For the Babies' Sakes (Expecting) (Harlequin Presents, No. 2280) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Sara Wood
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance, Contemporary, Adult, California, Arranged marriage, loss, Custody of children, Mayors, Social workers
raged. âPlug ugly! My hair is a mess and I look worse than a typhus victim. Oh, sidle off to glamorous, voluptuous Celine and leave me to crawl into bed on my own!â
âPoor love. What a hell youâre in,â he rasped, stroking her plastered-down hair with a masterly semblance of affection.
And she almost succumbed. She wanted to be loved by him so badly, wanted to be held and cuddled and cosied up so much, that she stood there with her eyes closed, longing, wishing, adoring. Smelling his familiar and much-loved body smell. Feeling his warmth and energy. Hearing that seductively coaxing voice and finding her muscles relaxing in response.
âCome on, darling.â
Her eyes snapped open at the husky coaxing. His fingers were unbuttoning her jacket! Shocked rigid, she knockedhis hand away, stricken by the fact that heâd done the same to Celine only a short time ago.
âYouâyou animal ! Is that your solution? Is that all you can think about? A quick roll in the hay? Donât you have any conscience, any moral values at all? Justâ¦leaveâ¦meâ¦al one !â she wailed, beside herself with grief.
âCalm down ! That wasnât my intention at all. I was trying to help,â he said tautly. âOr are you intending to get into bed fully dressed?â
âRight now I donât care! Justâ¦donâtâ¦touchâ¦me!â she flared.
âFine. If thatâs what you wantâ¦â
Taking her at her word, he let go and her legs gave way. She slid to the floor, weeping with frustration, racked with misery. A pathetic little heap, she thought. A ludicrous idiot wearing wellies. Oh, how he and Celine would sneer at her later!
âStupid, stubborn woman!â Dan muttered under his breath.
Angrily he pulled her boots off before she could stop him, flinging them in the bath. She retaliated by curling up in a foetal position, her body shuddering with huge, uncontrollable sobs.
âG-g-go âway!â she mumbled through her tears, desperate to be alone.
âNo.â
Dan ignored her flailing hands and feet and grimly removed her clothes. Once or twice she scored a direct hit on him, judging by his grunts, but he wasnât deterred.
In a hostile silence they wrestled and thrashed around the slippery floor, though her resistance was feeble. When heâd peeled off her stockings and she was down to her bra and pants she gave up the struggle, too weak, too resigned to his determination to humiliate her.
Heâd be comparing her body with Celineâs. Would bethinking that women should wear man-trap underwear with lace and fringes and holes and tassels, she thought miserably. Not neat-fitting, passion-killer cotton.
And heâd be secretly glad sheâd discovered his affair because that would give him an excuse to leave her and get a decent replacement. Someone svelte and gorgeous who made pets of spiders and loved muddy countryside.
âI feel sick,â she muttered weakly, wondering how the elegant Celine fitted into that description of Danâs perfect woman.
With an exasperated grunt, he tightened his towel around his narrow hips and raised her, wrapping her up in a warm bath sheet. Her shivering body sank gratefully into its soft folds as she held onto the edge of the basin again, wishing she could be sick and get it over and done with.
The nausea subsided and she turned away disconsolately. Dan took hold of her again, towelling her wet hair and then washing her horribly blotchy, tear-stained face. It was dangerously lovely, like being nurtured by her mother when she was a child, after sheâd been ill with measles and had been allowed her first bath for a few days.
But her mother hadnât picked her up, or carried her back, to bed and it was this that was almost her undoing. Clutched in the shelter of Danâs strong arms, Helen fought to overcome a fierce urge to snuggle up to the glorious firmness of his naked
âPoor love. What a hell youâre in,â he rasped, stroking her plastered-down hair with a masterly semblance of affection.
And she almost succumbed. She wanted to be loved by him so badly, wanted to be held and cuddled and cosied up so much, that she stood there with her eyes closed, longing, wishing, adoring. Smelling his familiar and much-loved body smell. Feeling his warmth and energy. Hearing that seductively coaxing voice and finding her muscles relaxing in response.
âCome on, darling.â
Her eyes snapped open at the husky coaxing. His fingers were unbuttoning her jacket! Shocked rigid, she knockedhis hand away, stricken by the fact that heâd done the same to Celine only a short time ago.
âYouâyou animal ! Is that your solution? Is that all you can think about? A quick roll in the hay? Donât you have any conscience, any moral values at all? Justâ¦leaveâ¦meâ¦al one !â she wailed, beside herself with grief.
âCalm down ! That wasnât my intention at all. I was trying to help,â he said tautly. âOr are you intending to get into bed fully dressed?â
âRight now I donât care! Justâ¦donâtâ¦touchâ¦me!â she flared.
âFine. If thatâs what you wantâ¦â
Taking her at her word, he let go and her legs gave way. She slid to the floor, weeping with frustration, racked with misery. A pathetic little heap, she thought. A ludicrous idiot wearing wellies. Oh, how he and Celine would sneer at her later!
âStupid, stubborn woman!â Dan muttered under his breath.
Angrily he pulled her boots off before she could stop him, flinging them in the bath. She retaliated by curling up in a foetal position, her body shuddering with huge, uncontrollable sobs.
âG-g-go âway!â she mumbled through her tears, desperate to be alone.
âNo.â
Dan ignored her flailing hands and feet and grimly removed her clothes. Once or twice she scored a direct hit on him, judging by his grunts, but he wasnât deterred.
In a hostile silence they wrestled and thrashed around the slippery floor, though her resistance was feeble. When heâd peeled off her stockings and she was down to her bra and pants she gave up the struggle, too weak, too resigned to his determination to humiliate her.
Heâd be comparing her body with Celineâs. Would bethinking that women should wear man-trap underwear with lace and fringes and holes and tassels, she thought miserably. Not neat-fitting, passion-killer cotton.
And heâd be secretly glad sheâd discovered his affair because that would give him an excuse to leave her and get a decent replacement. Someone svelte and gorgeous who made pets of spiders and loved muddy countryside.
âI feel sick,â she muttered weakly, wondering how the elegant Celine fitted into that description of Danâs perfect woman.
With an exasperated grunt, he tightened his towel around his narrow hips and raised her, wrapping her up in a warm bath sheet. Her shivering body sank gratefully into its soft folds as she held onto the edge of the basin again, wishing she could be sick and get it over and done with.
The nausea subsided and she turned away disconsolately. Dan took hold of her again, towelling her wet hair and then washing her horribly blotchy, tear-stained face. It was dangerously lovely, like being nurtured by her mother when she was a child, after sheâd been ill with measles and had been allowed her first bath for a few days.
But her mother hadnât picked her up, or carried her back, to bed and it was this that was almost her undoing. Clutched in the shelter of Danâs strong arms, Helen fought to overcome a fierce urge to snuggle up to the glorious firmness of his naked
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