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Last Chance For Baby
Julianna Morris
To: Maggie, Sharon, Jen, Lauren From: Julia Date: 1/02RE: Due Date: 2 monthsHelp! I need advice on how to un-seduce a sheik. Apparently my brief affair with Sheik Raoul Oman left a lasting impression on him. And now that he's working in our office, he seems more determined than ever to continue what we started. I've tried to discourage him from pursuing me–despite my heart telling me not to–but nothing has scared off the charming sheik. Wonder what'll happen when he finds out that I'm pregnant…?
“I know you’re pregnant, Julia. Who is the father?” Kane asked.
Through the doorway, Raoul stared at Julia. Her cheeks had turned white, every trace of color erased. She’d begun to stand, but now slid into her chair as if she didn’t have the strength to remain upright.
“W-what?” she whispered.
“You’re pregnant. It all adds up. The nausea, the weight gain, the crackers.” Kane ticked each detail off on his fingers.
“What are you talking about?” Raoul demanded.
Startled, Kane whipped around. “I didn’t know you were there.”
“Obviously.”
“Who’s the father?” Kane asked with quiet insistence. “How far along are you?”
“Almost seven months. The baby is underweight,” she said, her voice wobbly.
After a long look at Julia’s guilt-filled face, Raoul turned to Kane. “If Julia is seven months pregnant, then she is carrying my child.”
Dear Reader,
What are your New Year’s resolutions? I hope one is to relax and escape life’s everyday stresses with our fantasy-filled books! Each month, Silhouette Romance presents six soul-stirring stories about falling in love. So even if you haven’t gotten around to your other resolutions (hey, spring cleaning is still months away!), curling up with these dreamy stories should be one that’s a pure pleasure to keep.
Could you imagine seducing the boss? Well, that’s what the heroine of Julianna Morris’s Last Chance for Baby, the fourth in the madly popular miniseries HAVING THE BOSS’S BABY did. And that’s what starts the fun in Susan Meier’s The Boss’s Urgent Proposal—part of our AN OLDER MAN thematic series—when the boss…finally…shows up on his secretary’s doorstep.
Looking for a modern-day fairy tale? Then you’ll adore Lilian Darcy’s Finding Her Prince, the third in her CINDERELLA CONSPIRACY series about three sisters finding true love by the stroke of midnight! And delight in DeAnna Talcott’s I-need-a-miracle tale, The Nanny & Her Scrooge.
With over one hundred books in print, Marie Ferrarella is still whipping up fun, steamy romances, this time with three adorable bambinos on board in A Triple Threat to Bachelorhood. Meanwhile, a single mom’s secret baby could lead to Texas-size trouble in Linda Goodnight’s For Her Child…, a fireworks-filled cowboy romance!
So, a thought just occurred: Is it cheating if one of your New Year’s resolutions is pure fun? Hmm…I don’t think so. So kick back, relax and enjoy. You deserve it!
Happy reading!
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor
Last Chance for Baby
Julianna Morris
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For my mother—a special lady whose creative talent,
humor and intelligence I will always admire. I love you.
Books by Julianna Morris
Silhouette Romance
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Family of Three #1178
Daddy Woke Up Married #1252
Dr. Dad #1278
The Marriage Stampede #1375
* (#litres_trial_promo)Callie, Get Your Groom #1436
* (#litres_trial_promo)Hannah Gets a Husband #1448
* (#litres_trial_promo)Jodie’s Mail-Order Man #1460
Meeting Megan Again #1502
Tick Tock Goes the Baby Clock #1531
Last Chance for Baby #1565
JULIANNA MORRIS
has an offbeat sense of humor, which frequently gets her into trouble. She is often accused of being curious about everything…her interests ranging from oceanography and photography to traveling, antiquing, walking on the beach and reading science fiction.
Julianna loves cats of all shapes and sizes, and last year she was adopted by a feline companion named Merlin. Like his namesake, Merlin is an alchemist—she says he can transform the house into a disaster area in nothing flat. And since he shares the premises with a writer, it’s interesting to note that he’s particularly fond of knocking books on the floor.
Julianna happily reports meeting Mr. Right. Together they are working on a new dream of building a shoreline home in the Great Lakes area.
KANE HALEY
Note to self: Who’s having my baby?
Trudy—hopeless romantic, office gossip, can’t keep a secret. If it’s not her, she might know who it is!
Lauren Connor—dates a lot, trying out new looks to impress her boss, was out sick with stomach flu. Hmm…
Sharon Davies—recently trapped in an elevator with a major client, blushes whenever he’s around, looking a little green lately. Could she be carrying my baby?
