Harry St Clair: Rogue or Doctor? (14 page)

He grimaced in sympathy. ‘Sip water. I’ll be back in a while to check on you. I’ll bring some lemonade or something.’

Bonnie heard the door close quietly and she sighed. At least she didn’t have to try to go to work. She felt rotten.

By ten o’clock she felt fine. ‘Shortest bug in history,’ she said to Vicki when she walked in.

Harry’s consulting-room door opened for him to show out a patient and he stopped when he saw her. ‘What’re you doing here?’

‘I’ve recovered and I’m bored.’

Harry looked at his watch. ‘It’s morning tea time for me. Fancy some food, then?’ He was looking at her strangely and she frowned at him.

‘Only if you want some.’

His frown was heavy. ‘I think so.’

He was acting oddly. Just an uneasy prickling that made her look at Vicki with a lift of her brows. Vicki shrugged in silent reply, as if to say, ‘I don’t know what’s up with him.’

Bonnie had no choice but to duck under his arm as he held the door open for her.

‘It’s too far to the coffee shop. How about a cup of tea in the dining room?’

‘Okay.’ This was getting stranger by the minute.

He ushered her into the deserted dining room and plugged in the kettle. Then he sat her down. ‘Steve’s found a replacement for me and he flies in tomorrow. I fly out in the evening.’

Bonnie bit her lip. She hated fighting with him but she wasn’t sure she wanted him to go. In fact, she was darned sure she didn’t want him to go, which was weird when he drove her insane.

‘Where are you going?’

‘I’m heading to Katherine to finish something I should have finished a long time ago. Then I’m going on to Darwin. I’m meeting a few people who are interested in a proposal I might have.’

‘That sounds good, Harry. Vague, but I’m glad for you.’

Then he said something totally off topic. ‘It’s five weeks since you left Bali.’

Time flew. Or did it? It felt like a year. ‘So?’

He was peering at her. ‘You were nauseated this morning.’

Horribly so. His point was? ‘And?’

‘Aren’t you suspicious?’

‘I’m getting a bit suspicious of you. Have you been drinking, Harry?’

‘This isn’t a joke.

‘Okay, Harry. Enough guessing games. Yes, I was sick this morning. What of it, Harry? Maybe I didn’t wash my hands well enough after looking after Leila?’

‘Come on, Bonnie. You’re a midwife.’

Bonnie blinked. ‘What.?’ Then it dawned on her what he was talking about. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. No! One time.’ She shook her head. ‘I have one word for you. Protection. That’s why they call it that.’

She shook her head at his presumption. ‘I thought you had tickets on yourself the first time I saw you.’

He glanced down at the floor and if she wasn’t
mistaken she’d almost think he was disappointed. Good grief.

But when he looked up his eyes were sharp again. ‘Then you’ve had a period since Bali?’

Now she was getting angry. And just a little worried as she calculated madly. ‘Spare me. You may be a doctor but you’re not my doctor.’

She stood up. ‘Have a good flight tomorrow, Harry. If I don’t see you, that will be good.’

Harry watched her walk away. Well, that hadn’t gone well. Understatement. He’d been sitting in his office before his last patient when it had hit him. And nothing could unconvince him that was why she was sick. He didn’t know why he was so positively certain. He’d checked dates, they worked out. He’d checked the net, it was unlucky but possible, and all he’d need to do was find out if she knew.

She didn’t but he still didn’t rule the possibility out. And the really strange thing was, now that the absolute worst that could have happened might have happened, he actually felt euphoric.

It was ridiculous but curiously liberating. There was no use running away. If it had happened. And actually worked with his new plans, as long as she’d have him.

If he was lucky, he was going to have to watch a woman he loved go through a pregnancy and he would have to conquer his fear. As Bonnie was fond of saying, he had to trust Mother Nature.

Because he wanted to be there. Wanted to see every change, be a part of every new experience, see the things he’d missed out on last time, be there for the normal
birth that he would have to learn to trust in. The birth of Bonnie’s baby, and his.

Now all he had to do was convince her he was a sane and sensible man, which could be difficult given his behaviour over the last few weeks.

B
ONNIE
escaped to her room, steering down the empty hallway like a remote-controlled car, not sure who was driving while her mind raced.

