He chuckled. “Then I won’t upset the balance by disagreeing. When can we get together? There are some things we need to talk about.”
Macy yawned. “I know.”
“Tomorrow?”
Fighting the increasing weight of her eyelids, she struggled to vocalize a reply. Sleep beckoned and she sank into it, despite Thad’s voice in her ear. “Macy?”
“Tomorrow’s…fine.”
“Go ahead and get some sleep then,” he said, and strangely enough the sound of his voice was like a kiss on the forehead, soothing her into unconsciousness.
MACY AWOKE to the sound of sizzling bacon and the mouthwatering aroma of potatoes and onions. Oh good. Richard’s making breakfast for Haley. I can sleep a little later.
Richard! What was she thinking?
Macy shot out of bed as reality came crashing down on her addled mind like fifty tons of brick. She had classes today. Had she overslept? Would she have time to stop by the hospital and say hello to Haley, as she always did?
She shot a fearful glance at her alarm clock, which registered a mere six o’clock, and groaned. The buzzer wasn’t even supposed to go off until six-thirty. So who the heck was in her kitchen, banging around?
Lisa, of course. Somehow she knew Macy hadn’t eaten last night, and this was her revenge. Lisa knew everything.
After stumbling into the bathroom and brushing her teeth, she made her way to the kitchen, yawning and scratching her tousled head. “Jeez, Lisa, the least you could have done was warn me. Then I could have told you that I didn’t eat the Chinese food because I’d grabbed something at the hospital cafeteria.”
So what if it was only an apple.
“Lisa?”
“Good morning.” Thad stepped around the corner into the hallway wearing a T-shirt, a pair of worn, snug-fitting blue jeans—and a smile that could melt butter from a mile away. “Have a seat. Breakfast will be ready in a minute.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“HOW DID YOU get in here?” Macy demanded, anger chasing the dust and cobwebs of sleep away.
Looking shamefaced, Thad frowned. “You said we could talk today.”
“I don’t remember inviting you over for breakfast. And I certainly didn’t give you permission to break into my house.” She shoved a hand through her hair, ignoring the fact that she was standing, barefoot and wearing an old, rather prudish hand-me-down nightgown of her mother’s in front of one of the most handsome men she’d ever met. “Because I agreed to have your baby, you think you own every minute of my life until the baby is born? Wrong! That’s not what you’re paying me for, Mr. Winters. What you get for your money is a child, not nine months of absolute control over me and my time.”
He rested his hands on his hips and studied her for a moment. “Is that your last word on the matter?”
“Yes!”
“Damn, there goes the daily-exercise clause.”
“The what? What did you just say?”
He chuckled and turned back to the kitchen and the bacon sizzling there. She followed him.
“Don’t get all worked up, Macy. I was afraid I’d miss you if I didn’t come early, and when I couldn’t rouse you at the door, I checked under the mat. The key lying there was like an invitation to come in. You really should hide it somewhere else.”
“God, now I know how the average burglar justifies breaking and entering,” she complained.
“The average burglar doesn’t fix you breakfast. Surely that’s a sign I come in peace.”
“I’d rather sleep than eat. You just robbed me of half an hour,” she said, but she had to admit that the food smelled particularly good. When was the last time she’d eaten something for breakfast that hadn’t come out of a box?
His smile grew crooked. “Don’t worry. I’ve created a schedule for you that includes daily naps.”
Macy ground her teeth. “You’re kidding, right? What planet are you from? Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
“Hey, I’m not trying to control you. I’m just being helpful,” he said, turning the bacon.
“You’re protecting your investment. Don’t cloak it as something noble.”
“Maybe, but I’ve done quite a bit of reading, and all the specialists agree that it’s important for a pregnant woman to get enough sleep. And exercise,” he added, glancing quickly at her face as if to gauge her reaction.
“That isn’t exactly late-breaking news. But in case you’ve forgotten, I’m in med school. I have finals in three weeks, and I have a daughter who’s fighting for her life at Primary Care Hospital. The last thing I have time for is a nap.”
Captivated by the food in spite of herself, Macy came up behind him to see what he had cooking on the stove. She found a pan on every burner: fried potatoes, pancakes, eggs and, of course, bacon. She hadn’t been grocery shopping in weeks. He must have brought the food with him.
“Have you invited friends?” she asked as he flipped a large golden pancake. “Who do you think is going to eat all of this?”
“A pregnant woman is supposed to have four servings of—”
Macy held up a hand. “Stop! Don’t say it. I’m not pregnant yet.”
“It’s important that you build up your strength. You’ve been running on empty too long.” His gaze drifted down over her nightgown, all the way to her bare toes. “Don’t you think you should get dressed?”
She gave him a saucy toss of her head. “You’re the one who broke into my house. What did you expect? That I’d be showered and ready for the day at 6:00 a.m.? Or does seeing a woman in her nightgown make you uncomfortable?”
“Only when it’s as alluring as the one you’ve got on now,” he said, but he couldn’t keep a straight face, and Macy had to laugh with him.
“Okay, so they’re not going to ask me to be on the cover of the next Victoria’s Secret catalog.”
“I was making fun of the nightgown, not what’s underneath.”
Macy wondered if that meant he liked her figure. Then she told herself it didn’t matter, anyway. The few curves she had left would soon be distorted by the pregnancy. In nine months, Thad would have his baby, and she’d be left with the physical and emotional wreckage.
“I need to ask you something,” he said, reaching into her cupboard for two plates.
“The blood work came back. Everything’s fine,” she told him.
He threw her a glance over his shoulder. “That’s great. But what I want to know is a little more personal.”
Macy responded with a snort and took a seat at the table, where a glass of orange juice was waiting for her. “What could that fifty-pound questionnaire of yours have missed?”
“I’d like to get a better understanding of your love life,” he said, sliding a plate of food in front of her.
“Love life? Doesn’t my nightgown say it all?”
He grinned. “A man wouldn’t need much of an imagination to picture what you’ve got under that schoolmarm nightgown. A few more pounds and you’d have a knockout figure.”
Macy’s cheeks grew hot. Fortunately, Thad seemed as embarrassed by what he’d said as she was. He turned his back on her and prepared