From long-lost friends...

To newfound family?

Georgia and Wil were best friends until he married and disappeared from her life. Now he’s back, asking Georgia to forget the past and help him secure his future—the daughter he never knew he had! Georgia’s heart goes out to new dad Wil, but there’s an uncharted chemistry fizzing between them and she must protect her heart. Can they confront their unspoken attraction and finally become a family?

KANDY SHEPHERD swapped a career as a magazine editor for a life writing romance. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her husband, daughter, and lots of pets. She believes in love at first sight and real-life romance—they worked for her! Kandy loves to hear from her readers. Visit her at kandyshepherd.com.

Also by Kandy Shepherd

Hired by the Brooding Billionaire

Greek Tycoon’s Mistletoe Proposal

Conveniently Wed to the Greek

Stranded with Her Greek Tycoon

Best Man and the Runaway Bride

Sydney Brides miniseries

Gift-Wrapped in Her Wedding Dress

Crown Prince’s Chosen Bride

The Bridesmaid’s Baby Bump

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Second Chance with the Single Dad

Kandy Shepherd

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09069-8

SECOND CHANCE WITH THE SINGLE DAD

© 2019 Kandy Shepherd

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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To my precious daughter, Lucy.

You’re grown up now, but your adorable baby self

was the inspiration for every baby I’ve ever written,

including the enchanting little girl in this story.

And, of course, you’re my go-to for all matters equine!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

WIL HUDSON WAS a handsome, handsome man. Georgia Lang had recognised his exceptional good looks from day one of their friendship. What red-blooded female wouldn’t? But she had never allowed herself to acknowledge even a flutter of attraction to him.

It was way safer to be ‘just friends’ with a man who attracted women as effortlessly as gorgeous Wil did—and discarded them as readily. Especially when she was just an ordinary girl, attractive enough, but hardly a winner in the head-turning stakes. Nothing like the women Wil dated. Girl next door was the way people described her. On self-doubting days, she wondered if that was shorthand for distinctly unexciting. Most of the time she embraced the label as a good fit.

As Wil’s girl next door pal, his buddy, his good mate from university days, she’d watched as his glamorous girlfriends came and went while their friendship endured. To be sure, it had ebbed and flowed. They’d always seen more of each other when they’d been between relationships; there had been moments when she’d wondered if they could be more than friends. But, fearing rejection, she hadn’t dared suggest it; he hadn’t either, and they’d each dived back into the dating pool.

But all that had been before Wil’s whirlwind marriage. After he’d wed, none of their group of friends had seen much of him. They’d seen him even less after his wife had left him. Georgia hadn’t seen him at all. He’d ghosted her—just stopped all contact without explanation. Not a call, not a text, not even a ‘like’ on social media. She’d seen him interviewed on television, he’d become a reluctant go-to spokesperson for the young generation of millionaires. But he might as well have been a ghost for all the personal contact she’d had with him.

Now, just days into the new year, he stood at the doorstep of the North Sydney apartment she shared with two other schoolteachers. She was so taken aback to find him there she had to clutch at the door frame for support. Wil. Her heart started a furious beating. How she’d missed him.

Incredulous delight flooded through her at seeing the friend she’d painfully accepted was no longer part of her life. She started to blurt out her pleasure at his unexpected appearance, wish him the happiest of new years. To tell him she was moving house and he was just in time to help her lift some heavy boxes of books and she’d reward him with the cookies she knew were his favourite. But she held herself back. This Wil wasn’t her best friend. She hadn’t deserved how he’d treated her. This Wil seemed like a stranger.

If it had been any other guy she might have shrieked about what a wreck she looked, in shorts and a past-its-use-by-date vest top, no make-up, hair rioting every which way from the January summer humidity. But she’d never worried about her appearance with Wil; she doubted he’d ever noticed what she’d worn.

But she’d always noticed him. The impact of his good looks hit her afresh—tall, broad-shouldered, in dark jeans and a white T-shirt that showcased his athletic physique. For a long moment she stared at him as he met her gaze through narrowed eyes. What was he doing here? Why now?

‘Georgie,’ he said slowly, his voice as deep and resonant as it had always been. His eyes searched her face, acknowledging that it had been a long time between meetings, waiting for her reaction. She met his gaze unflinchingly, drinking in the sight of him.

He was the same, but not quite the same. Wil had always been well groomed in a clean-shaven, country-boy kind of way. Now he was a few days away from a shave and stubble shadowed his jaw. His dark hair, longer than he used to wear it, fell unkempt over his forehead. Fine lines scored the corners of his eyes, the colour of bittersweet chocolate. At twenty-eight, a year older than her, he seemed somehow...weary. Perhaps making so much money so quickly did that for you, she thought cynically. Maybe it had also made him think he’d outgrown his old friends.

‘It’s been two years,’ she said at last, determined not to let a note of accusation edge her voice but failing dismally. Laughter and good-humoured teasing had been the keynotes of their friendship but she couldn’t find it in herself to summon them up. It had hurt, the way he had so abruptly discarded their friendship of six years’ duration.

