The Army Doctor's Wedding (8 page)

"Actually," Cameron
said softly, "we both adopted Sami."

Sandra's brows gathered.
"Both of you?"

"Alice and I are married,
Mum."

Sandra froze, her expression
morphing from shock to surprise before a smile touched her lips. She glanced
down at the baby in her arms, her eyes sparkling with pleasure. "Oh, that
means Sami is my grandson."

A man cleared his throat,
snapping Alice's gaze to the doorway.

"You're married?" The
man looked like an older version of Cameron and Radley, tall and distinguished,
his dark hair silvered at the temples.

His expression was carefully
blank, leaving her unsure of his reaction.

"Yes, a few days ago."
Cameron led Alice to his father and the two men embraced. "Alice, this is
my father, George Knight. Dad, this is my wife, Alice."

She couldn't imagine
ever
calling this man by his Christian name. "Pleased to meet you." Her
voice came out as little more than a whisper. Everyone had stopped talking to
watch them. Cameron's father shook her hand, his grip firm, his hand so big
hers disappeared.

"This seems rather hasty,
Cameron."

Cameron's father disapproved.
Alice dared not look him in the face. Instead she stared at the buttons on his
jacket, her belly clenching in a horribly familiar way.

"It was the right thing for
us," Cameron said.

"Where do you come from,
Alice?"

"London." She felt like
a naughty student called up in front of the headmaster.

"What does your father
do?" That was exactly the sort of question her father would ask when
surely he should be more interested in what she did.

"I work for the charity Safe
Cradle." She risked a glance at his face and caught his slight smile as he
noted she hadn't answered him.

"Yes, I know that. You're
the young lady who rescued the baby."

Heat stung Alice's cheeks. Of
course, Cameron's dad had been the one to arrange the visa for Sami. Maybe she
was looking for a snub when none was intended.

"My father's a High Court
judge."

"That's interesting. What's
his name? I might know him."

Disquiet whispered through Alice.
Her father had nothing to do with her life now. That was how she wanted it to stay.

"Sir Alistair Conway,"
she offered reluctantly.

"Ah, yes. I am acquainted
with him. We were at Oxford together."

Alice's gaze shot up to the man's
face in horror. This was terrible. What if he told her father about Sami?

Chapter Eight

Cameron sealed the tapes on Sami's clean diaper, wiped his
hands, and lifted the baby into his arms. He smiled down at the little guy and
pressed his lips to the top of his head, breathing in his sweet baby smell.
Alice's floral fragrance clung to the baby's hair as well.

"You smell so good I could
eat you all up." Laying Sami on the bed, he blew on the baby's chubby
tummy, making him kick his legs. Sami's brown gaze followed him with interest
as he dressed him in a sleep suit.

Sami gurgled and his little mouth
curved at the corners. His first smile! A burst of warm, protective feelings
stole Cameron's breath. He lifted Sami into his arms and held him as tightly as
he dared, rocking him back and forth. He loved this little boy so much it
nearly overwhelmed him.

He loved George too, but this was
different. George might be his biological son, but he had never been his to
care for and protect. Not like Sami.

"Are you having a
cuddle?" Alice wandered in from the bathroom.

"He smiled at me."
Cameron's voice came out all choked up, and he cleared his throat.

"Really?" Alice pressed
her face against his shoulder to look in Sami's face. "What a clever boy.
Are you going to smile for me too?"

The baby yawned hugely and
blinked. Cameron and Alice both chuckled, their eyes meeting over the baby's
head. Another burst of feeling rocked through Cameron. Something about Alice
touched him in a way he'd never experienced before. Was he falling in love with
her?

He'd missed her last night, but
he'd had to stay away. If they'd slept in the same bed he might have taken
things too fast. He needed to give her space to get used to the idea of making
this a proper marriage.

But he was done being a
gentleman. One night would have to be enough space. Tonight he wanted to share
his wife's bed.

"Do you want to give Sami
his bottle?" he asked.

"Yes, just let me brush my
hair."

Cameron rocked Sami in his arms,
humming a nursery rhyme while Alice sat on the padded stool and picked up a
hairbrush. She swept the bristles through the long golden strands falling
around her shoulders, gleaming like silk in the low lighting.

His hand flexed, imagining the
feel of her hair running through his fingers. Her beautiful golden hair had
been the first thing he'd noticed about her when he rushed to her aid after she
went down. That first time he saw her out in the desert felt like a different
lifetime now.

Thank you, God, for throwing this
woman in my path, he thought. Sami wriggled and Cameron circled his palm
soothingly on the baby's back. Thank you for giving me a second chance to be a
good dad as well.

This time he would put his heart
and soul into caring for his baby and do the job properly.

