Baby Benefits by Emily McKay Page A

since it was only about two in the afternoon, but metaphorically, the credits had already started to roll.
    “Good riddance,” she muttered. And she even almost meant it.
    “Excuse me, miss, where do you want the bags?”
    Raina spun around to find the limo driver rolling a shoulder-high stack of luggage up the drive. Not one but two hanging bags were hung over his shoulder. The guy looked all of nineteen and maybe a hundred and twenty pounds. Raina figured the luggage probably had a good forty pounds on the kid, because he’d had to wedge his shoulder against it to push it up the hill.
    “Oh, for goodness sake,” she said, as she watched the driver wheeze his way toward her.
    “The bags…” he puffed. “Where do…you want…them?”
    “I suppose the bottom of White Rock Lake is out of the question.”
    He looked at her blankly. Probably because he didn’t get the joke, but possibly because he was about to pass out.
    She took pity on him. “On the doorstep is fine.” Then she realized he’d have to hand carry each of the six—or was it seven?—bags up the flagstone walkway to get to the porch. “No, never mind. Here is fine. Her fiancé can bring them the rest of the way.”
    The word “fiancé” curdled on her tongue. And to think, mere minutes ago her tongue had been involved in such pleasurable activities.
    Warmth flooded her as she relived the feel of his lips on hers. His kiss had been everything she’d ever dreamed. It had been a kiss designed to dominate. To sweep aside objections and banish doubts. In that moment, nothing had mattered but their desire. In that moment, she’d have willingly sold her soul for more of his touch. Fool that she was.
    Well, it served her right. What had she been thinking, kissing another woman’s fiancé? That had bad idea written all over it. Had her common sense taken a sabbatical? Had her morals abandoned her completely?
    For nine years she’d known Derek when he hadn’t been engaged and she waited until now to kiss him? What an idiot.
    Though in her defense, he’d kissed her first. He’d started it. And he was the one who was so gaga over the lovely Ms. Biedermann. What was up with that?
    “You sure this is okay, miss? ’Cause I can take ’em the rest of the way up.”
    Only then did she realize she was scowling at the poor limo driver. He’d hefted two of the bags off already, and held the third poised in the air, awaiting her command. She sighed and forced a friendly smile. “It’s great. Just perfect.”
    A few minutes later, as she fished a twenty out of her own wallet to tip him, she couldn’t help wondering, was Kitty Biedermann really as bad as she seemed? Or did Raina just feel guilty for kissing her fiancé?
    Either option was unpleasant.
    She’d never been that kind of woman. She didn’t poach. It just wasn’t her style.
    And she vowed it would never happen again. The past few days she’d fallen into an oddly informal routine with Derek. Circumstances alone had led to this disaster. Well, circumstances combined with years of repressed desire. But that was all over with. Just because she’d cast aside her professional clothes for the two-week stint helping out with Isabella, that did not mean she’d cast aside her morals.
    Derek was off-limits. Permanently. And if her libido didn’t like it, it could just go throw itself in White Rock Lake.
    Eight
    Clearly, kissing Raina had been a bad idea. Even if he hadn’t almost been caught by Kitty, it would have been disastrous. How exactly was he supposed to go about the business of pretending to be enthusiastic about Kitty’s visit when what he wanted most was another woman? However, if he did a piss-poor job of pretending to be happy to see her, Kitty seemed not to notice. Nice thing about dating an heiress, he supposed. Kitty was generally so busy making sure people heard what she said, she rarely listened to anyone else.
    As soon as they’d entered the house, she’d left his side. As he