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“A small sherry wouldn’t do any harm,” she decided. “There’s a bottle in the cupboard next to the fridge. Just a splash over lots of ice.” She needed cooling down, too.
“Okay! Coming right up.”
She sank onto the stool on the other side of the kitchen counter, not offering to help, letting him find things himself, needing time to settle herself down and get a grip on what she should be doing. It was difficult not to simply feast her eyes on Jack, moving competently around, fixing them both drinks as though he was perfectly at home here. Except it might be different once she really introduced the baby into the equation, making it a test situation.
“How’s that?” he asked, placing a glass full of crushed ice tinted with amber sherry in front of her.
“Great! Thank you.”
“My pleasure. Now tell me what you fancy for dinner. I’m cooking tonight.”
Nina took a sip of her drink as she tried to formulate the best way of telling him their time together was curtailed.
“You just sit there and relax and I’ll prepare everything,” he went on, letting her know he was not going to crowd her.
“We’re not going to have much time together, Jack. I have an appointment to fit a wedding dress in Sally’s showroom at seven o’clock and I have to feed Charlotte before then. If you don’t want to bother—”
“No, I’m not going to let you fall into bad eating habits.” He shook his head at her in frowning concern and checked his watch. “Five forty-two. I can have a proper dinner cooked by six-thirty. What time do you usually feed the kid?”
“Six o’clock.”
“How long does it take?”
“About twenty minutes.”
“Then we should slot the meal in nicely before you have to go to work. I’ll clean up afterwards.” His face lit with inspiration. “You can leave the kid with me. Save any distraction while you work.”
His off-the-cuff suggestion left Nina confounded. She had been winding herself up to test his attitude over minding the baby and he’d whipped the mat out from under her feet, so to speak. Her disbelief and confusion must have been written on her face. Assuming he was about to get a negative response, Jack instantly proceeded to argue his case.
“I am a responsible adult, Nina. You can safely leave the kid in my care. I promise if I’m worried about anything, I’ll come to you. How does that sound?” he asked eagerly.
She was stunned. “I…well, if you think—”
“Trust me,” he commanded, his green eyes boring directly into hers, unwavering in his sense of purpose, insistent that she accept his word.
Nina took a deep breath. Far be it from her to protest his offer or dampen his eagerness to please. The focus of his caring was still centred on her, but did that matter if it motivated him to spend time looking after Charlotte?
“All right,” she agreed. “If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
He grinned as though he’d won a lottery. “Glad to be of help.” Vitality bubbled from him as he danced to the refrigerator, swinging its door open wide to peruse the contents. “How about a big, juicy steak?”
“A small one for me, please.” She wasn’t sure she could eat anything. Jack was not only taking over, he seemed to be turning everything around.
“Salad, jacket potatoes?”
“Yes,” she agreed dizzily.
It was a relief to hear Charlotte’s first tentative cry—something normal, expected, and no problem knowing what to do about it. “I’ll have to leave you to it, Jack,” Nina said quickly, slipping off the stool.
A louder, “Hey! Did you hear me?” cry told Jack where she was going. He swung around to catch her attention as she headed for the hall. “Are you, um, self-conscious about breastfeeding, Nina?” he asked somewhat diffidently. “I mean, would you mind bringing the kid out here so we can be together?”
Like a real family.
The thought zinged through Nina’s mind, ballooning the hope, edging it with a silver lining. Her smile sparkled. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
His smile positively scintillated. “Great!”
Nina didn’t exactly dance down the hall, but her heart certainly jigged. Once in the bedroom she swooped on the capsule, picking Charlotte up in mid-wail and twirling around with her. “Your daddy wants us with him,” she whispered gleefully.