Friendship not just diminished—as did happen when friends met ‘The One’—but extinguished. As if those years had meant nothing when he had finally fallen in love. As if she had just been a convenient prop, of no further use in his new life. Good old Georgia—no longer required. She couldn’t hide that hurt. Couldn’t pretend it didn’t matter.

And Wil wasn’t fooled for a moment. ‘I’m sorry it’s been so long, Georgie, I really am,’ he said.

She attempted to tease but her words fell flat. ‘You know whose fault that is.’

‘Mine. I know. And I regret it.’ He paused.

‘Yet you’re here now.’ She made no move towards him. No kiss on the cheek or hug in welcome—not that their friendship had ever been the kind that involved physical contact beyond the socially polite. There had always been an unspoken ‘no touching’ barrier between them.

Back in the day, when Wil had smiled there had been a hint of a dimple in his left cheek that, in spite of herself, she’d always found appealing. He wasn’t smiling now. Georgia didn’t smile either. Once they’d been such close friends they’d joked they could read each other’s minds. Now she could see in his eyes that he knew he’d hurt her by the way he’d dumped her. She wasn’t inclined to be forgiving. But this was Wil and he had sought her out. She had to give him a hearing.

‘I need your help,’ he said, his voice gruff.

Georgia could tell the effort it took for him to force out those words. Once she would have immediately jumped in to ask what she could do for him. Good old Georgia would have cancelled prior engagements. Rearranged schedules. Bent over backwards to accommodate him—far more, she realised, than he had ever done for her as his good friend. Now she remained with her feet planted firmly at the threshold. ‘I heard you and your wife had divorced.’

Angie, tiny, blonde, with a waif-like air that hadn’t hidden her calculating eyes. None of the girls in their friendship group had been taken in by her. Not so the guys. But none had been so smitten as Wil.

‘Yes,’ he said shortly.

Georgia crossed her arms across her chest. ‘I’m no longer available as number one shoulder to cry on when you break up with a woman.’ Not one word from him in two years. ‘I’m afraid my give-a-damn quota has expired,’ she said.

Only a tightening of his lips let her know that her words had met their target. He cleared his throat once, then again. ‘Angie...she... Angie’s dead,’ he said.

Georgia clutched a hand to her heart. ‘What?’ She expelled just the one word, tinged with disbelief. But Wil’s bleak expression told her to believe him. ‘When? How?’

‘Car accident in the Blue Mountains. New Year’s Eve. She...she died the next day in hospital. Three days ago.’

‘Oh, Wil, that’s dreadful. I’m so sorry.’ She remembered all the bitchy thoughts she’d had about Wil’s fluffy little wife. Regretted every one of them. Also regretted the just-spoken ‘not giving a damn’ remark. Angie was—had been—twenty-seven, the same age as her. Frighteningly young to die. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said again, not certain what else she could say. ‘Come in. Please. How can I help?’

She stepped aside to let him through the door. Apologised for the half-packed boxes around the place. Led him through to the living room, glad neither of her flatmates was home. Opened her mouth to offer him coffee. Maybe something stronger, even though it was only mid-morning. But Wil spoke first.

‘I have a baby. A little girl called Nina.’

‘Oh.’ Another stab of hurt shafted through her, that he hadn’t cared to tell her something so momentous. ‘I didn’t know you were a father.’

‘Neither did I,’ he said.

Georgia was too shell-shocked to find an immediate reply. ‘What do you mean?’ she eventually choked out. ‘How could you not know?’

‘Angie didn’t tell me. I wasn’t aware she was pregnant, let alone that she’d had a baby. We weren’t in contact after our short marriage ended. Only through divorce lawyers.’

Yet she was pregnant? Break-up sex perhaps. Georgia couldn’t ask. She’d heard the marriage had lasted less than six months. ‘Why didn’t she tell you?’

Wil swore under his breath. ‘I don’t know. To punish me. To... Hell. I don’t know why. Or if she ever intended to tell me. But she put my name on the birth certificate.’

The Angie that Georgia remembered would have milked a guy for all he had in child support. She’d had dollar signs flashing in her eyes when she’d met successful, wealthy Wil. He’d been an amateur inventor who had made a lot of money through patents after he’d appeared on a television show. ‘Then how—?’

‘A social worker from Katoomba Hospital in the Blue Mountains contacted me on New Year’s Day. Told me my ex-wife had died. After the accident, she regained consciousness briefly and told the social worker she wanted me to take custody of the baby. It...it came from out of the blue.’

Wil a father. Now Georgia realised her old friend didn’t just look weary. He looked dazed, as if his world had turned upside down, as if he wasn’t sure where to place his feet so he wouldn’t topple over. And he had reached out to her.

* * *

Wil had missed Georgia’s friendship. He hadn’t realised quite how much until just now when she’d opened the door to him, not with her customary wide, open smile but tight-lipped and guarded. The full impact of how he had hurt her had hit him like a blow to the gut.

