Читать книгу Her Unexpected Baby - Trish Wylie - Страница 9

‘ADAM offered to be your date? Really?’

Dana blinked across at her sister-in-law. They’d become close incredibly fast, considering Dana’s lack of trust for new people. But it hadn’t taken long for her to see how much her brother Jack loved Tara, and within a short period of time it had become obvious why. She was special. If a tad…well, unusual at times.

At that precise moment they were curled up on the sofa in Jack and Tara’s living room. Tara, nearly five months pregnant, was wearing a huge T-shirt with an arrow that pointed down to her stomach and the words ‘Bun in the Oven’ emblazoned across her chest.

‘Yes, and my face must have looked exactly like yours does now when he said it.’

‘What did you say?’

‘I think I stood with my mouth open long enough to catch flies.’

‘And then you said…?’

‘I said he had to be kidding.’

‘And he said?’

‘That it was a genuine offer. And Wouldn’t it get me out of a hole?’ She mimicked his voice.

Tara grinned, her grey eyes wide. ‘So you said…?’

‘That in order for it to get me out of a hole it would have to be believable, and we weren’t exactly a match made in heaven.’

Tara waved her finger in the air. ‘You’ve got a point there.’

‘I thought so,’ Dana sighed. ‘I mean, who on earth is going to watch the two of us together for more than sixty seconds and not recognise the fact that we can’t stand each other? That man could make a nun commit murder.’

‘You’ve mentioned that. Jack finds it hilarious.’

‘He would.’

‘Though you have to admit…’ Tara looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke over the rim of her cup. ‘Adam definitely fills the requirements for an “in your face, Jim” date.’

‘Possibly.’ She’d already admitted that fact to herself on the drive over, although it had taken ten miles before she’d allowed the thought to take root. In fact, she’d done the whole ‘pros and cons’ list again, as it happened. If there was nothing else about Dana she was at least logical. She thought things over. Assessed them carefully. Very carefully.

Adam as a partner was just too ridiculous.

‘Walking in on his arm certainly wouldn’t do your reputation any harm.’

‘Until he opened his mouth.’

Tara smiled as Dana sipped at her tea. It never ceased to amaze her, the differences between Jack and his sisters. Especially this one. Whereas Jack was a spontaneous, off-the-cuff guy, who followed his heart in everything he did, Dana was at the complete opposite end of the scale. Sometimes it was as if the very thought of losing control of anything around her was just too big a step for her to take.

Then, just every so often, there would be a tiny glimpse of her that matched her brother. But those glimpses were rare. Rare and a wonder to the beholder.

Dana really had no idea of her own worth as far as Tara could see.

‘Aw, c’mon, Dana—he could charm the pants off the entire room within about twenty seconds of getting there, and you and I both know it. He’s a man’s man, as well as every woman’s idea of a complete stud muffin.’

Dana mulled the words over for a moment and then sighed. ‘But not the type who’d date a woman like me. It’d be completely and utterly unbelievable, and that’s why it would never work.’

‘Why wouldn’t you be the type of woman he’d date?’

Dana’s eyebrows rose slightly at the question. Then she shrugged. ‘I’m not glamour model material. I’m more…hell, I don’t know…the kind of woman that a bank manager would date.’

‘You fancy your bank manager?’

That drew the required smile. ‘You’d know the answer to that if you ever saw him. The only attractive thing about that man is the fact that he controls my overdraft.’

‘And Adam?’

Dana turned in her seat to stare at Tara. ‘You think I find anything attractive about Adam Donovan?’

‘You’re not blind.’

‘He doesn’t look like the back of a bus. I’ll give you that.’

‘And?’

‘And?’ Dana’s eyes widened. She wasn’t about to make any confession on the subject of whether or not she found Adam remotely attractive. Tara would just have to go fishing in another pond. ‘There isn’t an and, Tara. Other people may think he’s the be-all and end-all, but I know him. I work with him every day and I think he’s an arrogant—’

‘Yes, I know, I know.’ Tara waved her hand. There was just no arguing on the subject of Adam with Dana. And the romantic side of Tara had tried. ‘I get that. But you have to admit that he would be one hell of a candidate for the reunion. You’d just need to try and forget all you know about him for one little evening and then you could go back to normal. Sounds fairly simple.’

