Baby Surprise in Costa Rica

Jenny Bouchard stepped out of the four-by-four that had delivered her from the airport and felt the heat—and the fear—hit her as the air-conditioned bubble of denial the car had provided so far fell away.

I’m really doing this.

I must be losing my mind.

Around her, the Costa Rican jungle seemed alive with sounds—the breeze through the trees making the leaves whisper, the chirping of insects and the calls of unfamiliar birds echoing. If she closed her eyes, she might still be on the plane, or even back in her LA apartment, listening to her rainforest playlist as she tried to sleep.

But she didn’t close her eyes. Instead, she scanned her surroundings for the place she’d travelled thousands of miles to visit—and the man she’d come here to find.

‘This does not look right,’ she murmured to herself as she turned slowly, searching for signs of the luxury treehouse resort she’d expected to be there.

Nothing.

Why was she even surprised? It wasn’t as if she didn’t already know that men were all promises and no delivery. Except he hadn’t promised her a luxury treehouse resort—he’d promised his investors. And in her experience men tended to be far more loyal to money than to women.

Jenny pulled her light, sleeveless blouse away from her already sticky skin and considered her options. Just like she’d been doing for the last month or more—ever since the third pregnancy test returned the same answer as the first two: pregnant.

First off, she needed more information. She turned back to the airport transfer car to ask the driver if he was sure this was the right place, but the four-by-four was already pulling away, back onto the dusty road out of there, towards the city. Eyes widening, she chased it for a few steps, but the driver never looked back, or even checked his mirrors.

At least he’d left her suitcase behind, leaning neatly against the nearest tree. She peered at the trunk, then strained her neck to stare up at the leaf canopy, trying to figure out what sort of tree it was. She’d done some research on this area of Costa Rica, this particular stretch of tropical rainforest that ran along the Caribbean coast, learning about the biodiversity of the area, the transport options, the cuisine—she didn’t like to travel unprepared.

Except, it seemed, for the fact that the luxurious treehouse resort she’d come to visit didn’t exist.

The website had been stunning—full of promises of a remote retreat getaway location, with yoga and mindfulness sessions, trips to nearby waterfalls or zip lines through the rainforest, local restaurants down by the beachfront, snorkelling, rainforest safaris…

And luxury treehouse accommodation. That had been a definite—a place to stay. She wouldn’t have come otherwise.

Of course she hadn’t been able to actually book a room on the website. But she hadn’t thought she’d need to.

Josh and Winter had said that Liam was down in Costa Rica, at his latest resort property, and shown her the website. And she knew, from the time she’d spent in Iceland with Liam at his last new resort, that he always reserved a suite of rooms for his personal use. So she’d figured she’d stay with him—especially since, generous as she was, Winter didn’t pay her enough in her role as PA to afford Liam’s resort prices anyway.

But now there was no sign of Liam. And no sign of the treehouses.

This is what people do. They let you down.

How had she forgotten that, even for a moment?

Perhaps she could blame pregnancy brain.

She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and was just trying to decide who she could call when she heard a laugh from further down the track that led deeper into the rainforest. A familiar laugh, rising above the bird cries and the insects and the buzz of humidity that filled her ears. A laugh she’d last heard low in her ear as Liam teased her to the brink in his private hot spring lagoon…

Maybe she wasn’t in the wrong place after all.

Grabbing her suitcase, Jenny set off further down the track, looking for any sign of the structures and promises the website had given her. She didn’t spot anything to reassure her—no Welcome to Paradise signs or a nice, friendly reception hut or anything. But she heard more voices—shouts and calls and laughs—so she pushed on anyway.

One last turn and she entered a clearing in the trees, abuzz with activity. Building materials—mostly wood of varying sorts, from what she could tell, and ropes—were neatly piled around the space, and a group of men had gathered at the far side of the clearing, all too focused on something going on in a large, sturdy tree to notice her.

‘Okay, let’s do this!’ She recognised Liam’s voice as his words rang out, but she still couldn’t see him. ‘On three!’

The countdown echoed through the trees and suddenly a smaller group pulled on a rope Jenny hadn’t spotted, and something flew up from the ground towards the tree canopy. She jumped back, even though she was already a safe distance away, a smile stretching her lips as she realised what it was.