***

Alice stood and slipped off the dressing gown Olivia had
loaned her. The cream silk nightdress clung to her skin, still damp from her
shower. Acutely aware of Cameron's gaze following her, she fumbled in a drawer
for something, but she couldn't remember what.

"I'll take you into London
tomorrow to pick up your things from that place you left them."

"The women's refuge. Are you
sure you want to come?"

"No way are you going to
that rough part of London on your own."

Did he really care about her as
much as he seemed to? She couldn't believe it.

Excitement and nerves twisted and
tangled inside her as she slid between the crisp sheets and arranged a pillow
on her lap so she could lay Sami at the right angle to feed him.

"Here you are. One hungry
little boy." Cameron gently settled Sami in the crook of her cast on the
pillow and handed her the bottle. Sami's eyes drifted closed, but as soon as
the nipple touched his lips he sucked it in and gulped down his milk.

Concentrating on her baby, Alice
tried to ignore Cameron as he moved around the room, tidying up baby things. He
kicked off his shoes and socks and started unbuttoning his shirt.

Alice struggled to breathe
normally, her heart thumping, her skin tingling. What did he expect of her
tonight?

"I'm just going to the
bathroom."

Alice's gaze rose to Cameron's
naked chest, his muscles sculpted with light and shadow by the table lights. He
stood at the bottom of the bed, a toothbrush in his hand, and faded denim jeans
riding low on his hips. Her breath rushed out in a strange little whimper. His
eyebrows rose so she pretended to cough.

When the door closed behind him,
she pulled the empty bottle from Sami's mouth and pressed a hand over her eyes.
Cameron hadn't even climbed in bed yet and she had already made a fool of
herself. She burped Sami and gathered the sleepy baby up to settle him in his
bassinet.

Then she turned off all the
lights except the one on Cameron's nightstand and lay down. Her breath sounded
unusually loud in the stillness of the room as she waited.

He entered softly and bent over
the bassinet to kiss Sami before he moved around the bed. Slipping off his
jeans, he slid beneath the sheets wearing his underwear.

Alice lay stiffly on her back,
sleep about as far from her mind as it was possible to get. She had never felt
more awake, or more aware of Cameron, mere inches away from her in the bed. He
slid closer, propping his head on his hand. "You're okay with this
arrangement, aren't you?"

"Yes."

She rolled onto her side to face
him, her pulse racing. She still couldn't believe he was attracted to her.
Maybe he just thought they should try to make a go of the marriage for Sami's
sake. Alice's teeth worried at her lip.

They stared at each other in the
semidarkness, the small bedside light silhouetting Cameron, making it difficult
to see his face. That actually made it easier to talk frankly. "I don't
understand why you wanted this," Alice said.

"I didn't plan it."
Cameron's fingertips brushed the hair back from her face, and lingered on her
bare shoulder. "It seems like the right thing to do for you and
Sami."

The small bud of hope inside her
shriveled. His being here with her was due to his sense of duty.

"If you'd rather date
someone else then I won't make a fuss. We only got together for Sami. I never
expected you to give up your social life for me."

Cameron gave a wry laugh. "I
don't have much of a social life."

"I guess not while you're
deployed in a conflict zone, but surely when you come home on leave you must
date."

"Yes," he said,
reaching out and cupping the back of her head, drawing her closer. "I'm
dating my wife. I want
you
, Alice. Not some other woman." Shivers
of sensation flowed through her as he leaned closer.

He kissed the tip of her nose,
her cheeks, her eyelids, then put his lips against her ear. "Now stop
trying to talk me out of how I feel and kiss me, Mrs. Knight."

***

Alice barely noticed the London streets passing the window
of the 4x4 as Cameron drove Radley's car towards the women's refuge to collect
her stuff.

She was in love—something she had
never thought possible. This wonderful man had swept her off her feet with his
soft caresses and gentle lovemaking. She'd had no idea a relationship between a
man and woman could be this way. For the first time she understood what people
meant when they said they were walking on clouds. She felt both dreamy and
excited at the same time.

The GPS directed Cameron to turn
right. He swung the large vehicle through the traffic, a frown creasing his
brow. "Is this the right way, love? It looks dodgy around here."

"This is where women need
the refuge most." Not all women, of course. Some, like her mother, lived
in expensive, fashionable parts of town. It didn't mean they didn't need help.

"We're nearly there. Find a
space on the edge of the road if you can," she said.

Cameron parallel parked beside a
parking meter and cut the engine. He climbed out and came around to open the door
for her.

"The refuge is around the
corner." She threaded her fingers through his as he took her hand.

They walked past an empty lot
littered with trash. Obscene graffiti covered a wall beside the railway line
and dirt filled every crack. The area had always been scruffy, but it had
deteriorated further.

They turned a corner onto a
street of run-down houses. "It's number sixty-two."

