be sweet, but it would also be hollow. Rather than tear the other business down it made more sense to build his business up. To put something of himself into the pub so that he could point to that and say, it’s mine. And someday he could hand it to Billy and say, Here, son, this is yours. Cherish it.
The thought caught him by surprise. When had he started thinking about Billy in terms of the future?
His phone rang. “Hello?”
“Darcy,” his mother said. “I’m sorry to call when you’re working.”
“That’s okay. I’ve been meaning to come over but I’ve had my hands full with Emma and Billy. How’s Dad doing?”
“He’s being readmitted to the hospital.” A tremor came into his mother’s voice. “The surgical wound is infected.”
Darcy swore under his breath. “Isn’t he on antibiotics?”
“Yes, but the medication isn’t working. Some sort of superbug has taken hold.”
He glanced at his watch. It was almost eleven. “When is he going into the hospital?”
“Tomorrow afternoon. They’re waiting for an open bed.”
His father was elderly and in the grip of a virulent strain of bacteria. People died from that. “I’ll come over right away.”
“No, don’t. He’s asleep.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow then, around lunchtime.” He remembered that his mother and father still hadn’t met his son. “I’ll bring Emma and Billy.”
* * *
SHE WAS MAKING LOVE to Darcy. They were lying on a blanket in a meadow, the remains of their picnic scattered. His musky scent mingled with the fragrance of grasses and wildflowers. Her hands roamed over his bare back and buttocks, warmed by the sun. Her body tightened and their rhythm moved faster as tension grew. The sweet sensation was about to reach a peak—
A siren wailed in the distance.
The dream began to fade. Caught between sleep and waking, Emma moaned. The soft tissues between her legs throbbed and she pressed her hands there, desperately trying to stay in the dream long enough to climax. But the sensory image of Darcy had already vanished.
The siren sounded louder. The ambulance was coming closer.
She slipped into her recurring nightmare about Holly. Only this time it was Billy who was running toward the driveway and the reversing truck.
“Billy,” she screamed. And woke up.
Where was she? The bed was familiar, the quality of the darkness wasn’t. Terror still gripped her, all the more disorienting because her body was sexually aroused. Where was Billy?
The bedroom door opened and Darcy came in.
“Shh, Emma, it’s okay. Everything’s okay.” His arms went around her in the dark, warm and strong. “Billy’s asleep in his cot in the other room. He’s fine.”
She clung to Darcy as if she never wanted to let go. “Bad dream,” she mumbled.
She sagged against Darcy’s chest, breathing in his scent, recapturing strands of her first dream and weaving them about her as armor against the second dream. Her hands ran over his shoulders. This was real. He was real. Solid. Strong. Here for her.
The siren stopped abruptly.
“I heard you call out. You said Billy’s name.” Darcy lay down next to her and held her in his arms, stroking her hair back from her face. His upper body was bare but he wore boxers and his muscular legs stretched out pale in the dim light.
“Don’t want to think about it.” She shuddered and turned to face him, pressing her body full-length against his through the covers. Desire resurged, a spark that instantly fanned into a flame. She raised her mouth and found his, kissing him urgently.
“Emma?” Darcy murmured against her lips. His hands gripped her, holding her back. “Are you awake? Do you know what you’re doing?”
“I’m awake enough. I want—”
“What?” he said huskily. “What do you want?”
She hesitated. What did she want? Sex? Love? She was all mixed-up and frustrated. “I just want.”
“I know that feeling.” With his mouth on hers, he lifted his hips and pushed back the covers to get closer. He was already hard and seemingly full of the same urgency as she was.
Emma wasted no time on foreplay. She was aroused and needy and desperate to push away the last shreds of the nightmare. Reaching down, she slipped off her panties and climbed on top of Darcy. Her eyes closed at the heavy hot pulse of his erection against her belly.
“Wait.” Darcy reached into the bedside table for a condom.
“Quickly,” she urged. Even before he’d covered himself completely she was sliding down his shaft with a long satisfied moan. “Oh, you feel so good.”