by Maggie Cox
‘And what about the very real possibility that you might be pregnant with my child?’ The blatant possessiveness in his tone stung Emma like the lash of a whip and for a moment it completely threw her. Trying to force her words past the arid desert in her throat, she lifted her shoulders and dropped them again as if defeated. ‘I’m not pregnant. I did a test…I was going to tell you last night but you had company and then we rowed and…’
The disappointment and dismay that welled up inside him momentarily hijacked Piers’s breath. Up until that moment he hadn’t realised just how much he’d been secretly hoping that Emma was carrying his child. Granted, it made no sense when he’d been vowing for so long now that he never wanted to be a father again—not when he’d made such a hash of it the first time around. But somehow with Emma the idea had crept in that this might just be a new chance for him. A chance not only to be the father he wished he’d been all those years ago when Lawrence had needed him the most, but also to be a better husband. The kind of husband a woman would be proud of…
‘Aren’t you going to say anything?’ Her soft voice cut through the sudden mist in his brain, forcing Piers to focus. Husband? Now, that was a big shift of focus. One he clearly needed time to assimilate.
‘I expect you’re relieved.’ Those wide shoulders of his lifted in an almost careless shrug. It wasn’t quite what Emma had expected him to say but clearly he must be feeling immense relief himself. Why wouldn’t he be? Now there was no longer any need for him to feel obligated to her in any way. Just in case there was, she decided to leave him in no doubt. ‘Yes, I am, as a matter of fact.’ She straightened, turning her back on him on the pretext of needing coffee when all she really needed was him. ‘I’m going to take this holiday and when I get back I thought about enrolling in college to do something.’
‘College?’
He was finding it hard to string a sentence together. Her assertion that she was relieved had cut him to the quick. Hadn’t she been furious with him in the restaurant in Paris when he’d suggested she couldn’t possibly be happy about the prospect of being pregnant? Now she was talking about going back to college—worse still, about ‘properly parting company.’ Piers didn’t like this new turn of events one little bit.
‘I need to get some qualifications if I want a change of career.’
‘And that’s what you want now, is it?’ His voice was unknowingly brittle. ‘A career?’
Emma couldn’t understand why Piers seemed so hostile about her plans. Pouring hot water into the blue ceramic mug on the counter, she wished her hand wouldn’t tremble so, but the thought that these might be the last few moments she had with the man she loved was frankly almost too much to bear. In just a short space of time Piers had somehow become essential to her whole existence and even the prospect of a holiday in the sun and enrolling in college on her return could do nothing to lift her spirits. Would he find it easy to forget he’d even known her? Emma shivered miserably in her inadequate wrap and cupped her hands gratefully around the steaming mug of coffee.
‘I’ve hidden behind my job at the bistro for long enough,’ she confessed. As she turned to face him her teeth worked anxiously on her vulnerable lower lip. ‘I convinced myself I wasn’t really good enough to do anything else. And then when my grandmother became ill and I had to help care for her, I told myself there was no point in even thinking about a new career. You were right. I did have a chip on my shoulder. Now I know I’m not pregnant I can take the opportunity to make things better for myself—at least put wheels in motion to get a new job.’
On the other side of the large, luxurious kitchen, Piers’s expression was scathing. ‘So…motherhood never really did hold that much appeal?’ Even as he posed the question, his heart felt as if it were being crushed in the hands of an invisible giant. It was so hard to block out the mental picture he’d been forming of Emma pregnant with his child, radiant and beautiful; both of them planning a future together… But how could he suggest such a thing when she was clearly so relieved not to find herself in that state?
It was at that very moment that Piers finally had to admit the truth to himself. He loved her. He’d been fascinated by her from the very beginning when she’d shown up in his office to plead Lawrence’s case, and that fascination had slowly but surely transformed into love even though there had been so many times he’d fought to deny it to himself. Emma was so wrong about him. He did need her. He needed her as much as he needed to breathe. But now, as she revealed that she wasn’t expecting his child, that she was however planning a holiday and a new life—a life that obviously didn’t include him—Piers knew it was time to let some barriers down. Even risk rejection, because the idea of living without this woman was killing him.
‘I didn’t say motherhood didn’t hold any appeal. One day perhaps, when I meet the right person, I—’
‘The right person? Damn it, Emma! What the hell do you think you’re playing at?’ In just a few long strides he was in front of her, taking the mug of coffee out of her hands and plonking it down on the counter, uncaring that the hot liquid splashed him, his intimidating blue eyes scorching her with their hungry intensity, his hands gripping her waist and impelling her body roughly against his own. ‘You can’t just walk out on me as if what we had meant nothing! You might have been bearing my child… Damn it, don’t you know I wished you were?’
Before Emma could orient herself with what was happening, her mouth was crushed beneath the smouldering heat of his lips and she opened it helplessly for him, uttering a husky little groan of acquiescence between the clash of tongues and teeth, her body trembling so hard that she couldn’t hear herself think. All she knew for sure was that her love for this man was the axis her whole world spun on.
