The Honourable Maverick / The Unsung Hero by Alison Roberts / Kate Hardy

of weird name had he come up with?
    ‘I told them that your surname was McAdam.’
    Nothing wrong with that, Ellie decided with relief. It was a perfectly nice name.
    ‘OK,’ she whispered.
    There was a moment’s silence. Ellie could feel how still Max was. So still she was only aware of the tiny movements in her arms as her baby breathed and stirred slightly in slumber. She was used to the feel of those tiny limbs moving. It was like she’d lost part of herself but had found it again only now the movements were on the outside, instead of safely enclosed in her womb.
    Max was still quiet. He seemed to be waiting for something. A breath audible enough to be a sigh escaped his lips.
    ‘That’s
my
name, Ellie.’
    ‘Oh…’ Well, that was OK, too. She didn’t mind borrowing his name for a little while. As long as he didn’t mind. But maybe he did. The continued silence was starting to feel uncomfortable.
    ‘I…ah…told them we were married,’ Max said, so softly Ellie was sure she hadn’t heard correctly.
    She could remember what had happened at the apartment. That he’d claimed he was the baby’s fatherand that he and his fellow dark angels had made sure Marcus had gone away and that she was safe.
    And he’d obviously kept up the charade in order to keep protecting her when she had been totally helpless, presumably in the emergency department of whatever this hospital was. He’d even gone an extra mile in giving her a new name so Marcus wouldn’t be alerted to where she now was. Not just any name, either. He’d loaned her his own, along with the additional protection of allowing people to think she was his wife.
    His wife.
    Ellie took another look at this extraordinary man. He was a hero, no doubt about that. Maybe he wasn’t wearing his motorbike leathers right now and he looked tired and unshaven but he was still absolutely gorgeous. And he was capable of bestowing the most beautiful smiles in the world.
    The woman who would be his real wife one day was the luckiest woman in the world. She just didn’t know it yet.
    Gratitude for all that he’d done for her was filling Ellie’s heart. Competing—no, meshing with the overwhelming love she already had for the tiny person she still held in her arms. It was all too much and it seemed to be getting hard to breathe again. So hard, it was utterly exhausting.
    A pinging sound came from somewhere above her head and then there was the sound of footsteps approaching rapidly.
    ‘Oxygen saturation level’s way down,’ a nurse observed. The alarm was silenced.
    ‘Hardly surprising. First time she’s been awake and it’s been an emotional reunion for these two.’
    ‘Of course it has. But I need to put some oxygen on and she needs to rest. I think you’ll have to take baby back to the PICU, Dr McAdam.’
    ‘No.’
The word was ripped out of Ellie in a gasp.
    ‘Just for a while, Ellie.’ Max’s hands were moving under her arms already, preparing to lift the precious bundle. He was still bent over her. ‘She’s being taken good care of, I promise.’ His mouth was so close Ellie could see every nuance of the words being made. ‘She’s safe, Ellie. Believe it and rest. We both want you to rest and get better.’
    ‘Of course you do.’ The nurse had a smile in her voice. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of Mrs McAdam for you.’
    Mrs McAdam?
    This
was
a dream. Or maybe a nightmare, Ellie decided as Max took her daughter from her arms. But then he leaned in and kissed her. Softly, on her lips, and Ellie found her eyes drifting shut. This was most definitely a dream.
    ‘Sleep well, darling,’ he said clearly. ‘I’ll be back very soon.’
    This time when Ellie woke her eyes snapped open and focused instantly. The wave of disappointment at finding the space beside her bed empty was enough to make her cry out.
    ‘What’s wrong?’ The nurse was on the other side of the bed and Ellie could see a cotton bud in her hand asshe turned her head.