But two years ago, his first loyalty had been to Angie. She had been pretty, sexy and fun—in the beginning. There’d been a vulnerability to her too that had drawn him to her. But she’d got very demanding very quickly. When Angie had begged him not to see his close female friend—not even to say goodbye—he’d had to go along with it. That was what a guy did for his woman. Besides, he’d learned very early that to disagree with Angie wasn’t worth it. No matter how large a gap Georgia had left in his life.

When the blinkers had come off, when he’d realised that Angie was too damaged for a normal relationship, he’d cut his losses and ended it very quickly. His gentlemanly instinct had been to let Angie tell people she’d been the one to leave. It had probably been doomed from the start—two people with troubled pasts drawn to each other, he wanting to rescue her, she deciding to blame him for all that was wrong with her life.

But that was in the past. Angie was tragically gone. And he’d found he was a father.

Now his lovely friend of such long standing stood near to him, cheeks flushed, her chestnut hair a riot of waves around her face, her blue eyes warm with both sympathy and a shocked surprise.

‘Was the baby injured in the accident?’ she asked.

‘Thankfully not. Angie’s sister was babysitting that night.’

‘Thank heaven.’ Georgia shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. ‘I’m having trouble taking this in. I can’t imagine how you must have felt at such news.’

Wil briefly closed his eyes at the intensity of his relief that she hadn’t turned him away. Breathed in his friend’s sweet scent, immediately familiar, immediately comforting. Georgia.

‘Nothing could have prepared me for it,’ he said.

He still couldn’t articulate his shock and disbelief at the call from the hospital. Angie’s tragic death had been enough to cope with, without the news of his unexpected paternity. Then he’d had to deal with the anger he’d felt towards his ex for keeping him out of the loop. The doubt that the child was his.

‘What did you do?’

‘Drove straight to Katoomba. Met with the social worker. Met...met my daughter.’

My daughter. Emotion swamped him as he remembered seeing the impossibly little girl in the social worker’s arms. How she had looked up at him with dark solemn eyes—his eyes—then reached over one tiny starfish hand to grip his finger strong and hard. He struggled not to let that emotion show on his face. Not to Georgia. Sensible, steady Georgia to whom he had been so careful never to reveal who he was, what he was, for fear she would turn away from him.

‘How...how old is she?’ He could see Georgia was struggling with the fact he had a child. He’d only had a few days to get used to the idea himself. But already he thought of himself as a father, determined to give that tiny scrap of humanity everything in life that had been denied him.

‘Seven months.’

‘That’s very young. What are you going to do?’

‘Go get her today,’ he said without hesitation.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Angie’s sister in Katoomba is kicking up a fuss. Seems to think she has a claim on Nina. She doesn’t, of course. Legally she hasn’t got a leg to stand on. But the sooner I have Nina with me, the better.’

Georgia’s blue eyes widened. ‘You mean you intend to bring Nina up by yourself?’

‘She’s my responsibility. I’m heading up to the Blue Mountains to pick her up and take her home.’

‘Whoa.’ Georgia put her hand to her forehead. ‘I’m reeling here. You’re going to be a single dad?’

‘I’m her father. She’s my flesh and blood. There is no choice.’

‘You’re sure Nina is yours?’

‘Have I done a DNA test? No time for that yet. But she’s mine all right. Looking at her is like looking into a miniature mirror. The social worker from the hospital laughed when she saw me. “No doubt about this little one’s daddy,” she said.’

Georgia nodded thoughtfully, as he had seen her do so many times. ‘That’s reassuring. And she must be very cute if she looks like you. But have you really thought this through?’

‘She’s my child and I will do my duty by her.’

He’d been orphaned at five years old. His time in foster care had marked him for life. No way in the world would any child of his go through what he had gone through. But he couldn’t tell Georgia that. For all the years of their friendship he’d never told her—or anyone from his ‘new life’ in Sydney—the truth about his childhood back in Melbourne. He’d made no secret that he’d been adopted. But as far as his university friends were concerned he’d been adopted at five by his wonderful parents. Not at fourteen years of age. Not after having found himself in a heap of trouble for doing what he’d thought was the right thing.

‘Good for you,’ Georgia said. ‘But it won’t be easy. I guess you know that.’

‘None of it will be easy,’ he said. ‘Which is why I’ve come here to ask you for your help. I need a friend—’ She started to protest but he spoke over her. ‘I know I probably don’t deserve your friendship, not after those years of radio silence. But I’m asking you anyway, Georgie. For moral support. Please come with me to Katoomba. Today.’

Her eyes widened and she frowned. ‘Me? Why?’

‘You know about kids. You teach elementary school. You have nieces and nephews by the bucketload.’ He didn’t want to sound desperate. But none of his friends had started families yet. Not that he would expect them to put their own lives aside and rush to his help.

Yet he expected that of Georgia. He pushed the uncomfortable thought aside. She had always been there for him. Until he hadn’t been there for her. But Nina needed him. And he needed Georgia.

‘That doesn’t make me an expert on babies,’ she said.

‘More of an expert than I am,’ he said. ‘I’d never even held a baby until the social worker handed Nina to me two days ago.’ He’d been petrified he’d drop her, despite the social worker’s reassurance.