Dana blinked as she thought, the conflict visible in her expressive eyes.

Tara continued, ‘By not being there, in a way you’ll have let Jim win, don’t you think?’

‘How will I?’

‘He’ll think you didn’t go because you knew he’d be there with Melanie. He’ll think it matters to you that he’s with someone and you’re not.’

Yes, he damn well would. But it was Adam Donovan they were talking about, here. Adam bloody Donovan.

Dana searched for another exit route. ‘I wouldn’t be believable as someone Adam Donovan would look twice at.’

‘Because you’re not his type?’

‘Exactly. Like I said.’

Tara shook her head. Didn’t Dana ever look in the mirror? ‘I think I need that explained better.’

With a frown, Dana looked away from Tara’s probing gaze. ‘He exclusively dates the glamour girl type—all makeup and shiny hair and cleavage. The vaguely vacant type is all I’ve ever seen come by for lunch. Trust me. I’m not like that.’

Tara studied Dana’s controlled exterior. To all the world she was sleek, elegant, sophisticated. Nothing was ruffled or out of place, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Everything indicated that she was matter-of-fact, ultra-smart and businesslike, reliable. Nothing about her exterior indicated her creative personality or the wicked sense of humour that every member of her family possessed.

Tara’s eyes wandered over the dark hair swept back into a neat chignon at the neck of her jacket, the face with delicate features barely touched by make-up. Ah-ha…

‘We could do a makeover.’

‘A what?’

‘A makeover. Recreate Dana Taylor for one night.’ Tara’s smile grew, her imagination kicking in. ‘That’d get the room talking. The brand-new, sexy Dana with the drop-dead gorgeous Adam Donovan. Hell, that’s bound to make you the talk of the town for a few months. “In your face” material if ever I heard it.’

Dana watched as the idea formed in her sister-in-law’s eyes, her face now animated. This thing was getting out of control. Really. It was a runaway train.

‘What kind of makeover?’

‘You just had to volunteer didn’t you?’

Adam looked at his own eyes in the rearview mirror.

‘Yeah, and you nearly, almost got away with it. But, no. You went and volunteered, and now you’re going to a reunion with the woman you spend half your life trying to get away from.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re a genius, aren’t you?’

With practised ease he honed his sports car round a corner at its usual sixty miles an hour, and then swore as he had to reduce speed rapidly to make the turn into Jack and Tara’s lane way.

His business partner and best friend had let the bachelor team down badly when he’d gone and got married. But Adam had forgiven him—just about. After all, the man was happy—hell, contented, almost. He could forgive the act if it had that result on a guy he loved like a brother. But as for Jack lumbering Adam with his pain-in-the-ass sister… Well, that would take longer to forgive.

He parked his favourite toy, took a deep breath, and walked up the steps and onto the porch of the huge Victorian house. The door swung open before he got to it.

‘Hey, pal.’ Jack Lewis grinned at him from the doorway. ‘Nice tux. Don’t you look sweet?’

‘Anyone ever told you how much you’d suit a black eye?’

‘Nope, but if you reckon you’re man enough to try it out…’

Adam grinned across at him. The two men were of equal height at the six-two mark. ‘Nah, wouldn’t dare. Your wife would kick my ass.’

‘Indeed she would.’ Jack stood back to allow Adam to step into the hallway, his hand immediately reaching across to slap his back. ‘This is a nice thing you’re doing, by the way, so I’ll just get this out of the way right now…’ He waited until Adam looked him in the eye. ‘I appreciate it.’

He damn well should. Adam smiled at the younger man. ‘No problem.’

Jack’s face changed slightly. ‘If you knew what that useless ex-husband of hers—’

Adam had moved closer as Jack began to confide in him, but was distracted when movement caught the corner of his eye from the top of the stairs. Turning his head, he glanced upwards as Dana approached.

If his mind hadn’t recognised the woman as Dana Taylor he’d have fallen in love there and then. She was, quite simply, stunning.

‘Are you going to keep on looking at me like that all night?’ She didn’t look across at him as he smoothly changed gears and sped along the wide road.

Adam gritted his teeth. This was going to be the longest night of his life. ‘And how exactly am I looking at you?’

She took a breath and stared at the alien that was her own reflection in the windscreen. ‘Like you’re a chocaholic and I’m a bar of best Swiss.’

