Healed By Their Unexpected Family. Karin Baine

Let me in.’

      Oh, yes, and Jamie had suddenly turned into a stalker, showing up all the time and trying to convince her he was out to win Father of the Year. It was a complete turnaround from his visits earlier in the pregnancy when he’d been more interested in catching up with his brother than acknowledging the baby. The way she’d preferred it. Life was difficult enough for her trying to come to terms with the fact she was about to become a mum without having to deal with him and those unwanted feelings he kept stirring up inside her.

      ‘I don’t care if you are the father of this baby. You’re practically a stranger and I have no intention of letting you interfere in my life.’ Kayla slammed the door and promptly burst into tears. This was all such a mess.

      She rubbed her hand over her huge belly. ‘I’m so sorry, little one. We all wanted better for you.’

      He or she should have had happily married parents with a life mapped out. Not an unlovable mother and a playboy father who’d never wanted the responsibility of a baby, handing it over to those better suited to the parenting role. She’d let this child down before it had even been born. How the hell was she going to provide the upbringing it deserved? It wasn’t as though she had good role models to follow. She was going into this blind.

      Another veil of tears fell, soaking the delicate silk scarf around her neck; Liam had bought it for her last birthday. Her brother had known she’d adore it because of the motif. The dragonfly was her personal totem and a powerful symbol of change and light in many cultures. In this case Liam said it represented the start of their new life and the rebirth of their family.

      Now it was a reminder of everything she’d lost.

      She slipped the scarf off her neck and draped it around the photograph of Liam and Tom on their wedding day. Happiness radiated from their smiles as they gazed at each other, so full of hope for their future together. Only to have it so cruelly snatched away from them a short time later.

      ‘I have as much right as you to be here.’ Jamie’s voice carried down the hall to interrupt her grief and cause her temper to flare again. His constant presence was preventing her from focusing on more important matters. Such as the prospect of becoming a single parent.

      ‘How did you get in?’ She watched helplessly as he stalked into the living room as though he owned the place.

      He swung the house key around his finger on the hand-stitched felt key ring she’d made with Tom’s name on it as a moving-in present. ‘This is my house too, remember? You’re not the only one who lost a brother and it’s about time you stopped avoiding me. We have a lot to discuss.’

      Their brothers had left everything to the two of them in their wills, making it impossible for Kayla to avoid him unless she sold up, and there was enough upheaval without having to move to a new house as well. It was a pity the wills hadn’t been updated since the surrogacy arrangement. Then they might have had some idea of what it was they were expected to do.

      Jamie threw himself onto the settee and she worried he was ensconced for the night. There was no other choice for her but to join him. Although it took her slightly longer to ease herself and her bump into a chair.

      ‘I thought you’d made it abundantly clear from the start you didn’t want anything to do with this baby.’ She wished that were still the case. He had a choice where she didn’t. No matter what happened, she had to give birth and be a mother to this baby.

      ‘That was when I thought I was going to be nothing but a sperm donor to make my brother’s dream of being a father come true. I wanted Tom to be happy. No matter how unconventional, I wanted to see his dream of having a family come true. Now he’s gone this baby will need someone to look out for it.’

      ‘I’m looking out for it. I am the mother.’ He wasn’t the only one who’d done this with the intention of making the couple happy. This wasn’t the time to be searching for accolades. Jamie had provided his little swimmers because Tom’s hadn’t been doing the job they were supposed to, but she’d been the one who’d gone through the intrusive medically assisted insemination process.

      It was she who’d carried the baby all this time. She was the one whose body would never be the same again.

      ‘In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the father.’

      ‘I haven’t forgotten. I’m giving you the opportunity to walk away. As you’d planned from the start.’ She didn’t want to parent on her own, but it was preferable to a lifetime of being tied to this man.

      Kayla had moved to London with Liam nearly fifteen years ago to escape the control of their parents and she wasn’t going to tie herself to a man she hardly knew now. That hadn’t ended well the last time she’d been conned into it. She’d been left broken-hearted and homeless when she’d rebelled against Paul’s dominance in their relationship.

      It wasn’t that long since she’d lost her brother. She was vulnerable, and she wasn’t going to let anyone take advantage of that.

      Jamie stood up. He was imposing at his full height, which had to be a good foot taller than her five-foot-three-inch frame. Especially when he was dressed in his GP’s sharp suit and tie and she was in her ever-expanding maternity leggings and voluminous, stretch jersey, dark grey bump-coverer.

      He strode towards her with such purpose her mouth suddenly went dry.

      Then he leaned down and whispered, ‘Not going to happen.’

      The ebb and flow of a shiver brought the tiny hairs on her arms to attention as his breath warmed her cheek. He gave her scant time to linger on her body’s reaction and walked away again towards the kitchen.

      When she managed to compose herself enough to follow him she wished she hadn’t. Her sense of incredulity and temper rose further with every cupboard he opened, showing no respect for the fact this had been her home for the better part of a year. He might have inherited a share through tragic circumstances, but his lack of good manners and bold self-entitlement were not aiding their already strained relationship.

      ‘Don’t you have any proper food in this place?’ He was rummaging in the fridge, turning his nose up at the contents as he inspected them.

      ‘I only have proper food. It’s much healthier than that processed junk you probably favour.’ Liam and Tom had shared her healthy approach to food, but Jamie didn’t look as though he could be sustained by lettuce and carrots alone.

      ‘Give me a dirty, big burger any day,’ he grumbled, confirming the belief he was a man who enjoyed the red-meat-fuelled lifestyle of his caveman ancestors.

      Although lean, Jamie was solid muscle and sinew. She could see that by the way his tailored shirt clung to his torso, and his thighs stretched the fabric of his tight-fitting black trousers. This was someone who needed protein to fuel his workout. He’d be more inclined towards swimming rather than being a gym bunny, she decided. Mainly because she could imagine him gliding through the water with those powerful limbs, showing off that streamlined body in nothing but a tight-fitting pair of swim trunks.

      ‘I said, we’re going to have to do a grocery shop or I’ll starve to death here.’

      Kayla blinked away her glistening-wet, semi-naked fantasy to centre on the fully dressed version of Jamie, whose mouth was twitching as he tried not to laugh. It was then she realised she’d been staring, and it hadn’t gone unnoticed. She blamed the sudden heat consuming her body on the rise of her blood pressure at having an unwanted visitor going through her things. Not due to any thoughts of Tom’s big brother with his wet hair curling at the nape of his neck or water sluicing over his naked body.

      ‘You—you don’t live here. My cupboards are none of your business,’ she blustered, slamming shut all the doors he’d opened during his plundering.

      ‘Well, here’s the thing, Kayla. It was one thing being the biological father only and Tom taking responsibility for raising this child. Now he’s not here, the baton passes to me and I’m afraid I’m not going