âAre you ready to have a baby?â Matt asked
âWhat? I donât think being a single parent is the best idea in the world.â
âI could be the father of your children,â he said blandly. âMight be your best chance.â
Petaâs mouth fell into a very sensual pout as she dragged in a deep breath. Matt was tempted to step forward and kiss her, get her mind moving on a positive path. He thought better of it.
âIâve had a hard time finding a woman who wants to be a wife and mother.â
âYou just want to have sex with me.â
âCanât have kids without doing it,â he said cheerfully. âAll I ask is that you give it some thought.â
Peta turned and marched off.
âSee you at dinner,â Matt called after her. She didnât reply, didnât glance back. He didnât expect her to. She was in shock. But, given time, the seeds heâd planted in her mind would start to grow. After all, he and she wanted the same thing.
Welcome to MAN TALK! A wonderful miniseries featuring some of your favorite Presents
authorsâCharlotte Lamb, Sandra Field, Alison Kelly and Emma Darcyâall written from the heroâs point of view.
Find out what men really think about sex, love and relationships. And when these guys talk, youâll want to listen.... This month itâs Emma Darcyâs turn to invite you to share in a little MAN TALK!
There are two sides to every relationship... and now itâs his turn!
CHAPTER ONE
IF ONLY youâd give me a grandchild Iâd have something to live for.
His motherâs words tapped a deep well of frustration. Matt Davis was so irritated by them, he headed for the open air and lit a cigarette, defiantly dragging in a soothing shot of nicotine and belligerently crushing the guilt of breaking his resolution to give up the hazardous habit of smoking. Right at this moment, a death wish didnât seem so bad.
He strolled towards the garden, brooding over his failure to prompt his mother into doing something positive for herself. Ever since his fatherâs death, sheâd been wallowing in a pit of depression, letting herself go, unable to summon the energy or interest to pursue an active life. Bringing her to this health farm had seemed like a good idea but it wasnât working the miracle heâd hoped for. She was enjoying the pampering treatments heâd organisedâtrying out a Reiki massage right nowâbut it wasnât raising any significant will to forge a new path for herself.
It was absurd to hang the rest of her life on his having children. There were plenty of other ways to fill the void of widowhood. She was only fifty-five, for Godâs sake! And she could be so attractive when she was firing on all cylinders. His father wouldnât have wanted her to mourn him forever. If sheâd get out more, do things. A grandchild, of course, didnât require her to do anything. It was more like a gift from heaven falling into her lap.
Except it wasnât quite so easy to provide!
Matt paused at the stone steps into the garden and took another angry drag on the smouldering cigarette. He watched the smoke drift into the cool, crisp air and swirl away on the wind. Gone, he thought, like the time of his motherâs generation when women were content to be wives and mothers. Those heâd been closely involved with regarded having children as an unwelcome curtailment of their freedom, not to be entered into until they were ready.
His mouth twisted in savage irony. He was ready. At thirty-three, he was more than ready to become a father. Heâd done the freewheeling bachelor bit and was finding the life increasingly empty. His ambition on the work-front was more than satisfied. The merchandising business heâd started and developed was now a solid money-spinner, ensuring financial security for the foreseeable future. He wasnât exactly lonely, but the appeal of having his own family to share everything with was strong.
He was sure heâd be a good dad, like his own father. The thought brought a flood of memories and a sudden bolt of grief. His mother wasnât the only one who missed the old man. Matt heaved a sigh to relieve the ache of loss and sternly told himself life moved on. It had to. There was no going back to those happy times with his father.
Unfortunately, his motherâs simplistic belief that he could get himself married and start a family any time he liked was pure fantasy land in this day and age. Finding a woman willing to cooperate in such an old-fashioned life plan was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
Everything elseâcareers, travel, living life to the fullâcame ahead of having a baby. Motherhood was too big a commitment of time and self to take on until a woman was ready. Both Janelle and Skye had told him so. To achieve the desirable end of fatherhood, it seemed heâd either have to find a woman in her early twenties who didnât know any better, or one in her late thirties whose biological clock was ticking. Neither idea was overly appealing.