‘I’m one ahead of you there,’ Georgia said with a wry twist to her mouth. She’d used to tell him she was the ‘afterthought’ in her family—eight years younger than her youngest sister, ten years younger than her oldest. They were both married with kids. She’d done a lot of babysitting. If anyone knew how to look after a baby, it was her.

‘That’s why I thought—’ he started.

‘Don’t you have a girlfriend?’

‘No.’ The relationship with Angie had burned him too badly to even contemplate dating.

‘There must be someone else who could—?’

‘There’s no one else I would trust.’

She sighed, took a step back from him against the stack of boxes in the middle of her living room. Pushed her fingers through her riot of dark chestnut, wavy hair. ‘That’s not fair, Wil. After all this time you can’t just rock up here and—’

‘I’ve been a bad friend, I know,’ he said. Wil didn’t expect her to disagree and she didn’t.

‘I... We... Your friends thought you’d dropped us because when you struck it so rich with your inventions, you wanted to leave us behind.’ She looked up at him, her eyes huge with undisguised hurt and bewilderment. He hated that he had hurt her.

‘That’s not how it happened at all,’ he said. How could she have thought that of him? Yes, he had made a lot of money but it hadn’t changed things, hadn’t changed him. He clenched his hands into fists by his sides. He never wanted Georgia to think badly of him. ‘I felt obligated to do what Angie wanted. She was jealous of you. Thought the others looked down at her.’

By the time he had realised Angie had purposely alienated him from the friends he cared most about, it had been impossible to make amends to them.

‘That wasn’t true,’ Georgia said.

But she didn’t quite meet his eye. None of his friends had liked Angie. If only he’d listened to them, instead of being swept along on an ill-founded urge to be some kind of white knight and rescue her from the effects of her troubled past.

‘Fact was, Angie didn’t like me seeing you. Didn’t believe in platonic friendship between a man and a woman. No matter how many times I assured her we were just friends, that we could all be friends. That there was no reason for her to be so jealous.’

‘No reason at all to be jealous,’ she echoed. ‘We rode horses together. Saw indie bands that no one else liked. But there was never any romance.’

‘Angie didn’t believe me,’ he said. Instead she’d screamed awful, ill-founded accusations he had no intention of sharing with Georgia.

‘And after your marriage ended? Still no word from you.’

He gritted his teeth. ‘I didn’t want to admit what a mistake I’d made by marrying her.’

Georgia would never know how many times he’d got as far as the last digit in her phone number before hanging up. How many times he’d driven past this apartment, slowing down only to accelerate away at the thought of confessing what an idiot he’d been to be taken in so thoroughly by Angie. Because to do that would have meant revealing the truth about those hidden years of his life. And not even the comfort and understanding he might have got from his long-standing friend Georgia had been worth that.

‘Really,’ she muttered. But the icy edge to her voice was melting.

‘I’m sorry, Georgie. If I could go back and change things I would.’

She blinked rapidly, something she’d always done when she was thinking deeply about something important. Finally, she spoke. ‘I’m not one to hold a grudge. I see things must have been difficult for you. And now—’

‘You’ll come with me to pick up Nina? That is, if you don’t have a boyfriend who has claims on your time.’

‘No. There’s no one.’

‘What about Toby? I thought for sure he’d have a ring on your finger by now.’

‘We broke up a year ago,’ she said, tight-lipped.

Good. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said to be polite. He’d been convinced she’d marry Toby. He cursed under his breath. If he’d known Toby was going to exit her life, he mightn’t have made that rash decision to marry Angie.

She gestured around her. ‘I’m in the middle of moving house. The landlord has put the apartment on the market and I’m going home to my parents’ until I find a new place. There are boxes still to pack, cleaning to be done. I—’

‘I’ll pay for packers, movers and professional cleaners. Please, Georgie.’

She paused, looked up at him with an expression he knew of old, halfway between exasperation and affection, then sighed. ‘For past times’ sake,’ she said. ‘No, for the baby’s sake. Unless you’ve changed a lot in the two years since I last saw you, I’m not so sure you’d know which end was up on a seven-month-old baby.’ Her smile—that lovely smile that had always uplifted him—danced around the edges of her lips.

Wil didn’t realise he’d been holding his breath until he let it out on a whoosh of relief.

‘Thank you,’ he said.

Now that Georgia was back in his life, he wouldn’t let her go again too easily. No matter what it took.

CHAPTER TWO

SO MANY TIMES during the years of her friendship with Wil, Georgia had escaped the city with him to head for the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, to ride horses or bush walk. Only never with a rearward-facing baby car seat installed in the back seat of Wil’s car. Or four large packets of disposable nappies stacked next to it. ‘Just in case they’re all needed on the way home,’ Wil explained.

Georgia laughed. ‘Unless the baby has a particularly explosive digestive system, I very much doubt that.’

He scowled in a way she well remembered. ‘I told you, I know nothing about babies.’

She almost said, You’ve got a lot to learn. But Wil seemed only too aware of that. She almost asked if he was nervous about collecting the baby, but the tight set of his jaw and the way his hands gripped the wheel so his knuckles showed white gave her the answer.

