Free The Surgeon's Miracle / Dr Di Angelo's Baby Bombshell by Caroline Anderson / Janice Lynn Page A

Will I do? Formal enough?’
    He opened his mouth, shut it as if he’d thought better of whatever he was going to say and nodded. ‘Perfect,’he said, but she wasn’t convinced. What had he been going to say?
    ‘Is there a subtext—like, no flesh showing or anything?’ she asked, still unsure because of course he couldn’t see the neckline with the pashmina in the way, but he just gave a slightly strained laugh and shook his head.
    ‘No, flesh is fine. I’ve just seen Charlie in the hall, with a dress slit up virtually to the waist, so unless there really isn’t a front to that dress under the shawl thing, I don’t think you’ve got a problem. You’ll have to go a long way to show more than her.’
    She felt her shoulders drop with relief, and the pashmina slid down and his eyes tracked its path, stopping at her cleavage, and they both froze.
    She swallowed hard. ‘Still think it’s all right?’ she asked, her nerves on edge for some reason, and after an endless moment he reached for the pashmina and tucked it back over her left shoulder again with gentle fingers.
    ‘On second thoughts, perhaps a little decorum. I don’t want my father having a heart attack,’ he said gruffly, and then offered her his arm. ‘Shall we?’
    Damn. She’d known it was too much. Oh, well, it was too late now, but at least she could keep the dress covered. They reached the hall, and Sally came quickly over to them. ‘Libby—I’ve got a corsage for you,’ she said, handing her a delicate creamy-white orchid spray, and then she smiled brightly and hurried off.
    ‘I could pin the pashmina with it,’ she suggested, and he nodded, looking relieved.
    ‘Good idea. Here, let me.’ And he pinned it in place, giving her a fleeting, enigmatic smile, then tucked her hand back in his arm and led her into the fray.
    ‘Oh, my goodness, there are so many people,’ she murmured, and he squeezed her hand.
    ‘Don’t worry, I won’t abandon you,’ he promised, and he didn’t. He kept her close all evening, and she was astonished to discover that she was seated next to him at the top table.
    If she was supposed to be some kind of deflector for the single girls, she couldn’t have been given a more high-profile position, she realised, feeling Charlotte’s eyes on her, and she felt the most appalling fraud. The cutlery conundrum came back to haunt her, and if she’d thought that last night’s dinner was formal, this was even more so.
    But she coped, somehow, managing the endless selection of knives and forks and spoons by following Andrew’s lead, making polite conversation to his uncle on her other side and hoping that she wouldn’t knock over her wine glass or drop something down the pashmina so she had to take it off and reveal all.
    But she got through the meal without a disaster, and then his father tapped a glass and stood up.
    ‘Friends, family, may I have your attention? As you all know, we’re here to celebrate Jane’s birthday, and I just wanted to say a very few words in praise of a woman who’s been a remarkable wife and companion to me for nearly thirty-five years—forty, if you count the time I spent chasing after her before she let me catch her,’ he said to a ripple of laughter. ‘And I’d be lying if I said she didn’t look a day older than on her twenty-first birthday, but she’s certainly no less beautiful, at least to me, and I would just like to thank her, in front of you all, for the many years of happiness she’s brought me, for the laughter and tears, the companionship,the challenge, and most particularly for the precious gift of our two sons. I know they would like a chance to thank her publicly for all she’s done, so if you could bear with us—Andrew? Would you like to start?’
    He’d known it was coming, but he’d managed to ignore it, so preoccupied by the earlier glimpse of Libby’s cleavage that his brain had been all but wiped clean. He got to his feet and smiled at everyone, then