He smiled behind his cup as Harriet’s air of sophistication collapsed and her cheeks went cherry-red. ‘Yes, well, I’ll make an appointment with Dr Baker some time this week,’ she said hurriedly, fussing with her hair in order to avoid his amused eyes.
‘If you want me to make love to you tonight you’ll see her today,’ he repeated firmly.
A little thrill ran down her spine before she remembered, ‘Tonight is my French class.’
‘What time does it start?’
‘Eight o’clock.’
Nightfall. Their eyes met in perfect accord on the thought.
‘And when does it finish?’
‘Not until half past ten,’ she said wistfully, peeping at him through her naked brown lashes.
‘Mmm…that only leaves us seven and a half hours in bed,’ he mused silkily. ‘Hardly time to warm ourselves up.’
Harriet was already warm all over. ‘I’ll make sure I see Dr Baker at lunchtime,’ she vowed fervently, and he leaned back and laughed at her expression.
‘And I’ll go home for dinner with Nicola and see her off to bed before I come back into town.’
‘Will—will you tell her where you’re going?’
‘Yes. Does that bother you?’
It shouldn’t have, given the girl’s previously stated approval, but it did…a little. However, not enough to outweigh the selfish joy of having Marcus to herself.
‘No. I just hope…’ Harriet hesitated and he raised his eyebrows ‘…that she doesn’t mention it to her grandmother,’ she finished in a little rush. ‘She told me that Mrs Jerome has already called three times since she went on holiday and has…well…’
His mouth quirked. ‘“Interrogated her” is the phrase I think you’re looking for. I think Susan may already be aware that I’ve seen much more of you than I have of Lynne since she left. Nicola does tend to pepper her conversation with your name.’
‘Oh, dear,’ she murmured with a tiny glimmer of smugness.
‘Actually I spoke to Susan myself yesterday and reassured her that you weren’t a torrid blonde floozy,’ he said drily. ‘She’s arriving back today, but, don’t worry, I’ll protect you.’
Several hours later she wasn’t the least impressed with the level of Marcus’s protection as she reeled out of Dr Baker’s clinic after losing her lunch in the rest room.
Pregnant!
Harriet was three months pregnant!
Since New Year’s Eve she had been blithely walking around with her lover’s baby growing inside her! Marcus Fox’s baby. Nicola’s stepbrother or sister!
Collapsing into the Porsche, Harriet leant her clammy forehead on the leather steering wheel. She had never thought to ask if Marcus had used a condom all those months ago. She had just assumed that he would have been his normal over-responsible self. But of course he hadn’t been…neither of them had been in any state to consider the intrinsic biological purpose of their actions.
She had been slightly embarrassed in the doctor’s surgery that she had not recognised the changes in her body for what they were. But then, how could she have, when she hadn’t even known that pregnancy was a possibility? It all seemed so obvious now—her unpredictable stomach upsets combined with a greatly increased appetite and odd food cravings, her wild swings of emotion, her pleasing weight gain over the past few weeks and the tenderness of her breasts…although the latter she had attributed to her growing sexual awareness of Marcus. She just hadn’t realised how big it would grow, she thought hysterically.
‘But I can’t be—I’m still having my periods!’ Harriet had cried when both she and the doctor had been astonished by the result of the routine pelvic examination.
‘You’re definitely pregnant,’ Dr Baker had said, ‘but we’ll do the test just to remove all doubt.’ And while they had sat and waited for the result she had told Harriet that it wasn’t unusual for some women to have quite heavy spotting in the first few months of their pregnancy.
‘Have you noticed your periods being much lighter than usual?’
‘Well, maybe, yes…a little…some,’ Harriet conceded. ‘But I thought that was because I was depressed and under a lot of emotiona
l stress.’
‘Mmm, that’s why I want to get you onto an iron supplement right away,’ Dr Baker said. ‘After your father died you let yourself get quite run-down, and for the baby’s sake you need to build your condition back up as quickly as possible. But I’m leaping ahead of myself. I’m presuming here that you want to continue the pregnancy?’