A little befuddled, she opened the packages, finding several maternity sundresses and sleek designer outfits, as well as beach attire all the way to a pair of sandals. As suspected, there were even all the girlie accoutrements in the lingerie bag.

“You shouldn’t have done this,” she murmured. How quickly they had fallen back into their old routine, and her discomfort level was off the charts. “I didn’t,” he replied. “Jansen went shopping for me.”

Despite herself, she smiled at the image of Ryan’s hunky assistant traipsing through the maternity department in search of clothes and—even more hilarious—going into the lingerie store to buy panties and bras.

“How is Jansen?”

“Fine,” Ryan replied. “Same as ever.”

“Thank you for this,” she added, swallowing her all-important pride for the moment.

His smile was genuine. “You’re quite welcome. Why don’t you go lie down for a while and I’ll pack our suitcases. Then we can have dinner. We’ll call it an early night since we’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

She left the clothes on the couch and slowly rose. It was stupid of her to soften toward him. It was stupid to wish even for a moment that things were back to the way they’d been before.

But being stupid didn’t stop the yearning deep inside her aching heart. Sadness overwhelmed her, and she hurriedly left the living room so he wouldn’t see her tears.

* * *

The next morning Ryan gently shook her awake and she stretched languidly before getting up. After her shower, he fixed them breakfast. When they were done eating, he gathered their luggage to take down to the car.

On the drive to the airport Kelly was quiet. A part of her felt a tingle of excitement at the prospect of a week in paradise with Ryan, while the other part dreaded the forced intimacy. She had focused so much on her anger and hatred that it had come as a shock to her that she was still deeply in love with Ryan. And that frustrated her more than anything. Was she a masochist?

First of all to love a man who quite obviously did not love her in return, but to love him even after his most cutting betrayal? Pathetic.

To her surprise, they weren’t taking a commercial flight. Ryan had chartered a private jet to take them nonstop to the island.

The flight was just a few hours, but halfway through she began fidgeting in her seat. She was nervous, edgy, and she was suffering a major case of cold feet.

“Why don’t you recline your seat,” he said, reaching over to help her.

When she was tilted back he nudged her over. “Turn on your side and I’ll rub your back.”

Too uncomfortable to turn down his touch, she faced the window and settled on her side.

Strong, tender fingers began a slow exploration of her back, rubbing and kneading. She sighed in contentment and relief as the tension faded in her muscles. Yawning widely, she snuggled deeper into the seat, enjoying the delicious sensations his touch was bringing.