Their Baby Surprise (4 page)

‘How do you fancy going out for dinner?’ he suggested impulsively. ‘I don’t know about you but all this extra work has given me an appetite. I could eat a horse!’

‘I’m not sure if you’ll find horse on the menu anywhere in Dalverston,’ she replied lightly, although he saw a hint of colour run up her cheeks.

Did she think he was being presumptuous by asking her out? he wondered, then immediately dismissed the idea. Of course Rachel didn’t think that. They were colleagues and having dinner together wasn’t anything to get worked up about.

‘Hmm, good point. I’ll have to settle for a steak instead.’ He pushed back his chair, not wanting it to appear as though he was pressurising her to go out with him. It was her decision and he would abide by whatever she decided to do, although he really hoped she would say yes.

It was unsettling to realise just how much he wanted her to agree and he hurried on. ‘So long as it comes with all the trimmings, I’ll be more than happy.’

‘I have to confess that I’m hungry too,’ she admitted, standing up. ‘I can’t remember when I last had a decent meal—it must have been last week. I definitely didn’t cook anything for myself over the weekend.’

‘Me neither,’ Matt agreed, sliding the notes they had made into a folder. ‘The most I’ve managed is tea and toast for the past couple of days. My poor stomach must think my throat’s been cut.’

She laughed as she headed for the door. ‘It sounds as though we’re both in desperate need of some proper sustenance. How about that new place on the bypass? I believe they do excellent steaks there.’

‘Sounds good to me.’

Matt managed to hide his delight as he switched off the light and followed her along the corridor. It was just dinner with a colleague, he reminded himself, although he had to admit that it felt somewhat different to the usual staff outings he had attended in the past. For one thing, he and Rachel would be by themselves tonight and that was something that didn’t usually happen. Even when they had spent all that time planning the wedding, they hadn’t been on their own—Ross and Heather had been with them. This would be a whole new experience for them.

He took a steadying breath as he stopped beside the reception desk, determined that he wasn’t going to let himself get carried away by the thought. ‘I’ll set the alarm and follow you out. We can go in my car, if you like. That way you can have a glass of wine with your meal without worrying about driving home.’

‘Thanks, but it’s easier if we take both our cars. It will save all the hassle in the morning of getting here.’

It was on the tip of Matt’s tongue to tell her that he would give her a lift, but he sensed that would be overstepping the mark. ‘Fine. I’ll see you there, then.’

He waited until she had left then switched the phone through to their on-call service and set the alarm. There was only his car left in the car park when he went outside and he hurried over to it, shivering as a blast of icy wind blew down from the hills. The temperature had dropped over the weekend and it looked as though they were in for a really cold spell. Still, it wouldn’t be long before he got to the restaurant and warmed up, he consoled himself.

He started the engine, smiling at the thought of meeting Rachel there. Maybe it was only dinner with a colleague but it was good to know that he wouldn’t be spending the rest of the evening on his own. Was that her main attraction? he wondered suddenly. Was he so eager for her company because he was lonely?

He tested out the theory and discovered that it did fit. However, deep down he knew it was more than that. Loneliness didn’t explain the way he had responded to her recently, did it?

CHAPTER FOUR

R
ACHEL
could feel butterflies flitting around her stomach as she entered the restaurant. It wasn’t very busy with it being a Monday evening and she had no trouble getting a table. She told the waiter that she was expecting someone to join her and sat down to wait, trying to control the frantic fluttering inside her. It was just dinner with Matt, nothing more, nothing less, and definitely nothing to get worked up about.

Matt arrived a few minutes later, looking big and imposing as he stopped to speak to the waiter. Rachel noticed several women glance his way and look a second time too as he made his way over to her. No wonder, she thought as he took off his coat and draped it over the back of a chair. He was an extremely handsome man and she wouldn’t blame any woman for finding him attractive.

‘This is nice.’ He looked around the restaurant with obvious pleasure. ‘It all looks very sleek and modern without being too stark and bare. Call me old-fashioned but I like a bit of clutter around the place.’

‘Me too, probably too much clutter,’ she agreed ruefully.

‘So you don’t go in for the minimalist look that Ross favours?’ Matt queried, loosening his tie. He undid the top button of his shirt as well and Rachel hurriedly averted her eyes when she felt those pesky butterflies start flapping even more wildly. She had seen Matt wearing a variety of outfits over the years they’d worked together, from the jeans he had worn on staff outings to the suits he preferred for work, so why was she reacting this way to a glimpse of bare tanned flesh?

‘No, it’s not my taste at all. As for Ross, well, he probably favours that style because it’s the complete opposite from what he grew up with.’

Rachel hurriedly dismissed the question. They were there to have dinner, not so she could analyse how she felt about Matt. He was a colleague and a friend, and that was all she needed to know.

‘Really?’ Matt sat back in his chair, obviously keen to hear more, and she continued, finding it easier to talk about such a safe topic.

‘We lived with my parents for a long time, you see, so Ross grew up in a house decorated according to his grandparents’ tastes. Mum is very much into chintz and frills and I think that’s why Ross rebelled and opted for something very different when he bought his own home.’