‘You’ll learn quickly,’ she said instead, making it her mission to encourage and support him as she’d always done as his friend. And avoid jokes about dirty nappies. He was facing completely new territory without much of a map to guide him. She fought the urge to reach out and place her hand over his to reassure him, but that had never been the way with them. No touching.

‘I guess I’ll have to,’ he said.

Her friend had come back so unexpectedly into her life. She was churning with curiosity about what had happened in the two years since she had seen him. So many questions clamoured to be asked. But now wasn’t the time to ask them.

Wil was essentially a very private person. It took time for him to confide in his friends. Things must have ended badly for him to have been so estranged from Angie he hadn’t even known she was pregnant. Georgia admired the way he had stepped up to his duty as a father. Not every twenty-eight-year-old guy would react the same way to news of a secret baby. But then she’d always thought of Wil as one of the good guys.

She’d met him at orientation day on the first day of her first year at Sydney University. Thrilled by the newness of it all, she’d signed up for various interest clubs and had been searching for the equestrian club when she’d bumped into a tall, dark-haired guy doing the same thing. One glance had told her he was a country boy, his Western jeans, blue and white checked shirt and elastic-sided riding boots a dead giveaway. All that had been missing was an Akubra, the iconic Australian wide-brimmed hat.

‘They’ve closed the equestrian club for lack of interest,’ he’d said gloomily.

‘But I’m interested,’ she’d said.

‘So am I,’ he’d said.

‘That makes two of us.’

Then they’d looked at each other—really looked—and laughed. ‘Why don’t we start our own club?’ he’d said.

‘Let’s go grab a coffee and talk about how we’d do that,’ she’d said.

Excitement had hummed through her. He had been quite the hottest guy she’d seen on campus. But from the get-go it had been strictly a hands-off scenario. Wil had just started dating a girl and she’d still been seeing her high-school boyfriend. Despite that—perhaps because of that—she and Wil had fallen immediately into an easy friendship, talking non-stop for more than an hour. They’d done nothing about reviving the moribund university equestrian club. But the next weekend they’d driven up together to the Blue Mountains to horseback ride in the Megalong Valley.

This time, their hour-and-a-half journey to the mountains took them to a suburban area on the wrong side of Katoomba. Wil told her that his ex-wife had moved up there after their final split. The streets were steep and hilly, lined with small, free-standing houses, the bush never too far away. Georgia laughed when they had to sound the horn at a small flock of sheep grazing at the side of the road. No dimple from Wil. He was obviously too focused on what was to come to engage in her speculation about whether the sheep had escaped, or it was considered okay up here for sheep to wander all over a suburban street.

He pulled up in front of a shabby but tidy cottage, surrounded by a neat garden. ‘This is the sister’s place,’ he said. ‘She’s been looking after Nina since the accident.’ He made no move to get out of the car.

‘Nina is such a pretty name,’ she said.

‘Yeah. I like it,’ he said.

Georgia let him sit there, his gaze focused on the bright blue front door of the house, until the silence got uncomfortable. ‘So, operation baby pick up,’ she prompted. ‘What’s the next step?’

‘The social worker Maree meets us at the house to facilitate the handover. She’s in there now.’

‘And then you’re a daddy,’ she said. It scarcely seemed real to her. He would walk out of that house with a baby in his arms. A baby for keeps.

Wil turned to her, the colour drained from his face. ‘That’s what terrifies me. I want to do the right thing. But what do I know about being a dad? It’s not just the nappies or what to feed her. I’ll nail that. Suppose I haven’t got it in me to be a good parent?’

The anguish in his face told her there was something more going on here. She’d often had the feeling there was more to Wil than he’d ever let on to her. Something, perhaps, to do with his upbringing. She knew he’d been orphaned as a young child. But as a friend she’d never questioned his past. Right now he needed morale-boosting more than anything else.

‘The fact that you feel responsible for her is a very good start. That you’re actually here is a huge point in your favour.’

‘Guys usually have time to get used to the idea of being a father.’ He drummed his fingers on the edge of the steering wheel. ‘I’ve been thrown in the deep end.’

‘That’s true. You’ll have to learn on the spot. But you’re a clever guy. It seems to me that so far you’re doing great.’

‘She’s a baby now, but then she’ll be a little girl, then a teenager. I’ll be the father of a teenager, Georgie. How do I do that?’

‘It is a bit hard to imagine, isn’t it?’ she said. She and Wil had been teenagers when they’d met; it didn’t seem that long ago. ‘But you’ll grow with her and the next thing you know you’ll be giving her away at her wedding.’

‘Father of the bride? That’s a stretch too far,’ he said with a hint of that dimple finally appearing.

There was something about his slow smile, the way it lit his dark eyes, that had always made her believe she was special to Wil—as a friend. She could only imagine what it might be like to have that smile directed at her in the sensual, exciting way that had had women flocking to him. But she had never allowed herself to imagine it. Too scared that if she ever acted on it he might kindly reject her. She wasn’t about to start now.

‘Wil, what you’re doing will be life-changing. There’s no way around that. But take it baby step by baby step,’ she said, returning his smile.

‘You always know the right thing to say,’ he said.

