Hannah Bernard - Baby Chase

Dear Reader,

We’re constantly striving to bring you the best romance fiction by the most exciting authors, and in Harlequin Romance® we’re especially keen to feature fresh, sparkling, warmly emotional novels. Modern love stories to suit your every mood: poignant, deeply moving stories; lively, upbeat romances with sparks flying; or sophisticated, edgy novels with an international flavor.

All our authors are special, and we hope you continue to enjoy each month’s new selection of Harlequin Romance novels. This month we’re delighted to feature a new novel with extra fizz! Hannah Bernard has a fresh and funny writing style and loves to create exciting, emotional characters. In Baby Chase, she brings us Erin, a thoroughly modern heroine—with a very unusual outlook on family life!

We hope you enjoy this book by Hannah Bernard—and look out for future sparkling stories in Harlequin Romance®.

Happy reading!

The Editors

Hannah Bernard always knew what she wanted to be when she grew up—a psychologist. After spending an eternity in university studying toward that goal, she took one look at her hard-earned diploma and thought, “Nah. I’d rather be a writer.”

She has no kids to brag about, no pets to complain about, and only one husband, who any day now will break down and agree to adopt a kitten.

New author for Harlequin Romance®!

Hannah Bernard is a fresh new voice for Harlequin Romance®. We’re sure you’ll enjoy her fresh, sparkling style, witty plotting and warm, passionate characters. In Baby Chase, you’ll meet Erin Avery, a librarian on a mission, and the irresistible Nathan Chase—who’ll stop at nothing to win Erin over….

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Pam.

You’d better know why! :-)

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

OF COURSE.

As soon as the legs appeared at the edge of the bed and the bedsprings creaked under the intruder’s weight, Erin realized who he was. She let out a silent breath as the terrified pounding of her heart slowed. Of course there was no burglar in the house; no psychotic killer or rapist. It was Nathan Chase.

The intense relief was quickly followed by embarrassed dismay. The fabled Nathan was here, sitting on the bed in the guest room. And here she was, lying under that bed, clad only in a towel, with another one wrapped around her wet hair.

Erin stifled a sigh, cursing her own stupidity. Her sister-in-law had told her in a hasty last-minute message that her brother would arrive this week and stay overnight. Sally had assured her that she would not even notice him—if true to form, he would arrive around midnight and be gone early the next morning. Erin had hoped that would be true; she had no interest in meeting Sally’s insensitive clod of a brother who didn’t seem to give a damn about his own family.

Nevertheless, she should have been expecting him, instead of panicking when hearing noises downstairs after coming out of the shower. After briefly cursing her brother—it just had to be the one time she was house-sitting that his house was broken into—she had run into the empty guest room and crawled under the bed. Her instincts told her that the burglar would quickly pass the unused, almost empty room, allowing her to crawl from under the bed and escape to the roof through the window.

But there was no burglar. It was only Sally’s brother, stopping for the night before he flew to the next corner of the world suffering war, famine or pestilence.

He still hadn’t moved. Erin stared at his legs: black jeans and black socks. With…She narrowed her eyes. Did the man really have two smiling bunny rabbits on his socks?

She rolled her eyes when she noticed exactly what those bunny rabbits were doing. How typically juvenile. Her first impressions confirmed her long-established opinion of Nathan Chase, even if first impressions were only of the man’s socks. It was time to end this farce, say hello and goodbye to the man and escape.

Still she hesitated. The room was silent. She could hardly make out Nathan’s breathing. What was the best way to alert him to her presence? A polite “Excuse me” from under the bed? A tap on his calf?

Crawling from under the bed, wearing nothing but two skimpy towels and a blanket of dust, would scare the man half to death. Even with her poor opinion of Sally’s brother, she did not want to give him a heart attack. It might not make a great first impression.

He would take a shower, she suddenly realized. After all, he had just flown halfway across the world. At the very least he would go to the bathroom. That would give her ample time to escape the room. She smiled in relief at this easy solution and settled down for the wait, trying to get comfortable on the wooden floor without making a noise. It wasn’t long until Nathan gave a deep sigh and stood up.

With a triumphant smile, Erin was on her side, ready to make her escape, when the jeans were suddenly whisked away and thrown over the foot of the bed. A second later the rabbits had also said their goodbyes. Before she got more than a glimpse of the muscular calves, the door was shut and the light went out. The bedsprings sagged dangerously close and peppered her face with dust.

Erin almost groaned aloud. Nathan was not co-operating. It was just like Sally’s superman brother not to succumb to normal human needs like using the bathroom. She’d have to crawl out, scare the heck out of him and look like a complete idiot in the process. Gone was the opportunity to explain her mistake and escape with some dignity.

Or was it? How long did it take a person to fall asleep? Someone exhausted and jet-lagged? Surely he would be dead to the world in a few minutes. She would wait a while, then tiptoe out of the room—he’d never know she’d been there.

Carefully she stretched her cramped muscles, settling in for a longer wait. This will be a piece of cake, she told herself sternly. All she had to do was ignore the hard floor for a few minutes, and she would be home safe.

Just a few minutes.

Involuntarily, she shivered, goose bumps running up and down her body. A breeze from the window licked her skin with a frigid tongue. She struggled to convince herself it wasn’t that cold, but her body refused to be convinced, pointing out that two damp towels were not helping the situation.

Determined to take her mind off the numerous sources of discomfort, she concentrated on Nathan’s breathing. How much time had passed since her frantic dive under the bed? Was he asleep yet? His breathing was even and regular now, but was it the breathing of a man asleep?

Frustrated, she admitted she couldn’t tell. Not used to sharing a bed with a man, she had no clue on how to interpret the breath patterns of this particular specimen. Was this fast-asleep breathing or just-about-to-fall-asleep breathing, or even can’t-fall-asleep breathing?

The mattress had not moved since he’d lain down. Maybe he snored, she thought, heart lifting a fraction. That would give her a sure indication that he was out.

After forcing herself to count two hundred of his breaths, Erin decided he’d fallen asleep and he did not snore. She refused to even contemplate the idea that he was still awake.

One inch at a time, she pushed herself out from beneath the bed, taking care to bring the towels with her. From her prone position she saw the narrow frame of light from the hall, but nevertheless the door was firmly shut.