Her Pregnancy Secret Page 17

  “You really love me?” she said.

  Their eyes met. “Yes, these past few days I haven’t been able to forgive myself for how I treated you. You don’t know how I despised myself. You were so sweet and wonderful that first night. And I never gave you a chance. I tried to crush you. And I nearly did. I couldn’t blame you for not trusting me.”

  “We both must forget about that night.”

  “Never. It’s the night I first began to love you...I just didn’t know it or couldn’t admit it. Forgive me...please.”

  “I do. Oh, I do.”

  He took her face between his hands, his thumbs lightly brushing her lips. “I thought I’d lost you, and I didn’t know how I’d live without you.”

  “I felt the same way. Isn’t it wonderful we don’t have to live without each other?”

  It was too wonderful for words.

  He kissed her long and hard. He pulled her closer and kissed her again and again, drinking of her deeply, tasting her, reveling in her nearness, her sweetness, until they were both breathless. “I will never get enough of you.”

  “I love you,” she said again.

  “Yesterday, I dreaded all the tomorrows of my life,” he murmured. “Now I’m looking forward to them. You, dear, sweet Bree, have freed me from myself, from Anya, from all the dark emotions that hardened me.”

  “If I’ve helped you even a little I’m very glad.”

  “You’ve given me such happiness, a whole new life.”

  His lips claimed hers, and he didn’t let her go for a very long time.

  Epilogue

  Never had Bree felt so content, so proud of herself, nor so filled with love and affection as she did right now. Lying in her hospital bed she watched Michael pace proudly, his voice soft as he tried to soothe their darling, newborn son.

  Michael was such a good husband. Every morning she woke up loving him a little more, and she knew he felt the same. Not only had he stayed with her during labor and stood beside her during the delivery, he’d gone with her to every doctor’s visit and to every childbirth class she’d taken.

  Baby Will’s eyes and hair were as black as ebony. The instant the nurses had laid him in her arms she’d fallen in love. She’d uncurled his fingers and he’d wrapped them around hers and hung on. Maybe she loved him so much because he was a tiny replica of his handsome dad.

  Michael walked over to the bed and leaned down to show her their son was sleeping. As she lifted back the blue blanket to stare at her son’s wrinkled, red face, a great rush of tenderness swept her.

  She was the luckiest woman in the world.

  “Michael,” she whispered. “Isn’t he wonderful?”

  “He is, and so are you. I love you,” he said in a low tone that shook her to the depths of her soul. “I love you more than anything in the world.”

  His words shook her because she was sure, so very sure, he meant them. Deep down, he’d always been a family man. Even though he’d been wrong about her in the beginning, love of his younger brother and his fierce desire to protect him was what had brought them together. He’d wanted his brother to experience the kind of love he’d never had himself, but had craved.

  She was so glad she saw who he really was now—a man who had found the love he must have been looking for his whole life.

  He was a fighter. He would always be there for her; he would always love and protect her.

  Yes, she was the luckiest woman in the world to have this man and be loved by him.

  * * * * *

  If you loved the drama and emotion in this novel, pick up more sinfully seductive stories from USA TODAY bestselling author Ann Major!

  MARRIAGE AT THE COWBOY’S COMMAND

  ULTIMATUM: MARRIAGE

  TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT

  A SCANDAL SO SWEET

  HIS FOR THE TAKING

  All available now from Harlequin Desire!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from LURED BY THE RICH RANCHER by Kathie DeNosky.

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Desire story.

  You want to leave behind the everyday! Harlequin Desire stories feature sexy, romantic heroes who have it all: wealth, status, incredible good looks…everything but the right woman. Add some secrets, maybe a scandal, and start turning pages!

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  Ten years ago one devastating night changed everything for Austin, Hunter and Alex. Now they must each play their part in the revenge against the one man who ruined it all.

  Austin Treffen has the plan… Hunter has the money… Alex has the power!

  Read each of their stories in the captivating Fifth Avenue trilogy,

  only from Harlequin Presents:

  Avenge Me by Maisey Yates (June 2014)

  Scandalize Me by Caitlin Crews (July 2014)

  Expose Me by Kate Hewitt (August 2014)

  And don’t miss the Fifth Avenue prequel that started it all, Take Me, by Maisey Yates!

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  One

  At the designated time on the Fourth of July, Chance Lassiter and his half sister, Hannah Armstrong, approached the doorway to the massive great room in the Big Blue ranch house. “This seems wrong. I just learned two months ago that I have a sister and now I’m giving you away,” he complained.

  “That’s true,” she said, smiling. “But since you and Logan are good friends, I think we’ll probably be seeing each other quite often.”

  “You can count on it.” He gazed fondly at his five-year-old niece waiting to throw flower petals as she preceded them down the aisle. “I told Cassie I would come over and take her into Cheyenne for ice cream at least once a week. And I’m not letting her down.”

