The Midwife's Christmas Miracle (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 5)

‘Are you joking?’ He picked up his fork with a grin. ‘My mother doesn’t let anyone into her kitchen. My sister took pity on me after spending a weekend. Or, I suppose, if I’m honest, she took pity on herself. She was fed up with eating my idea of food. How did you learn? Did your mother teach you to cook?’

Her hand froze on the fork. It was a perfectly reasonable question. Hadn’t she just asked him exactly the same one? ‘No.’ She couldn’t keep the stiffness out of her tone. ‘No, she didn’t. I taught myself.’

His gaze lingered on her face for a moment and then he turned his attention back to his plate. ‘You’ve always said that you don’t have any family. What happened?’

She put her fork down, her appetite suddenly gone. ‘I suppose I do have family.’ She almost choked on the word and wondered why she didn’t just lie. ‘It’s just that we’re not in touch any more.’

‘And you don’t want to talk about it.’ His tone was gentle, his blue eyes suddenly intent as he studied the tension in her face. ‘All right, we’ll talk about something else. Are you sleeping better now?’

She gave a faint smile. ‘Hard not to in that amazing bed.’

‘Another one of my sister’s purchases. She always said that since she was my most frequent guest, she was going to buy herself a comfortable bed to sleep in.’

‘You mentioned a niece and nephews, so she’s obviously married.’

‘Oh, yes. To an architect. They worked together on a project, that’s how they met.’ Jake leaned forward and helped himself to more food. ‘And now I have two cheeky nephews and a baby niece.’

Envy sliced through her and she gave a puzzled frown. Why envy? She never envied families. She knew that they were rarely what they seemed. ‘Do they live far away?’

‘Far enough.’ He leaned forward, picked up her fork and handed it to her. ‘Eat, or I’ll have to force-feed you.’

‘I’m not that hungry.’

‘Eat.’

Feeling thoroughly unsettled and not really understanding why, Miranda speared a thin strip of chicken and nibbled it. ‘Why do you say far enough? You’re obviously close to her.’

‘We’re twins,’ Jake confessed. ‘So, yes, we’re close. A bit too close sometimes. She’s inclined to meddle in my life.’

‘Like decorating your house?’

‘That sort of meddling I can live with.’ He picked up his glass. ‘What I don’t like is her interference in my love life. She’s always inviting me to dinner and introducing me to yet another of her recently divorced, unattached friends.’

Miranda couldn’t help smiling. ‘It’s pretty hard to meet people. That sounds as good a way as any.’

‘That’s because you don’t know my sister.’ Jake suppressed a yawn and pushed his chair away from the table. ‘Let’s just say that her idea of my ideal woman and my idea of my ideal woman don’t exactly coincide.’

‘What’s your ideal woman?’ The moment she asked the question she wished she hadn’t. His blue eyes lifted to hers and didn’t shift.

‘I’m looking at her.’

She gave a soft gasp and looked away. ‘Jake…’

‘I know what you’re going to say next so I’ll save you the breath and that way you can concentrate on clearing the food on your plate. You’re going to say that I’ve only known you a short time, you’re going to remind me that you’re pregnant, just in case I’d forgotten, and then you’re going to say that you’re not interested in men because relationships always go wrong.’

It was so close to what she would have said that she gaped at him. ‘Are you a mind-reader?’

‘No, but I think I probably understand women better than most men.’ He put his glass down on the table and leaned forward, his eyes still on her face. ‘I have a twin sister and on top of that I spend every day talking to women at a time when they’re at their most emotionally vulnerable. I have a pretty good idea what all your arguments will be, although I don’t understand all your reasons because you don’t trust me enough to tell me about your family. I’m hoping that, in time, that will change.’

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; She stared at him, stunned by what he was saying. ‘I’ve told you about Peter.’

‘Yes. But there’s more and that’s fine.’ His tone was conversational, as if they were discussing nothing more serious than the weather. ‘I’m willing to wait until you’re ready to tell me.’

She was his ideal woman?

‘Jake—’