Free Expecting Miracle Twins by Barbara Hannay Page A

this?
    She hurried to the sink and splashed her face with cold water, snatched up a hand towel and mopped at her eyes. That was better.
    She found a dollop of scrambled eggs in the pot on the stove and a piece of toast sitting in the toaster. She collected a plate, a knife and fork, helped herself to the food and took it outside to the balcony. For a couple more hours, until Jake was on the plane, she had to behave as normally as possible.
    Jake had almost finished his breakfast when she arrived on the balcony. He was watching her closely as she sat down and she prayed that he couldn’t tell that she’d been crying.
    ‘That was Gina, Will’s sister,’ she told him.
    Jake nodded, but he was frowning at Mattie and she wondered if he’d overheard her end of the conversation. What exactly had she said?
    ‘Gina’s my best friend,’ she explained.
    ‘Yes.’ He was still frowning at her. ‘I gathered that.’
    What else had Jake ‘gathered’? Why was he looking at her so ferociously? He couldn’t possibly know about her surrogacy plans, could he? Somehow, Mattie just knew in her bones that he would be very upset if he discovered she was about to become pregnant with someone else’s baby.
    But it wasn’t really any of his business, was it? He was going away for six months and by the time he came back he might have forgotten about her. He’d told her that he wasfootloose and fancy free and she was quite sure that was how he wanted to stay. Look at how easily he’d dumped Ange.
    Just the same, his frown made Mattie nervous as she cut off a corner of toast and loaded it with egg. As she lifted the food to her mouth, Jake’s hand shot across the table and he grabbed her wrist.
    ‘Hey!’ she cried as the food toppled back onto her plate. ‘What was that for?’
    ‘Aren’t you allergic to eggs?’
    ‘Oh.’ She let out a whoosh of air. What a relief! His frowning concern had nothing to do with her phone conversation.
    He pointed to her plate. ‘The other morning when I made an omelette, you told me you were allergic to eggs.’
    ‘You’re right,’ she admitted. ‘Sorry. I’m afraid I was lying.’
    Jake’s relief was evident. ‘I hope you had a good reason for lying.’ He relaxed back in his chair and watched her with a look of dark bemusement.
    ‘I had a very good reason. You were being mulish and I wanted to be mulish right back at you.’
    ‘I was mulish?’ He pretended to be shocked. ‘When?’
    Mattie thought about it and realised that her grounds for disliking Jake in those first couple of days had been based solely on the fact that he hadn’t shown the slightest interest in her. It was an unsettling discovery and she certainly wasn’t going to share it with him now.
    ‘I…I can’t remember the exact details,’ she said lamely. She took another bite of egg and toast, but it seemed to stick in her throat. Suddenly she was thinking about everything that had happened since that morning Jake had made the omelette. How could she have undergone such a huge transformation in such a short space of time?
    She hoped she didn’t start crying again, but this morning she seemed to be faced by constant reminders of how deeply and swiftly she’d fallen for Jake. Heavens, from the moment she’d set eyes on him, she’d been sinking like a stone. And she’d promised herself this would never happen again!
    She was still lost in thought when Jake glanced at his wristwatch and she was grateful for the distraction. ‘It’s almost time for you to leave for the airport.’
    He sighed. ‘I should book a taxi.’
    ‘No, I’ll drive you.’
    ‘It’s a long way and the traffic will be hell at this hour.’
    Her eyes were threatening to water again. Damn. ‘Jake, please don’t argue. I’d like to take you to the airport.’ Any time with him felt precious.
    His throat made a swallowing motion and he looked almost as upset as she felt. ‘Thanks, Mattie.’ He picked up his breakfast things.
    ‘Leave