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Their Doorstep Baby
Barbara Hannay
Husband and wife Claire and Adam Townsend have been longing to have a child together, but with no success. Then one day, out of the blue, a newborn baby boy is left on the doorstep of their isolated Outback home!Claire is overjoyed by this unexpected arrival. But Adam is concerned about the mystery surrounding the baby's origins and insists they find out who the real parents are, before they adopt this little boy as their own. Having a baby changes everything–will it change their marriage?
“I can’t believe it,” Claire said softly.
“The doctors always told us that if we put babies out of our minds, one might turn up unexpectedly, but I bet they never guessed it would happen this way.”
“This wasn’t how I pictured it, either,” Adam replied.
After a few more minutes of gazing at the baby, she said, “Come and say hello to our little boy. He’s so cute!”
“Don’t get carried away, sweetheart. There’s no way we can just assume the baby is ours….”
Will they…?
Won’t they…?
Can they…?
The possibility of parenthood: for some couples it’s a seemingly impossible dream. For others, it’s an unexpected surprise.…Or perhaps it’s a planned pregnancy that brings a husband and wife closer together…or turns their marriage upside down?
One thing is for sure, life will never be the same when they find themselves having a baby…maybe!
This emotionally compelling miniseries from Harlequin Romance® will warm your heart and bring a tear to your eye.…
Their Doorstep Baby
Barbara Hannay
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For Colleen
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE (#u801c32e2-5815-57cc-8df5-9fe6fcddae75)
CHAPTER TWO (#u4823270d-4d3b-56f7-ac03-218ca7fa173f)
CHAPTER THREE (#u6e3afb87-1e28-561f-bed1-001209a6f5d5)
CHAPTER FOUR (#ube960b73-dfd6-5413-aac3-8cca7c54802c)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE
Early December—Sydney
ADAM TOWNSEND knew something was wrong. Very wrong. The moment he heard Claire’s hasty footsteps enter the room he sensed it. Then he looked up and saw her deathly white face.
Even her lips were bleached of colour and her dark eyes shimmered with tears as she stared at him. She was clutching the timber door frame for support. What had happened? She looked ill—as fragile as a porcelain doll.
‘Claire, what’s the matter?’ He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the cries of protest from his little nephews as he abandoned their noisy game of wrestling. ‘What on earth’s happened?’
‘I think I’ve made a terrible mistake,’ she whispered and her words brought fear clenching in his stomach like a cold and clammy fist.
Was this the moment he’d been dreading for weeks now? Had his wife’s growing unhappiness finally pushed her to say something she’d regret? To do something they’d both regret?
‘What kind of mistake?’ he forced himself to ask.
But she seemed unable to answer. Her face crumpled as she shook her head and then she turned and left as quickly as she’d appeared.
‘Stay here, guys,’ he ordered the three little boys.
His heart rocketed into overdrive as he followed Claire’s stumbling progress back through her brother Jim’s shabby cottage to the kitchen.
Jim and his wife Maria were both there, looking just as shocked and upset as Claire. Maria leant against her husband, one hand pressed to her mouth while the other held a slim rectangle of paper.
Adam recognised it instantly as a bank cheque and he had a sickening premonition that he could guess exactly what this was all about.
Maria’s lips quivered. ‘The baby,’ she said, in a voice barely above a whisper. ‘Claire has given us a cheque for Rosa.’
With an angry grunt, Jim shoved the cheque under Adam’s nose and his heart leapt when he saw an alarming string of zeros. He whirled around to face Claire. ‘You want to give all this to the baby?’
‘Yes,’ Claire said softly, but she didn’t look at Adam and he knew why. She hadn’t consulted him about this decision. Normally, they discussed everything—certainly anything as important as handing over such a large sum of money to Jim and Maria Tremaine’s tiny, new daughter; the fifth baby the couple had produced in as many years.
‘I wanted to help,’ she told him and her voice seemed to crack beneath the weight of overpowering emotion.
‘Come off the grass, sis,’ Jim cried. ‘You didn’t just want to help. Tell Adam the whole story.’
Claire’s lips trembled and tears spilled down her cheeks. ‘It’s—it’s a kind of exchange.’
Oh, God! Adam’s stomach dropped like a plane falling out of the sky. Sweetheart, you can’t be doing this!
‘An exchange for Rosa,’ Maria clarified and then burst into tears.
‘It’s crazy!’ Jim yelled. ‘She wants to buy our baby!’
‘I just wanted to help—to help you out.’ Claire’s tormented eyes sought Adam’s. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
Bewildered, he shook his head. This disaster had happened in the ten short minutes he’d spent playing with his nephews. It was almost too much to take in. He’d never felt so torn. Part of him wanted to throw his arms around Claire and offer her comfort, but he also wanted to shake her.
Heaven knew, she was at the end of her tether, but this…She should never have done this.
‘How could you want to take our little daughter away from us?’ Jim glared.
Beside him, Maria continued to cry quietly.
