Marie Ferrarella - The Pregnant Colton Bride

If only...

* * *

True to her word, Mirabella got there as quickly as humanly possible while still abiding by—for the most part—the speed limit. The way his face lit up when she turned the corner and first came into his view would have been well worth any amount of traffic tickets in exchange.

She came to a full stop at the curb. Her relief over Zane not being arrested was so huge, it was all she could do to restrain herself from jumping out and giving Zane a heartfelt hug.

Knowing she couldn’t overstep her boundaries, Mirabella did her best to appear calm and collected. She waited until he opened the passenger door before asking, “Then everything’s all right?”

“Oh, it’s far from all right,” Zane responded as he dropped into the passenger seat. Then, before she could ask any further questions, he explained. “My father’s still missing and presumed dead by some. And even though Watkins was forced to let me go right now for lack of evidence, it’s just a matter of time before the good sheriff is back at it, not carrying on a proper investigation and trying to pin my father’s kidnapping on either me or someone else in the family.”

Mirabella knew all that was required of her was silence. That and a ride back to the office. But she just couldn’t keep quiet, not when she looked at him and saw what he was going through.

“What are you going to do?” she finally asked him, watching a cavalcade of emotions parade across Zane’s rugged face.

“Same thing I was going to do before the sheriff decided to accuse me of kidnapping and whisked me off to that poor excuse of an interrogation room. I’m going to find out exactly what happened to my father and who’s responsible for it.” He thought about the assignment he’d given to his IT expert. “I’ve got a lead Meyer Stanley is following up on. Hopefully, he’s made some headway and will get back to me soon.”

Taking in every syllable as if it was golden, Mirabella nodded. “And until then?”

Zane sighed, resigned to playing a waiting game for the time being.

“And until then, we’ll keep my father’s company running as smoothly as we can, getting things done that need doing. When he comes back, I don’t want my father returning to a corporation that’s falling apart or on the verge of bankruptcy, or a takeover. Or some kind of trumped-up investigation.”

At this point, until he knew who he was dealing with, he wouldn’t think of anything as unapproachable or safe. “I want him coming back to a business that’s doing even better than it was when he suddenly disappeared.”

Mirabella smiled at him as she came to a stop at a red light. “I hope you know Mr. Eldridge is very lucky to have you.”

“It works both ways, Belle,” Zane told her. “My sister and I are lucky to have him. A lot of men in Eldridge Colton’s position would have kicked their wives’ first kids to the curb, or exiled them to a year-round program at some boarding school the second they were old enough. But he didn’t. Eldridge did right by Marceline and me. The least I can do is to repay that kindness and do right by him—that means, in part, keeping his department running smoothly—and it also means not sitting back while the sheriff and his people stumble along, trampling on clues. It means taking an active part in finding him,” Zane concluded.

She was moved by his passion and his dedication. “What can I do to help, Mr. Colton?”

He smiled at her offer. The woman really was very sweet, he thought.

“I’ll let you know,” he promised, although he really doubted there was anything she could do to help him find his father, which was his top priority at this moment and would continue to be until Eldridge was finally found.

* * *

They got back to the office building rather quickly. Mirabella returned his car back to its designated parking space, and then they rode up to the twenty-third floor together. Despite the fact that he was understandably preoccupied, Zane still couldn’t help noticing the queasy look on Mirabella’s face. It seemed to get more pronounced as the elevator bypassed all the lower floors and went straight up to their floor in what felt like record time.

The swift ascent had all but drained the little color from her face, bringing in its stead an exceedingly pained, pale hue.

The moment the elevator door slid open, Mirabella vacated the silver enclosure. In his estimation, she seemed rather unsteady on her feet.

“I’ll be back in a moment,” she said, making a beeline for the ladies’ room.

The woman definitely belonged home. He watched as she disappeared into the bathroom farther down the hall.

He was debating following her and placing himself next to the ladies’ room door. If he heard her being sick, he was going to insist she get herself checked out by her own physician. He didn’t want to be responsible for her ruining her health.

However, right at that moment, he felt his cell phone vibrating in his jacket pocket.

Now what? he couldn’t help wondering, exasperated. Swiping his finger along the bottom of the screen, he braced himself as he said, “Zane Colton.”

“Mr. Colton,” the voice on the other end of the line said, “it’s Meyer.”

Zane instantly snapped to attention. “Have you got a name for me, Meyer?”

“Not yet, sir,” the man said apologetically. “Unfortunately, there’s a great deal of decryption to wade through. It’s taking longer than I thought, but I’m getting closer. I did find out the payments stopped a couple of days before your stepfather was kidnapped. That might have been motive enough for someone to kidnap him.”

Hopefully it wasn’t motive enough for someone to kill him, Zane thought.

Chapter 5

Zane was just putting his cell phone back into his jacket pocket when he saw Mirabella coming out of the restroom. Rather than pale, his administrative assistant’s face was now a shade closer to pea green.

Deeply concerned, he momentarily forgot about the call he’d just received. Instead, Zane turned his attention to his assistant’s welfare. Crossing to her, he touched her forearm. Her skin felt almost clammy to his fingertips.

Since she’d been ignoring his advice, he raised his voice when he spoke to her. “Belle, I insist you go see a doctor and get checked out. You can’t continue like this.”

Mirabella offered him a weak smile, unable to do anything more than that. She felt as if all of her strength had been sapped. Although she did feel worse than she had previously, she knew she just had to tough it out. This would fade soon enough, just the way it had been doing for the last couple of months.

“I’m fine, Mr. Colton. Really. It’s just a little upset stomach I can’t... I can’t...seem to...shake.”

The last word was uttered in a whisper, if that loud. The hallway had begun to spin and then her surroundings, usually so well lit, began to darken as well as shrink, until everything went completely black around her.

* * *

One moment he was speaking with Mirabella, trying in vain to talk some sense into her, the next moment her eyes were rolling back in her head and he saw her literally begin to sink right in front of him. Stunned, Zane barely had time to react.

Moving quickly, he caught Mirabella in his arms and kept her body from crumpling down to the floor.

Panicked, he tried to rouse her. “Belle? Belle, are you all right? No, damn it, of course you’re not,” he snapped angrily, a helpless feeling sweeping right through him.

“Need help, Mr. Colton?” Nancy, one of the newest employees who’d been hired when the security section had expanded, asked as she ran up.

The fewer people involved, the better, he couldn’t help thinking. He knew Mirabella wouldn’t appreciate people staring.