A bridge, made of rope and slats of wood, leading from one treetop to another. She squinted up into the canopy again and saw the base of a treehouse in the first tree, obviously still a work in progress.

The website hadn’t lied, then. It had just been a little…premature.

This place was going to be amazing, she realised with delight. Totally different to the Ice House Hotel in Iceland, but spectacular in its own way. She could see why Liam was apparently so excited about it.

‘Secure!’ Liam yelled. He must be up in the tree, Jenny realised. ‘Coming down!’

And suddenly all the fear that had been mounting in her gut since she’d landed in Costa Rica came back with a vengeance.

Not finding Liam here in the rainforest would have been bad, sure. But right now she wasn’t convinced that finding him was going to be any better.

Gripping the handle of her suitcase tightly with sweaty palms, she forced herself to focus. She was here to do a job and get out. A courtesy visit, that was all this was. She knew Liam—well, no, that was a lie. But she knew enough to know that he wasn’t looking for a family, or anything resembling a relationship right now. Of course, she hadn’t been either. That much they’d made clear to each other before they began their…rendezvous in Iceland.

She was under no impression that her news was going to be welcomed. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t under a moral obligation to share it.

She needed to tell Liam about the baby, so that she could plan her future and move on. Until she’d told him, everything was in flux. Uncertain. And Jenny hated not knowing, not being in control of what happened next, more than anything.

She’d given up her power over her own future once before, trusted a man she thought loved her to take care of things, and it had almost ruined her life. She had absolutely no intention of doing it ever again.

Jenny thought of the small silk pouch at the bottom of the rucksack she’d used for hand luggage, and her grandmother’s battered and worn Tarot cards inside it. Grandma had believed they could tell the path of a person’s life if read correctly—something Jenny had never really bought into. They’d never been able to tell her future, or she’d have been better prepared for this eventuality, and the long series of personal disasters and failings that had led her here.

But she did believe Grandma when she’d told her the cards could explain her present. Because the pictures they held were all stories, and they could be read any way the dealer wanted. When she looked at the cards, she picked out the issues and the images that were already on her mind, and they helped her find clarity of thought.

That wasn’t why she kept the cards, of course. She kept them because they were the only thing she had left of her Grandma, of a family that had loved her, once upon a time.

But it was why she’d pulled them out on the plane and shuffled them, feeling their worn edges soft under her fingers, and turned over the first three cards onto the fold-down table of the seat in front.

Past, present and future, Grandma would have said, but Jenny knew they were all here, right now. Hindsight, experience and fear might be better words. Hope, if she was feeling really optimistic.

Which she wasn’t, currently.

The cards hadn’t told her anything she didn’t already know.

First, she’d pulled Judgement for the past. She’d drawn that one for Winter before they went to Iceland too, she remembered—told her it was the card of consequences and reckoning, but also of rebirth and metamorphosis. That it asked a person if they were ready to face their past and move on to their future.

She let her hand rest against her stomach. It wasn’t as if she had much say in whether she was ready or not, was it?

The last card, the future card, had been the Wheel of Fortune. A reminder of the unpredictability of life, and that everything changes. Again, not a new concept.

And between them both, in her present position, had been the Knight of Wands. The card her Grandma had whispered was the naughtiest card in the Tarot. Jenny hadn’t understood why when she was younger. It was only when she matured that she realised how damn sexy it really was. The Knight of Wands was the card of undeniable chemistry, inexplicable attraction—of the pull of that one person you knew you should stay away from but just couldn’t resist…

Basically, everything Liam had been for her since she’d met him in Iceland nearly three months ago.

And any moment now she’d be seeing him again.

As she watched, a figure swung his way down from the tree where the rope bridge had been secured, barely even using the ladder leaning against it to descend. She recognised his body before his face; with his shirt off, the planes of his back and then his chest as he turned were so familiar from those days in Iceland…if rather more tanned than she remembered. Sweat ran in rivulets through the dust that covered his body, and Jenny felt her mouth turn dry and knew it had nothing to do with the Costa Rican heat.

She swallowed and raised her gaze, taking in his dark hair, dulled by sawdust, and his bright blue eyes—and the moment he spotted her standing across the clearing.

Here we go…

*

Liam Delaney stared across the clearing in the Costa Rican rainforest and tried to figure out if he was hallucinating. He’d been working hard, these past few weeks, and now it seemed like his dreaming self had taken over his waking one.

