Return of the Secret Heir by Rachel Bailey Page B

be here while you shower. WhileI’m at work, you can do safe things. Work on your cases at the table, watch television. Sleep.”
    â€œI won’t be sleeping. I have a full caseload.” She’d have Arthur bring files and notes over straight away and she could log on to the firm’s email server from her laptop. Maybe it wouldn’t need to be classed as time off. Just working from home.
    â€œSure, as long as they’re things you can do sitting or lying down.”
    Was he questioning her commitment to the care of their baby? Her spine straightened. “Have no doubts, JT, I won’t jeopardize this baby.”
    He arched a brow. “Then you won’t have a problem with my sleeping on the couch in case you faint again.”
    Pia let out a breath. She’d been over and over this on the cab ride, too, and had to face that her options were fairly limited. She could stay with one of her sisters and her family, or she could stay with her parents. Both options involved moving back to her hometown of Pine Shores—too far from the office to have someone regularly drop off or pick up work.
    Or she could accept this offer from her baby’s father—a man who had as much to lose as she did if she fell and didn’t have help. Why even hesitate? There would be minimal disruption to her work, and JT would simply be carrying out fatherly responsibilities. Of course, her work would have a problem with it if they found out, but it shouldn’t be hard to conceal if she was careful.
    She looked up at his darkly beautiful profile, into the depths of his dark-fringed eyes, at the small scar above his lip and her pulse began to jump madly.
    She almost groaned. This was why she needed to be cautious. Could she resist the sublime lure of him if he slept five paces from her bed? If she rose in the night for aglass of water and saw his face relaxed in sleep, his limbs strewn across her couch? If he emerged from her bathroom with damp skin and her towel wrapped around his waist? How strong was her resistance exactly?
    Yet, she couldn’t start an affair with JT. Soon, she’d be a mother, and mothers needed to be sensible. Rational. Prudent. Around JT, she’d never been any of these things. She wasn’t sure any of them were remotely possible when he was near.
    And now that they would have an ongoing relationship through their baby, she’d need to be even more careful to keep things on an even keel, to ensure she and JT could sustain a lifelong connection. If they stepped too close to the fire again, could they walk away and remain on pleasant enough terms to share the parenting of their child? The last time they broke up, she’d had to sever things completely. That wouldn’t be an option when they shared custody.
    But—her hands crept to her belly—her weakness wasn’t the issue. Her baby needed her to accept the help on offer. Her baby was depending on her to put every possible safety net in place to keep her or him protected.
    She swallowed past the resistance in her throat and met his gaze. “You can stay.”

Seven
    D usk was falling when JT came back. Pia had asked her assistant to bring over her briefcase and laptop—which she’d left on her desk when she’d ducked out for her ill-fated lunch break—plus the case files she was working on…except the Bramson estate.
    Linda Adams had appointments all afternoon and Pia hadn’t had a chance to talk to her yet, but now the will was Linda’s responsibility, Pia needed to know how she wanted her to work on it from home. Ethically, she couldn’t have paperwork pertaining to the case in the same apartment where a claimant was staying and could stumble across it, so she’d have to find a solution.
    Unfortunately, Arthur hadn’t arrived with her things yet—he’d needed to cover for her in a couple of meetings and said he’d drop them off in the