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“Rafe Hartley, I’m this close to punching you in the balls.”
“I somehow doubt it. All I have to do is this”—he backed a foot away—“and I’d be safe.”
“Get your arse back here or I’ll ask one of the doctors to hold you in place so I can punch you.”
Dr. Gregor Innes chuckled. “I’m not sure you’re going to have much time to do that, lass. The bairn is about ready to come.”
Dr. Sid snorted. “Nikki could give birth one second and still find the energy to punch Rafe in the next. Don’t underestimate her just because she’s female, Gregor.”
“Is that a warning of what’s to come, Cassidy?” Gregor asked.
Sid raised her eyebrows. “You’ll have to wait to find out.”
Nikki grunted again and Gregor focused on his task. “It’s another contraction. Time to push, lass.”
Rafe took Nikki’s hand, and he didn’t so much as peep when she crushed his fingers.
Gregor nodded. “That’s it, just a little more.”
Tilting her head back, the tendons in Nikki’s neck strained as she pushed. Rafe wished he had the power to take away some of his mate’s pain. But he was in a rare circumstance when he could do nothing to help her beyond offering his support.
Just as he was wondering how much longer Nikki would have to push, a baby’s cry pierced the air. Soon, Gregor held up their tiny, pink child. “Say hello to your daughter.”
Rafe leaned down to kiss his mate. Smoothing the hair from her face, he smiled. “A daughter.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t said, ‘I told you so.’” Nikki murmured.
“Right now, I don’t bloody care about the bet,” Rafe answered.
They merely watched as Sid worked to check and clean up their child.
When Sid finally brought their daughter over, she gently laid the bundle in Nikki’s arms. Nikki lightly brushed the cheek of their baby. “She’s beautiful.”
Rafe placed his hand over Nikki’s on the small bundle. “And to think she’s here because I finally surrendered to the charms of a stubborn dragonwoman and kissed her.”
Nikki met his gaze. “I’m glad you did, Rafe. Otherwise, our darling little female wouldn’t exist.” She paused and kissed their daughter’s forehead. “Although are you ready for our next adventure? It might be our toughest assignment yet.”
He grinned. “I think we can handle little Louisa Catherine Hartley-Gray.”
“Our little warrior.”
Louisa meant “warrior” and Catherine was for Catherine the Great of Russia. Both he and Nikki had high hopes for their daughter.
Kissing Nikki’s forehead, Rafe settled next to her on the bed and held his new family close.
The stresses of his new job as army liaison, the recent attacks on Stonefire, and the tested alliances with the various dragon clans didn’t matter. At that moment, he was with the woman he loved and their daughter. Everything else could wait.
*~*~*~*
