Adopted: One Baby. Natasha Oakley

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СКАЧАТЬ sister she hadn’t seen in almost nine years—and seemingly expected to deal with the baby she’d left behind.

      It was all so ridiculous.

      What did she know about babies? Or even family for that matter? She’d spent a decade avoiding both. Lorna placed a hand on her flat stomach as though it would stop the churning inside. She was scared. She didn’t do babies. Didn’t know one end from the other.

      ‘Not the best view,’ a male voice said behind her. Sexy, deep…

      Startled, Lorna whipped round in time to see the lift doors close and a man walk towards her. Tall. Scruffy… In a kind of actor-promoting-a-film style.

      ‘Are you going in?’ he asked, indicating the buzzer with a tilt of his head.

      Lorna’s eyes skimmed his denim-clad thighs, took in the worn leather jacket and continued on up to the too-long hair. A confident and all together too sure of himself type of male—with an incongruous pink teddy bear tucked nonchalantly under his arm.

      No sooner had she thought it odd that a man like him would be carrying a soft toy than she remembered that this was outside Neonatal and he must have a baby in there…

      She bit her lip. He might even be quite worried by that. He didn’t look traumatised, but he might be.

      And at least he was here. Showing support. Doing the best he could. Shame if his best was a pink bear. ‘Yes. Yes, I am.’

      ‘Only you need to push the buzzer or they won’t know you’re here.’

      She raised her eyebrows. ‘I was just about to buzz.’ Did she really look so stupid that he thought she couldn’t work that out for herself?

      He was exactly Vikki’s type of man. The thought slipped into her mind. Her sister had always seemed to go for the kind of man who, personally, made her feel as if her blouse was buttoned up a little too high and her make-up just that little bit too perfect.

      He strode forward and pushed the red button, and Lorna had ample opportunity to see that his denim jeans clung equally tightly to his firm buttocks. There was an arrogant confidence in every line of his body. Sexual simply because of the way he moved.

      She hated that. It made her feel so uncomfortable. Some memory jagged, like cobwebs on nails. She’d seen him before. Or someone like him?

      Had she seen him in one of Vikki’s photographs?

      ‘It doesn’t usually take this long to get an answer,’ he said, peering through the strengthened glass aperture.

      ‘I—I wouldn’t know.’

      He glanced over his shoulder and then back, as a young and harried-looking student midwife pulled the door open.

      ‘Sister’s not finished her shift yet.’

      ‘No worries. Can you tell her I’ll wait in the Bistro. Oh, and I’ve brought this up for Baby Drummond—’

      ‘Why?’ The question shot from Lorna like a bullet from a gun, scarcely allowing time for her to register that the younger woman had clearly recognised him.

      ‘Sorry?’

      ‘W-why have you brought that for my niece?’ she asked, pointing at the teddy bear.

      ‘Niece?’ He turned and really studied her. He’d not done that before, and it made her feel flustered. ‘That must make you Lorna Drummond. I’d never have recognised you.’

      Lorna pulled a distracted hand through her blonde hair. ‘Have we met?’

      He held out his hand. ‘Raphael McKinnion. Ellie’s brother.’

      Raphael McKinnion. Rafe McKinnion.

      She allowed him to take her hand, feeling as though her stomach had been invaded by several hundred butterflies.

      Ellie’s elder brother. At fourteen she’d have thought she’d died and gone to heaven if her best friend’s brother had so much as spoken to her. Now he was shaking her hand.

      And still holding a pink teddy bear intended for her niece. Was Raphael McKinnion the reason Vikki had come back to Sittiford?

      Her sister wouldn’t have been intimidated by a man like Rafe McKinnion. If she’d wanted him she’d have crooked her little finger and he’d have come running. All men had. Always. Like moths around a candle.

      Whereas she… found them threatening. Just about as threatening as they usually found her. Lorna swallowed the hard lump in her throat. ‘And the bear?’

      ‘Oh, that. I’m afraid you’re going to find he’s just the tip of the iceberg. The hospital has been inundated with soft toys,’ he responded, with a swift smile at the student midwife—who melted in a pool of hormones.

      Lorna felt a flicker of irritation. Nothing had changed in Rafe’s life then.

      ‘Why?’ Her voice sounded unnecessarily clipped.

      ‘Your sister’s accident has been in all the local papers. It’s touched a nerve, and people have responded in their hundreds.’

      But not, apparently, the baby’s father. Lorna felt as if a big black cloak was being wrapped tightly around her. It was trapping her, stifling her…

      And there was no escape.

      Everyone expected her to take this baby. But how? She’d never even held a baby. Not once. She couldn’t do it. It just wasn’t in her. A feeling of nausea surged through her.

      ‘I’m sorry about Vikki,’ he said, watching her. ‘We all are.’

      ‘Th-thank you. I…’ She reached a hand up to hold her head as the walls started to close in on her. She felt so hot. Hot, and a little confused. Colours started to blur and the walls disappeared into blackness.

      And then nothing…

      ‘She’s fainted.’

      Lorna heard the words as though they were being spoken down a long dark tunnel.

      ‘Rafe, fetch a chair from my office and bring it out here, will you? Let’s get her sitting down and off the floor. She’s going to ruin her skirt down there, and it looks like it cost a fortune.’

      It didn’t seem worth speaking. Lorna’s head was thumping and her eyelids felt unbelievably heavy.

      ‘Lorna? Lorna? Can you hear me?’ The female voice was quite authoritative, so she opened her eyes. ‘You’re going to be fine. You’ve just fainted.’ Then, seconds later, ‘Bring the chair over here.’

      Which didn’t appear to be directed at her, so Lorna let her eyes shut again.

      ‘Lorna?’ A hand moved under her arm. ‘Come on, now, let’s get you up on a seat. That’s it. Now, put your head between your knees.’

      Strange, embarrassing, but СКАЧАТЬ