life force out of his body in an explosion of pleasure?
‘It’s time to leave.’ His announcement was curt as he got stiffly to his feet.
Georgia gave a soft rumble of protest about the sudden movement but soon settled back against his chest, her tiny eyelids fluttering closed, her miniature fingers still grasping his breast pocket.
Nina rose with less speed, taking her time to gather up the baby’s changing bag and her own handbag, shooting him a glance from across the width of the table.
‘Do you think it’s worth disturbing her to put her back in the pouch?’ she asked.
Marc looked down at the tiny infant against his chest and shook his head. ‘No.’ He lifted his gaze back to hers. ‘I will carry her.’ He scooped up the bill the waitress had left and added, ‘Is there anything else we need to buy?’
It was the ‘we’ that really got to her. Seeing him with Georgia cradled so tenderly in his arms, she couldn’t help feeling a deep sense of regret over how circumstances had led them both to this. How different things might have been if they had met without the baggage of both of their wayward siblings. If the truth were known they probably had more in common than not. He was the solid dependable type, anyone could see that, and she … well, she was hardly the sleep-around town tart he thought her to be. If only he knew!
‘No.’ She carefully avoided his eyes in case he saw the glitter of sudden moisture. ‘I think we’re more or less done.’ She hoisted the changing bag over her shoulder and followed him out of the café with her head well down.
The city streets were so busy as to make conversation both difficult and unnecessary. Nina was glad of the reprieve. Guilt flooded her from every direction. Maybe she should have been firmer with Nadia, should have insisted she stay and face her responsibilities. But then, when had Nadia ever faced anything? Her policy had been to move from one disaster to the next with her twin picking up the pieces behind her. Nina had even done it for their mother in the past, becoming the parent instead of the child in an attempt to provide some level of security for them. Much good it had done in the end, she thought sadly. Her mother had still drunk and drugged herself into an early grave and there had been nothing Nina could do to stop it.
Marc pressed the pedestrian button and flicked a glance down at the silent figure beside him as they waited for the lights to change. ‘You are very quiet all of a sudden.’
Nina shook herself out of her mental anguish and sent a vacant smile his way. ‘I’m just tired.’ She yawned widely. ‘Georgia woke me early.’ She patted her mouth and forced another smile. ‘Kids; who in their right mind would have them?’
Marc was saved a reply by the lights changing. It was clear to him that money was Nina’s primary motive and she had targeted the richest man she could and had got on with the business of falling pregnant to him. But it was still somewhat of a mystery to him why she hadn’t asked for a whole heap of money when he’d offered her marriage. He’d been expecting her price to be in the millions and yet even the allowance he’d organised for her had seemingly surprised her. And, as for pretending she had no interest in Andre’s estate, what possible reason could she have other than to try and fool him into thinking she had somehow changed from a money-hungry pleasure seeker to a woman of high morals?
But he knew Nina was trouble from the top of her shiny head to the soles of her dainty feet. She had a disturbing habit of switching from sultry siren to wide-eyed innocent as if she was deliberately trying to confuse him about who she really was. If Andre hadn’t told him how manipulative she was he would sometimes be tempted to think he was dealing with someone else entirely.
He slanted a covert glance her way, instantly noting the line of her slightly anxious brow and the way her small white teeth nibbled at her bottom lip.
He gave a rough inward sigh. Marrying her was going to be the easy part; however, he was starting to think that if he wasn’t very careful, keeping his hands off her was going to be something else indeed.
CHAPTER SIX
ONCE Nina was confident there was no trace of Georgia’s bruises remaining she arranged to return to work. However, when she made to leave the childcare centre the following day, her tiny niece howled miserably, her little arms reaching out to her from the carer’s hold.
‘Don’t worry, Miss Selbourne,’ the childcare worker reassured her. ‘She’ll settle down once you leave. They all do.’
Nina bit her lip in an agony of indecision. Georgia’s little face was bright red, her eyes spilling tears and her desperate wails increasing in volume.
‘Maybe I should call work and tell them I can’t make it.’
‘Of course you shouldn’t,’ the woman said. ‘She’ll be fine. I’ll take her to look at the toys while you leave. Feel free to phone as soon as you get to work but I am sure you’ve got nothing to worry about. Come on, Georgia,’ she told the child with a smile. ‘Let’s go and look at the nice teddy bears over here.’
Nina could still hear Georgia’s cries as she made her way outside the building, her heart squeezing painfully at the thought of her niece being so upset at the prospect of being abandoned. It made her realise anew how important it was to protect her, for it was obvious the baby considered her to be her primary carer. If Marc were to find out who she really was now, Georgia would be the one to suffer, for Nina felt sure he would evict her from the child’s life as soon as he possibly could.
The library was a few blocks away and she walked there with dragging steps, wondering how mothers across the globe dealt with leaving their children in someone else’s care.
She loved her job but she loved her niece more. If push came to shove she would have to quit work, swallow her pride and accept the allowance from Marc that his lawyer had arranged in the pre-nuptial agreement.
‘Hi, Nina,’ Elizabeth Loughton, one of the other librarians, greeted her as soon as she arrived at work. ‘Hey, where have you been the last few days? Sheila said you called in sick. Are you OK now?’
Nina placed her bag in the staffroom locker in order to avoid her friend’s probing look. ‘I’m fine, just a bit tired. It’s been one of those weeks.’
‘Don’t tell me your sister has been giving you trouble again,’ Elizabeth said. ‘I don’t know why you don’t tell her where to get off, really I don’t. She takes advantage of you so much, no wonder you’re not well.’ She pursed her lips for a moment, then, moving over to close the staffroom door, turned back and handed Nina a recent edition of a popular gossip magazine. ‘I suppose you’ve already seen this?’
Nina disguised a gulp as she looked down at the magazine article Elizabeth had shown her. There was a photograph of her twin outside one of Sydney’s best known hotels, dressed in a revealing dress that left little to the imagination, her arms flung around the necks of two well known football personalities who both had dubious reputations with regard to their treatment of women. The caption hinted that, according to hotel staff sources, last Friday night Nadia and her male escorts had engaged in a drunken noisy threesome upstairs.
‘Oh, God.’ She shut the magazine and handed it back as they sat down together. ‘This is just what I don’t need right now.’
‘Are you all right?’ Elizabeth peered at her in concern.
Nina met her friend’s hazel gaze. ‘I have to tell you something but you have to promise not to tell anyone else.’
Elizabeth used a finger to zip her lips. ‘Mum’s the word.’
Nina’s mouth twisted wryly. ‘That’s exactly right. Mum is the word you now have to use when referring to me.’
Elizabeth’s eyes went out on stalks. ‘Oh, my God! You’re pregnant?’
Nina rolled her eyes. ‘Of course not! No, but I am now acting as Georgia’s mother.’
As Nina filled her in