Their Very Special Marriage

Their Very Special Marriage by Kate Hardy Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: Their Very Special Marriage by Kate Hardy Read Free Book Online
Authors: Kate Hardy
so his eyes looked almost black with passion.
    Everything was going to be all right. They were going to make love, and everything was going to be all right.
    Slowly, he undid the button of her jeans and slid the zip down. He teased her, his fingers drifting over her midriff; Rachel made a small sound of impatience and tilted her hips.
    â€˜Something you wanted, Dr Bedingfield?’ he asked, his voice low and husky.
    â€˜You,’ she replied, her voice equally husky.
    â€˜I think that can be arranged.’ He gave her a smile that managed to be teasing yet smouldering at the same time, and a thrill of desire ran down her spine.
    It didn’t take him long to remove her jeans—or her to remove his. Her top followed, then his T-shirt. And finally they were skin to skin. Rachel could still remember the first time they’d made love in her narrow single bed at university, the heady excitement of exploring each other’s body fully for the first time, learning where each other liked to be touched and stroked and kissed. That headiness had never quite gone away, for her. Even now, she thrilled at how good Oliver’s body felt against her own.
    And right now he was all hers.
    â€˜Rachel.’ He breathed her name as he kissed his waydown her collar-bone, stroked the length of her spine, then finally took the hard peak of one nipple into his mouth.
    Rachel couldn’t help closing her eyes, concentrating on the sensations evoked by his clever mouth. All she could feel was Oliver, all she could sense, all she could—
    â€˜Mum- mee !’
    They both stilled.
    â€˜Maybe she’ll go back to sleep,’ Oliver mumbled against Rachel’s skin.
    As if to contradict him, Sophie’s wail grew louder. ‘Mum- mee !’ she sobbed again.
    If Rachel could have cloned herself at that moment, she’d have been happy. As it was, whatever she did she lost. Sophie was ill and needed her—Rachel couldn’t possibly desert her sick child. But Oliver... This was the first time in weeks they’d been close. Who knew when her husband would let her get this close again?
    Damned if I stay, damned if I go, Rachel thought, her heart feeling as if it had been torn in half. She pulled away from Oliver regretfully, and slipped her jeans and T-shirt back on. ‘I’d better go to her. She’s not well. If we leave her, she’ll get into a state and it’ll take us for ever to calm her down again.’
    â€˜Sure.’
    â€˜Can you bring a drink up for her and the infant paracetamol?’ And maybe if Oliver stayed with her, maybe if they cared for their daughter together—then maybe when Sophie fell asleep again they could take up where they’d left off.
    Though she knew she was kidding herself: he was already reaching for his own clothes. It didn’t take a genius to know what he’d be doing while she was settling Sophie again.
    Oliver brought up a spill-proof beaker of water, so it wouldn’t matter if their daughter went to sleep still holding her cup—she wouldn’t get drenched and wake up again. He poured the infant paracetamol into a spoon for Sophie andencouraged her to take it. And then he uttered the words Rachel had been expecting and dreading in equal measure: ‘I’ll just do a bit of admin while you’re here with Sophie.’
    If only you’d slept just a few minutes longer, Rachel thought, rocking her daughter to sleep in her arms. If your father and I had made love, everything would have been all right. Now, who knows? Work will come between us yet again.
    When Sophie had drifted back to sleep, and Rachel padded barefoot into Oliver’s office holding a glass of Merlot, her husband didn’t even look up. ‘You go ahead and watch the film. I’ll be in with you in a minute.’
    His definition of ‘in a minute’ definitely wasn’t the same as his wife’s, because he was still working when the

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