  “You’re going to spoil her,” Hannah teased good-naturedly.

  Grinning, he shrugged. “I’m her favorite uncle. It’s expected.”

  “You’re her only uncle,” Hannah shot back, laughing. “You have to be her favorite.”

  When he first discovered that he had a half sister from the extramarital affair his late father had some thirty years ago, Chance had experienced a variety of emotions. At first, he’d resented the fact that the man he had grown up believing to be a pillar of morality had cheated on Chance’s mother. Then learning that Marlene Lassiter had known her husband had a daughter and hadn’t told him had compounded Chance’s disillusionment. His mother had been aware of how much he missed having a sibling and he felt deprived of the relationship they might have had growing up. But in the two months since meeting Hannah and his adorable niece, he had done his best to make up for lost time.

  Chance tucked Hannah’s hand in the crook of his arm. “Besides the standing ice-cream date, you know that all you or Cassie have to do is pick up the phone and I’ll be there for you.”

  “You and your mother have been so good to us.” Tears welled in Hannah’s emerald eyes—eyes the same brilliant green as his own. “I don’t know how to begin to thank you both for your love and acceptance. It mean
s the world to me.”

  He shook his head. “There’s no need to thank us. That’s the beauty of family. We accept and love you and Cassie unconditionally—no matter how long it took us to find you.”

  As they started down the aisle between the chairs that had been set up for the wedding, Chance focused on the red-haired little girl ahead of them. Cassie’s curls bounced as she skipped along and her exuberance for throwing flower petals from the small white basket she carried was cute as hell. Of course, like any proud uncle, he thought everything the kid did was nothing short of amazing. But with an arm like that there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she could play for a major league baseball team if she set her mind to it.

  Approaching the groom standing beside the minister in front of the fireplace, Chance waited for his cue before he placed his sister’s hand in Logan Whittaker’s. He kissed Hannah’s cheek, then gave his friend a meaningful smile as he took his place beside him to serve as the best man. “Take care of her and Cassie,” he said, careful to keep his tone low. “If you don’t, you know what will happen.”

  Grinning, Logan nodded. “You’ll kick my ass.”

  “In a heartbeat,” Chance promised.

  “You don’t have anything to worry about,” Logan said, lifting Hannah’s hand to kiss the back of it as they turned to face the minister.

  When the bespectacled man of the cloth started to speak, Chance looked out at the wedding guests. Except for Dylan and Jenna, the entire Lassiter clan had turned out in force. But his cousin and his new bride’s absence was understandable. Their own wedding had only taken place a little over a week ago and they were still on their honeymoon in Paris.

  As Chance continued to survey the guests, he noticed that his cousin Angelica had chosen to sit at the back of the room, well away from the rest of the family. She was still upset about the terms of her father’s will and refused to accept that J. D. Lassiter had left control of Lassiter Media to her former fiancé, Evan McCain. Chance didn’t have a clue what his uncle had been thinking, but he trusted the man’s judgment and knew there had to have been a good reason for what he’d done. Chance just wished Angelica could see things that way.

  He shifted his attention back to the ceremony when the minister got to the actual vows and Logan turned to him with his hand out. Chance took from his jacket pocket the wedding ring his friend had given to him earlier and handed it to his soon-to-be brother-in-law. As he watched Logan slide the diamond-encrusted band onto Hannah’s ring finger, Chance couldn’t help but smile. He had no intention of going down that road himself, but he didn’t mind watching others get married when he knew they were meant for each other. And he had yet to meet two people better suited to share their lives as husband and wife than Hannah and Logan.

  “By the power vested in me by the great state of Wyoming, I pronounce you husband and wife,” the minister said happily. “You may kiss the bride.”

  Chance waited until Logan kissed Hannah and they turned to start back down the aisle with his niece skipping along behind them before he offered his arm to the matron of honor. As they followed the happy couple toward the door, a blonde woman seated next to his cousin Sage and his fiancée, Colleen, caught his eye.

  With hair the color of pale gold silk and a complexion that appeared to have been kissed by the sun, she was without question the most gorgeous female he’d ever had the privilege to lay eyes on. But when her vibrant blue gaze met his and her coral lips curved upward into a soft smile, he damn near stopped dead in his tracks. It felt as if someone had punched him square in the gut.

  Chance had no idea who she was, but he had every intention of remedying that little detail as soon as possible.

  * * *

  Felicity Sinclair felt as if something shifted in the universe when she looked up to find the best man staring at her as he and the matron of honor followed the newly married couple back down the aisle. He was—in a word—perfect!

  Dressed like the groom in a white Oxford cloth shirt, black sport coat, dark blue jeans and a wide-brimmed cowboy hat, the man was everything she had been looking for and more. He was tall, broad-shouldered and ruggedly handsome. But more than that, he carried himself with an air of confidence that instilled trust. She could only hope that he was related to the Lassiters so that she could use him in her PR campaign.

