He glanced over at Heather, settling herself on the table and lifting her top to show off smooth white skin. He looked away quickly.
Should he correct the technician? Explain that he wasn’t the father, but the uncle. And her employer. Maybe friend...?
But it was too late already. The moment had passed. And besides, surely that would only make a bigger deal of everything? Make them more memorable if someone asked, later, if he’d gone in. Not that they would. Probably.
You never knew with Lengroth people. They were the worst gossips in the world. It was a minor miracle that the Bryce family had never been rumbled before, quite honestly. Or perhaps that was how they’d got so good at hiding the truth.
Maybe he was just discombobulated because of their conversation in the waiting room, Cal decided as he took the indicated seat at last. He’d imagined that come September Heather would walk out of their lives again. That she’d realise she didn’t want any part of the Bryce legacy and leave.
The kids would miss her, but they’d be away at school anyway, making new friends, so they’d cope. And he... Well, he hadn’t done much thinking about how he’d cope without her. Without seeing those bright green eyes every morning, or catching flashes of those coppery curls around the castle.
Hadn’t wanted to think about it.
But what place was there for her at Lengroth with the children gone? He couldn’t very well ask her to stay because he might get lonely. People would talk.
So what if they did?
Cal pushed the errant thought aside. He couldn’t make Heather the centre of a scandal, and he couldn’t ruin the reputation of Lengroth and the Bryce family for Daisy and Ryan. It was as simple as that.
However much he wanted to.
But if she wanted to stay in their lives... What would that mean, exactly? Visits at Christmas and birthdays? Emails and postcards?
That wasn’t enough for him.
Nothing he could have with Heather would be.
Because he’d realised that the truth was he wanted to be here at her side today. Not because she was carrying his brother’s child. But because he wanted to be part of her life.
That’s just lust talking. The good old Bryce desire for whatever is worst for us.
But he needed to be different for Daisy and Ryan. He couldn’t give in to it.
The technician smeared jelly over Heather’s still-flat stomach and held the wand. ‘Are we ready to see our baby?’
Our baby.
Cal swallowed hard as he nodded, not daring to look at Heather’s face. He kept his eyes firmly on the screen as a picture started to emerge. A grainy black-and-white picture of nothing that made any sense until the technician suddenly beamed and said, ‘There we are! Right there. Can you see the head?’
And suddenly he could. He could see Heather’s baby.
His heart thumped too loud in his chest—so loud he was sure Heather must be able to hear it. The whole hospital could probably hear it.
He felt like he had when Ryan had bent his head close to his on his birthday, as he’d climbed into his car seat, and whispered, ‘This was a brilliant birthday, Uncle Cal.’ Like he had when Daisy had stopped by his office yesterday to ask him a question about her maths homework and then stayed and chatted for twenty minutes about nothing and everything.
He felt like he did late at night, when he walked Heather to her bedroom after their tutoring sessions. Which neither of them would give up even though he wasn’t sure they were learning anything new. And sometimes, if she was tired enough, she’d lean her forehead against his chest, just for a moment, and he’d feel her warm breath through his shirt.
He’d never had a name for those feelings—the feelings that thrummed through his veins and told him he was truly alive. He’d known they were important, but just getting to experience them had been enough for him. He hadn’t wanted to label them in case it scared them away.
But now...
He twisted round to look at Heather and found her staring at the screen in wonder. Then, as if she’d sensed his gaze on her, she turned to smile at him—and there was a whole world in that smile. A whole future.
Cal let himself drink it in, just for a moment.
Then he swallowed and looked away.
Lust. That was all it was. He wanted her because she was the worst person in the world he should desire and he was a Bryce.