She pushed open the door and pulled it shut behind her back. When she leant against it the wood was the only cool thing on her body. She stared at her pale face in the mirror on the wall and slowly closed her eyes.

Her fingers inched reluctantly down until she rested them over her pelvic bone. She was pregnant. No period, nausea, slight tenderness when she’d put her bra on that morning. Good grief.

How the heck had this happened and how could she not be absolutely devastated? Well, she knew how it happened but the lack of a sense of impending doom surprised her. Because it wasn’t there. She was stunned and shocked but below those initial layers of disbelief lurked a tiny secret whisper of joy.

She was having Harry’s baby.

And in the absolutely worst-case scenario she could tell her baby she’d loved its daddy.

Therapeutic, in fact, to admit it. Accept the truth of it. Stop denying the truth. She loved annoying, frustrating, gorgeous Harry with every cell in her body. And
now she was sharing cells with him as they created their baby.

And if she’d gathered Harry’s reaction correctly, he wasn’t devastated either. Which opened up a whole new amazing realm of possibility.

When Harry knocked on her door three minutes later she opened her eyes. She knew it was him. Could feel the awareness through an inch of wood. They certainly had some talking to do.

She opened the door and he stood there tall and almost relaxed, which was a first since he’d arrived in the centre. She lifted her brows. When he smiled at her it held all the light and brightness and excitement she associated with the man she’d met in Bali.

Drat the man. He had too many good angles that made her forget how much he could drive her mad. These were all reasons he could sweep her off her feet but it was the question behind his eyes that really clinched it for her.

The wonder of his new self-knowledge, the warmth of a man who could feel complete with the woman he loved—and wanted her to feel the same.

‘I’ve brought you a gift.’ He held open his hand and the little silver baby he’d given her in Bali lay in his palm. ‘I’d really love you to keep this.’ He looked at her. ‘Along with my heart.’

She knew she loved him, had done so since that magical night at his house in Bali, but he didn’t deserve things to be easy. ‘Do I have your heart, Harry?’

‘If you let me in, I could try to convince you.’

They were married at sunset on top of a red sand dune overlooking the Rock. A wedding dune, with white
Balinese flags flying in a circle. Bernie was on the didgeridoo, playing haunting Aboriginal music, with a little dark-eyed girl in a white dress dropping white rose petals Harry had had flown in from Victoria.

Harry had flown down Bonnie’s friends from Darwin and his colleagues from the RFDS had done a fly-past with white ribbons in the sky.

The bride and groom exchanged solemn vows, eyes only for each other as they held hands, and Steve as celebrant, pronounced them man and wife. Later there would be another wedding in Ubud and another circle of friends would be there.

When the stars came out the astronomer from the Sounds of Silence Dinner wove dreamtime stories of ancient love between planets, myths of romance and the Greek gods, astrology and the attraction of opposite star signs, and Harry and Bonnie smiled at each other as they watched their guests’ rapt faces.

‘We need to do this once a year for our anniversary,’ Bonnie whispered. ‘I love learning about the stars and listening to the stories.’

‘And I love listening to you,’ Harry teased. ‘Even when I’m in trouble.’

Seven months later

Their car drew up outside the Uluru Birthing Centre. Bonnie breathed out the last of her contraction and put her hand on Harry’s arm. ‘Sacha can catch our baby.’

Harry looked across. ‘I’ll catch our baby.’

Bonnie raised her eyebrows. ‘And how are you going to do that and hold my hand at the same time?’

‘One-handed.’

Bonnie began to breathe as the next contraction built. ‘Harry, I need your hand.’

Harry smiled at this woman he adored more than life itself. ‘Sacha can catch our baby, my love. I knew your caseload midwifery would do me out of catching babies.’

‘You don’t really mind.’

He leant across and kissed her brow. ‘I’ll be the husband. I get the easy job. Have I told you lately that I love you?’

The pain eased and Bonnie sighed as she prepared herself mentally to stand up. ‘Not in the last half an hour.’

‘Sorry.’ Harry leant across and kissed her lips gently. ‘I love you.’ He opened his door. ‘Wait. I’ll help you.’

She watched him climb out fast but still with that effortless grace he’d always had. ‘I love you too,’ she said to the empty car, and smiled.

All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

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First published in Great Britain 2011
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

© Fiona McArthur 2011

ISBN: 978-1-408-92482-2