Tracy Wolff - About the Baby

After this, nothing is the same!

Kara Steward and Lucas Montgomery have always been the best of friends. As doctors, they’re too busy saving the world to commit to anything more. Still, Kara knows exactly who to go to when she needs a little support. But one night she turns to Lucas and…everything changes. And once they’ve crossed that line to more than friends, it’s impossible to go back.

Their situation is even more tangled when Kara’s job calls her away for several weeks. How can they talk about the new “them” when she’s half a world away? She can’t put off this discussion too long, however. Not after she discovers there’s a baby to consider….

Kara’s breath hitched in her throat

Sitting there, Lucas looked dark, sexy and a little bit rumpled. He looked gorgeous, really, and despite all of her best intentions, her heart kicked into high gear. Her stomach fluttered even as her mouth went desert dry. Trying to get some moisture back, she rubbed her lips together. Licked them. And felt Lucas stiffen against her even as a deep, rumbling growl started in his chest.

“Kara.” It was a warning, and a blatant one at that, and she felt it sizzle along every nerve ending she had. Drowning now in the scent and sight and sound of him, she reached up and rested her hand against his cut-glass jaw. Stroked her thumb over his dark stubble and lost herself in the dark pools of his eyes.

“Kara.” He whispered her name this time, his hand coming up to cup her own face. “What are you doing?”

Dear Reader,

Every once in a while, if she’s very lucky, an author gets the chance to write a series of books that really speaks to her. For me, these three Harlequin Superromance books about doctors who work in Africa—From the Beginning, February 2012, Healing Dr. Alexander, May 2012 and this one—is that series. About the Baby was the most difficult of the three to write, I have to say. Partly because my hero, Dr. Lucas Montgomery, is an all-around great guy (I usually specialize in writing bad boys) and partly because I have to say good-bye to six characters who I really like and admire.

When I was in college, I always thought I would graduate then join the Peace Corps or another such group that did humanitarian work in places that desperately need help. Though I knew my parents would not be overly excited to let me go off to a part of the world that was constantly war and disaster torn, I never doubted that one day I would do it.

Well, life has a way of taking paths you never intend. When I left college I went straight into grad school where I fell in love with a wonderful man (from Africa, by the way), got married and had a baby all before I finished my master’s degree. Needless to say, I’ve never made it to Africa for more than a three-week visit. And while I have since volunteered my time here in America for numerous women’s and children’s organizations, there’s a part of me that still feels like I should have gone to Africa, should have tried to help. It is this part of myself that I tapped into when I wrote About the Baby, and when I conceived of this trilogy.

Thanks so much for giving About the Baby a try. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love hearing from my readers either at my email tracy@tracywolff.com or at my blog, www.tracywolff.blogspot.com. If you get the chance, please stop by and say hello!

Happy reading!

Tracy Wolff

About the Baby

Tracy Wolff

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tracy Wolff collects books, English degrees and lipsticks, and has been known to forget where—and sometimes who—she is when immersed in a great novel. At six, she wrote her first short story—something with a rainbow and a prince—and at seven, she ventured into the wonderful world of girls’ lit with her first Judy Blume novel. By ten, she’d read everything in the young-adult and classics sections of her local bookstore, so in desperation her mom started her on romance novels. And from the first page of the first book, Tracy knew she’d found her lifelong love. Tracy lives in Texas with her husband and three sons, where she pens romance novels and teaches writing at her local community college.

Books by Tracy Wolff

HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE

1529—A CHRISTMAS WEDDING

1568—FROM FRIEND TO FATHER

1607—THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT

1649—BEGINNING WITH THEIR BABY

1676—UNGUARDED

1703—DESERVING OF LUKE

1760—FROM THE BEGINNING

1781—HEALING DR. ALEXANDER

Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

To my mom, the most amazing woman I know.

Acknowledgement

Thank you, Wanda, for your never-ending patience with me as I struggle to get things right, usually at the last possible minute. I really appreciate your support.

Contents

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

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

April

“CAN I BUYYOUADRINK?”

Dr. Lucas Montgomery turned with a frown, annoyed at having his few minutes of hard-won solitude disturbed. The annoyance turned to something else entirely, however, at his first glimpse of the leggy redhead with the killer curves and impish smile. She was holding out a glass of champagne, her green eyes twinkling in the dim courtyard lights of the hotel terrace.

“The champagne’s free,” he told her.

“And yet you’re not drinking any.” She gestured slightly with the glass. “Come on. Live a little.”

Raising an eyebrow at her teasing, he reached for the champagne flute and kept his gaze locked with hers as he downed the effervescent liquid in one swig.

“Shall I get you another?” she asked dryly as he set the glass on top of a stone ledge.

“Shouldn’t that be my line?”

“Perhaps, but I haven’t finished my drink yet.” She held up the nearly full glass for his inspection.

“I won’t hold that against you,” he answered with a smile. He couldn’t help it—he really liked looking at her. Clasping her free hand in his, he murmured, “Dance with me.”

Her lips twisted in contemplation and when she didn’t immediately answer, he slipped the glass of champagne from her hand and set it next to his empty one.

“Come on,” he urged. Wrapping his right arm around her waist, he pulled her against him and started to glide over the redbrick patio.

“You want to dance here?” She paused for a moment, refusing to budge as she considered.

“What’s wrong with here? Live a little,” he mimicked, certain the dare would get to her.

She laughed then, a husky, full-bodied sound that made him laugh along with her. “Nothing’s wrong with here. I just didn’t realize terrace dancing was one of your specialties.”

It wasn’t, but he had a feeling it was right up her alley. And when she stopped resisting and allowed him to propel her out of the shadows and into the small pool of light cast by the old-fashioned globe lantern, he knew he was right.

They were close enough to the ballroom to hear the music, and for long seconds neither of them talked as they moved together under the heavy branches of a centuries-old magnolia tree. With her heels on, she was only a couple inches shorter than his own height of six foot four.

He liked the way she fit against him. When the song ended, she tried to step away, but he held on. She indulged him for a moment, eyes closed and head resting against his shoulder. Then, with a sigh, she stepped away. He let her go, but when she tugged a little in an effort to free her hand, he refused to relinquish it. “How was Africa?” he asked softly.