  When he and the matron of honor continued on, Fee turned to the couple seated next to her. “Sage, would you happen to know the name of the best man?”

  “That’s my cousin Chance,” Sage Lassiter said, smiling as they rose to their feet with the rest of the wedding guests. “He owns the majority of the Big Blue now.”

  Excited by the fact that the best man was indeed a member of the Lassiter family, Fee followed Sage and his fiancée, Colleen, out onto the flagstone terrace where the reception was to be held. She briefly wondered why she hadn’t met him at the opening for the newest Lassiter Grill, but with her mind racing a mile a minute, she dismissed it. She was too focused on her ideas for the PR campaign. The Big Blue ranch would be the perfect backdrop for what she had in mind and there wasn’t anything more down-to-earth and wholesome than a cowboy.

  When her boss, Evan McCain, the new CEO of Lassiter Media, sent her to Cheyenne to take care of the publicity for the grand opening of the Lassiter Grill, she’d thought she would be back in Los Angeles within a couple of weeks. But she’d apparently done such a stellar job, her stay in Wyoming had been extended. Two days ago, she had received a phone call assigning her the task of putting together a public relations campaign to restore the Lassiter family image and Fee knew she had her work cut out for her. News of Angelica Lassiter’s dissatisfaction with her late father’s will and her recent association with notorious corporate raider Jack Reed had traveled like wildfire and tarnished the company’s happy family image, and created no small amount of panic among some of the stockholders. But by the time she hung up the phone, Fee had already come up with several ideas that she was confident would turn things around and reinstate Lassiter Media as the solid enterprise it had always been. All she needed to pull it together was the right spokesperson in the right setting. And she’d just found both.

  Of course, she would need to talk to Chance and get him to agree to appear in the television spots and print ads that she had planned. But she wasn’t worried. She’d been told all of the Lassiters had a strong sense of family. Surely when she explained why she had been asked to extend her stay in Cheyenne and how important it was to restore the Lassiters’ good name, Chance would be more than happy to help.

  Finding a place at one of the round tables that had been set up on the beautifully terraced patio, Fee sat down and took her cell phone from her sequined clutch to enter some notes. There were so many good ideas coming to her that she didn’t dare rely on her memory.

  “Do you mind if I join you, dear?”

  Fee looked up to find a pleasant-looking older woman with short brown hair standing next to her. “Please have a seat,” she answered, smiling. “I’m Fee Sinclair.”

  “And I’m Marlene Lassiter,” the woman introduced herself as she sat down in the chair beside Fee. “Are you a friend of the bride?”

  Shaking her head, Fee smiled. “I’m a public relations executive from the Los Angeles office of Lassiter Media.”

  “I think I remember Dylan mentioning that someone from the L.A. office had been handling the publicity for the Lassiter Grill opening here in Cheyenne,” Marlene said congenially. She paused for a moment, then lowering her voice added, “And when I talked to Sage yesterday, he said you were going to be working on something to smooth things over after Angelica’s threats to contest J.D.’s will and her being seen with the likes of Jack Reed.”

  “Yes,” Fee admitted, wondering how much the woman knew about the board of directors’ concerns. Something told her Marlene Lassiter didn’t miss much of what went on with the fa
mily. “I’ll be putting together some television commercials and print ads to assure the public that Lassiter Media is still the solid, family-friendly company it’s always been.”

  “Good,” the woman said decisively. “We may have our little spats, but we love each other and we really are a pretty close family.”

  They both looked across the yard at the pretty dark-haired woman talking rather heatedly with Sage. It was apparent she wasn’t the least bit happy.

  “I know it’s probably hard for a lot of people to believe right now, but Angelica really is a wonderful young woman and we all love her dearly,” Marlene spoke up as they watched the woman walk away from her brother in an obvious huff. Turning to Fee, Marlene’s hazel eyes were shadowed with sadness. “Angelica is still trying to come to terms with the death of her father, as well as being hurt and disillusioned by his will. That’s a lot for anyone to have to deal with.”

  Compelled to comfort the older woman, Fee placed her hand on top of Marlene’s where it rested on the table. “I’m sure it was a devastating blow to her. She worked so hard for the family business that many people just assumed she’d be running it someday.”

  “When J.D. started cutting back on his workload, Angelica knew he was grooming her to take over and we all believed she would be the one leading Lassiter Media into the future,” Marlene agreed, nodding. “When he left her a paltry ten percent of the voting shares and named Evan McCain CEO, the girl was absolutely crushed.”

  Fee could tell that Marlene was deeply concerned for Angelica. “It’s only been a few months since Mr. Lassiter’s passing,” she said gently. “Maybe in time Angelica will be able to deal with it all a little better.”

  “I hope so.” Marlene shook her head. “There are times when even grown children have a hard time understanding the reasons their parents have for making the decisions they do. But we always try to do what’s in our children’s best interest.”