by Heidi Rice
Dario flipped one of the eggplant slices and smiled. “My only suggestion is to get her pregnant.”
“That’s kind of drastic, isn’t it?” Jared wondered, knowing he couldn’t expect to have all his wishes come true at once.
“It is.” Dario’s lips quirked. “But it worked for me.”
* * *
“I have some news too.” Katie grinned as she let her sister go, not sure that anything could be more perfect than Megan’s announcement.
“Oh, my God.” Megan gripped Katie’s hands and squeezed. “Don’t tell me Jared’s finally popped the question?” she asked.
Katie’s smile faltered, but only slightly. And she shook her head.
It had been an ongoing topic of conversation for months now between her and Megan. Sort of a running joke, really. That after badgering her endlessly to move in with him officially and let her apartment go in Queens—even though she had already been spending most of her time at his place—Jared had stalled on the obvious next step. For six months.
But Katie wasn’t really bothered about the prospect of a proposal. It would be romantic and wonderful to plan a wedding but she couldn’t feel any more secure in his love than she did already. And she was more than prepared to propose to him if the need arose. The only reason she hadn’t was because she thought they both needed more time to adjust to the newness, the wonder, of this relationship. Jared still had the occasional nightmare. He was still battling those demons that had been embedded in his psyche after the traumas of his childhood. She didn’t want to ask something of him he wasn’t yet ready to give. She was more than happy to wait.
Or she had been, until two days ago, when everything had changed.
And the time to be free and easy and relaxed about this relationship, the honeymoon period of allowing themselves all the space they needed to adjust to the realities of this commitment, had suddenly run out.
She touched a hand to her stomach, determined to be excited by the discovery she had made the morning after Jared had left for Rome. This had to be a good thing. She was going to make it a good thing. So much had changed since that first pregnancy scare—surely his reaction wouldn’t be the same now? It couldn’t be. But still a part of her wished it hadn’t happened like this, without the proper planning and consideration.
Although, she had to see the irony of the situation—that the original wild child, the woman who had once reveled in her own impulsiveness, was now having impulsiveness thrust upon her due to a stupid mishap with her contraceptive pill.
“Katie, oh, my...” Megan pressed her hand over Katie’s, having picked up on the instinctive gesture. “You’re not...?” She looked speechless for a moment, but her eyes misted with emotion.
Katie nodded, her own eyes stinging.
Megan wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. “This is so terrific. We’ll be as big as houses together. Jared must be overjoyed.”
Her sister said it with such confidence, but even so the whispered fear Katie had refused to acknowledge for two whole days—while she’d held off telling Jared over the scratchy Internet connection to Rome—shouted across her consciousness.
But what if he’s not?
“I haven’t told him yet,” she admitted as Megan finally released her.
“Why not?” Megan asked.
“Well, I...” She breathed, trying to get her excuses in order—not easy under her sister’s all-seeing eye. “There hasn’t been a good time. I only found out a couple of days ago and he was in Rome. And...well.”
“Well, when are you going to tell him?” Megan demanded, lasering through all Katie’s excuses to get straight to the point.
“I thought I’d tell him tonight, once we’re in bed together.” Because sex always made things simpler. And she knew he was ravenous for her, because she’d seen the hunger in his eyes when he’d kissed her after his arrival, and she was just as ravenous for him.
Surely if she just popped out the information while they were both floating on a wave of afterglow Jared wouldn’t freak out?
But even she could hear the question in her voice.
Megan frowned. “Katie, you do know he worships the ground you walk on, right?”
“I know, but...this is completely unexpected. And unplanned. We haven’t ever talked about children. I’m on the pill. Or I was. But I had a stomach bug three weeks ago, and I must have thrown up one or something. It’s low dosage so it’s—”
“Katie, calm down.” Megan gripped her arms to halt the stream of way too much information as all Katie’s insecurities came babbling out. “You’re blowing this out of proportion.”
“How can you blow a baby out of proportion?” Katie retorted, appalled at her sister’s cavalier attitude. “This is a baby, Megan!” she said, just to be sure her sister had heard her, as the magnitude of the problem really sank in. “It’s a person. A human being. Who is going to be relying on me and Jared one hundred percent.”
Megan’s lips kicked up in a grin. “I know what babies are, Katie. I’ve had a couple myself and I’m about to have another.”
“Yes, but you and Dario are so good at being parents. You’re naturals. I’m not sure Jared and I are. We’re not prepared for this. As overjoyed as I was when the stick turned blue, I...” She stopped and took a moment to draw a careful breath and admit her greatest fear. “I’m scared it might be too soon to take this step. I’m not sure either one of us is ready. But even though my head is telling me that, my heart knows I can’t give Jared a choice.” She pressed her palm to her belly again. Even if it was still only a collection of cells, the baby felt so real to her already. “Because I want to have this baby, so much.”