‘It must have been a help to have your parents on hand,’ Matt said quietly, and she nodded.

‘Oh, it was. Mum not only looked after Ross while I was studying but while I was doing my rotations as well. I don’t know how I’d have managed otherwise. The hours a newly qualified doctor has to work are horrendous.’

‘I remember how exhausting it was working such long shifts. My first post was as a junior house officer in A and E at a hospital in London—I don’t think I went to bed for three days solid at one point because I was on call.’

‘Thank heavens they’ve put a stop to young doctors working such terrible hours, although it’s no picnic for them even now,’ she agreed. ‘It’s madness to expect someone to function properly when they’re exhausted.’

‘It is. I certainly couldn’t have coped with looking after Heather on top of the hours I worked. Thankfully, I didn’t need to because Claire took care of all that. She gave up work when Heather was born so she could be a full-time mum.’ Matt sighed. ‘You’ve not had an easy time, Rachel, have you? You didn’t have that option.’

‘It wasn’t that bad,’ she protested, touched by the concern in his voice. ‘As I said, Mum and Dad were marvellous and once I’d completed my GP training, life became much easier. It was still hard work, of course, but at least I didn’t need to work such gruellingly long hours.’

‘When did you move out of your parents’ house?’ Matt asked curiously.

‘When Ross was about twelve. I was earning a decent salary by then and I was able to afford a mortgage. Mum still helped out if I needed a hand, but it was good to be independent at last.’

‘You value your independence, then?’ he said quietly, and she frowned when she caught a hint of something she couldn’t identify in his tone.

‘Yes, I suppose I do. It was a long time before I was able to strike out on my own and it’s important to me to know that I’m not beholden to anyone.’

‘Is that why you’ve never married?’ He shrugged when she looked at him in surprise. ‘It just seems strange that you’re still single. It certainly can’t be for lack of offers.’

Rachel felt the colour rush to her cheeks and stared down at the table. Had she imagined that sensuous note in Matt’s voice, that hint of sexual attraction? She must have done because there was no sign of it on his face when she looked up.

‘I guess I’ve never met anyone I wanted to spend my life with,’ she said lightly, opting for a partial truth.

The waiter arrived just then to take their order and by the time they decided what they wanted, the moment had passed. However, several times during the evening Rachel found herself wondering if she should have been more up front with Matt and explained that she had been wary of falling in love in case she had committed another error of judgement. For some reason she couldn’t explain it seemed important that he should know the truth. How odd.

They left the restaurant shortly after ten p.m. Matt would have happily stayed there longer but it was obvious the staff were waiting to close for the night. If anything the temperature had dropped even further and he saw Rachel shiver as they walked towards their cars.

‘Brr, it’s freezing,’ she declared, huddling into the collar of her coat. ‘Do you think it will snow tonight?’

‘It could do, although it’s probably a bit too cold at the moment.’ Matt carried on past his car and saw her look at him in surprise. ‘I’ll just make sure you get off safely,’ he explained, and she laughed.

‘Ever the gentleman even in the freezing cold!’ She quickly zapped the locks open and turned to him. ‘I enjoyed tonight, Matt. Thank you. Next time, it’s my treat.’

‘I’ll hold you to that,’ he said, aiming for lightness and hoping he had succeeded. The thought of them spending another evening together was so enticing that he had a sudden urge to grin but managed to restrain himself. There was no point scaring her into thinking she’d had dinner with a lunatic!

‘You do that.’

Before he could say anything else she reached up on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. Her lips were cold from the wind and Matt sucked in his breath when he felt them touch his skin. It was just one of those kisses that people exchanged all the time, he told himself firmly, a social nicety, nothing to get steamed up about, but he wasn’t convinced. He could call it whatever he liked, but it was still a kiss and his body appreciated that fact even if his brain insisted on trying to rationalise it.

Desire flooded through him, bringing about a very predictable response, or at least one that would have been predictable several years ago. The fact that it hadn’t happened in so long he could barely remember the last time made his heart almost stutter to a stop.

Rachel gave him a quick smile as she stepped back. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Take care going home. There could be ice on the roads.’

‘I…um…you too,’ Matt said numbly as she got into her car and closed the door. He waited while she backed out of the parking space, even managed to wave as she drove away, but every action was an effort when his body was clamouring for something it hadn’t experienced since Claire had died.

He walked back to his car and got in then sat there, letting the feelings pour through him. This had gone beyond what he had felt at the weekend, way beyond that first tentative awakening of desire. What he was feeling now was something more earthy, more powerful, more urgent. He wanted to make love to Rachel and enjoy every inch of her delectable body, and then enjoy
her
enjoying
him
. Maybe it was the passage of time but he couldn’t remember feeling this need so intensely before, not even for Claire.

The thought shook him to the core. His love for Claire had been the mainstay of his life, the one thing that had never been in doubt. Surely he wasn’t doubting it now just because he wanted to have sex with another woman?

