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Raoul backed out of the rooht to see the doctor and get checked out”

Alexis just laughed The sound washed over hientle caress—its touch too much, too intimate

“I see nothing to laugh about She id with anxiety

“Oh, no Nothing like that,” Alexis replied, her back to hie table

With one hand gently on the baby’s tu the already short he the curve of one buttock The warnited to an instant inferno He turned away fro erection as to avoid watching the diaper change

He turned back a minute later, almost under complete control once more, as Alexis dropped the soiled packet into the diaper bin, one Raoul distinctly re the day they discovered she was pregnant He didn’t even remember when it had arrived or who had put it in here He should probably have given it to Catherine but here it was, being used in a nursery he’d never i used at all after Bree’s death

“Raoul? Are you okay?”

Alexis’s voice interrupted his thoughts, dragging him back into the here and now as she always did

“I’ the words could actually make them true

“Good, then please hold Ruby while I go and wash my hands”

Before he could protest, she’d thrust the baby against his chest Instinctively he put out his ar the irl’s tiny form His stomach lurched and he felt physically ill with fear He’d never held her before Ever What if he did soain? He looked down into the blue eyes of his daughter, eyes that were so like her ether with tears and to his horror he saw her eyes begin to fill again, saw her lip begin to wobble He couldn’t do this, he really couldn’t do this

“Thanks, Raoul, I can take her back now if you like?”

Relief swamped him at Alexis’s return and he passed the baby back to her with lightning speed But theweird happened It was as if he actually ht in his arainst his own, the sensation of the rapidly drawn breaths in her tiny chest, the warmth of her skin