Page 19 of Bound by Their Christmas Baby

She arched a brow, her surprise obvious. But he was right, and hadn’t she wanted him to be a good father?

When she walked into her bedroom, it was to discover that the little boy was already stirring, his back arched, his head pushed upwards and his lips pouting as he stretched the sleep away. She smiled instinctively and pulled him into her arms, pressing a kiss to his soft little head. ‘Your daddy’s here, Raf.’

Gabe was watching her initially when she stepped into the lounge, but then all of his attention, the full force of him, was channelled towards their son.

Abby didn’t have a camera handy, but she didn’t need one anyway. She would always, always remember the tortured look on Gabe’s face in that moment. He wore an expression of such deep feelings, such pain, that she almost forgot all the reasons she had to keep him at a distance.

She almost forgot the way he’d treated her after the night they’d shared—she almost forgot the way he’d ignored her, refused to allow her to apologise or explain, refused to give her the dignity of so much as a simple conversation so that she could tell him about the baby.

She almost forgot that he was, in many ways, the enemy.

She longed instead to wrap her arms around his waist, to lift up onto her tiptoes and press a kiss against his lips. To whisper into his mouth that he could make up for the three months he’d missed—that he had a lifetime to be in his child’s life and it was all about to start.

She didn’t, though.

Sanity and the reality of who they were to one another prevented her from weakening, even a little. She handed Raf to Gabe, careful not to touch him more than she had to in order to effect the transfer, and then stepped back with a crisp nod. ‘I won’t be long.’

Gabe didn’t answer; she couldn’t have said if he’d even heard. He was in his own world—just him and Raf. She watched, and tried her darnedest to ignore the strange prickling impression that she was an outsider.

* * *

Abby had grown up with money, she was used to this rarefied way of living, and yet she still felt a tremble of anxiety as she moved up the metallic stairs and into the body of the private jet.

There were markers of understated luxury everywhere she looked, from the sleek white leather seats to the highly polished woodgrain meeting table and the small cinema space at the back of the plane.

It took her a moment to realise that they weren’t alone. Three women and one man were seated at the back of the plane, and there were the two men in dark suits who’d lifted the luggage from the car.

Gabe walked towards the people at the rear of the plane, his grim expression not lifting. For lack of knowing what else she should do, Abby fell into step behind him.

One of the women stood at his approach, a smile on her face. Abby liked her instantly. She was tall and slim, in her forties, Abby would have guessed, and while she was dressed in beautiful clothes, her glossy brown hair was braided down her back and she wore no make-up. She had a nice face. Smile lines and bright eyes that spoke of a quick wit and good humour.

‘Hello, little one,’ she cooed as Gabe approached and, to Abby’s surprise, he passed their son to the other woman.

She watched, trying to make sense of this development before reacting.

‘You must be Abigail,’ the other woman said, her tone soft, her eyes not leaving Raf’s face.

‘Abby, please,’ Abigail murmured, her voice sounding hoarse. She cleared her throat softly.

‘I’m Monique.’

Perhaps reading the look of confusion on Abby’s face, Gabe explained, ‘I have engaged Monique as Raf’s nanny. This is her team.’ He nodded to the others. Apparently, they didn’t need names.

But Abby barely noticed. How could she? Not when the hiring of a nanny was a reality still detonating in her brain.

‘What did you say?’ Anger fuelled the words. She didn’t particularly want to argue in front of the nice-seeming nanny, but her maternal instincts were twisting inside her.

And he understood; he easily read the emotions that were about to burst from her. His eyes sparked with Abby’s and he put a hand on the small of her back, his touch none-too-gentle.

‘Come with me.’

He propelled her down the aisle and only the knowledge that no harm could befall Raf when she was only on the other side of the aircraft meant she went with Gabe without complaint.

But as soon as they were far enough away she whipped around and hissed, ‘You can’t just hire a nanny without talking to me!’

His expression was unyielding. ‘Why not?’

‘Because!’ Finally she gave into the impulse to lash out at him, lifting a hand and pushing his chest, hard. He didn’t move. Not even a little. He was like a stone wall to her ricocheting emotions.

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