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‘You delivered the baby?’ Mac ran a hand over the back of his neck, gratitude in his eyes as he looked at his brother. ‘I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to thank you. If you hadn’t been here for her…’
‘It was nothing. Really.’ Josh shrugged modestly and Kat and Louisa stared at each other open-mouthed and exchanged a look that said just one thing.
Men.
CHAPTER TEN
‘YOU do realise that you’re wearing your nightdress again, Dr O’Brien?’
The ambulance had departed, taking Louisa to hospital, and Josh and Kat were finally left alone in the kitchen while Archie played with Hopeful in the garden.
She glanced down at herself with a wry smile. ‘You don’t think this is suitable attire for delivering babies?’
His gaze slid down her body. ‘Looks perfect to me.’ His voice was husky and for a moment their eyes clashed.
She was the first to break the contact, reminding herself of all the reasons why she really shouldn’t—couldn’t—be in love with this man.
‘Talking of suitable attire.’ She kept her tone as casual as possible. ‘Do you realise you’re wearing your shirt inside out?’
‘Of course. Archie wears his inside out.’ He poured coffee into two cups and handed her one. ‘And he looks pretty cool. I decided to follow the trend.’
‘You’re basing your fashion decisions on my son’s dress sense?’
‘Why not?’ He sipped his coffee and she laughed.
‘It’s probably only fair to warn you that he never spends too much time looking at himself in the mirror.’
‘I always considered mirrors a complete waste of space.’ Josh ran a hand over his face. ‘What a morning. What time is it?’
‘Ten o’clock?’
‘Is that all?’ He gaped at her. ‘It feels like midnight.’
‘Well, you’ve crammed quite a lot into your morning, Dr Sullivan,’ she pointed out, humour in her eyes as she looked at him. ‘After all, you did just deliver Louisa’s baby, remember?’
He grinned at her tone and slid his hands round the mug. ‘Don’t mock my contribution. My arms and shoulders may never recover. I was in as much pain as she was!’
Kat rolled her eyes. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said dryly, ‘but you certainly made more fuss. I could hear you whimpering with panic behind me most of the time,’ she added, lifting an eyebrow in his direction. ‘Babies not your thing, Dr Sullivan?’
His smile faded slowly and he put his coffee-cup down, a strange expression on his face. ‘Actually, I’m starting to think they might be very much my thing, Dr O’Brien.’
The conversat
ion had gone from light-hearted to deadly serious in the blink of an eye and her heart gave a little jump. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Just that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the past week.’ He threw a wry smile in her direction. ‘Given that there was no chance of getting any sleep, thanks to you, I spent my nights thinking. It was that or dig a large hole in the garden.’
‘Why would you need a large hole in your garden?’
‘I don’t need a hole, but digging is the only way I know of getting rid of frustration. And believe me…’ he folded his arms across his chest and looked her straight in the eye, ‘…at the moment I’ve got more frustration than I know how to deal with.’
She blushed. She could have told him that she felt exactly the same way, but she didn’t want to admit that.
She was trying to move on. To put what they’d shared behind them. How could she do that if they kept raking it up every time they were together? They had to ignore the chemistry between them. They had to ignore the way they felt about each other.
‘It’s time I went.’ She spread her hands in a nervous gesture and backed towards the door. ‘I promised Archie a day on the beach and—’
‘Wait! Dammit, don’t just walk out on me again!’ He ran a hand over his jaw and cursed under his breath. ‘Last time we spoke about this I said all the wrong things to you. I know I was clumsy.’
