Needed: Full-Time Father (Medical Romance) by Carol Marinelli

just happened, Madison.’ Guy answered as if that were explanation enough but, seeing the confusion in her eyes, he crossed the room, took her stunned face in his hands and continued, ‘Madison, sometimes these things just happen…’
    ‘Not to me!’ Appalled, she wrenched herself away. ‘Not to me they don’t, Guy. Look, I know you think I’m overreacting, I know I was a completely willing participant, it’s just that…’ Her mouth snapped closed, trapping feelings she didn’t want to reveal, trying to save herself from exposing more than she already had.
    But Guy refused to accept her silence, refused to accept her rejection. He put his hands on her shoulders and guided her to the sofa.
    ‘Am I the first person you’ve slept with since your husband?’ His hand tightened on her shoulders as she nodded reluctantly. He watched as a tear tumbled down her cheek despite her best efforts to squeeze it back, histhumb collecting a damp, loose strand of hair plastered to her forehead and smoothing it gently behind her ear. And if he hadn’t been in his boxers he’d have tried to locate a handkerchief, but instead he watched as Madison gave a rather inelegant sniff and attempted to compose herself. Gently he ploughed on, trying to say the right thing. ‘I wish I’d known that, known how hard this was for you—the guilt you must be feeling. All I can say is that I know this happened quickly, but it doesn’t have to cheapen things. We just did it the wrong way around. Madison, I want to get to know you, all of you, I want to get close to you…’ She frowned up at him, as if he were speaking a foreign language that she’d barely even started to grasp. But occasional words filtered through and, despite her utter confusion, somehow she understood what it was Guy was saying—because she wanted to get close to him, too, wanted to get to know him, all of him. Staring back at his gorgeous face, for a slice of time it almost seemed possible that with a man like Guy maybe they could work it out, maybe they could learn this language together. Perhaps sensing the shift in her, he pushed just a touch harder.
    ‘Tonight.’ He stroked her hair slowly. ‘Tonight we’ll…’
    And like a balloon popping the hope, the possibility that had hung in the air dispersed and with a frustrated sob Madison wrenched herself away.
    ‘How, Guy? Are you intending to take me out for dinner, to the movies perhaps, or maybe we can go clubbing? Did I omit to mention that I’m way out ofbabysitter tokens for the next six months?’ He opened his mouth to object, but Madison was going full steam ahead, reaching for her shoes and pulling them on, as bitter, angry words spilled out of her mouth. ‘Or perhaps I should go and pick up Emily and tell her that mummy has got a new boyfriend, why doesn’t she come home and meet him?’
    ‘Madison! You’re being—’
    ‘Ridiculous?’ She nodded her head. ‘Because it’s ridiculous to even think for a moment that this could work. And you’re wrong, Guy, it’s not because of some rose-coloured view of my late husband that I haven’t slept with anyone since he died, it’s not because of some misguided sense of honour that I haven’t hit the singles bars or nightclubs. It’s because of the mess my husband left me to pick up when he died. The mess I’ve spent the last five years extricating myself from. Yes, I’m attracted to you, yes, given the emotion of today, perhaps the outcome was inevitable, but if you think I want flowers and meals to somehow dignify it, you’re wrong. All I want is to put this behind us.’
    ‘To pretend it didn’t happen?’ His voice was incredulous, scarcely able to comprehend the change that had taken place, that the warm, loving, sensual woman he had held only moments before could just get up and walk off, but Madison wasn’t going to give in.
    ‘We slept together, Guy. We’re two consenting adults who slept together. It’s no big deal.’
    ‘You’re