The Pregnant Bride

by Susan Mallery

  She knew Kit was teasing. She also knew the problem was of her own making. She’d been the one to put off telling her mother she was pregnant. She’d told Harper right away because Harper was her sister and they’d always been there for each other. Harper was easy and accepting and would understand. Bunny wouldn’t. Bunny had very clear ideas on what women should or shouldn’t do in their lives and Stacey was confident she’d violated every one she could so far. Having a child would only make things worse.

  One week had slipped into two. Time had passed. Stacey had told Kit she was going to wait until after the amniocentesis, but they’d had the results weeks ago and still Stacey hadn’t said anything to her mother.

  She got up and circled the table. Kit pushed back enough for her to collapse on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her as she hung on, burying her face in his shoulder.

  “I’m a horrible daughter,” she whispered.

  “You’re not. You’re wonderful and I love you. As for Bunny, if she can’t take a joke, then screw it.” He touched her cheek until she looked at him. “Stacey, I’m serious. You do what you want. I’m with you. If you don’t want to tell Bunny ever, then that’s okay. I’m just trying to point out, she will find out at some point, and the longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be.”

  “It’s already hard.”

  “I told you so,” he said gently, before kissing her. “Go finish your breakfast.”

  “I will. I love you, too.”

  He smiled at her. She returned to her seat and began to eat. Because she had to stay healthy for the baby. She was comfortable being a vessel—she could do the vessel thing. It was the idea of parenting that tormented her. Who was she to think she could be a mother? She wasn’t like other women—she didn’t want what they wanted. She had different priorities, which she probably could have lived with, if not for her mother.

  Because Bunny knew Stacey wasn’t like everyone else and she had no trouble pointing out that fact. Once she found out about the baby… Well, Stacey could only imagine.

  “I’ll tell her tomorrow at dinner,” she said.

  “Good for you.”

  Which was his way of saying There is not a snowball’s chance in hell I believe you, but sure, say it because it makes you feel better.

  “She’s going to be mad I waited so long.”

  “That she is.” He smiled at her. “But don’t worry. I won’t let her hurt you. I promise.”

  She knew he meant what he said—that he would do his best to protect her. The problem wasn’t that her mother would physically abuse her—the problem was what Bunny would say. In the Bloom family, words were the true weapon, and expectation was the ammunition. The rest of the world considered Stacey a brilliant scientist with a string of credentials and awards. Bunny saw little more than a daughter who refused to be conventional in any way that mattered—in other words, a failure. What on earth was her mother going to say when she found out her daughter was six months pregnant and had never said a word?

  Copyright © 2018 by Susan Mallery Inc.

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  ISBN-13: 9781488088889

  Desert Rogues: The Pregnant Bride

  First published as The Sheik and the Pregnant Bride by Silhouette Special Edition in 2008

  This edition published in 2018.

  Copyright © 2008 by Susan Mallery Inc.

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  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.

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