Paddington Children's Hospital Complete Collection. Kate Hardy

Victoria said, but she did not move from his lap and he made no move to stand.

      He looked at her hair which tumbled down over her shoulders and he knew that she wore nothing beneath the robe. He looked at her mouth and then back to her eyes.

      A train rattled past which told her the time. She actually liked the sound—it was like having an erratic cuckoo clock in her home but, Victoria knew, this train was the last of the night and she would not hear that sound again until just after five.

      And what would her life be like then?

      More complicated, Victoria was sure, because it was she who moved in for his mouth.

      She tasted resistance—oh, yes, she did—for Dominic had not come here for that and did not want to muddy the waters...while, of course, also desperately wanting to.

      For muddied waters became crystal clear as he tasted her kiss and it was all terribly simple after that. It had been a day of holding back and he could sustain it no more, for today had been hellish and now the night was not just kind, it was inviting.

      Escape beckoned and he drew her in closer, hitching her up on his lap while his hands went into her hair. But Victoria pulled them down, for this was her kiss to him. And so she turned in his lap and straddled him so his hands were free to roam her.

      And then he kissed her lazily as she rose on her knees to him, a kiss that simply let her lead and gladly she did. Victoria explored his mouth at her leisure as he ran his hands over her bottom and then released the tie on her robe so that it fell open.

      Now his mouth was more urgent as they explored with their tongues and she knew she had never enjoyed kissing more than she did with him.

      It was hungry and teasing and they shared moans of pleasure, and as his hands toyed with her breasts she was raw with need for him.

      The kiss went deeper and he pulled her higher on his thighs so that she could feel him hard at her centre. She was holding his face in her hands as she kissed him and he ground her down on him.

      Then she lifted higher so that he could taste her breast with warm licks, and when he pulled his mouth away, the sudden loss made her crave more.

      Victoria had never wanted anyone as badly as she wanted him.

      She had missed his touch and now, when there was so much to sort out, they sought the one thing that was already clear—a mutual and very deep want.

      ‘Please...’ she said while making room for his hands to free himself. Victoria could feel his breath on her breast as she held on to his shoulders. But when she could simply have lowered herself onto him, instead he ran his hand up her inner thigh and then played with her for a moment, sliding his fingers inside till she was quivering. But she did not have to ask twice for him to take her.

      He eased himself inside her as she lowered herself down, and he swore with the bliss of her tight grip and told himself to hold on.

      Victoria now wanted his skin pressed to hers. It seemed cruel that he was dressed, but she was so hot in his arms that all she could manage was a couple of buttons on his shirt before she gave up trying to open it.

      He thrust upwards while pulling her down and the feel of him so deep inside her almost shot her into orbit.

      It was raw and fast and there were hungry kisses in between, and then he turned his head to halt their kiss and slid his hips forward in the chair, taking her with him and allowing him to watch their union.

      Victoria still held his shoulders and she, too, looked down. He lifted her hips and held her at his tip, then thrust just a little and the pleasure drove them both wild. She could not sustain it as she was starting to come so he pulled her hard down. She tightened and pulsed around him as Dominic came to her body’s command. Relishing the heat of release, she rested on his shoulder, gathering her breath, while he moved her pliant body to extract every drop of pleasure.

      Victoria closed her eyes at the bliss, while knowing she did not need to wait for morning to find out how she was feeling.

      She wanted him to stay.

      Victoria wanted to hole them up in her bedroom and never leave because it felt as if there were too many obstacles out there.

      This love felt as though it might burst from her chest if she let it; it was just too vast to handle.

      There were too many feelings that must be kept in check.

      For how would he react to her barrage of questions?

      Her feelings were in complete disarray.

      ‘You need to go,’ Victoria said.

      She went to climb off but he did not let her. ‘So you can say I got what I came for?’

      He felt her short, reluctant laugh as he held her in his arms.

      He was starting to know her a little too well and so she lifted her head up and looked at him.

      ‘You do have to go.’

      ‘I can call and tell them that if there’s a problem...’ And then he hesitated because family came first, especially at times such as this, yet she had edged her way up that list. ‘Come back with me.’

      It was possibly the most stupid thing to say, but he was still inside her and that allowed a person to say the occasional reckless thing.

      ‘Isn’t it a bit early to be meeting the family?’ Victoria said, and got off him.

      ‘Exceptional circumstances,’ Dominic retorted as he sorted out his clothes. He was annoyed at himself for pushing things, and annoyed at the contrariness of her. ‘Victoria, like it or not, we’re going to be parents, and trying to sort things out from a distance isn’t working out too well, is it?’

      ‘I’m on nights tomorrow,’ Victoria said. ‘I just want to go to bed and have a long lie-in.’

      ‘So when will I see you?’

      ‘At work, I guess.’

      ‘I meant away from work. I’m not going to have our relationship dictated by how often your ambulance is dispatched to the Castle, and you kicking me out isn’t exactly helping us—’

      ‘I’m hardly kicking you out,’ Victoria interrupted. ‘You have a family that you need to get back to and I need to get some sleep.’

      She needed him gone because she was on the edge of telling him she was crazy about him.

      On the edge of asking about Lorna and how it had felt to see her again.

      If he knew her—the real, insecure her—Victoria was positive that he would not want her any more.

      She had never cared about anyone else in the way she cared for him, and it terrified her. She did not want to add a failed relationship between them to the mix.

      ‘You keep asking if there’s anything you can do for me,’ Victoria said. ‘Well, there is. Just stay back.’

      ‘You mean that?’ he checked.

      ‘I do.’

      She even held the door open for him.

      So much for wanting a long sleep, because Victoria was still awake when she heard the first train of the morning clack past.

      Dominic, she decided, could be as involved in their baby’s life as he chose to be but she would not allow him to get closer to her.

       CHAPTER TWELVE

      ‘WHAT TIME DID you get home last night?’ Katie MacBride enquired as Dominic came into the kitchen the next morning.

      Dominic, who hadn’t had to answer that question for two decades, was certainly in no mood to answer it now.

      ‘Did you hear what your mother said?’ William