“Shh, Katie.” Megan’s smile didn’t falter as she cradled Katie’s face in her palms and wiped away a tear Katie hadn’t even realized had slipped down her cheek. “First off, no one is ever prepared. Even if they think they are. And Dario and I certainly weren’t,” Megan said. “You’ve already gone one better than us by managing to be together for a whole year before this happened, instead of one night,” she added, huffing out a self-deprecating laugh.
“I know, but...what if he doesn’t want to have it, Meg?”
“Honestly?” Megan said, looking so much surer than Katie felt. “I think once he gets over the initial shock he’ll be overjoyed too. Jared’s a tough guy. He’s survived a lot in his life, like Dario—a baby is not going to phase him in the least once he gets used to the idea. And it’s obvious whenever we see you two together...”
Megan took a breath. “Which isn’t nearly often enough for my liking, by the way,” she added, going the full big sister. “That you mean the world to him. And I’m sure this baby will too. Frankly, I think a much bigger problem is going to be dealing with his desire to keep you housebound once he finds out about your condition. It’s taken me three pregnancies to get Dario’s protect-at-all-costs gene under control and we’re still working on it. Plus, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion Jared might be even worse—given his choice of profession.”
“Really?” Katie asked, the surge of hope making her heart bob into her throat.
“Yes, really... But there’s only one way to find out for sure,” Megan said, and Katie was reminded of a year ago, in her tiny apartment when her sister had given her advice once before on her relationship with Jared. And look how that had turned out!
“Don’t tell me.” Katie put up her hand, the excitement now at least as big as her fear. “I just need to ask him.”
“Bingo,” Megan said, and they both laughed.
* * *
Katie’s laughter had died by the time she and Jared were saying their goodnights to her sister and Dario. The meal had gone by in a blur—her trepidation and nerves almost as huge as her anticipation. Something had changed between Jared and Dario. They’d obviously had some kind of clearing of the air while she and Meg had been down by the pool, because as the four of them prepared the casual meal and sat down together to feast on the delici
ous combination of lamb steaks and a range of antipasti Megan and their housekeeper Maria had prepared earlier it was obvious the two men were much easier in each other’s company than they had been since she and Jared had started dating.
Even so, the tension had mounted between Jared and her every time their eyes had met across the table. The hunger in his gaze, that concentrated need, had sparked a need of her own as he’d watched her with feral intensity and she couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease him by making a production of consuming the succulent tiramisu.
She let the desire flow through her—knowing it was him and not the wine intoxicating her, of which she’d only taken a small sip—as he clasped her hand in his and all but dragged her through the terraced gardens, down to the guest house nestled amid a grove of wild flowers. Pulling her into the dark room, he slammed the door and pressed her back against the wood.
“I have something I need to ask you,” he said in a low, urgent tone. And the tension in her tummy twisted. Did he know? Had he guessed?
But then his hand grasped her leg and hooked it over his hip, bringing the thick ridge of his penis into contact with her clitoris. The pressure felt glorious, and frustrating, separated by his suit pants and the damp fabric of her panties. “But I have to have you first.”
“Me too,” she said. Gripping his head in both hands, she urged him on, buoyed by the sound of ripping lace and then the sibilant hum of his zipper, deafening in the darkness.
“I can’t wait,” he growled against her neck, plunging his fingers into the slick folds to test her readiness.
She bucked against the door as he touched the very heart of her, tightening the urgent spiral that had been torturing her for days, ever since he’d left. “Then don’t,” she said.
Grasping her hips in rough hands, he lifted her. She moaned, the guttural sob raw and basic as he impaled her in one solid thrust. She rode the thick invasion, powerless to limit the speed or depths of his thrusts as he forced her toward that bright, shining ledge, ruthlessly stroking that place deep inside.
In only a few thrusts, the coil tightened unbearably and then shattered, sending blistering shards of light through her body as his grunt of fulfillment matched her cry of release.
She was still floating on afterglow, the erotic smell of sex and sweat mingling with the light fragrance of sea and citrus and the deliciously familiar scent of him—the erection still firm inside her—when he lifted his head and pressed a hard, fleeting kiss to her lips.
“You have to marry me,” he whispered.
“Jared...” She stroked his face, the rough stubble making sensation skitter back to her core where he was still lodged inside her. The shock at his words made her almost as giddy as the sudden spurt of joy. He hadn’t asked, of course, he’d told her. And the circumstances could hardly be described as romantic.
“Give me an answer, damn it,” he said, sounding so bossy, and desperate, the joy leapt in her chest, overtaking the last of the fear she’d lived with for two days.
What was wrong with her? Megan was right. They loved each other. To distraction. He’d want this baby simply because she did. And any reservations they had, any fears, they’d get over together, like they had everything else.
But somehow she couldn’t help teasing him.
“I didn’t hear a question,” she said.
He swore softly, pressing his face into her neck, kissing the pulse point tenderly and then easing her off him. For a moment she felt bereft and shaky, her knees going liquid, but he held her as they adjusted their clothing. And finally pressed a kiss to her hair as he wrapped strong arms around her.