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. How in God’s name had she noticed that, when she’d spent the last twenty minutes staring straight ahead? The atmosphere in his small car couldn’t have been cut in half with a chainsaw.

‘That’s how most men with a pulse look at women who wear dresses like you’re wearing—didn’t you know?’ He smiled sarcastically. ‘It’s a chemical reaction, so don’t get your G-string in a twist.’

Dana sincerely hoped his remark was flippant and not because he could actually see what she was wearing beneath the dress.

Tara had been like a woman possessed from the moment the word makeover had left her lips. Dana, left to herself, would never have worn a dress like this in a billion years. After all, at her age she had things like hypothermia to consider.

‘Well, could you kindly stop it?’

‘Why? Aren’t I supposed to be your date? Let me tell you, if this was a real date and you wore that dress we wouldn’t even have left the house yet—and you’d have your make-up to fix in about an hour.’

She squirmed slightly on her seat, his words conjuring images in her mind that her imagination had no business creating. For the entire day she had been trying to think up ways of getting out of this charade. But Tara had been having so much fun with it all, and in a small way it was flattering to have people stunned by her transformation. Even if the majority of them were family and the other was the one person on the planet who irritated her most.

‘Well, we’ll never know, will we? Because this isn’t a real date.’

They drove on in silence for several long minutes, each of them alone with their thoughts. Adam caught her squirming again in the seat beside him and smiled with sudden realisation. ‘You’re uncomfortable as hell with how you look tonight, aren’t you?’

Great. Insight. When had he developed that?

‘I’m not exactly dressed as me tonight, am I?’ The words spilled out. She really shouldn’t have drunk all that red wine while Tara got her ready.

He shrugged. ‘Not as the anally retentive you that I work with every day, no.’

‘Anally retentive?’ She turned her head to frown at his words. ‘You think I’m anally retentive?’

Adam glanced at her and grinned. ‘Hell, yes. You think you aren’t?’

Was she? She mulled his words over in her mind as the car sped towards their destination. The Dana of old would never have been described as anally retentive. Far from it. She’d been wild back in the day—a practical joker, a live wire. But back then she’d been carefree. Life had changed that. Now she was a single mother, and responsibility came with that title. Maybe she was a tad anally retentive in her working life—when Adam saw her. It was the only part of her life she’d ever allowed him to see. She’d been careful about that. Even Jess, her daughter, had never been brought to the office. So he really had nothing else to base his assumption on, did he? She shouldn’t actually have cared that he thought it. But somehow she did. It ruffled her feathers.

‘I like things at work to be organised.’ She tilted her head slightly as she said the words in a sharp tone. ‘And you can’t tell me that that office didn’t need some organisation. You couldn’t even find a pen when I first arrived.’

It was true. But that hadn’t stopped the business from being successful. They’d always got the important things done on time. It might have meant a night or two of burning the midnight oil to get there. But they’d always managed it. Just.

He wasn’t so pig-headed that he wouldn’t admit that her need for neatness and systems had helped. Now the place ran like a well-oiled machine. But in a small way that had taken some of the fun out of it for Adam.

‘You could loosen up a bit and it wouldn’t kill you.’

‘I’m loose.’ She blushed at her own words and he grinned across at her.

‘I don’t need to know about your personal life, Dana.’

‘You don’t know anything about me!’

Not beyond what she wanted him to see. He knew that much. Had known it for months. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t known Jack’s sisters before, but Dana was as much a mystery to him now as she’d been when he’d first set eyes on her. Elusive, almost. It was another one of the many things that bugged him about her.

‘You’re right. I don’t.’ He focused his gaze back on the road as they approached the turning to the hotel where the reunion was being held. ‘Any more than you know anything about me. But that doesn’t stop you from judging me, does it?’

She snorted quietly. ‘And you’re going to tell me you have some hidden side to you, are you? It’s well hidden, isn’t it?’

He screeched to a halt in front of the large building, yanking the handbrake with superfluous force before silencing the purr of the engine and turning to scowl across at her.

‘You don’t want to get to know me, Dana. That’s your problem. You’re so bloody uptight that you prefer to just place people in safe little boxes and never look any deeper than what you see on the surface. Makes everything very safe and secure for you, doesn’t it?’

