A moment passed, then another and thankfully the dizziness started to ease, the nausea abating, the blood not pounding quite as loudly in her ears.
“Are you okay?” he murmured, his heart thudding against her cheek.
She pushed back a little and looked up at him. “Yes,” she said on a shaky breath. “I felt a little faint, that’s all.”
“This is happening far too often.” He swooped her up in his arms and headed for her bedroom. “I’m calling my doctor. And I don’t want any argument from you.”
This time Danielle didn’t want to argue. For all her talk about independence, she knew he was right. She hadn’t been feeling right lately, so another checkup by a doctor was in order. She didn’t want to risk losing the baby. She couldn’t. Her baby was the only thing worthwhile in her life. She would be heartbroken if anything happened.
“How do you feel now?” Flynn said after he’d made her comfortable on the bed, then called the doctor on his cell phone.
The concern in his eyes halted her inner panic. “Better.”
He sat down next to her on the bed and squeezed her hand, as if trying to instill strength into her. “I won’t let anything happen to you or the baby,” he assured her.
She looked at his grim mouth and pale face and her heart softened. “Flynn, you can’t stop it.”
“Don’t,” he muttered, and she realized he was taking this much too personally. But she knew all about regrets and she wasn’t about to let either of them take responsibility for this.
Her throat thickened. “You can’t blame yourself for my feeling faint.”
“I shouldn’t have tried to grab you like that.”
“You weren’t being rough, Flynn. You never are.”
He held her gaze. “Thank you for that.”
The softened look in his eyes made her heart tumble over and she almost wanted to faint again, but for a different reason. “Um…how long do you think the doctor will be?”
Arrogance returned to his face. “Bloody quick, if he knows what’s good for him.”
She had to smile, glad to see the old Flynn back. And for the first time she actually noticed his marine-blue polo shirt and gray chinos that made him look both casual and sophisticated. There was something very distracting about the way the fine material of his shirt hugged his shoulders. Far too distracting.
All at once he kissed her hard on the mouth then jumped to his feet. “I’ll get you a drink of water. Call out if you need me.”
She watched him walk away, tempted to call out and say that she did need him, but that might be admitting too much, even in jest. He’d use it to his advantage at some time or other, no doubt.
When the middle-aged doctor came, he was introduced as Mike. She reddened when Flynn stood by watching her being examined.
Mike straightened. “The baby’s fine.”
Sheer relief washed over her. “Thank God,” she said, seeing the same reflection on Flynn’s face.
The doctor eyed her. “Have you had any stress lately? Getting enough sleep? Eating right?”
“She’s had a lot of stress, Mike,” Flynn said, and she shot him a look that said she could speak for herself.
Mike frowned. “Hmm, then I hope you don’t live here alone.”
“Yes, she does,” Flynn said again before she could get a word in. She glared at him again.
“Not a good idea.” The doctor put his stethoscope away and clicked the bag shut. “Don’t you have a friend or relative you could move in with for a while? You need to rest. Otherwise I might have to put you in the hospital,” he said, making her gasp. “It would only be a precautionary measure,” he assured her.
“She’ll be staying at my place,” Flynn said with authority, sending her heart slamming against her ribs.
“Excellent,” Mike approved. “But you must take it easy from now on, young lady. You need to eat properly and rest. No work for a week and be careful after that.” He glanced at Flynn. “You can continue intimate relations. That shouldn’t be a problem.”
Flynn inclined his head. “Good.”
Sharp anxiety was twisting inside Danielle, so she didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the conversation. Then something occurred to her.
She waited until the doctor left before sending Flynn an accusing stare. “You two planned this, didn’t you?”
Surprise, then annoyance crossed Flynn’s face. “Perhaps I should call Mike back? I’m sure he’d love to hear his integrity being questioned like this.” He paused. “Not to mention my own.”
She grimaced. “Okay, so I got it wrong.”
“You’re moving in with me. You’re sick and not well enough to look after yourself. And you need to move out of this penthouse permanently.”
She could feel herself being swallowed up again by him and his tactics. “I won’t be your mistress, Flynn. I have my child to think about. No. I’ll find another place.”
His eyes flashed at her. “And then what? I leave you alone so you could possibly die?”
The breath caught in her throat. “Don’t exaggerate. I’m fine. Mike just said so.”
All at once, the anger seemed to leave him. His eyes clouded over. “Allow me to do this for you and the baby, Danielle.”
She realized he still felt guilty. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Seeing this side to him softened her, made her admit to herself that he was in an awkward position.