Claire looked even more distressed. ‘I thought—you have to struggle so hard to support so many children—and I—we—could give Rosa such a good home.’
Jim scowled. ‘You two think we’re in dire straits just because we don’t eat caviar and smoked salmon and can’t go gadding off to Europe whenever we flaming well feel like it?’
His jaw clenched stubbornly and he stepped closer to Maria and flung an arm across her shoulders. Drawing her against him, he planted a possessive kiss on her forehead.
Now Adam felt wretched that he hadn’t shown Claire the same kind of solidarity. If anyone needed comforting, it was his wife. Despite his shock, he understood the wild, pitiful desperation that had driven her to this.
But if only she had spoken to me first.
She stood in the kitchen doorway looking miserable, guilty and lost with her arms wrapped across her stomach. And she continued to avoid his gaze.
But then her chin rose and she looked back at her brother with the same stubborn glare he’d fixed on her. ‘I’d give up any luxury, any trip to Europe for a baby. You know how badly I want a baby of my own.’
Jim let out his breath noisily. ‘Yeah, sis. I know it’s rough on you.’ He waved the cheque at her. ‘But this—’ Sadly, he shook his head. ‘This is completely crazy. Apart from anything else, it’s illegal.’
Then he held the cheque in both hands and slowly, deliberately ripped it into two pieces and then into four. He crossed the kitchen to the waste paper basket and let the pieces of paper flutter from his hand.
A choked cry broke from Claire’s stricken lips. She turned to Adam. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,’ she sobbed as she staggered across the room towards him. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. What an awful, awful mess I’ve made.’
As she fell into his arms, one thought filled Adam’s head: I share the blame for this. The writing has been on the wall and I should have seen it coming.
Five weeks earlier—thirty-seven thousand feet above the Indian Ocean
Claire wanted to kiss him now. Right now.
It wasn’t the best moment to get such an urge. She was surrounded by other first class passengers and there were still many tedious hours left in the long flight from Sydney to Rome. Too much time to be plagued by wicked fantasies about the gorgeous man sitting right next to her.
She sighed as she studied his handsome, suntanned face. He was asleep and his head had fallen sideways so that his lips were temptingly close to hers.
Fixing her eyes on his sensuous mouth, she inched even closer and felt heat swell in her like a gathering storm. How badly she wanted to wake this man with a gentle kiss.
No, make that a hot and hungry kiss.
While she stared at him, her mind toyed with playful thoughts. She imagined the manly roughness of his overnight beard against her cheek, the silky feel of the dark hair that flopped across his brow, the delicious thrill of tracing her lips over the intriguing cleft in his chin.
Maybe if she concentrated hard enough, this wonderful creature would pick up on her thought waves. He might sense her intense interest and respond by taking her in his arms.
To heck with the other passengers.
As if on cue, his eyes opened and he smiled at her slowly. She couldn’t resist leaning closer and immersing herself in the surprisingly deep, deep blue of his gaze.
‘Hi there,’ he said softly and he didn’t move away.
‘Hello.’
His eyes, edged by friendly laughter lines, were even more attractive than his mouth. Claire shivered with pleasure as they stared at each other.
With a little luck, her handsome neighbour would be blessed with an intuitive perception to match his good looks and he would kiss her within the next thirty seconds.
Her face grew hot with anticipation. Her breathing picked up pace.
If he doesn’t kiss me now…
The gods were smiling. He reached towards her and his hands gently cradled her cheeks.
Thank heavens…
The laughter lines around his eyes deepened as he smiled at her while his approving gaze assessed her hair and face, finally focusing on her mouth. ‘Do you always look this good in the—’ quickly he glanced at his wristwatch ‘—in the afternoon?’
‘Of course,’ she replied in a breathy little voice, ‘but I look even better in the morning.’
‘How promising.’
He kissed her. And, boy, could he kiss! His lips were tender…and teasing. His mouth was tantalising…and…his kiss was slow…she was drowning…just a little dizzy…she’d been wanting this so much.
‘Mr and Mrs Townsend?’
Claire and Adam sprang apart. A flight attendant, carrying a tray of glasses filled with champagne, stood in the aisle beside them. Her expression was polite, although her eyes danced with curiosity. ‘Would you care for a little celebration? We’re about to cross the Equator.’
‘Champagne?’ Claire asked shakily. ‘Why not?’ She struggled to sit sedately and her hands flew to her cloud of blonde hair.
Adam reached past her and accepted their glasses of pale, fizzing wine. The attendant hovered for a moment, eyeing him with frank interest before moving on.
Clinking his glass against Claire’s, Adam murmured, ‘Here’s to my audacious and irresistible wife. Happy holiday.’
‘Happy holiday,’ Claire replied softly.
He leaned closer and whispered in her ear, ‘You were pretending we’d just met, weren’t you?’
‘You pretended you didn’t know how I look in the afternoon. You were happy to play your part,’ she reminded him.