Matt knew he needed to work out what was going on and that he couldn’t do it there. He needed to go home and think about it, calmly, rationally. He drove himself home, keeping his speed well below the limit because he was aware that his reactions weren’t as sharp as they should have been. As soon as he got in, he made himself a cup of coffee and took it into the sitting room. There in the room he and Claire had spent so many happy evenings, he let himself remember their life together, all the good times they’d had, the fun, the laughter, the love.

Tears welled to his eyes but he didn’t try to stop them falling. He had spent years being strong for his daughter’s sake and it was time he allowed himself an outlet for his emotions. He had loved Claire so much, would have loved her for ever more, but she had died and left him on his own. He needed to cry for the woman he had lost and he also needed to cry for himself too.

Rachel drove home carefully, heeding her own advice. Although the main roads had been gritted, she could see a shimmer of frost on the tarmac when she turned into the lane leading to her cottage. She negotiated the bends with extra care and drew up with a sigh of relief. Thank heavens that was over.

Stepping out of the car, she went to hurry up the path and shrieked in alarm when her feet suddenly skidded from under her. She landed with an almighty thud, wincing as her right knee took the brunt of her fall. Getting to her feet again wasn’t easy when her knee felt as though it was on fire but she needed to get inside. She certainly couldn’t spend the night outdoors in weather as cold as this.

She hobbled up the path and let herself in. It seemed an awful long way to the kitchen but a cold compress should help to prevent her knee swelling up. By leaning against the wall and hopping, she finally made it to the kitchen and dug a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer, wrapping it in a tea-towel before applying it to her knee. There was already a huge bruise forming and she guessed that the whole knee would be black and blue by the morning.

She sighed as she held the makeshift compress against her swollen joint. What a miserable end to a lovely evening. Maybe it was payback for that kiss? She hadn’t planned on it happening—it had been purely an impulse. She wouldn’t have given it a second thought normally either. However, the moment her lips had connected with Matt’s cheek, she had realised her mistake. Social kissing may be all well and good, but not when the person she was kissing was Matt, apparently.

Her breath caught as she remembered the warmth of his skin against her lips. She touched a finger to her mouth and shuddered when she felt an echo of that heat still lingering there. It was hard to believe the brief contact could have left such a lasting impression. Had it made the same impression on Matt, though?

Common sense insisted that the answer to that question should be a resounding no but she found it difficult to accept it. There had been several occasions recently when he had looked at her with an awareness in his eyes that she hadn’t seen there before. Even the interest he had shown tonight when he’d asked her why she had chosen to remain single was a new departure for him and she couldn’t help wondering what had changed. Was it possible that Matt no longer saw her simply as a colleague?

The thought made her heart race even though she had no proof that it was true. Rachel sighed as she put the now-soggy bag of peas back into the freezer and lifted out a bag of sprouts. All she knew for certain was that
her
feelings towards Matt had altered recently and altered dramatically too. She would have to be extra careful around him and make sure that she didn’t let him know how confused she felt. And that meant no more kissing for
any
reason!

Matt was getting showered the following morning when the telephone rang. Snatching a towel off the rack, he hurried into his bedroom and picked up the receiver. Surprisingly, after all the emotional upheaval of the previous evening, he had slept soundly. It was as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, making him see that he had needed an outlet for his feelings for a very long time.

‘Matthew Thompson.’

‘Matt, it’s me, Rachel. I’m sorry to phone you so early but I need a favour.’

Matt felt a rush of heat invade him and sank down onto the bed. Hearing Rachel’s voice reminded him vividly of the dreams he’d had during the night, dreams of such an explicit nature that his body immediately quickened as he recalled them. It was an effort to respond calmly when every cell was suddenly on the alert.

‘Of course. What can I do for you, Rachel?’

‘Can you give me a lift into work? I very stupidly slipped on some ice last night as I got out of my car and hurt my knee. It’s not serious,’ she added hurriedly, ‘but I don’t think I can actually drive myself there today.’

‘Do you want me to run you to hospital so you can have it X-rayed?’ Matt suggested in concern.

‘Thanks, but there’s no need. I’m sure there’s no serious damage—it’s just badly swollen. It should be back to normal in a couple of days’ time.’

‘Are you sure you should be going into work?’ he protested. ‘The best thing for it is rest and you won’t be able to do that if you’re having to jump up and down, attending to patients.’

‘I’ll manage,’ she assured him. ‘I’ve spent the night with a bag of frozen peas strapped to it and that’s helped.’

Matt chuckled. ‘It’s good to know the professionals opt for the same remedies as their patients. Frozen peas indeed!’

Rachel laughed. ‘It was either peas or sprouts, and the sprouts were far too lumpy, I discovered. They kept rolling about!’

Her laughter rippled down the line and Matt felt his senses spin all over again. Why had he never realised before what a gorgeously sexy laugh she had? It was an effort to concentrate as she continued.

‘I’ll be ready any time you say, so when should I expect you?’

He glanced at the bedside clock. ‘Will half an hour suit you?’