Vaulting off the helicopter as soon as it had landed, Roel swung back to assist her. ‘That was a most impressive faint.’ A wickedly sensual smile illuminated his lean dark features. ‘For a moment, even I thought it was for real.’
‘It was…I think I got seasick,’ Hilary mumbled, leaning against him because her legs still felt distinctly untrustworthy in the support department.
‘Seasick?’ Roel exclaimed.
‘I still don’t feel so great,’ Hilary added apologetically.
Roel groaned and bent down to lift her again. ‘Seasick,’ he breathed in wonderment. ‘You were only on board fifteen minutes.’
An hour later she was lying in bed, circumspectly clad in a nightdress. Roel was poised by the foot of the bed and surveying her with keen attention. ‘I don’t want to lie here like a corpse,’ she was protesting by then. ‘I feel great now.’
‘Healthy people don’t faint,’ Roel drawled in a censorious tone as if it were something she could have helped. ‘If the doctor says it’s OK, you can get up again.’
‘Doctor…what doctor?’ she gasped.
A knock sounded on the door. ‘That should be her now. I called her from the limo to request a home visit.’
In sheer fright, Hilary sat up. ‘I don’t want to see a doctor…for goodness’ sake, I don’t need to!’
‘Let me be the judge of that—’
‘What’s it got to do with you?’
‘I’m your husband. I’m responsible for your well-being,’ Roel imparted grittily. ‘Even if you are ungrateful for my concern.’
Shame and embarrassment silenced Hilary. He opened the door to an older woman with greying dark hair swept up in a no-nonsense style.
‘I’d like to see the doctor alone,’ Hilary announced when Roel betrayed a nerve-racking reluctance to leave the bedroom.
She answered the doctor’s questions honestly and submitted to an examination. Afterwards, the woman smiled. ‘I think you already suspect the cause. You’re pregnant.’
Hilary lost colour because all she could think of at that instant was how unwelcome such an announcement would be to Roel. ‘Are you sure?’
The older woman nodded. ‘Certain signs are unmistakable.’
‘I don’t want to tell my husband yet,’ Hilary confided.
Her body had shocked her. She was going to have Roel’s baby. Maybe a little boy with black hair and an i
rresistible smile or a minx of a little girl with glorious tigerish eyes and a belief that she ruled the world. Yes, she was going to have Roel’s baby and, unless she was very much mistaken, he would hate her for it.
When Roel entered the room she couldn’t look at him and she scrambled out of bed. ‘What are you doing?’ he demanded.
‘I was a little bit seasick and now I’m fine and I’m getting dressed.’
Roel scooped her up mid-step and deposited her back on the bed. ‘No. The doctor said you needed a sensible meal and plenty of sleep and I intend to ensure that you follow her advice.’
‘Benevolence doesn’t suit you,’ she told him waspishly while he stood over her to watch her eat the delicious food, which had been brought to her on a tray embellished with flowers.
Roel sent her a languorous smile that made her heartbeat quicken and her tummy flip. ‘I’m only thinking of my own needs.’
‘Oh, really?’
‘You’ll have to be one hundred per cent fit to meet my expectations over the next few days. I’ve decided to take a break—’
‘But you don’t take breaks—’
‘Give me you and a bed…and a PC connection and I can take a break.’