his back.
‘The rest of me might be sagging and crumbling by the minute, but my nose is still working perfectly,’ she said wryly, then a look of sad reminiscence crossed her face. ‘Besides, they’re my favourites and I haven’t been given any since my Dermot died.’
While she stepped back and pulled the door wide, it took no more than a couple of seconds to slide several stems out of the large handful he’d brought.
‘My name’s Dan, not Dermot, but at least it starts with the right letter,’ he said with a smile as he presented her with the sweetly scented blooms, hoping that one day Sara would have such lovely memories.
‘Oh!’ A shaky hand came up to cover her mouth and she blinked rapidly as though fighting back tears. ‘Oh, my dear boy … Thank you so much, but you didn’t have to …’ She bent her silvery head to sniff the perfume before looking back up at him, her eyes misty with memories. ‘You tell your Sara from me that she’s a lucky young woman.’
‘I couldn’t possibly do that,’ he said, wondering if there was a chance that Sara would ever agree with her. ‘It would sound far too much like boasting. I’ll leave it up to you to tell her yourself.’
She was still chuckling at his nonsense when he set off up the stairs, the flowers clutched tightly in her hand.
‘Dan!’ Sara gasped when she opened the door to his knock and saw him standing there, obviously the last person she’d expected to see. His heart sank when he wondered if he might be the last person she wanted to see.
‘I come bearing gifts,’ he said, suddenly remembering the flowers he was in danger of strangling to death.
‘Oh, thank you!’ she exclaimed, and threw him a smile that seriously weakened his knees before burying her nose in the delicate blossoms.
This time there was only the slightest hesitation before she stepped back and invited him in. ‘Would you like a cup of tea? I’m afraid I’ve only got herbal now. Caffeine-free.’
He pulled a face and she chuckled, the simple spontaneity of the sound like balm to his soul.
‘I don’t much like it either, but it’s better for my blood pressure and therefore better for the babies, so I have to put up with it.’ She turned to lead the way into her compact kitchen and he stopped in the doorway, leaning one shoulder against the frame as he watched her bustling about.
Except she didn’t bustle any more, not now that her pregnancy was advancing so rapidly. Well, rapidly wasn’t quite the right word, as the duration of most pregnancies was the same, give or take a week or two. What he’d meant was that the size of her bump had increased rapidly over the last few weeks, and he hadn’t really noticed the extent because she’d been spending so much of her time sitting down, working in minors.
But today had been the day that her cast had finally come off, and the first day in a long time since he’d seen her in anything other than the soft drape of a shapeless uniform dress or in a tunic top that only fitted where it touched.
Since she’d come home from work, no doubt ferried by her own personal taxi driver, she’d obviously had a bath and had donned a pair of stretchy trousers that did absolutely nothing to disguise her shape and size … and she looked wonderful, so ripe and womanly and sexy and …
‘Whoa, boy! Down!’ he muttered under his breath, grateful that she’d turned her back on him for a moment to give him a reprieve, and he dragged his eyes away from her lest he leap on her and carry her through to her bedroom.
‘What did you say?’ she asked as she turned to face him again with a steaming mug in each hand.
‘I was just thinking how good you’re looking, Sara.’ Which was at least the polite way of voicing his thoughts as he stepped aside to allow her out of the kitchen and into her cosy little sitting room.
‘It’s such a relief to be out of that cast, I can’t tell you.’ She sank gratefully onto the settee and immediately raised her legs up onto the other seat.
He could applaud her sensible decision to rest her legs but there was no way that Dan was going to sit in the chair on the other side of the fireplace. That was much too far away for his purposes.
‘Hang on to this for a second,’ he directed as he held out his mug to her, and she automatically took hold of the handle. ‘I’ll just do this … and then settle myself here,’ he said as he lifted her feet and slid onto the settee beside her before lowering her feet onto his lap.
‘Dan …’
‘That raises your feet slightly and improves postural drainage in your legs,’ he pointed out quickly, afraid that she was going to object. ‘It also means that I can do this,’ he added softly, as he chose one foot and began the sort of massage that he’d learned she loved back in those days before he’d been so stupid.
‘Oh! Oh … that feels so good it must be illegal,’ she groaned as he worked on each individual muscle until he’d worked all the knots out of both feet.
‘Oh,’ she said again when he finally stopped, and this time it was in tones of disappointment. ‘It would almost be worth getting married to have my feet massaged like that every night,’ she added, and completely stole his breath away.
She’d been so relaxed by the time he’d finished that he was certain she hadn’t really been thinking about what she’d said, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
‘That could be arranged,’ he said seriously, his heart beating so hard that it almost felt as if it would burst out of his chest.
He felt the tension return as if he’d flicked a switch, and he regretted that he’d spoiled her moment of rest.
‘Dan, that’s not funny,’ she said stiffly as she started to struggle up out of the settee and he put his hand on her knee to stop her for a moment.
‘I didn’t mean it as a joke,’ he told her, and leaned down to reach into the pocket of the jacket on the floor beside the settee.
He drew a swift breath and sent up a prayer that he’d be able to find the words he needed before he handed her the envelope he’d brought with him.
‘That’s a decree nisi,’ he told her. ‘In exactly six weeks and one day after the date on that, I can apply for a decree absolute and my marriage to your sister will be over.’
Wordlessly she stared at him then dragged her eyes down to the papers she’d withdrawn from the envelope.
‘So soon!’ she whispered, and he knew she’d seen the date.
‘After that awful scene in her room at the hospital, I went back and had a long conversation with Zara,’ he explained. ‘The upshot was that our divorce petition papers had already been filed with the county court before she was discharged.’
‘But … I thought you had to wait years, or for one of you to be caught being unfaithful or …’ She shrugged, admitting her ignorance of such matters.
‘I knew as little as you before I did some research on the internet and found out that there are five criteria but the two that applied to our situation were what they call “unreasonable behaviour”—and I would definitely class trying to murder my babies as unreasonable behaviour or …’
‘You didn’t tell anybody what Zara did?’ she interrupted urgently. ‘I promised that I wasn’t going to press charges but if you’ve put it on the divorce papers …’
‘Shh! Of course I didn’t,’ he soothed, taking her free hand in his and lacing their fingers together. ‘But that doesn’t mean I didn’t use the threat of it to get what I wanted—her admission that she’d been carrying on with a man over in America. The one who’s going to finance the film she’s been offered a part in,’ he added, although that was neither here nor there to their situation.
‘And