A few people gathered around a
man hammering on a door, shouting abuse.

"Not that place, I
hope?" Cameron halted, keeping a tight grip on her hand.

"Yes. The man's wife is
probably inside."

Cameron turned, pulling her with
him. "Come on, let's go back to the car."

"No. I want to get my
things. Wait a few minutes. Maeve, who runs the place, will have called the
police."

Cameron hesitated, his lips
pressed in a hard line. "Okay, but if the situation gets worse, we walk
away, all right?"

***

Cameron really did not want to be here, but even more he
didn't want Alice here. Thank goodness they hadn't brought Sami. They retreated
to stand by a wall covered in graffiti. He tightened his grip on Alice's hand,
keeping watch all around. Some of the houses had boarded-up windows and litter
lay everywhere.

A siren cut through the air. A
few minutes later a police car turned down the road and stopped outside the
women's refuge. Two officers jumped out and tried to talk to the man hammering
on the door. He stumbled down the steps and took a swing at one of them. They
cuffed him, pushed him in the back of their car, and drove off.

Cameron couldn't believe it.
"Don't the police take statements from anyone when this happens?"

"Not unless the woman inside
files a complaint. They'll lock him up until he's sober and then release
him."

Cameron shook his head. This was
a different world from the one he lived in. He slipped his arm around her and
hurried along the edge of the road, his gaze darting everywhere. "I can't
believe you used to work here." He certainly wasn't going to let her work
here again.

"Somebody has to help these
women."

"I know, love." But it
wasn't going to be her. They could argue about it later if necessary. Right now
he wanted to get her in and out as quickly as possible. By the time they got
back to Radley's expensive car, it would probably be stripped down.

As they neared the house, Alice
waved to a woman with a mass of red hair, leaning out of the upper floor
window. "Maeve, it's me."

"Alice! I'll be straight
down." A few minutes later the front door opened. "I thought you were
in a desert somewhere. Come here and give me a hug."

Alice walked into Maeve's open
arms. "It's good to see you. I missed you."

"What the hell happened to
your arm, darling?" Maeve's gaze rose from Alice's cast and raked over
Cameron.

He bristled at the accusation in
her eyes.

Alice hugged closer to his side,
defusing his indignation with her warm smile. "I was injured in Africa.
This is the man who saved me. He's an army doctor, Maj. Cameron Knight. My
husband."

Maeve's eyebrows shot up and
disappeared in the unruly mop of red hair. A gamut of emotions crossed her face
as she assessed him. Finally she held out a hand. "Maeve Brown. I run this
place."

"Good to meet you,
Maeve." He would forgive this woman for jumping to conclusions. She seemed
to be important to Alice. "We saw the altercation at the door. Are you all
okay inside?"

A woman's cry distracted Maeve,
and she glanced over her shoulder. "Not really. That guy's wife is in a
bad way, but she won't let me call an ambulance." She heaved a frustrated
sigh. "She won't talk to the police either."

"Would you like me to
examine her?" Cameron offered the olive branch, fully expecting her to
turn him down.

Maeve's gaze moved back to him,
her expression wary. Long moments passed, then she stepped aside. "Yeah,
Nina needs a doctor."

A threadbare hall carpet covered the
floorboards, but the walls were a cheerful yellow decorated with children's
artwork. The smell of pizza drifted from the end of the corridor. Maeve led
them to a room at the back that held a couple of beds. A woman in jeans, socks,
and a gray T-shirt lay in a fetal position, groaning.

"Kids?" Alice asked
under her breath.

"Three in the
playroom."

Alice nodded and squeezed
Cameron's arm. "See you in a minute."

He watched her slip from the room
then turned his full attention on his patient.

"Nina, here's a doctor to
see you," Maeve said.

The woman didn't respond. Not a
good sign.

Cameron moved to the side of the
bed. "Hello, Nina, I'm Dr. Knight. Maeve asked me to take a look at where
you're hurt." He lifted aside the woman's long dark hair to see her face.
She had a swollen lip and bruising on the side of her face—nothing to account
for this degree of discomfort.

She lay with her knees bent and
her hands over her belly.

"Nina, I need you to turn
onto your back." He glanced at Maeve and she nodded.

After what the woman must have
gone through at the hands of her husband, it was best if Cameron touched her as
little as possible. He stepped away as Maeve soothed the woman and coaxed her
into rolling over.

"Lift her T-shirt,
please," he said.

The sight of angry purple
bruising splotched across her belly and ribs sent a sick lurch to Cameron's
stomach. He had seen far worse injuries, but never on a woman inflicted by her
husband.

Hell. He clenched and released
his fist before moving closer to the bed. "I need to palpate the bruised
area to check for damage," he said softly to Maeve. "It might be best
if you talk to her and reassure her while I undertake the examination."