Page 37 of The Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger

‘Tomorrow,’ he told her. ‘We’re going to get you to a doctor before we leave for Namibia. Or do you need to be there for the hearing? If you do, we can push the trip back.’

‘No, the lawyer doesn’t want me there. Not this time,’ she replied. She pushed her hair back to squint at him. ‘And may I point out that, for millions of years, a woman didn’t rush off to see a doctor just because of a pregnancy? They just carried on with their lives and got on with it.’

Sure, but those millions of women weren’t under his care and protection—she was. And so far, he’d been doing a really bad job at looking after her. That would change—right now.

‘I’m putting you to bed, you’re going to get a decent night’s sleep and tomorrow I’ll find you a doctor,’ he told her, his voice suggesting that she not argue.

Her eyes fluttered closed and he saw she was fighting sleep. ‘Are you going to stay the night with me?’ she asked as they started climbing the stairs.

After everything that had happened today, did she still want him to stay with her? She was so very generous. ‘If you want me to, I will,’ he said. ‘Which bedroom is yours?’

‘First on the right,’ Addi told him. He kicked the door open to her room, walked her over to the bed and sat her on the edge of it. ‘What do you normally sleep in?’ he asked. They usually fell asleep naked but tonight wasn’t about sex. Or him.

She waved a listless hand at a chair in the corner. ‘T-shirt,’ she told him.

He reached for a T-shirt and quickly undressed her, ignoring his erection and fighting the temptation to slide his lips over hers. Even though she was exhausted and irritable—admittedly, all his fault—he wanted her and, judging by the desire in her eyes, she wanted him too.

But want would have to take a back seat; tonight was all about what she needed. And that was sleep. He pulled back her duvet and gestured for her to slide under. When her head hit the pillow, he bent down to place his lips on her temple. ‘Good night, Ads.’

‘You’re not going, are you?’ she asked.

He shook his head. ‘I’ll be up later,’ he told her. ‘Sleep now.’

He was at the door when he heard her speak again. ‘There wasn’t an error in the spreadsheet, was there? You just did that to keep me awake.’

Instead of answering her, he just smiled and forced himself to walk downstairs.

CHAPTER TEN

NAMIBIA,THELASTSTOPon their tour of Thorpe establishments, was different from what they’d seen before. After the white sands and heat of the coast of east Africa, and the wild animals in Tanzania, the Skeleton Coast of northern Namibia was wild and desolate and had a beauty unlike any Addi had ever seen, or imagined, before. The area consisted of dunes, desert and the sea and, from just looking at the landscape, Addi understood why it was a place to be feared. The beaches were often shrouded with fog and scattered with the remains of countless shipwrecks and whale skeletons. It exuded a sense of danger, but Addi loved it.

It was also freezing.

A massive cold front had moved in from the Antarctic and a low, dense cloud hung out to sea while an icy wind created white horses on a sullen, gunmetal-grey sea. Addi stood on the veranda of their private room in the tiny boutique hotel and looked at the dunes rolling down to the sea.

Africa was such a land of contrasts, she thought. It could be pretty and calm, wild and dangerous, sleepy and exciting.

But Namibia had captured her soul. She’d met Himba women in the north of the country, enjoyed a game-viewing experience in a private game reserve adjacent to the amazing Etosha Game Reserve and they’d even flown into Botswana to a camp on the Chobe River.

But this place, wild and desolate, held her heart in the palm of her hands. Maybe it was because it was at the tail end of their trip, maybe because it was the last place she would be truly alone with Jude, but she felt a soul-deep connection to the Dune House. The thought of leaving it, and going back to her normal life, made her feel a little ill.

Addi felt her phone vibrate and, seeing it was from her lawyer Thandi, pounced on the message.

Hearing done. It went well. No problems, and nothing for you to worry about. Our case is strong. Just waiting for a date for the final hearing in front of the judge.

She heard the sliding door open behind her and turned to look at Jude, who carried two mugs in his big hands. His would be filled with two shots of espresso, hers would be ginger tea, something she’d taken to drinking to ward off the occasional bouts of nausea she experienced throughout the day.

She waved her phone. ‘The custody hearing went well. Thandi’s waiting for a date for the final hearing,’ she told him.

His smile flashed. ‘That’s really good news, Ads.’ He handed her a cup and Addi wrapped her hands around it, enjoying the warmth. She watched the wind lift his hair and when he sucked in a breath she smiled. ‘It’s freezing, isn’t it?’

‘It’s snowing in numerous places in South Africa. Including at the ski resort where Lex and Cole are holed up,’ Jude replied.

Addi nodded. ‘I’ve been getting updates. The girls are furious they aren’t anywhere near the snow.’ Storm, their middle sister, had scooped up the girls and taken them on holiday to the much warmer east coast of South Africa. ‘Storm thought about driving them to where the snow is, but the roads are closed and it’s too dangerous.’

She was glad that Lex was having a break from the girls, and she hoped that she was enjoying a rip-roaring affair with Cole Thorpe, their joint boss. She’d sensed the attraction sizzling between them whenever they were together, and Lex deserved some fun.

Thank God for Storm scooping up the younger girls...

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