Free Christmas-Eve Baby by Caroline Anderson

this, of not knowing what to do about her father and her accommodation, and hewanted so much to help her, to ease that burden, and yet he’d caused it.
    Ben’s hands slowed and stopped, and he realised she was asleep. Very carefully and gently he lifted her legs up and swung them round onto the sofa, and she made a little noise and snuggled down. He took off his sweater and tucked it around her, then sat down by her feet and watched her while she slept. The baby was moving, her bump shifting and wriggling, and he watched it, fascinated, for what seemed like hours.
    And then suddenly her eyes flew open, screwed up then she wailed and struggled to her feet.
    ‘What is it?’ he asked, panicking, and she grabbed her calf and muttered something pithy under her breath about idiots.
    ‘Cramp!’ she yelled when he asked her again. ‘Can’t you see I’ve got a cramp?’
    ‘So sit down and give me your leg,’ he ordered, stifling the urge to laugh at his reaction. He pushed her carefully back onto the sofa and took the leg out of her hands, bending her foot up, stretching out the muscle and massaging it firmly until it softened under his hands and she groaned with relief.
    ‘Sorry,’ she said meekly, but he didn’t care about what she’d said, what she’d called him, because he’d been holding her leg up in the air and trying really, really hard not to notice that under the pretty, clingy little jersey dress she’d put on for the evening she was wearing the most outrageous lacy knickers.
    He dropped her leg as if it was red hot and moved away. ‘OK now?’
    She nodded and hauled her skirt down, but it was too late for that, the damage was done. She yawned, sighed and madeto get up, and he sat down next to her and reached out a hand, resting it gently on her knee.
    ‘Stay.’
    ‘Stay, as in good dog?’
    He smiled and shook his head. ‘Stay with me. You’re tired, you shouldn’t be driving when you’re tired.’
    ‘And sleeping with you is any more sensible?’
    ‘Why not? It’s not as if I’m going to get you pregnant.’
    She laughed and stood up, moving away from him. ‘Why on earth do you want me to stay, Ben? I’m fat, I’m waddling…’
    He thought of the knickers. ‘No. You’re pregnant. You’re not fat, and you’re not waddling.’
    ‘Humph.’
    ‘Well, not much,’ he said, trying to suppress a smile. ‘And you’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.’
    ‘You’re such a liar.’
    ‘No. You are—beautiful and funny and warm and intelligent and sexy as hell.’
    ‘Sexy?’ she said, as if he was mad.
    The knickers popped into his head again. ‘Yes. Sexy,’ he said firmly. ‘Desirable. Gorgeous.’
    ‘I’m pregnant,’ she said sceptically.
    ‘Yes. And still sexy as hell.’
    She rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, I get it. You’re one of those men with a thing about pregnant women…’
    ‘Only when they’re carrying my child.’
    Her jaw dropped fractionally, and she shut it and turned her head slightly. He could almost hear the cogs turning.
    ‘Lucy?’
    She looked back, soft colour touching her cheeks. ‘Ben, I— This is a really lousy idea.’
    ‘Why? I’m not walking away. I fully intend to be there for you and the baby for ever. Why not start now? You don’t even have to sleep with me. I’ve got a spare room.’
    She laughed a little oddly. ‘Bit late for that.’
    He wanted to go to her, scoop her into his arms and carry her up to bed, but he forced himself to be still, to wait there for her to make the first move.
    But she didn’t. She stood there, her lip caught between her teeth, her eyes wary. ‘Ben, what if—’
    ‘What if—what?’ And then he realised. She was afraid that when she took her clothes off he’d change his mind, find her unattractive. Crazy, silly woman. Not a chance. ‘Please?’ he said softly. ‘I just want to hold you.’
    And that must have been enough, because her eyes filled with tears and she nodded, and then she was in his