‘Stop crying.’ His expression amused and concerned at the same time, he brushed the tears away from her face. ‘This is supposed to be a happy moment.’
‘It is a happy moment. But it’s also an unexpected moment. I couldn’t see any sort of future for us.’ She sniffed. ‘I thought you didn’t want to unsettle the children.’
‘It turned out that they were more unsettled by the thought of you going than staying.’ He slid his fingers through her hair. ‘Clearly we weren’t as good at hiding our feelings as we thought we were. Chloe sat me down and forced me to admit how I felt about you.’
‘She did? When?’
‘Yesterday, when you were upstairs. They informed me that they wanted me to marry you.’
‘Ah…’ She smiled up at him. ‘So none of this was your idea?’
‘I admit I had some help.’ He gave a slow, sexy smile and slid the ring onto her finger. ‘So you like it? The girls thought it was “cool”.’
Lara swallowed as she looked at the size of it. ‘I hope you haven’t sold the house to pay for it.’
‘He didn’t have to. Daddy has lots of money.’ Aggie danced into the room with Chloe close behind. ‘He’s very rich.’
‘Is he?’ Lara started to laugh. ‘My mother is never going
to believe this!’
‘Will you have a baby now?’Aggie’s voice was innocent. ‘Chloe and I would love a baby sister. Or a brother. We’re not fussy.’
Christian closed his eyes briefly and then sent her a look of apology. ‘Sorry,’ he murmured. ‘Do you think you’re up to this or is it going to be too much for you?’
Lara couldn’t stop smiling. ‘Oh, I’m definitely up to it. And on the subject of children, there’s something that I think I’d better tell you while there’s still time for you to change your mind.’
His expression curious, he stroked a hand over her cheek. ‘Go on. But I ought to warn you that nothing is going to make me change my mind.’
‘Did I ever mention a patient who was a psychic?’
‘No.’ He lowered his head and kissed her gently. ‘Do we have to talk about work?’
‘Well, this isn’t exactly work. She came into the department a month ago and she predicted that Fran would be pregnant by Christmas and that Jack would have a boy, not a girl, and that I—’ She broke off and Christian looked at her expectantly.
‘And you?’ He lifted an eyebrow in question. ‘What did she predict for you?’
‘I was just coming to that part.’ Lara’s eyes twinkled with wicked humour. ‘I think you might want to sit down, Dr Blake…’
* * * * *