‘Not always.’ I’m afraid my give-a-damn quota has expired. ‘But in this case, I say just go in and get your baby. I’ll show you how to change a nappy if the need arises. How about that for an act of friendship?’

He grimaced. ‘Changing nappies is one aspect of parenthood I’m not looking forward to. Prepared for it but dreading it.’

‘Hey, you muck out stables. You’ll get used to it.’ She certainly hadn’t, no matter how much she loved her little nieces and nephews. Maybe nappy-changing would be more bearable if the child was your own. Anyway, Wil could well afford to hire a nanny to help him with the practical aspects of parenting.

‘You’re right. I’m going in,’ he said. He unbuckled his seat belt with a resolute air, as if gearing himself up for action on a battlefield. Four days ago he had had no idea he was a father.

‘Do you want me to actually come inside with you?’ she asked, trying to sound as if she didn’t mind either way. She wasn’t sure if he’d just wanted her company on the drive. Of course she was dying of curiosity to see what the baby was like, but mainly she wanted to be there for him—someone on his side.

He turned to her. ‘Please. I don’t know that I can do this without your support.’

‘Of course you could.’ She undid her seat belt. ‘But there’s strength in numbers and I’m very happy to be your wing woman.’

A drier heat than humid Sydney, crisp with the sharp scent of eucalypts from the thousands of acres of national park that surrounded the mountain town. The sound of cicadas serenading summer was almost deafening. She stood with Wil at the top of the driveway to the sister’s house and smoothed down the skirt of her grape-coloured linen shift dress. Teamed with a low-heeled court shoe, it was a favourite schoolteacher outfit, smart yet respectable. Just the thing to help her friend claim his child.

‘I want to do this,’ he said fiercely. ‘I’ll fight to have this child with me. She’s mine.’

‘I’ve never seen anyone more fearless on horseback. You can do it. You really can, Wil.’

She didn’t want to admit she was nervous. This was so out of her experience, had happened so quickly. One minute she’d been packing boxes, just hours later she was in the mountains with Wil, whom she hadn’t seen for two years, to pick up his baby. The baby he hadn’t known existed. It seemed surreal to say the least.

He turned to look down into her face, dark eyes sincere and warm with gratitude. It was so good to be with him again. ‘Thank you,’ he said slowly. ‘I’ll owe you one after this.’

‘You don’t owe me a thing,’ she said. ‘I’m happy to help. No exchange of favours required.’

Who knew when she would actually see him again after this? He needed her today, what of tomorrow? Besides, New Wil could be very different from the Old Wil who’d been her friend. Now he was a single dad who’d gone through a nasty divorce and the death of the mother of his child. His life would now be focused totally on a seven-month-old baby. She doubted there would be a lot of time for going to see indie bands, or sharing a meal at a funky city café. There was a real likelihood it might be another two years until she saw him again.

She followed Wil down the pathway. Immediately the sister, Sharyn, opened the door. Georgia saw the resemblance to Angie. The older sister’s eyes were red-rimmed, her expression truculent as she glared first at Wil and then at her. The middle-aged social worker hovered nearby.

‘I’m so sorry for your loss,’ Georgia murmured to Sharyn. ‘I knew Angie.’ It wasn’t simply the polite thing to say, she meant every word. The shocking loss of a young woman, a mother, was genuine cause for sorrow and grief, no matter how she’d felt about her.

‘Another loss to come,’ Sharyn muttered, still glaring at Wil, who was scrupulously polite in the face of such obvious hostility.

The social worker, Maree, defused the situation and Georgia followed Wil into the house. Small shoes lined up in the entranceway, a stroller leaned against the wall, parked so they had to walk around it, tiny raincoats slung over a rack. A multi-child household. Georgia recognised the signs from her sisters’ houses.

The social worker ushered her and Wil into a family room, clean and tidy save for the toys scattered on the floor. A large playpen, of the old-fashioned wooden kind, was set up in the middle of the room.

‘Sharyn tells me little Nina just woke up from her nap, and is playing with her cousins,’ the social worker said, indicating the playpen.

Georgia’s gaze was drawn to the baby with a shock of dark hair and wearing a pink cotton romper suit. She sat on her bottom on a rug, opposite a little boy of about six who waved a fluffy toy rabbit in front of her. Another younger boy stood outside the playpen hanging on to the railing, calling encouragement. The baby laughed, an infectious gurgling kind of laugh that showed four tiny teeth, two top and two bottom. She waved her little arms around in delight as she made a lunge for the toy. Georgia smiled, a smile that came all the way from her heart.

Wil’s daughter. Angie’s child too. Little Nina had the best of both of them. Wil’s dark hair and eyes; Angie’s petite nose and heart-shaped face. Georgia’s heart spasmed. Poor little thing to have lost her mother. Poor Angie, to have lived long enough after the accident to know she wouldn’t survive to see her baby grow up. But Nina had a good man for a father. She’d won the genetic lottery there.

‘She’s adorable,’ Georgia murmured as she looked up to Wil, standing beside her.

