Melissa Mcclone - Marriage For Baby

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For Virginia Kantra and Tiffany Talbott,

talented writers and friends extraordinaire.

Special thanks to Ceci and Robert Kramer.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

COMING NEXT MONTH

STANDING on the sidewalk outside the lawyer’s office, Kate Malone stared at the double glass doors. She still had a few minutes until her appointment. No reason to rush inside.

She raised her face to the cloudless, blue sky. The spring sunshine heated her cheeks. Sun kisses. That’s what Susan called them.

Susan.

The unusually warm April temperature reminded Kate of their college graduation eight years ago. She had approached the proceedings as a necessary step, one more thing to mark off her To Do List on the way to the top, but not her best friend, Susan. Unlike Kate, Susan had relished every moment of the drawn-out ceremony in the sweltering ninety-degree heat. She’d bounced across the stage, tossed her University of Oregon diploma box in the air and twirled around.

A smiled tugged on Kate’s lips. Susan always lived life to the fullest. Or rather…

Had lived.

Until a driver fell asleep at the wheel and collided head-on with Susan’s car two days ago here in Boise, Idaho.

Tears stung Kate’s eyes. Grief slashed through her. How could Susan be dead? Susan, so full of life, so full of love. Susan, with her adoring husband, Brady, and their cute baby, Cassidy…

All three had died in the crash.

Kate swallowed, hard.

No. She couldn’t lose control now.

She didn’t have a tissue. Or the time.

She needed to hold herself together during the meeting with Susan and Brady’s attorney. Once Kate checked into her hotel, she could fall apart, but not until then.

Squaring her shoulders, she pushed open one of the doors to the law office and stepped inside. A blast of cool air hit her. Goose bumps prickled on her arms. The sight of the empty receptionist desk deflated her resolve. Her composure slipped a notch. Now that she was inside, she wanted to get this over with.

“Kate?”

The familiar male voice made her stiffen. Jared. She wasn’t ready to face him. Not now. Possibly not ever. And yet she found herself turning in the direction of his voice.

As Jared rose from a leather club chair, her breath caught in her throat. He wore a tailored gray suit and the multicolored silk tie she’d given him for his thirty-first birthday.

Five years ago when Brady and Susan had introduced them, Jared Reed had been a twenty-something single woman’s fantasy. He’d gotten only more handsome. Kate’s heart thudded. She wished she still didn’t find him so attractive.

His square jaw and slightly crooked nose—from a snowboarding accident when he was a teenager—gave his face the right amount of rugged character to offset his long lashes and lush lips. She couldn’t believe how much his hair had grown in the last three months. Normally he went for the short, corporate cut, but the wavy, carefree style suited him better.

Not that she cared.

Much.

His hazel-green eyes met hers. “How are you?”

“I-I’m—” Her voice cracked. Tears blurred her vision. Oh, no. She didn’t want him to see her like this.

Kate blinked. Once, twice.

“I’m so sorry, Katie.” He was at her side in an instant and brushed his lips across her forehead. “So very sorry.”

At the best of times, she struggled to remain indifferent to him, but his tender gesture and simple, yet sincere words shattered her defenses. She sunk against him, breathing in his familiar soap and water scent, drawing in the welcome comfort of his hard chest.

Stop…now, logic shouted.

Get away…now, common sense cried.

But Kate didn’t want to listen. She didn’t care if her actions went against rational thought. Jared understood what she was going through. He was going through the same thing.

“I’m sorry, too,” she choked out. “It’s so…”

He wrapped his arms around her. “Horrible.”

She hugged him. “I keep thinking it’s a mistake or I’m going to wake up and it’s all been a bad dream.”

“Me, too,” he admitted. “As soon as I heard, I called your office. They said you were out of town.”

“Boston.”

“I didn’t want to leave a message.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten it.” She closed her eyes. Not being alone felt so good. “After my assistant phoned me with the news, I turned off my phone.”

“A first.”

“I hope I never have to do it again.”

He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “So do I.”

She stared at him. “I’m sorry I didn’t think to call you.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to reach me. I was in San Francisco. My boss had me pulled out of a meeting and relayed the message.” A corner of Jared’s mouth lifted. “Besides, I didn’t expect you to call, Kate.”

She flinched. “Why not? Brady was your best friend.”

“Susan was like a sister to you. How old were you when you met?

“Seven.” In a foster home. Kate’s first. Susan’s third. That had been so long ago. They had come so far.

“Seven,” he repeated. “You have to be devastated.”

Devastated didn’t begin to describe the anguish ripping Kate apart. She felt as if a part of her had died, too. She inhaled slowly.

Jared’s arms tightened around her, and she found herself resting her head against his chest, a foreign yet familiar position. “It’s okay to cry, Katie.”

She fought the urge to pull away. But she couldn’t. Not when she relished the feel of him, of the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek.

“I’ve cried.” Kate didn’t want to sound defensive. It was the truth. She had cried. More than she would ever admit. She just didn’t like crying in front of others.

“I spoke to Brady a couple of weeks ago,” Jared said.

“Susan e-mailed me a picture of Cassidy on Thursday. She promised to send more.” But those pictures would never arrive. The baby girl would never grow any bigger. Kate smothered a sob. “I can’t believe they’re gone. Why them? Why now?”

“I wish I knew.”

“Me, too.”

But thinking about what she’d lost hurt so much. Too much. She’d rather think about something else. Someone else. Jared.

Kate curled the ends of his hair with her finger. It had never been long enough to do this before, and she liked the extra length. He brushed his hand through her hair, his fingers sifting through the strands, the way he always had. She nearly sighed.

It was as if nothing had changed between them. Kate knew that wasn’t true, but she wasn’t ready to back out of his arms.

For now she could pretend the past didn’t matter and ignore the future. She could do that because she needed Jared. She needed his warmth, his strength, him. And a part of her hoped he needed her, too.