Her heart beat a little faster as her anger grew. ‘And this is precisely the reason I didn’t want to bring you to this damned reunion. We’re not even inside the building and already we’re having an argument!’

Adam took a deep breath and looked out of the windscreen. He watched several people in evening dress filtering in through the hotel’s glass doors. They were here now. And, as much as he wanted to turn the car around and take her right back to where they’d come from, he was a bigger man than that. He wouldn’t let her off that easily. She was just so determined to be right all the damned time. Well, not this time. He’d make the evening convincing if it killed him.

‘You need to pretend you like me for this to work.’

‘I’d win an Oscar for that.’

He turned to look at her again. ‘Give it a try. Pretend I’m someone else, if you like. Because that’s what I intend doing with you.’

‘Pretend I like you?’

He nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘Forget who you are?’

‘Yes.’ His jaw clenched. ‘Just for a few hours. Try looking at me as a man, and not as something you picked up on the heel of your boot. I can do it if you can.’ Though it would take some effort. ‘All we have to do is forget about real life for tonight. Make like we’re two people who just met and are still getting to know each other. No preconceptions, no false judgements. Live for the moment and all that.’

He made it sound so simple. She blinked across at him. Was it? Was it just that simple? Forget that he was Adam for one evening and get to know him as if he was just some guy? Like a blind date of sorts? She took a breath. It would be a stretch.

The old Dana would have pulled this off with her eyes shut. The old Dana would have found it all hilarious, a great joke—a challenge, even. Was there any of that girl left any more? Or had reality squashed her down too much?

Another deep breath. She would try. It was a college reunion, for crying out loud. If that couldn’t remind her of the girl she’d used to be then what could? She was walking into that room completely made over, à la Cinderella. And with a ridiculously attractive Prince Charming type at her side, too. What the hell else did she need to pull it off?

Guts, possibly? She’d had those once.

‘What’s wrong, Dana?’ His voice dropped to a deep, intimate note. ‘No guts, no glory. If you’re too chicken for this, or if you’re not woman enough to walk into that room in that dress…you just say the word.’

Damn, damn, damn. Why did it have to be him?

It was as if the room went still when they walked in. To the outside view they made one hell of a couple.

Dana couldn’t tell if the assembled company had actually done the whole silent thing, due to the band playing on stage at one end of the large area, but heads certainly turned and conversations were certainly interrupted.

Dana smiled. It was actually a nice feeling. She couldn’t remember the last time people had looked at her as if—well, like they were doing right that second. With a sense of awe, almost. With maybe a touch of ‘wow’ in their expressions. It felt good.

Adam noticed her smile and smiled himself, moving his hand up to touch her back, to guide her into the room. He was reminding himself to play the game. He only remembered when his hand touched soft skin that her dress had no back.

His hand jumped away as if burned before he forced himself to set it back in place, moving his long fingers in an unconscious caress as he ushered her into the crowd. Her skin felt good, his mind recognised, silken and warm to the touch—and that was only on her back. Being male, his mind wandered to other areas where a woman’s skin was softer still. If she was this soft where his hands were now…

He cleared his throat, suddenly noting how warm the room was for so early in the evening.

Dana had jumped too when his hand touched her. Surprise, she told herself. After all, it wasn’t as if Adam made a habit of touching her naked skin on a daily basis. When his hand settled the second time, and those long fingers of his began their smooth caress, she felt her pulse beat erratically. She’d always known he had quite an effect on women. And she’d always wondered why. But if the simple touch of his hand had that kind of effect then she now had a pretty fair idea of the ‘why’. TMI, as her daughter would say. Too much information.

She glanced up at him with a tilt of her head, her blue eyes exploring his profile for signs that he’d noticed her reaction. After a second he glanced down and their eyes locked. He moved his hand along her back again, his forefinger tracing a line along the ridges of her spine, downwards to the inward curve of the small of her back.

Her eyes grew heavy. He was good at this make-believe stuff.

Adam watched her reaction to his touch. She was quite the little actress. Pretend she was someone else. That was what he’d said he’d do, right? Well, hell, it wasn’t going to be tough. The woman in front of him was a complete stranger—as far removed from the Dana he knew as…as Godzilla from Brigitte Bardot.

