes stung again when Nico’s lips crinkled into the cheeky smile she’d missed so much. ‘Is he a superhero?’

      ‘Yes, he is. He’s your own personal superhero—that’s pretty cool, isn’t it?’

      ‘Is that the Superman?’ Nico pointed over her shoulder. ‘He’s super-big.’

      Bronte glanced over her shoulder. The blood rushed to her cheeks. And pounded hard in her chest. Despite the deliberately bright and airy surroundings of Harry Potter Ward, Lukas Blackstone looked as austere and forbidding as ever as he approached the bed with two men in dark suits and a woman in high heels holding a smartphone and busily typing things into it.

      Keeping her hand securely on Nico’s narrow shoulder, Bronte got off the bed to face him, disconcerted by the huge height disadvantage. She knew she wasn’t a tall woman, but did he have to be quite so enormous?

      ‘Hi, Lukas, we’re so happy to see you,’ she said, trying to put as much friendliness and warmth into her voice as she could for Nico’s sake. If she found the man intimidating, how would a three-and-three-quarter-year-old feel?

      ‘Are you?’ Lukas said, the cynical lift of his eyebrow making her feel unbearably self-conscious before his gaze transferred to the child.

      ‘Yes, absolutely,’ she lied, wanting desperately to mean it. Clasping Nico’s hand, she was about to introduce them when Nico—who was clearly much braver than her—pushed up in the bed.

      ‘I’m Nico,’ he said. ‘Auntie Bronte says you’re my superhero. And you’re going to make me better.’

      Lukas glanced her way before saying to the boy, his voice even gruffer than usual, ‘I’m going to try.’

      With a burst of energy that reminded Bronte poignantly of the little boy he had been, Nico leapt forward and scrambled across the bed to wrap his arms as far as he could around Lukas’s waist and bury his head in his shirt front. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’ the little boy declared. ‘I hate being sick—it’s horrid.’

      And then he began to cry, deep heart-wrenching sobs that tore at Bronte’s chest as she gripped his shoulders, trying to soothe him, desperate to draw him away from Lukas, who had tensed and lifted his hands—looking for a split second both shocked and wary...and completely lost for words.

      Clearly the big bad billionaire had zero experience with kids.

      The situation would almost be comical if Bronte hadn’t been feeling so over-emotional herself. Scooping Nico up, she placed him back in the bed and tucked him under the covers, careful not to put any more strain on the line in his arm.

      Ignoring Lukas, who was still standing stiffly by the bed, she smoothed Nico’s hair back from his forehead as the boy bit back the sobs which he must have been keeping in for a long time. ‘It’s all right, Nikky. Cry as much as you want.’

      He hiccupped slightly, the tears passing. ‘But I don’t want to cry. I want to be a brave boy.’

      ‘You are a brave boy,’ she whispered against his face and gave him a little squeeze, making him smile through the last remnants of his tears. ‘Even if you cry, remember?’

      He nodded but his eyelids were already drooping, the brief spurt of action having exhausted his frail stamina. ‘Can the superman stay with me?’

      Bronte glanced over her shoulder to see Lukas still looking shocked and wary. ‘Of course he can. He’ll stay until you fall asleep, okay?’

      Lukas gave a terse nod.

      ‘’kay,’ Nico murmured, apparently soothed by Lukas’s austere presence. This child wasn’t just brave; he was heroic. But he was still just a little boy—a little boy who had been forced to deal with far too much already. A little boy who desperately needed her to be the brave one right now. As if to confirm the thought, Nico stuffed a thumb into his mouth and gripped a chunk of her hair in his small fist, the way he had done ever since he was a baby. ‘Sing me Puff,’ he said.

      She sang his favourite nursery song about a magic dragon, imbuing the notes with all the love she felt and the new sense of hope, until he fell asleep.

      Snuggling against him, she breathed in his scent. Even tinged with the chemical scent of the hospital ward, it still gave her the essential rush of love she’d felt the first time she’d held his tiny body in her arms.

      ‘You’ll be better soon, Nico. I promise,’ she whispered.

      Kissing his cheek, she got off the bed, her weariness buoyed by a new wave of possibility. But when she caught sight of Lukas Blackstone, still standing by the bed staring down at Nico, she felt a jolt of panic and even fear.

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