‘Do you mean it?’ Calling a reluctant halt to their kiss a few seconds later, her hands resting on his lean, hard hips beneath his woollen sweater, Emma stole an anxious glance into that mesmerising sea of blue, her heartbeat speeding up all over again when his lips curved into a seductively melting smile. ‘You really wish I was having your baby?’
‘I love you.’ Watching her lovely brown eyes widen in shocked surprise, Piers lifted her damp, silky hair aside to plant a hot little kiss on the side of her neck, the scent of her warm, velvet-soft skin rising up to captivate him and saturate his senses in heady desire. Spellbound, he lifted his head to simply gaze at the face he loved and, when he saw her heart reflected right there in her steady, loving gaze, was frankly astounded that Emma’s feelings seemed to run as deeply as his did for her. ‘I want lots of babies with you, Emma…but only if you want them too. Naomi was too young when she fell pregnant with Lawrence. Motherhood and being a wife made her feel trapped. I would hate to think that I would inflict that same feeling on you.’
Taking all of half a second to discount the very idea, Emma sighed and slid her arms lovingly around his neck. ‘Oh, Piers! I want children too, and there’s honestly no fear of me feeling trapped. Maybe for your wife it wasn’t the right thing to be a mother so young, but I’m a different person, Piers. I know my own mind. I was distraught when I found out I wasn’t pregnant. Don’t you know how much I love you?’
‘Well, I’m hoping you’re going to spend a lot of time convincing me, Miss Robards. Especially after accusing me of being…what was it you said? ‘‘The original iceman.’’ I have feelings for you deep enough to drown in, my angel. If I seemed aloof it was because I was scared of committing to another woman again after Naomi. I spent a long time feeling terribly responsible for the way her life worked out.’
‘You’re a good man, Piers. I’m sure you didn’t deliberately make life difficult for her…and I’m sure that wherever she is now…she would want you to be happy.’
His heart squeezing with regret at what had happened to Naomi and at the same time brimming with love for Emma, Piers knew he had to finally make peace with himself. Just as he had advised Emma to lose that chip on her shoulder, he now had to take his own counsel, forgive
the sins of his past and embrace the future with hope.
‘There’s only one thing.’ Looking for all the world like a reluctant child about to confess to some minor misdemeanour, Emma curled her fingers into the soft wool of Piers’s sweater. ‘I know in this day and age it might be considered a little old-fashioned, but I really don’t agree with having children out of wedlock. Is that a problem?’
‘Are you proposing to me now? Brazen hussy!’ Chuckling, Piers kissed the top of her head then bestowed the same treatment on her lips, his pulse quickening at the sight of her pink-cheeked response. ‘Of course I want us to marry…and if you don’t mind, I’d rather not take too long about it either.’
‘But Piers…what about Lawrence?’
‘What about Lawrence?’ His heart stalling at the idea that Emma might be having second thoughts because of her past relationship with his son, Piers waited with trepidation for her to explain.
‘How will he take the news, do you think? I don’t want to be the cause of any more animosity between you.’
‘Lawrence will take it on the chin,’ he told her with relief. ‘Now that we’ve agreed to work together to put things right I’m hopeful that things are improving between us. But what about you, Emma—will you mind being stepmother to your friend?’
‘It will be strange at first, but I expect we’ll both get used to it in the long run.’ Snuggling into him, her head on his chest, Emma felt the strong, steady beat of his heart against her ear and offered up a silent little prayer of gratitude. We’ve both been given a second chance to get it right, she thought in wonder. They’d both been tormented by life-changing events in their pasts. Now together they would have a chance to heal.
‘Let’s go back to bed,’ Piers whispered before lifting her head to gaze into her eyes.
‘We can’t. You’re helping Lawrence move today, remember?’ Regretfully Emma sighed, the idea just too tempting to be borne.
‘How much do you want to bet me he isn’t even up yet? And besides…’ Grinning wickedly, Piers slid a hand behind her back and started to lead her to the door ‘…we may not have much time before I have to leave, but who says it won’t be damn satisfactory just the same?’
ISBN 1-55254-458-3
THE WEALTHY MAN’S WAITRESS
First North American Publication 2006.
Copyright © 2004 by Maggie Cox.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
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All about the author…
Maggie Cox
MAGGIE COX loved to write almost as soon as she learned to read. Her favorite occupation was daydreaming and making up stories in her head; this particular pastime has stayed with her through all the years of growing up, starting work, marrying and raising a family. No matter what was going on in her life, whether joy, happiness, struggle or disappointment, she’d go to bed each night and lose herself in her imagination.
For many years she secretly filled exercise books and then her word processor with her writing, never showing anyone what she wrote. It wasn’t until she met her second husband, the love of her life, that she was persuaded to start sharing those stories with a publisher. Maggie settled on Harlequin as she has loved reading romance novels since she was a teenager. After several rejections, the letters that were sent back from the publisher started to become more positive and encouraging, and in July 2002 she sold her first book.
The fact that she is being published is truly a dream come true; however, each book she writes is still a journey in “courage and hope,” and a quest to learn and grow and be “the best writer she can.” Her advice to aspiring authors is: “Don’t give up at the first hurdle, or even the second, third or fourth, but keep on keeping on until your dream is realized.”
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