Gina Wilkins - Countdown to Baby

Geoff reached out to cover her hand with his. “It was one of the best nights I’ve had in a very long time.”

She laced her fingers with his. “For me, too.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I’m sort of afraid of ruining everything now.”

“Not possible.”

“You haven’t heard what I want to ask you yet.” In response to Geoff’s wary expression Cecilia laughed a little and held up her hands. “Relax. I’m not asking you to marry me. Our night together hasn’t turned me into a starry-eyed romantic with dreams of a happily-ever-after.”

“So what is this request?”

She drew a deep breath, then blurted the words before she lost her nerve. “I want you to help me make a baby.”

Dear Reader,

It’s that time of year again—when every woman’s thoughts turn to love—and we have all kinds of romantic gifts for you! We begin with the latest from reader favorite Allison Leigh, Secretly Married, in which she concludes her popular TURNABOUT miniseries. A woman who was sure she was divorced finds out there’s the little matter of her not-so-ex-husband’s signing the papers, so off she goes to Turnabout—the island that can turn your life around—to get her divorce. Or does she?

Our gripping MERLYN COUNTY MIDWIVES miniseries continues with Gina Wilkins’s Countdown to Baby. A woman interested only in baby-making—or so she thinks—may be finding happily-ever-after and her little bundle of joy, with the town’s most eligible bachelor. LOGAN’S LEGACY, our new Silhouette continuity, is introduced in The Virgin’s Makeover by Judy Duarte, in which a plain-Jane adoptee is transformed in time to find her inner beauty…and, just possibly, her biological family. Look for the next installment in this series coming next month. Shirley Hailstock’s Love on Call tells the story of two secretive emergency-room doctors who find temptation—not to mention danger—in each other. In Down from the Mountain by Barbara Gale, two disabled people—a woman without sight, and a scarred man—nonetheless find each other a perfect match. And Arlene James continues THE RICHEST GALS IN TEXAS with Fortune Finds Florist. A sudden windfall turns complicated when a wealthy small-town florist forms a business relationship—for starters—with a younger man who has more than finance on his mind.

So Happy Valentine’s Day, and don’t forget to join us next month, for six special romances, all from Silhouette Special Edition.

Sincerely,

Gail Chasan

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Sally—she of the untapped wisdom.

is a bestselling and award-winning author who has written more than sixty-five books for Harlequin and Silhouette. She credits her successful career in romance to her long, happy marriage and her three “extraordinary” children.

A lifelong resident of central Arkansas, Ms. Wilkins sold her first book to Harlequin in 1987 and has been writing full-time since. She has appeared on the Waldenbooks, B. Dalton and USA TODAY bestseller lists. She is a three-time recipient of the Maggie Award for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers, and has won several awards from the reviewers of Romantic Times.

Hospital Happenings

Welcome to Lily Cunningham, public relations director extraordinaire! Lily’s experience—from dining with royalty to saving billion-dollar corporations—is sure to bring prestige to our hospital and the new biomedical research facility sponsored by Dr. Mari Bingham. If you see Lily in the halls—she’ll be wearing her signature color: red—give her a warm Kentucky hello!

Congratulations to Eric Mendoza on his promotion—and his engagement to expectant mother Hannah Bingham!

If anyone has seen any strange behavior at the Foster Clinic or in the pharmacy department of the hospital in the last few weeks, please report this to Dr. Mari Bingham or her receptionist immediately!

And thanks to midwife Cecilia Mendoza for her hard work and dedication to the Foster Clinic. Please congratulate her on ten years of caring for Merlyn County’s mothers and babies!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

The slippery seven-pound boy squirmed in Cecilia Mendoza’s arms. Pink legs flailed with his irritation at being shoved out of his warm, liquid cocoon and into the openness and light of the clinic birthing room. A series of shrill screams issued from his toothless mouth, and his scrunched face was beet red with fury.

Cecilia thought he was absolutely beautiful. With hidden reluctance, she transferred the child into the arms of his exhausted but eager mother. The stocky young father hovered close by, his ruddy face split with an enormous, proud, and just a bit nervous, smile.

Pushing her own emotions to the back of her mind, Cecilia concentrated on her job as a certified nurse midwife, turning her attention to the routine follow-up procedures of this blessedly complication-free delivery. Her workday was almost over. She couldn’t go straight home, unfortunately, because of the reception for Lillith Cunningham, the new public relations director for the Foster Midwifery Clinic and the Bingham Midwifery School, both affiliated with the regional hospital in Merlyn County, Kentucky. The reception was to begin at six. Cecilia wasn’t particularly looking forward to the event, but she felt obligated to drop in.

She could contemplate her feelings of wistfulness, envy and frustration later, when she was alone in her house, longing for a child of her own. As her thirty-eighth birthday loomed closer, she couldn’t help wondering if she would ever know the joy of holding her own baby.

Geoff Bingham’s bedroom smelled of freshly applied orange-oil wood polish and a hint of woodlands-scented air freshener. As he precisely knotted an expensive red silk tie around the neck of his tailored white shirt, he wondered if he was only imagining the slightly musty scent of a long-unoccupied room beneath the more pleasing fragrances.

His efficient housekeeper made sure his condo was always clean and welcoming when he returned from one of his many long business trips, but sometimes the place still felt foreign to him. Like just another of the series of hotel suites and corporate apartments he slept in during his travels—when his demanding job allowed him to sleep, of course.

Picking up the hand-tailored jacket that had been laid out on his bed, he shrugged into it as automatically as a mechanic might don his blue cotton work shirt. As far as Geoff was concerned, this fifteen-hundred-dollar suit was merely a business uniform, no more indicative of his true personality than his immaculately polished wing-tip shoes. The party for which he was dressing was just another business meeting to him, at which he would smile and mingle and shake hands with the smooth skill he had spent the past ten of his thirty-two years developing.

Squeezing the tight muscles at the back of his neck with his left hand, he could only hope the reception for the hospital’s new public relations director wouldn’t last long. All he wanted to do was get this over with, come back to his citrus-scented condo and crash in the den with a beer, some chips and his treasured Taylor guitar. An evening of quiet solitude sounded very good to him right now. But he would do his duty. He always did.