“I’m sorry. That’s got to be the worse proposal any woman ever got. I’ve been thinking about asking you for months and, when I finally get up the guts to do it, I mess it up.”
Months? He’d been planning this for months? The giddy leap of joy became all-consuming.
“It’s not the worst at all,” she said, taking pity on him in her euphoria. She drew back so she could look up into his face. “I think every woman should demand a mind-blowing orgasm right before a proposal.”
He let out a strained laugh. “Ya think?”
“FYI, the answer to the question you never actually asked is yes.”
He jerked in her arms and her heart melted into a puddle at her feet at the thought he had ever believed this might be in doubt.
“For real?”
She nodded.
The wayward tears stung the backs of her eyes again when he pressed a kiss to her forehead and sighed. “Thank God.”
She cradled his face to pull him back, so she could make out his expression better in the moonlight streaming through the guest house window. “But I’ve got something to tell you too.”
“What?”
She took his hand and pulled it down to press his large palm against her belly where their baby grew, the one she already knew would be loved and cherished by its parents the way the two of them never had been.
“We’ll have to get a move on with the wedding if we don’t want a gate crasher.”
His head rose, and for the first time ever, even in the half-light, she could see every emotion cross his face. His expression was completely unguarded. Shock, concern and a flicker of complete and utter panic.
But then the scar on his top lip bobbed as his mouth stretched into an awed smile.
His hand stroked her invisible bump as he stared down at her abdomen. “How long have we got?”
“Eight months.”
He drew her into his arms. The sure, solid beat of his heart pounded against her ear as warm hands stroked her back, but he didn’t say anything, so she had to ask.
“Are you okay with this?”
“I’m overjoyed,” he murmured against her hair. “And scared to death. Does that answer your question?”
“Absolutely,” she said, the width of her own smile giving the full moon a run for its money. “Because that’s exactly how I feel.”
His hands paused for a moment on her back. “But from now on rough sex against a door is off the table.” He held her hips to draw her back, a stern frown marring his brow. “You should have told me about junior before we did that...”
And so it begins, she thought.
“I’m pregnant, Jared. Not an invalid.”
He hoisted her into his arms. “Shut up, Katherine, and do as you’re told for once,” he said as he carried her into the guest-house’s bathroom as if she were as breakable as glass.
But as he made slow, agonizingly gentle love to her, the water cascading down their naked bodies, she let him have it his way, just this once.
Once he had coaxed her to a devastating climax, they collapsed together into the lavish guest bed. He held her securely in his arms as he dropped into sleep. There would be no nightmares tonight, she knew as she stroked the damp locks of his hair, heard the deep, contented murmur of his breathing—and planned the best way to jump her new fiancé first thing tomorrow morning so she could show him rough sex against a door was never off the table.
But she couldn’t keep her eyes open, her sated body beckoning her into dreams—bright, beautiful, wonderful dreams full to bursting with all the possibilities, the challenges, the joys and intense, all-consuming love for him and their children the months and years ahead would hold.
* * * * *
Coming soon
CLAIMING HIS HIDDEN HEIR
Carol Marinelli
‘We were so hot, Cecelia, and we could have been good, but you chose to walk away. You left. And then you denied me the knowledge of my child and I hate you for that.’ And then, when she’d already got the dark message, he gave it a second coat and painted it black. ‘I absolutely hate you.’
‘No mixed messages, then?’ She somehow managed a quip but there was nothing that could lighten this moment.
‘Not one. Let me make things very clear. I am not taking you to Greece to get to know you better, or to see if there is any chance for us,
because there isn’t. I want no further part of you. The fact is, you are my daughter’s mother and she is too young to be apart from you. That won’t be the case in the near future.’
‘How near?’
Fear licked the sides of her heart.
‘I don’t know.’ He shrugged. ‘I know nothing about babies, save what I have found out today. But I learn fast,’ he said, ‘and I will employ only the best so very soon, during my access times, Pandora and I will do just fine without you.’
‘Luka, please…’ She could not stand the thought of being away from Pandora and she was spinning at the thought of taking her daughter to Greece, but Luka was done.
‘I’m going, Cecelia,’ Luka said. ‘I have nothing left to say to you.’
That wasn’t quite true, for he had one question.
‘Did you know you were pregnant when you left?’ Luka asked.
‘I had an idea…’
‘The truth, Cecelia.’
And she ached now for the days when he had been less on guard and had called her Cece, even though it had grated so much at the time.
And now it was time to be honest and admit she had known she was pregnant when she had left. ‘Yes.’
Copyright ©2018 by Carol Marinelli
Continue reading
CLAIMING HIS HIDDEN HEIR
Carol Marinelli
Available next month
www.millsandboon.co.uk
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
India
HarperCollins India
A 75, Sector 57
Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201 301, India
http://www.harpercollins.co.in
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited