what it's going to cost, and I'm not talking about money." She glared back at him, knowing this husband of only a few months too well.
He bent and nibbled at the corner of her mouth. "It's going to cost every night in your bed for the rest of our lives."
Georgina shivered as the liquid warmth of his kiss took its course. If they were married for a million years, she would never get used to this sensation. She wrapped her fingers in Daniel's vest to steady herself. "You already have that. What else, Daniel?"
His hand brushed her breast lightly before settling on her arm. He steered her back toward the hall and the lovely oak stairway leading upward. "We'll be staying here in Cutlerville rather than traveling the seven seas." He pulled her up the first step.
Georgina continued to hold back. She couldn't keep her eyes from focusing on the beautiful details of the banister and the rooms unfolding above, but she still hadn't received the answer she wanted. "That's what you wanted to do anyway. You said you wanted a home and a family, and now you have one. That isn't too high a price. There's still a catch to it." She glared at him balefully. "Who built this house?"
Daniel sighed, scooped her waist into his arm, and half carried her the rest of the way up the stairs. "Peter did. This was the house he had meant for you. I added a few details since he never had it finished. If you don't like it, just say so. There's still time to sell it to someone else."
Georgina stared into the massive bedroom filling the right wall of the upstairs. Sun streamed through a wall of windows, pooling on a familiar piece of furniture. "Our bed," she murmured, floating out of Daniel's hands and into the room to touch the first piece of furniture they had shared together.
"We can always buy something fancier later." Daniel stuck his hands in his pockets and watched her anxiously. "I just thought it would be nice..."
Georgina swung around and stared at him through wide blue eyes. "We certainly will not. Our son could have been conceived in that bed. That's our bed. It stays right there."
Slapped in the face with too many possibilities at once, Daniel could only stare at the vision in pale blue standing between himself and the bed. Sunlight captured the silver-gold of her hair, but cast her beautiful blue eyes in shadow. His gaze dipped to the generous expanse of her bosom, the one he had admired blatantly every night these past few months. Then hearing her words still ringing in his ears, he couldn't help but send a look of curiosity to the loop of fabric crossing the delicate muslin pulled back from her stomach and hips. He couldn't see anything different. But his eyes rose to meet Georgina's, and hope blazed in them.
"Our son?" he asked tentatively.
"Or daughter." She shrugged almost diffidently, turning away from the heat of his gaze to stroke the ornate brass footboard.
"Georgina." A warning in his voice, Daniel stepped closer, reaching out to take her chin and turn her face back to him. "Are you or are you not trying to tell me something?"
"Well..." She couldn't meet his gaze, but her hand stroked the muslin he had been eyeing earlier. "It's been three months," she said, as if that explained everything.
Heart pounding crazily, Daniel searched Georgina's averted face for some sign of certainty. A delicate flush stained her cheeks, and his thumb caressed the shadow beneath her eyes. He had thought she just wasn't getting enough sleep. "Georgina," he whispered, "give it to me straight. Are we or are we not going to have a baby?"
Her lips curved bravely upward. "You're not angry? I know it's awful soon, and Evie said we ought to wait, but well... It was probably too late even then, Dr. Phelps says. I'm almost three months along..."
"We've only been married a little over three months!" Daniel exclaimed. Then seeing the fear rise to her eyes, he carried her up in his arms and began smothering her face with kisses. "My God, Georgina, I love you. I think I just might burst with happiness this minute."
"Really? Really, Daniel? You're not just saying that?" Georgina clung to his shoulders and arched her neck backward as his kisses found new territory. For the first time since she had learned of the child, she admitted a tingle of joy. He wasn't angry.
Daniel