'That's great. Because I don't just want to use it for weekends and holidays.' She looked him in the eye. 'I love it here, too. I want to stay here. I want to live in your house.'
He stared at her and his hand tightened on hers. 'I can't ask you to do that—'
'You don't have to,' she said simply. 'I don't want to move to London. And I don't want to be a cardiologist. I had doubts right from the beginning. That was why I came up here. I needed to escape from the pressure of my family. They mean well but they're so forceful that I'd lost sight of what I really wanted to do. I was so swept along with what everyone else wanted that I'd lost track of what makes me happy.'
'But why the hell didn't you say something?' He stared at her, astounded. 'To be honest, I thought it was an odd choice of career for you. Why didn't you tell me how you felt?'
'Lots of reasons.' She gave him a sheepish smile. 'Because I thought you liked career-women. Because I wanted to prove to you that I was an adult and that seemed like a pretty good way, and because—' She broke off and his eyes narrowed.
'Because what?'
She blushed at his gentle prompt. 'Because I knew that I was in love with you right from the start, and I thought that if I kept telling you that I was going to London I'd throw you off the scent.'
'You certainly did that!' He groaned and shook his head. 'What a pair of idiots! I guessed you were in love with me—you're not that great at hiding your feelings, my love—but I assumed that your career was so important you wanted to go to London anyway.'
She shook her head. 'I really, really don't want to go to London. I know exactly what I want to do, and it's not cardiology.'
'Go on.' His voice was hoarse and she smiled, knowing how pleased he'd be by what she had to tell him.
'I want to be a GP, Zach. I decided that night we had dinner with Ally. I loved hearing about what she did and I knew that I wanted to do it, too. You know I'm no good at just dealing with patients for a short time. I'm too interested in them. I want to be involved in their lives and know everything there is to know about them.'
Zach stroked a hand across his face and let out a long breath. 'You're really sure you want to be a GP? You don't want to go to London?'
'No.' She shook her head. 'I don't want to go anywhere. I just want to stay here with you and Phoebe.'
There was a long silence while he digested what she'd just said and his eyes searched hers.
'I don't want you to accuse me of ruining a brilliant career.'
'What's brilliant about it if it's something I don't want to do? I don't want that sort of career,' she assured him. 'I've got everything I want right here.'
A slow smile spread across his handsome face. 'In that case, I'll make some calls and get you on the GP rotation here as soon as possible.'
'Ah.' He hadn't heard all her news yet. 'I'm not sure about that, Zach.'
He frowned. 'But you said—'
'I know what I said.' She looked at him calmly, enjoying teasing him just a little. '
But there are things I have to do first.'
'Like what?'
'Like be a mother to Phoebe,' she said quietly, taking his hand and looking deep into his eyes. 'No more nannies, Zach. Not for a while anyway. I want to be there for her— get to know her.'
'But that would mean giving up work.' He looked at her, clearly stunned and touched by her proposition. 'Are you saying you want to give up work to look after my daughter?'
'Our daughter, Zach. She's our daughter now,' Keely reminded him, searching for the right way to say what she had to say. 'And I want to have some time on my own with her before—well, I'll be giving up work pretty soon anyway, so I thought I may as well do it now, when my time in A and E comes to an end.'
There was a long silence.
'Giving up work?' His voice cracked slightly. 'Why will you be giving up work?'
Keely glanced towards the door to make sure that no one could hear them and then gave him a shy smile. 'Because, Mr Jordan, thanks to the overwhelming chemistry between us, we were a little careless one night...'
Zach stared at her, stunned into silence. 'Are you trying to tell me that you're pregnant?'
She nodded and then her happy smile faltered slightly. 'Is it—? You don't mind—do you?'