At first, she didn’t know if he actually heard her. He was staring, transfixed, at his daughter. Emotions rippled across his face. Trepidation. Awe. A warmth that looked very much like pride. A Wil she’d never seen before.

‘Yes, she is,’ he said softly, his eyes not leaving the baby.

Sharyn approached the playpen, breaking the moment like a rock thrown violently into the gentle ripples of a pool. ‘Okay, Kieran, that’s enough playtime. Give Nina the bunny and take your brother outside to play.’

The boys obeyed without question. Georgia’s schoolteacher eye noted both little boys looked well cared for, in the way of children who were active and well nourished. They were tender and gentle with the baby. The older one gave his tiny cousin a kiss, hopped out of the playpen, took his little brother by the hand, and headed out of a sliding door to a grassed area outside.

Little Nina had turned at the sound of her aunt’s voice. Now she put up her arms to be picked up. Sharyn immediately swept her into her arms with a murmured endearment. She stood facing Wil. ‘You’re still determined to take her?’ she said. The baby rested comfortably on her hip.

‘She’s my daughter, Sharyn,’ he said. ‘We’ve gone through all this.’ Georgia could see a pulse throbbing at his temple that belied the calmness of his voice.

‘You didn’t even know you had a daughter,’ Sharyn said. ‘Angie hated you. Wanted to punish you by keeping Nina from you.’

Maree the social worker placed herself between Sharyn and Wil. ‘We’ve discussed this. Legal aspects aside, your sister’s dying wish was very clear. She wanted Nina to be in the custody of her father, Wil. I can understand your sadness at little Nina going but—’

‘Rightly or wrongly, all Angie would have been thinking of was Wil’s money and Nina having access to it,’ said Sharyn. ‘I told her that Nina should know her father but Angie wanted revenge on her ex for kicking her out. She wanted her secret kept until one day she could taunt him about Nina and blackmail him for more money in return for seeing his little girl.’

Georgia shuddered at the matter-of-fact tone of Sharyn’s voice as she discussed her sister’s warped motivation. Wil’s expression didn’t change but the words must have hurt. ‘That changes nothing,’ he said.

Sharyn hugged the baby closer to her. ‘Nina is happy here with us. I looked after her when her mother was at work. What makes you think you can look after a little girl?’ Georgia sensed the pain underneath the anger.

‘She’s my daughter and belongs with me,’ Wil repeated. ‘I can look after her very well.’

With Wil’s wealth he could give his daughter every advantage. So much more than the aunt could provide. Georgia appreciated that he didn’t rub in their difference in social status and income. Besides, she didn’t think that was what Wil meant—he meant the special love of a parent, the closest bond a child could have. Father trumped aunt. Wealthy father with doting grandparents, no doubt waiting in the wings, held all the cards.

‘You? A guy on your own? A guy who couldn’t stay married for even six months?’

Georgia cringed at Wil’s sharp intake of breath. ‘Yes,’ he said, obviously through gritted teeth.

‘It’s not right.’ Sharyn clutched the baby tighter, as if daring Wil to prise her out of her arms. ‘If you cared about her, you’d leave her with me. A little girl needs a mother...a woman in her life.’

‘She will have a woman in her life,’ said Wil. He moved closer to Georgia and put his arm around her. That was the first shock. Then came the second. ‘Georgia is my fiancée.’

What?

Georgia stiffened, went to protest. But Wil tightened his grip on her shoulder. She knew what he meant. Play along. Back in the day they’d sometimes pretended to be dating to deter an unwanted admirer at a party or out at a bar. Each other’s wing person. They’d have a good laugh about it afterwards.

Georgia didn’t feel like laughing now. ‘Uh, yes.’ She forced a smile. This wasn’t a game.

‘Congratulations on your engagement,’ said the social worker, looking very pleased.

‘Th-thank you,’ said Georgia, not able to meet her eye, furious with Wil for putting her on the spot.

‘She’s an elementary schoolteacher and knows all about little kids,’ Wil added. He squeezed Georgia’s shoulder again in an unmistakable prompt.

‘Uh...yes, I do,’ she said. ‘And babies. I have five nieces and nephews and have looked after them all. Ask me anything you want about babies.’

Sharyn looked her up and down as if she were something loathsome. ‘Angie told me all about Georgia. The best friend she thought her husband fancied. Looks like she was right not to trust you, if you’re now engaged.’

Georgia gasped at the accusation. Went to deny it. Bit her tongue. This wasn’t real. She was, in truth, just his friend. She had nothing to feel guilty about.

‘Not true, Sharyn,’ Wil said. ‘Georgia was indeed just a friend then.’

Irrationally—because that was all true—his dismissal of her as a woman his wife had had no cause to fear hurt. Georgia schooled herself not to betray just how much it hurt. She’d never tried to be more than just a friend, she reminded herself.

Georgia was aware of the woman’s narrowed glance at her empty ring finger and she fisted her left hand in response and put it behind her back. Of course people would expect an engagement ring. Guess Wil hadn’t thought of that with his spur-of-the-moment comment. Unless he’d planned to say she was his fiancée all along?