This woman was hot. Hot to the touch, hotter than hell to look at—and, had an alarm bell not sounded at the back of his head to remind him occasionally of who she was, Adam would have wanted her. Big style.

As she flicked the edge of her tongue across her mouth he leaned towards her ear. ‘I think we got their attention.’

Waiting until he raised his head slightly, she looked into his eyes and smiled. ‘I’d say so.’

His eyes wandered from hers to a lock of curled hair that brushed against her flushed cheek. He reached out to turn it between his fingers, his other hand still continuing its caress against her spine. ‘So, do you want to mingle, get a drink, dance? Or maybe…’ His eyes met hers again. ‘Maybe we should just find a corner to continue convincing them in.’

If he did much more convincing Dana was fairly sure she’d explode. Her poor pulse would just beat its way right out of its little passageway. The nerves she’d had about attending the stupid reunion and all that red wine were obviously making her react in ways she wouldn’t have under normal circumstances. Yeah, that was it. It was a form of stage fright, that was all. This acting thing was a toughie. But she wasn’t going into any corner to convince anyone of anything when Adam was looking at her like that.

It was as if she’d stepped into a different reality. But she could deal with it. She could make it through—somehow…

‘I think I’d like a drink.’

His smile widened, awarding her a glimpse of those perfect white teeth and those dimples of his. ‘I can arrange that.’ He suddenly leaned down. Dana tilted her head at that exact moment to listen to what he was saying. The two movements in the same split second caused his lips to just barely touch across the sensitive skin below her ear, and his voice tickled against the goosebumps the touch had created. ’Chicken.’

She watched him as he walked away from her, his broad shoulders stretching the material of his jacket as he moved. About six steps away he looked over his shoulder at her and winked. Dana laughed as he turned away again. He really did have enough arrogance to fill the room. Reluctantly she had to admit inwardly that it had a certain element of charm about it. Wild horses wouldn’t drag the words from her lips, though.

Even as she laughed at his departing figure she was suddenly surrounded by arms, and lips kissing her cheeks. When she was finally freed she glanced round at the four grinning faces of her friends from the old days. The ones who had known the old Dana best.

‘Oh, my lord, Dana, where did you get that hunk of man from?’

‘How long have you been seeing him?’

It was Lucy who eventually stepped forward to silence them all.

‘Now, girls, give Dana time to catch her breath.’ She winked sideways at her. ‘And after seeing you in action I’d say you need a moment or two to catch your breath.’ She flapped a hand in front of her face before smiling a warm smile. ‘I never knew you two were an item. I thought you just worked together.’

Tracey McKenna blinked at her. ‘You know that man?’

‘Of course I do.’ Lucy nodded. ‘He’s Adam Donovan—as in Donovan & Lewis, the designers. Dana and Adam work together.’

‘You work together? How do you concentrate long enough to get anything done?’

Dana smiled. ‘Believe me, it’s tough. But I manage somehow.’

‘He’s sex on a stick, isn’t he?’

‘God, you always could get them.’ Ella Dawson blinked at her with a twinkle in her eye. ‘If there was a great-looking guy within fifty paces he always ended up chasing round after you.’

Dana searched for a hint of sarcasm in the woman’s eyes and blinked in surprise when she found none. She examined the words. Really? Ella thought that? She glanced around to see if a crowd of men had formed that she hadn’t noticed. Nope.

‘You really need to get glasses, Ella. There’s no rush of men in my general direction.’

‘Not while you have Adam Donovan with you, there’s not!’

No, and pretty much never, actually. She was a single parent who was apparently anally retentive; surely that in itself was enough to keep the men from breaking down her front door?

Lucy smiled. ‘You were always popular with the guys, Dana. And, in that dress, what warm-blooded male wouldn’t be interested? You look sensational.’

‘Doesn’t she, though? I said pretty much the same thing.’

The deep, familiar voice sounded beside her left ear, and Adam charmed all of the women as he rewarded them with a smile they each thought was meant only for them. He then handed Dana her glass with a sparkle in his eye, and immediately replaced his hand on her back, where the skin was still warm from the last time he’d touched her.

Dana raised an eyebrow as she sipped at her wine. He’d said no such thing, actually. What he’d done was gape at her from the bottom of the stairs, then steal glances at her on the trip over. And now he felt he had carte blanche to keep touching her.