That, or Jenny Bouchard—the one-week fling he hadn’t quite managed to get out of his head, or his dreams—had sought him out for a replay of their time together in Iceland.

He took in her blonde hair, caught up in a high ponytail that left her neck bare as it cascaded down her back, the sunglasses perched on her nose in place of her usual black-framed specs, and the sleeveless blouse and khaki shorts she wore with her trainers.

She looked real. And in his dreams she was usually wearing a lot less. Smiling more, too.

It was really her.

Liam brushed aside the questions from the crew about what was next. The day was getting away from them anyway, and they all deserved an early finish. The cheer that went up when he told them they were done for the day confirmed his hunch that they wouldn’t mind.

He left them clearing up, ready for tomorrow, and crossed to where Jenny stood, watching him.

‘You know, when Josh told me you were here getting your next resort hotel ready to open, I was kind of expecting the place to at least be built already,’ she said, folding her arms over her chest as he got closer.

‘I like to be hands-on from the very start.’ He stopped in front of her, letting his gaze roam over the curve of her neck, the swell of her breasts under that thin blouse. All the places he’d only had his memory to remind him of until now.

‘I remember.’ Her voice lowered with the words, and Liam knew he wasn’t imagining the flash of heat in her eyes.

It had been the same the day they’d met in Iceland. She’d somehow manoeuvred him into carrying her bags and showing her the suite she was sharing with Winter, and he’d known immediately that he was going to be doing whatever this woman wanted for the whole week she was staying at his hotel. The connection, the chemistry between them, had been instantaneous, and undeniable.

And when he’d met her gaze as he was leaving the room shortly after, he’d known from the unsettled expression on her face that she’d felt it too—and was as surprised by it as he was.

Now she’d surprised him again, showing up here unannounced. God, he hoped this wasn’t some sort of ‘can’t live without you’ desperation thing. They’d both been very clear about what their week in Iceland meant—a good time and nothing more.

He wasn’t in the market for anything more.

His concern must have shown on his face, because Jenny gave him a sly smile and said, ‘How worried are you right now that I’m here to pronounce undying love and propose to you?’

‘Little bit,’ he admitted, and she laughed.

It was that sound that put his mind at rest most of all. Jenny had the filthiest laugh of any woman he’d ever met, and he loved it. Loved the promise in it—as well as the memories it brought back.

She wouldn’t laugh like that if she was there for anything more than a booty call. Would she?

‘So, what brings you to my neck of the rainforest?’ he asked, as casually as he could. ‘I mean, if it’s not your sudden inability to live without me?’

‘I had a week off.’ She shrugged, and Liam found himself suddenly distracted by the movement of that thin blouse over her breasts. ‘And Josh mentioned your next project was somewhere hot for a change, so I thought…well. I’m betting you can imagine what I thought.’

He studied her face and saw that same warmth in her smile, that promise behind it, but there was something in her eyes that was less familiar. She was holding something back.

Was she really here to see him, or to avoid something else?

Not my problem.

He wasn’t her boyfriend, or her brother—thank God. He was just a guy she’d known for a week and had a lot of fantastic sex with. Well, he’d thought it was fantastic, and if her showing up here was a sign of anything, surely it was that he was right about that?

Whatever her problems were, he couldn’t fix them. But he could give her a fun week off—and himself a well-deserved break at the same time. The crew could manage without him for a few days, he was sure.

And maybe a few more days with Jenny would be enough to get her out of his system at last, and stop him dreaming about her every bloody night. They just hadn’t let their fling run its full course, that was all, before she’d had to leave to go back to LA with Winter and Josh. And even when they’d been together they’d been distracted, dealing with her boss and his best friend rekindling their long dead marriage—and helping out a little, behind the scenes.

But Winter and Josh weren’t there now. It was just the two of them, in the middle of a rainforest. What kind of an idiot would he have to be to not take advantage of the situation she’d given him?

‘Well, as you’ve noticed, the resort isn’t actually completed yet—or open to the public,’ he said. ‘But lucky for you, there is one finished treehouse here for you to stay in, if you’d like.’

He leaned in closer and whispered the word in her ear. ‘Mine.’

• Text Copyright © 2022 by Sophie Pembroke
• Cover Art Copyright © 2022 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
• Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.