Page 27 of Prognosis Christmas Baby

CHAPTER FIVE

Nash woke in the darkenedroom to the patter of rain on the roof and Maggie on her side, her bare back to him, murmuring into the phone. He looked at his watch. Two o’clock. They’d been asleep for five hours.

He heard Maggie say, ‘Just ringing to check on Ruby,’ and ‘I see,’ and ‘I’m fine,’ before she hung up the phone. He reached out and laid his hand between her shoulder blades and admired the contrast between his bronzed skin and the creamy richness of hers.

‘Has she gone?’

Maggie nodded, her heart unbearably heavy. She didn’t turn. ‘An hour ago.’

The inevitability of Ruby’s situation didn’t ease the impact of her words. Nash felt the little girl’s death deep in his soul. Remembered Tammy’s death and the devastating time that had followed all over again. He ran his hand across to Maggie’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

She shut her eyes at his comforting gesture, grateful for his silence. He’d known just what she’d needed like only another who worked in the field could. Her ex, an engineer, had never understood. He’d tried to fill her sadness up with clichéd phrases or contrived distractions, but none of them had worked as well as Nash’s simple touch.

She didn’t blame Peter. He’d tried hard but ultimately he hadn’t been able to understand that every death took a little piece out of her soul. That she was diminished a little each time.

That life made a little less sense with each tragedy.

‘I’m sorry. I get too involved,’ she murmured, falling back against her pillow and staring at the ceiling.

Nash rolled up on his elbow and looked into her sad brown eyes. He’d hoped that the nurses who had looked after Tammy at the end had been even half as involved. ‘You should never apologise for that.’

Maggie smiled at him and lifted her palm to cradle his jaw, scratchy with blond stubble. ‘Thank you.’

Nash turned his head and pressed a kiss to her palm. ‘Are you hungry?’

His lips tickled against her palm and she moved it up higher, pushing her fingers into his thick, wavy hair. ‘Starving.’

He kissed her briefly on the mouth. ‘Stay there, I’ll rustle us up something to eat.

‘There’s not much there, I’m afraid.’ Maggie had been on a run of days before her nights and hadn’t had the chance or the inclination to shop.

Nash rolled off the bed and grinned down at her. ‘I am a master of making meals out of nothing.’

‘Oh?’ Maggie said, her gaze wandering down his naked body because he was just too magnificent to ignore.

Nash’s dick twitched in respond to her blatant enjoyment. ‘Years of sharing flats and camping out back home have honed my culinary skills. Trust me.’

---