She put that thought aside to consider later. By not denying his from-out-of-nowhere claim—how could she have?—she had committed to playing along. Especially as Wil’s former sister-in-law seemed still determined to fight.

Wil pulled her closer. She tried to relax against him, difficult when she was so intensely aware of his strength and warmth, the utter masculinity of him. He still smelled the same. She’d always managed to deny how attractive she found him. Pretending to be his wife-to-be took her denial to a whole new level.

Sharyn continued. ‘But that doesn’t qualify you to be a mum. Especially to a little girl who has lost her own. She looks cheerful enough now but she knows her mummy is gone, that something is very wrong in her world.’ She choked up but scowled at Georgia’s look of sympathy.

Georgia glanced up at Wil, trying to seem like a concerned fiancée seeking reassurance, then back to Sharyn. ‘I’ll do my best. I should imagine Nina would be a very easy child to...to love. Just because Nina is going to live with her dad and...uh...me, doesn’t mean she has to say goodbye for ever to her aunty and cousins. I’m sure Wil will want you to be part of her life.’

Georgia sensed Wil still beside her. Had she overstepped the mark, gone where a pretend fiancée shouldn’t go?

‘Really?’ said Sharyn, relief softening her combative expression. ‘We’ll get to see her?’

Georgia was so disconcerted at the situation she found herself in, she struggled to sound normal. ‘Of course. Family is important.’ She looked back up at him. ‘Isn’t it, Wil?’

‘Yes, it is,’ he said with a vehemence that surprised her.

‘So I don’t have to tell the boys they’ll never see their baby cousin again?’ Sharyn said.

‘No. Uh...in fact they could be pageboys at our wedding.’ Georgia had to suppress a grin at the look on Wil’s face. Served him right for dropping her into this. ‘They’d make cute little ring-bearers, wouldn’t they, Wil?’ she said, perhaps a little too sweetly.

‘Uh, yes,’ he muttered.

Sharyn’s face lightened. ‘Pageboys? I’m not sure they’d stay still long enough for that,’ she said. ‘But you’re serious about keeping in touch?’

Georgia gritted her teeth. How could she possibly be expected to answer such a question? She pasted on a fake fiancée smile as she gave Wil a glance she hoped he would recognise as over to you.

‘I’ll make sure Nina keeps in touch with her cousins,’ he said.

His former sister-in-law nodded and reluctantly handed her little niece over to her father. ‘Make sure you do,’ she said.

Wil took Nina from her, a little awkwardly but with growing confidence. Georgia caught her breath as she watched him.

There was something about a tall, broad-shouldered, manly guy holding a little baby in strong, protective arms that was heart-stoppingly appealing. Even more appealing when the guy in question was her friend Wil, and the little daughter he had only just discovered. He so big and powerful; Nina so small and vulnerable. The way he held her, the intensity of his gaze were as if he was silently assuring Nina he would protect her from every possible bad arrow the world might have in wait for her. But the way the tiny girl looked back up at him with the same dark eyes made Georgia’s heart turn over. There was a connection there. Now she really believed it—Wil was a father.

A wave of yearning swept over her. Not for Wil—of course not for Wil. He was just a friend. Or for his daughter. Her days were filled with looking after other women’s children. She wanted her own baby one day. At twenty-seven going on twenty-eight, her biological clock had started to tick insistently. But as her track record with marriageable-type males was abysmal, that particular dream might not be coming true any time soon.

She’d knocked back three proposals, the first while she’d still been at uni. Commitment was what she’d craved but the guys just hadn’t been quite right. The most recent had been Toby. She’d let the relationship go on for too long, wasting her time and his. But she’d thought that pathway was expected of her—marriage to the steady kind of guy everyone had liked. Children to follow. Even to the fact that Toby had been a fellow schoolteacher—just think how convenient all those school holidays would have been when it came to vacation childcare. But that hadn’t been enough for her to want a ring on her finger. Even after Wil had married and dashed any deeply suppressed hope she’d had of their friendship developing into something deeper.

Wil turned to her and smiled. The dimple was in full force. ‘Do you want to hold her?’ he said, as if offering a gift of inestimable value.

Hold baby Nina? As a potential stepmother? Of course she wanted to hold the dear little thing. But she wasn’t sure what Wil expected of her. To gush that she couldn’t wait to be little Nina’s mummy? That would be going too far in this crazy charade he had thrust her into. She wouldn’t—couldn’t—lie. Instead, she would try to behave as she normally would when offered a cuddle of an adorable baby.

She held out her arms with a smile, was rewarded with the deliciousness of a soft, sweet-smelling baby in her arms. ‘Hello, Nina,’ she murmured. ‘I’m Georgia.’ The baby replied with her cute, four-toothed smile and a string of babble that just might have meant pleased to meet you. Nina was, without a doubt, enchanting.

But how dare Wil put her in a position when she had to pretend to be a doting mum-to-be? Engaged to be married to him? It stretched the boundaries of a newly ignited friendship a step too far. She didn’t want to fall back into the good old Georgia trap—always obliging, always helpful, making excuses for the inexcusable—not for her family, not for her friends and especially not for Wil, who had ignored her for two whole years.

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