In the Boss's Arms: Having the Boss's Babies / Her Millionaire Boss / Her Surgeon Boss. Abigail Gordon

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СКАЧАТЬ that he wasn’t looking her in the eye. ‘I didn’t even know you had a brother who died until a few minutes ago.’

      But they both knew that what they had shared minutes before had not been a stranger’s kiss.

      Perhaps Liam was thinking the same thing. He turned back to her. ‘We’re hardly strangers, Alice. It may be only a few weeks since we met, but we’ve shared a near-death experience and we’ve created a new life. How many couples achieve that in such a short time? Every relationship has its own time line.’

      ‘But marriage is something else again. You don’t know anything about marriage, Liam.’ She rubbed at the carpet with the sole of a bare foot. ‘Marriage isn’t just about the big moments. It’s day in, day out living with a person. That’s when all the little things begin to matter.’

      ‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘I accept that.’ His fingers traced a pattern on the arm of the chair. ‘And thanks to your ex, your ability to trust your instincts has taken a battering.’

      She nodded.

      Liam’s head dropped to one side as he frowned at her. ‘You look tired. Perhaps we should talk about this some other time.’

      ‘If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to get this sorted out now. And I’m too wired to try to sleep now, anyhow.’

      He waved her towards the sofa. ‘Then for heaven’s sake take the weight off your feet.’

      Obediently, she sank into the deep chocolate velvet sofa opposite him and curled her feet beneath her.

      As Liam watched her, his mouth curved in a small, sardonic smile. ‘So, how far down your list are we? I must say I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so soundly rejected.’

      ‘Have you been rejected before?’ she asked, surprised.

      ‘Yes,’ he said calmly. ‘Once. It seems a long time ago now.’

      He didn’t seem particularly upset by the memory, but crazily enough, Alice felt jealous of the woman Liam had once loved. She wanted to ask him about her, but how could she do that when she was slap bang in the middle of yet another rejection?

      ‘Maybe you should tell me why you think we should be married, Liam?’

      His shoulders rose and fell quickly as if he’d drawn a sharp breath. And Alice wondered what had happened to her own breathing.

      If Liam spoke of love, if he promised her undying devotion, her common sense would fly out the window. She would be helpless, lost in her need for him, at sea with his love as her only lifebelt.

      ‘I want to offer you protection,’ he said. ‘To shield you. I hate the thought of people in the office or other business associates making you feel uncomfortable—talking about you behind your back.’

      His answer was exactly what she’d expected, what she’d feared. ‘That’s—that’s very gallant. But I’m afraid people would only talk about our shotgun wedding instead.’

      In the dim lighting his eyes watched her with an intense, ferocious blaze. ‘So you’re determined that marriage is out of the question.’

      If you don’t love me. ‘Yes. I’m still getting over a bad marriage experience. I need time.’

      A barely perceptible tremor ran through him, shocking Alice so that she almost dashed across the room to wrap him in a bear hug.

      ‘So,’ he said, recovering quickly. ‘Let’s talk about alternatives.’

      Somehow, alternatives didn’t sound as appealing as they should have. Alice struggled to remember that she had to be sensible.

      ‘I’m not sure what you mean by alternatives, but I must admit I’m not too keen about having everyone in the office watching me as I grow bigger and fatter with the boss’s baby. I think I should resign.’

      Liam frowned and his fingers drummed a tattoo on the arm of the chair. ‘Don’t resign. Take leave. You can take it for as long as you want. If you like, you could even do some work from home. You could concentrate on a total revamp of our outback-tour contacts.’

      ‘OK. Actually that would be wonderful. Thank you.’ She would relish having as much time as she needed to gather all the updated information from the outback-tourist options.

      ‘What other problems do you foresee?’ Liam asked her.

      ‘I don’t think there are any others that involve you.’

      ‘I’m your baby’s father. I’m involved. Get used to it, Alice.’

      Well, well, she thought, Liam might be talking about fatherhood, but clearly he was back in bossmode, supremely comfortable with making decisions and planning strategies.

      ‘What about your family?’ he asked her. ‘How will they react?’

      Wincing, she closed her eyes. ‘I’m afraid they still haven’t forgiven me for the divorce. I’m not sure how I’m going to pluck up the courage to tell them about this.’

      ‘I’ll come with you.’

      Her eyes flashed open. ‘No, Liam. I don’t expect you to—’

      ‘As I said, I’m involved. Get used to it. We’ll take your parents to dinner somewhere tasteful and discreet and we’ll tell them in a very adult and civilised manner exactly what’s happened and they’ll respond in an equally adult and civilised manner.’

      Alice stared at him with her mouth open. Just like that he’d hit on the perfect solution. It would work. She knew it. Liam would win her parents over with his effortless charm and the aunts, too, if necessary.

      ‘And I’d like you to meet Julia and my nephew, Jack,’ he said.

      Goodness, that was unexpected. Alice was gaping again. Liam had always been so secretive about his personal life.

      She could sense his steely resolve. ‘I’m going to help you through this, Alice.’ He jumped to his feet. ‘But now I really must let you get some sleep.’

      Alice rose, too. She wasn’t quite sure how to say goodbye; Liam had become so businesslike in the past few minutes. ‘Thank you for coming.’

      He was flipping open a cell-phone. ‘I’ll just call a cab.’

      ‘Don’t you have a car yet?’ She couldn’t help asking this after Shana’s dark mutterings about the story in the paper.

      His face turned blank. ‘No, I don’t need one.’

      Given everything that had transpired this evening, it wasn’t the moment to start quizzing Liam about why he didn’t drive. But as he left her that night, dropping a light kiss on her forehead before heading outside to wait for the taxi, she realised that for all his involvement in her life, there was still a great deal she didn’t know about the man.

      Over the following weekend Alice cleared her desk and on Monday morning she began transforming her spare bedroom into a home office. She already had a laptop and СКАЧАТЬ