But she was torn whichever way she went. If she stayed at her apartment it would only be temporary. And she would still have to look for a new apartment as well as go to work. She’d probably make herself sicker, perhaps even risk having a miscarriage.
But if she went to Flynn’s place, would he see it as a sign that she was weakening toward marriage? Perhaps they could come to a temporary truce.
“Okay, I’ll move in, Flynn, but only until I have the baby.” Then she’d go back to work full-time and get her own place, away from Monica and definitely away from Flynn.
Deep satisfaction showed in his eyes, but it was the barely perceptible easing of his shoulders that somehow reassured her in her decision.
“You’re doing the right thing,” he said.
“For who, Flynn? You or me?”
“For your baby.”
Eight
W hen Danielle stepped inside Flynn’s mansion, she was introduced to Louise and Thomas, the older couple she’d seen there earlier in the day. They’d known Flynn a long time and looked after him and his house, and Danielle had no doubt she was included in the package now.
But when she found that Flynn had hired a nurse to keep an eye on her, she almost turned around and walked out the door. It was too much. Everything was happening too fast. Suddenly the enormity of the day overwhelmed her and she felt tears sting her eyes.
The middle-aged nurse took in the situation quickly. “Come on, pet. Let’s get you to bed.”
Thankfully Flynn didn’t follow them up the sweeping staircase and into a superbly furnished bedroom, and once she was in bed Danielle began to relax under Jean’s professional but sympathetic eyes. She fell asleep thinking how much the nurse reminded her of her mother. The two women had that same caring attitude.
She woke a few hours later thinking about Monica and what she would say about all this, and her stomach clenched with tension. Her mother-in-law had flown south to stay at her sister’s place inAlice Springs for a few days, so at least she had a reprieve until the next day when Monica was due to call. Then there would be hell to pay.
She mentioned it to Flynn when he came into her bedroom later that evening. “I’ll have to tell Monica where I am,” she said, once he’d finished inquiring if she felt better.
“I’ll deal with Monica,” he said, his tone telling her the issue wasn’t open to negotiation.
“No.” She had to stand her ground with him. “I’ll speak to her.”
“I won’t have you getting upset.”
Not for the first time today, she saw past his arrogance to his concern. It warmed her. “She needs to know, Flynn. And she needs to hear it from me.”
“Then I insist on being with you when you tell her.”
“Fine,” she agreed, but if she could help it, she had no intention of letting him be around when she broke the news to Monica. Her mother-in-law was going to be very upset as it was.
“You didn’t eat much dinner,” he said, cutting across her thoughts, obviously having spoken to Jean.
“I wasn’t really hungry.” A light soup had been all she could manage.
“You’ve got to eat.”
That’s when she realized he looked tired. It had been a long day for him, too. “Have you eaten?”
He appeared surprised by her question. “No. I thought I’d dine in here and keep you company.”
She moistened her lips. “Er…in here?”
“This is our bedroom, Danielle.”
She swallowed as her heart started to beat fast. “I don’t remember saying I would share a bedroom with you.”
“I don’t remember asking.”
“Flynn, I—”
His gaze locked with hers. “We start as we intend to go on.”
“All of a sudden it’s we?” She could feel herself being suffocated. Just as Robert had smothered her.
“Forget about him,” he said harshly, reading her thoughts.
She took a shaky breath. “I can’t.”
“Face the facts, Danielle. He only wanted you physically because he couldn’t have you emotionally. That’s why he wouldn’t let you go.”
She knew he was right but it still hurt to know she’d been used in such a way by the man who’d been her husband. “And your reasons are different?”
“My reasons are my own, but I’ll tell you one thing. They’re a damn sight more noble than his ever were.” With that he stormed off into the bathroom.
Danielle bit her lip, then lay back against the pillows, knowing Flynn was right. Despite his arrogance, he had an honor code about him that Robert would never have understood. It gave her a strange comfort and seemed to fill an empty void inside her that had never been filled.
Not by Robert.
Nor Monica.
As for the older woman, Danielle had the opportunity to talk to her sooner rather than later when Monica rang while Flynn was eating dinner.
There was a knock at the bedroom door and Jean opened it at Flynn’s command. “Excuse me, Mr. Donovan, I know you don’t want Dani…I mean, Mrs. Ford to be disturbed, but there’s a very irate lady on the telephone demanding that she speak with her.” The nurse glanced at Danielle. “She said she’s your mother-in-law.”
Trepidation filled Danielle as she looked across the room at Flynn sitting at the small table near the window. “How does she know I’m here?”
“I had your phone calls forwarded,” he said, giving no excuse for not mentioning it previously. He glanced back at the nurse. “Danielle will call her back tomorrow.”