CATHERINE GEORGE – Sweet Surrender (страница 6)

She looked at her mother. ‘Unless there’s anything I can do to help?’

‘No, darling. It’s a very simple meal tonight.’

Adam took charge of the buggy as the three of them walked briskly to hurry the baby into the warmth of the stable block which had been Adam’s private quarters since his eighteenth birthday.

‘I’ll look on while you do the hard part,’ Kate told Gabriel. ‘Or is Daddy going to do bathtime?’

‘We share the process unless I’m late home,’ said Adam as they went upstairs. ‘Actually, I wanted a word on the quiet, Kate,’ he added, cuddling his son while Gabriel filled the baby bath. ‘I take it you weren’t too pleased to see Alasdair?’

‘Not at first.’ She wagged a finger at him. ‘Nor with you, either. You might have warned me! After all this time it was a bit of a shock to find him waiting for me outside school, of all places.’

‘He wanted to surprise you.’

‘I’ve never met this Alasdair, of course,’ said Gabriel, undressing her squirming baby, ‘but I gather he’s done well for himself.’

‘Unlike me, he’s done what everyone expected of him. And now he’s here to run the UK operation of the pharmaceutical giant who head-hunted him from Cambridge,’ said Kate. ‘Gosh, the baby does wriggle, doesn’t he?’

‘Terrified me the first time,’ agreed Adam, and hooked his hands under his kicking son’s armpits while Gabriel did the sponging—a process Hal objected to at the top of his voice.

‘Pass him over quickly,’ begged Gabriel, and hastily wrapped her son in a warm towel to cuddle him. ‘Dash down and get his bottle, darling, please.’

‘You’re not feeding him yourself, then?’ said Kate, mopping up splashes.

‘No. Not that I’m sorry. This way we can share the night-time feeds. At least that’s the theory,’ added Gabriel, chuckling. ‘But I wake up anyway.’

‘I bet Adam doesn’t when it’s your turn!’ Kate watched while her nephew was fastened into a stretchy sleepsuit. ‘Do you enjoy motherhood, Gabriel?’

Her sister-in-law turned with a smile, cradling her restless son against her shoulder. ‘Just between you and me, Kate, I hadn’t thought to go in for it quite yet, but now he’s here I wouldn’t give him back.’

‘Neither would I,’ said Adam, as he joined them. ‘We never get enough sleep any more, but this, we’re assured, will improve with time.’ He kissed his wife as he handed over the bottle of formula. ‘We’ll leave you to it, sweetheart.’

When Adam unwrapped the silver-mounted crystal jug he’d found on his travels Kate stroked it with pleasure.

‘Perfect. But how much would you have got at auction for a beauty like this?’

‘Irrelevant. You can have it for the money I gave for it,’ he assured her. ‘But look, if you can’t afford it—’

‘I most definitely can. I’ve been saving up ever since Gabriel told me she was pregnant.’ Kate smiled. ‘I rather took it for granted you’d ask me to be godmother.’

‘You knew I would,’ he said gruffly, and gave her a searching look. ‘Now we’re on our own, is everything all right with you, Kate?’

‘Always the same old question,’ she said, resigned. ‘And it’s always the same old answer, Adam. Contrary to some people’s belief, I like my life and I love my job.’

“‘Some people” meaning Alasdair?’

‘Who else? Due to my famed qualifications he thinks I’m mad to teach at a village school.’ Kate shot him a look. ‘Do you still agree with him?’

‘Of course not. Like everyone else, I was a bit surprised at first, but it’s very obviously what you want to do, so I’m happy for you.’

‘You don’t mind that I’m never likely to win the Nobel prize, then?’

‘No way.’ Adam smiled crookedly. ‘In fact, I’d rather you met some guy who’ll make you as happy as I am with Gabriel.’

‘Don’t hold your breath,’ Kate warned him, laughing. ‘If I do feel the need for a male presence in my life one day I’ll get a dog like Pan.’

Adam chuckled. ‘Tell me when and I’ll buy you one.’ He eyed her curiously. ‘Now he’s back in this country, will you be seeing Alasdair more often?’

Kate shook her head. ‘I doubt it. I live in deepest Herefordshire, and Alasdair intends living in the Gloucester house his grandmother left him. It’s not exactly next door.’

‘Near enough for him to come calling round twice in two days,’ he reminded her.

Kate’s mouth compressed. ‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t make a habit of it.’

‘Is there someone else, then?’

She shrugged impatiently. ‘You know perfectly well I see Toby Anderson and Phil Dent when I’m home.’

Adam rolled his eyes. ‘The accountant and the sports master. Wild passionate affairs both, of course.’

‘How do you know what they’re like?’ said Kate indignantly.

‘Because you go out with both of them. I can’t see you leaping in and out of bed with two blokes, turn and turn about!’

Kate gave him a shove, laughing. ‘Not everyone wants wild, passionate affairs.’

‘How about marriage, then?’

‘One day, maybe,’ she said lightly. ‘At the moment I’m happy with my role of maiden aunt to the Dysart young.’

CHAPTER THREE

NEXT morning, Fenny knocked on Kate’s door and came in with two mugs of tea, then perched, yawning, on the end of the bed.

‘This is very good of you,’ said Kate, surprised. ‘Thanks, Fen.’

‘My pleasure. So how are things, schoolteacher?’ Fenny’s green eyes sparkled below a tangled mass of hair as dark as Kate’s. ‘Life in the sticks as scintillating as usual?’

‘A laugh a minute,’ agreed Kate, and sat up to drink her tea. ‘Who drove you home last night?’

‘Prue’s boyfriend. She came home for the weekend, too.’

‘But she lives in Marlborough.’

‘After he dropped her off he insisted on driving me all the way here, so who was I to refuse?’

‘You should have invited him in to supper.’

‘No way.’ Fenny grinned. ‘Time for that when it’s my boyfriend, not someone else’s.’

‘You’re incorrigible!’

‘But cute with it.’

‘Oh, yes,’ sighed Kate. ‘You’re cute, all right. But don’t push your luck, Fen.’

‘With blokes, you mean? Don’t worry. I’m quite sensible really. And I’m going to wear a skirt today.’

‘No! I suppose that means I have to as well, then.’

‘I bet you were anyway, Miss Sobersides.’

Kate gave her a sharp look. ‘Is that how you see me?’

‘Lately, yes,’ said Fenny candidly. ‘So for heaven’s sake let that gorgeous hair down today, Kate—literally, I mean—and wear something to knock the vicar’s eye out.’

‘Is that why you brought me the tea? So you could give me a pep talk about my looks?’

‘I brought the tea,’ said Fenny indignantly, ‘out of the goodness of my heart!’

Kate laughed. ‘Then thank you kindly.’

‘I wonder if Adam and Gabriel got any sleep last night? That baby has a powerful pair of lungs.’ Fenny slid off the bed and stretched. ‘I shall be back shortly with your breakfast.’

‘You will not! I’m getting up—’

‘Mother said you’re to stay where you are for a bit. Best place to be; it’s freezing outside. I hope you brought your thermals.’ Fenny paused in the doorway. ‘By the way, Gabriel and the grandmas are wearing hats—Leo, too.’

Kate groaned. ‘No one told me.’