Leila—makes eyes at me. Is it more than a crush?
Maggie Steward—my personal assistant, wants children, clock is ticking. She would never go to a sperm bank!
Julia Parker—worries that her endometriosis could make her infertile. No man in her life. Definite sperm bank material!
Jennifer Martin—eight months pregnant. Is it her late fiancé’s baby? Is it mine?
WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT…
A PREGNANT PROPOSAL
THE MAKEOVER TAKEOVER
LAST CHANCE FOR BABY
SHE’S HAVING MY BABY!
KANE HALEY, INC.
CHICAGO, IL
Contents
Prologue (#u5d42610c-c5a9-5b74-93b0-d433d3d5cd78)
Chapter One (#ub6d19947-1d47-5938-9ddd-b0cf2c9fa750)
Chapter Two (#u1ec351df-2e2f-56f7-b747-779a5a094d28)
Chapter Three (#u68165c7c-2aec-5d6c-a786-db2acaa8dce2)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
Sperm bank?
Oh, God.
Kane Haley rubbed his two forefingers against his aching temples and wondered for the ten-thousandth time which woman in the company was carrying his child.
He’d never expected this complication. The only reason he’d “deposited” sperm in the first place was to help out a friend, and now it was a disaster. Kane had already expended a fair amount of anger toward the Lakeside Reproductive Clinic for their mistake, but a flicker of irritation rose again at the memory.
We’re sorry, Mr. Haley, but we must protect the woman’s privacy.
Privacy.
What about his privacy? His rights? They’d made him a father with their high-tech medical procedure, and he didn’t even know who the mother might be. He had a lawyer working on the issue, but in the meantime, it was driving him crazy, wondering.
Sitting back, Kane thought about the various women working for Kane Haley, Inc…women of childbearing age.
Okay, he knew it wasn’t Sharon Waterton, one of the company’s accounting assistants. At least, it seemed unlikely considering the way she and his client, Jack Waterton, had hooked up. Other names flitted through his head, such as Jennifer Holder, but the timing of her pregnancy was wrong.
And it was still a toss up whether Lauren Mitchell was even pregnant. A reluctant grin creased Kane’s mouth as he thought of the chase she’d led Rafe Mitchell on. His Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions had found it was a lot more trouble acquiring a wife than anything he’d worked on for Kane Haley, Inc.
So, if it wasn’t Sharon or Jennifer or Lauren, who was the mother of his baby?
Groaning, Kane opened the top drawer of his desk and retrieved a bottle of aspirin. He swallowed two and headed for the door of his office. He’d never realized there were so many pregnant women in the world.
And how many of them worked for his company.
Chapter One
Outside Kane’s office…
“Are you available this afternoon?”
“For what?” Twenty-seven-year-old Julia Parker smiled at Maggie Steward, administrative assistant to the company’s president.
“The new Chief Financial Officer is arriving today. His name is Raoul Oman. You met him at that D.C. conference last June, remember? Kane will be tied up in a meeting and he asked if you would show Mr. Oman around.”
Raoul Oman.
Julia stared, the blood draining from her face.
Oh, yes, she’d met Sheik Raoul Oman. The man was permanently engraved in her memory. Instinctively, her hand went to her stomach. The morning sickness she’d suffered from for her entire pregnancy threatened to go out of control, and she took several deep breaths, trying to calm her queasy tummy and racing heart.
Maggie’s eyes were compassionate. “I guess you do remember him.”
“Y-yes.” Julia swallowed and shook her head to clear it. She’d never expected to see Raoul again, and the shock was a bit more than she could absorb—not to mention the embarrassment and a healthy dose of guilt.
“You aren’t having trouble with the…uh…?” Maggie’s gaze flicked to Julia’s rounded stomach, then back to her face. The question didn’t need to be finished. The baby was seriously underweight, and so far she’d been able to camouflage her tummy with heavy sweaters, despite being almost seven months along. Most of her co-workers didn’t even realize she was pregnant, or else they’d just been polite and not said anything.
“I’m fine,” Julia assured quickly.
It was a lie, but she could hardly explain. She gulped again when she saw Kane Haley staring at her from the door of his office. He’d been acting strangely for the past few months, though as president of his Chicago-based company he could act any way he darned well pleased.
“Uh…I’ll be happy to show Mr. Oman around,” she told Maggie, snatching her hand away from her stomach. She fled to her own office on the 16th floor and sat for several shattered minutes, trying to decide what to do.
