The Baby Plan - Liz Fielding

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going to be there much longer?’ The traffic warden had already passed him once. Before he could answer, the door to the agency opened and his passenger emerged, all apologies.

      ‘I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.’ Daniel had a swift impression of gloss. Sleek, dark hair, a gleaming mouth, a pair of silvery grey eyes that included the traffic warden in a sunburst smile that would have won his dilatory passenger forgiveness for anything. ‘I had a few loose ends to tie up.’ Low and husky, her voice stroked against his skin like fur, and as she looked up at him Dan felt as if the ground was shifting dangerously beneath his feet.

      She could tie him up any time. Hell, he’d have himself gift-wrapped and delivered …

      Then, as Dan moved swiftly to open the car door, still reeling from the stunning effect of so much classy womanhood, he took the knock-out blow of her legs as she stepped up into the rear of the car. Legs clad in sheer black nylon beneath a skirt that did little more than peep from beneath the long line of her dark grey jacket—legs stretched almost to infinity by a pair of very high, very slender heels. The traffic warden saw them too, flashed him a grin that said ‘lucky devil’ before he shrugged and moved on.

      Dan cleared his throat. ‘No problem. We’re all over the place ourselves this morning.’

      ‘Are you?’ Amanda, still enjoying the shocked look on Beth’s face as she’d let the door swing shut, leaned across to put her laptop and document case on the seat. Then she realised that the driver still had the door open. She glanced up into a pair of smoky-blue eyes that for just a moment made her heart miss a beat; smoky-blue eyes that shone out of the kind of sun-weathered face that a man gets when he spends as much of his time as possible out of doors.

      And that was before he smiled. It wasn’t exactly a textbook smile. It was a lop-sided, conspiratorial affair, a lift at one corner of his mouth that pulled the deep lines etched down his cheeks into sharp relief. For some reason it made her think of a pirate with a cutlass between his teeth.

      ‘Yes?’ Her mouth felt as if she’d been chewing blotting paper.

      ‘You won’t forget your seat belt?’ he prompted, before closing the door.

      ‘What?’ Then, ‘Oh, yes.’ A deeply caring pirate. She gave herself a firm, mental shake and clicked the seat belt into place. ‘Why?’ she asked as he eased himself into the driving seat and started the powerful engine before glancing over his shoulder at the traffic.

      ‘Why what?’

      ‘Why are you all over the place?’ She found such details interesting. It was paying attention to those kind of details that had made her so successful. And she wanted to keep him talking.

      ‘We’re a man short,’ he explained, as he waited for a gap in the traffic. ‘The driver booked for this job had to rush off to the hospital.’

      ‘An accident?’

      ‘I wouldn’t care to comment on that.’ He grinned. ‘His wife is having a baby.’

      Baby. The word triggered that gooey feeling that had been with her for weeks. She’d put on that high-powered, organised career woman faćade this morning because it was the only way she knew how to handle it. Beth was the gooey one. The one who fell in love at the drop of a hat, who sighed over babies. She’d thought she was immune.

      Then her brother had announced that his new wife was pregnant.

      Her mother had been so thrilled at the prospect of finally becoming a grandmother after giving up hope of either of her children doing the decent thing. She’d been delighted, too. After brushing aside that infinitesimal moment of chilling emptiness, of something that might just have been envy.

      Brushed it aside, but not away. It had refused to leave her, which was probably why she had found herself in the baby department of a nearby department store a few days later, looking for a suitable gift for her first niece or nephew. Something pretty to decorate the nursery being prepared for the new baby.

      She had only intended to spend ten minutes picking out some fluffy toy. Then she’d seen this tiny pair of velvet baby boots. White. Soft as down. With the littlest turn-back cuff.

      A baby. ‘Her first?’ Amanda asked, on an odd little catch of breath, in a voice she scarcely recognised as her own.

      ‘Her fourth.’

      Four babies. Amanda immediately found herself assailed by the image of four little bundles wrapped in white with blue ribbons, each one with smoky-blue eyes and a lop-sided smile. That was how it had been for weeks. Just the word was enough to trigger all kinds of fantasies.

      ‘She’s done it three times and she still needs her husband to hold her hand? How pathetic,’ she said, her tongue firmly in her cheek. How romantic, the unexpectedly soft centre whispered.

      Daniel turned his head a little further and saw that his lovely passenger was smiling. Encouraged, he said, ‘To be honest, I think it’s more a case of her holding his.’ An hour ago Dan had been cursing the woman for going into labour early when they were so busy, forcing him to cancel a meeting and take out one of the cars himself. Quite suddenly he was prepared to take the philosophical view. ‘Men are such wimps.’

      ‘I’ll take your word for it.’ Not that she believed he was a wimp. Not for a minute. Not even the crisply efficient Miss Garland thought that. And her soft centre was absolutely certain that he would be a tower of strength, holding her hand, wiping her brow, reminding her when to breathe, when to pant. Stop it, right now! she ordered her hyperactive imagination. Then, as he waited for an opening in the seemingly endless string of traffic, she made a determined effort to pull herself together, concentrate on the matter in hand. ‘How long will it take to get to The Beeches? Can we make it by ten?’

      ‘I’ll do my best, but I’m running short of miracles for this week.’

      Her groan was heartfelt. She should have left the minute the car had arrived, but she’d needed to sound out Beth. Without her support the whole thing would be a lot more complicated. She was going to need someone to mop her brow and hold her hand. Modern science might offer the perfect solution to her needs, but it wouldn’t be there to offer any of those extras, any of those tender touches.

      ‘Relax. If Miss Garland gives you a hard time for being late just suggest she tries driving through Knightsbridge at this time in the morning.’ His eyes crinkled in another of those killer smiles.

      Miss Garland? He didn’t know? Didn’t realise who she was? It was her turn to smile.

      ‘And who shall I say sent the message?’

      There was a hint of laughter in her voice and Dan glanced again at the mirror to check out what that mouth was doing. Actually, her mouth was worth looking at just for itself. Scarlet red and sexy as hell. ‘Daniel Redford. At your service, ma’am.’

      ‘I’ll be sure to tell her, Daniel Redford. In the meantime, since you’re at my service, will you please do your best to get me there on time?’

      ‘I’ll certainly try,’ he said, and, glancing over his shoulder, edged the car away from the kerb, forcing a cab driver to give way to him. The cab driver did not like it and expressed his feelings forcefully. Dan merely smiled and raised a hand in a gesture of thanks, as if the cabbie had given way politely. ‘I’ve heard she’s a bit of an old tartar,’ he said. ‘Your Miss Garland.’

      ‘Have you?’ The lady with the beautiful mouth seemed surprised. ‘Who told you that?’

      ‘She’s famous for it. Efficiency with a capital E. Are you a new girl?’

      ‘Er … no.’ The tartar in question wondered briefly what he would say if she told him the truth. She resisted the temptation. This was far more entertaining. ‘I’ve been with the agency since the very beginning.’

      ‘Oh, well, you’ll know all about her. What’s she like?’

      ‘I thought

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