‘We were just saying how typical it is of her to end up with the best-looking guy in the room.’ Tracey leaned towards Adam as she spoke. Lots of women did that, Dana knew.

Adam blinked. ‘Really? Bit of a goer, was she?’

Dana gritted her teeth beneath a smile and elbowed him hard in the ribs. ‘Isn’t he just the funniest?’

‘Just a small part of my many charms—isn’t it, babes?’

And if he called her babes again she was going to elbow him lower next time. She felt him move his hand across her back to her hip, leaving his thumb to play against her skin as he pulled her closer to his side.

‘She was just so much fun to be around.’

Adam gaped slightly at Lucy, the only one of the women he’d met before. Fun? To be around? Dana Taylor?

’Really?’

Dana glared up at him. If he was supposed to be pretending he was in some great relationship with her surely he shouldn’t look so damned surprised at the thought that she might actually be fun?

Fortunately Lucy appeared to be a couple of wine glasses past observant. ‘Oh, yeah! I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen her dance on tables or lead us all on some madcap trip somewhere. Do you remember the Twenty-Four-Hour Club, Dana?’

As his thumb continued to move along the edge of the material of her dress, over her skin and what he thought might be the minute string of her underwear, Adam’s mind worked overtime. He sincerely hoped that the Twenty-Four-Hour Club was no relation to the Mile-High Club, or he would never be able to share an office with Dana again.

Dana’s face began to flame. Not so much because of Lucy’s reminiscences of the past as the fact that she was now being completely distracted by Adam’s hand against her. The last thing she needed was for him to find his earlier assumption as to the kind of underwear a woman was forced to wear beneath this type of dress had in fact been correct. She tried to squirm subtly further away from the steel wall of his body.

But Adam was having none of it. He pressed his hand firmer against her hip and drew her closer. With a downward glance that said Oh, no you don’t, he asked the obvious question. ‘Twenty-Four-Hour Club, babes?’

She swallowed. He really could be quite intense close up, couldn’t he? She damped her lips. ‘Probably not what you’re thinking it was.’

‘Then why don’t you tell me?’

‘It was basically an excuse for drunken trips away.’

Dana grimaced at Lucy’s choice of words. They were accurate, which didn’t help her cause any. She gulped down more wine.

Lucy, meanwhile, continued. ‘The idea was to get as far away from base—which was college—as possible, and back again within twenty-four hours, on a pre-agreed budget.’

Adam smiled at the thought. ‘To anywhere?’

‘Oh, yes. We got all over the place—didn’t we, Dana?’

Dana opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again as Lucy continued. ‘It started with a boat trip to Scotland, then one to France, then some of us got a bit further afield until Dana the Master topped us all.’

His smile upgraded to a grin as he looked down at her. ‘Where’d you end up?’

‘New York.’ She finally managed to get a word in edge-wise.

‘On a budget of what?’

Lucy laughed. ‘That was the best bit. She dressed up as some kind of medical person, and carried a pig heart in a freezer case a medical student mate of hers had got from the hospital. She blagged her way onto the flight for virtually nothing because she was carrying a donor organ. Took some major flirting, from what I’ve heard, but she was famous after that.’

Adam looked at her with more respect than she’d ever seen before from him. Trust him to value her more for her immoral and irresponsible ways of old than for her ‘anally retentive’ organisation around the office. Typical. ‘I’m impressed.’

‘You just would be, wouldn’t you?’

He tilted his head. ‘I’m seeing a whole new side to you here.’

She managed a small smile at the truth in his words. ‘I guess you are.’

His thumb moved slowly backwards and forwards against her skin. Hypnotic, almost. With a lazy blink of his green eyes he lowered his voice to a deep rumble. ‘Anything else you want to tell me about?’

She hadn’t wanted him knowing anything in the first place. The hypnotic movement continued against her skin. ‘What do you want to know?’

His eyes looked deep into hers. What changed you? The question formed in his brain and almost made it to his mouth. But he closed it just in time. He needed to keep reminding himself this was Dana Taylor, his very own personal nemesis, the woman who made work days seem much longer than their allocated eight to twelve hours.

A voice sounded from outside the sexually charged bubble they were creating. ‘You know she sings?’