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Marriage by Contract Part 3
Sandra Steffen
36 Hours SerialAs a devastating summer storm hits Grand Springs, Colorado, the next thirty-six hours will change the town and its residents forever….Marriage by Contract Part 3For Bethany Kent, life has never been more perfect. She has a beautiful baby and a gorgeous, accomplished husband. Despite the marriage of convenience start to their life together, she and Tony are falling in love. But then Christopher's birth mother returns and wants her son back.If Bethany does what is right and gives up Christopher, will she lose Tony, as well?Don't miss the next book in the continuing story of Grand Springs in Partners in Crime by Alicia Scott.
36 Hours Serial
As a devastating summer storm hits Grand Springs, Colorado, the next thirty-six hours will change the town and its residents forever….
Marriage by Contract Part 3
For Bethany Kent, life has never been more perfect. She has a beautiful baby and a gorgeous, accomplished husband. Despite the marriage of convenience start to their life together, she and Tony are falling in love. But then Christopher’s birth mother returns and wants her son back.
If Bethany does what is right and gives up Christopher, will she lose Tony, as well?
Don’t miss the next book in the continuing story of Grand Springs in Partners in Crime by Alicia Scott.
Dear Reader,
In the town of Grand Springs, Colorado, a devastating summer storm sets off a string of events that changes the lives of the residents forever….
Welcome to Mills & Boon exciting new digital serial, 36 Hours! In this thirty-six part serial share the stories of the residents of Grand Springs, Colorado, in the wake of a deadly storm.
With the power knocked out and mudslides washing over the roads, the town is plunged into darkness and the residents are forced to face their biggest fears—and find love against all odds.
Each week features a new story written by a variety of bestselling authors like Susan Mallery and Sharon Sala. The stories are published in three segments, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the first segment of every three-part book is free, so you can get caught up in the mystery and drama of Grand Springs. And you can get to know a new set of characters every week. You can read just one, but as the lives and stories of each intertwine in surprising ways, you’ll want to read them all!
Join Mills & Boon E every week as we bring you excitement, mystery, fun and romance in 36 Hours!
Happy reading!
About the Author
Sandra Steffen is an award-winning, bestselling author of more than thirty-seven novels. Honored to have won a RITA® Award, a National Readers’ Choice Award and a Wish Award, her most cherished regards come from readers around the world. She married her high school sweetheart and raised four sons while simultaneously pursuing her dream of publication. She loves to laugh, read, take long walks and have long talks with friends, and write, write, write.
Marriage by Contract Part 3
Sandra Steffen
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
An unpredicted spring storm caused so much wreckage to Grand Springs, Colorado, that everyone is still feeling the aftereffects months later. But an amazing thing also happened during those 36 hours: Beth and Tony were brought together—with their new son, Christopher. Their marriage started as a straightforward contract, but it seems to be turning into something more as their feelings for one another become more apparent. But everything is about to come crashing down really fast. Annie, Christopher’s biological mother, is coming for her baby. Even though the storm is over, there are more storm clouds on the horizon just waiting to test the bonds of marriage to see how far they can be pushed before they shatter.
Contents
Chapter Eight (#uf1a3111d-4727-50e8-a145-56c5a3ac40b0)
Chapter Nine (#u10e8ec78-ffc1-57e7-9e15-33ae58cf2202)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight
“Bethany tells me you’re being considered for a promotion of significant prestige.”
Tony Petrocelli found himself removing his hand from his pocket and standing up straighter before he nodded at the petite, middle-aged woman wearing a pastel-colored dress and a single strand of pearls. “I’m not so sure about the prestige, Mrs. Bower, but I am being considered for a promotion to head of obstetrics.”
“Every time you call me Mrs. Bower,” Beth’s mother admonished, placing a perfectly manicured hand on his arm, “you remind me of Winston’s mother, whom I called Mrs. Bower for the first five years of our acquaintance. Please, call me Katherine.”
Tony did a double take at her wink, then released a deep chuckle. The sound drew several family members’ gazes, as if they weren’t accustomed to sudden bursts of laughter during their family parties. Within seconds, Beth’s sister drew Katherine into conversation, and Beth’s father, Winston Bower III, and her brother-in-law, MacKenzie Nelson, returned to their lawyer talk on the other side of the room.
Beth had warned him that her family was a little stuffy. Stuffy, hell. They were bona fide snobs. And Katherine ranked at the top of the genteel heap. But she had a sense of humor, dry though it might be, and a haughtiness he wouldn’t have minded pitting against the queen of England, not to mention a smile that reminded him of his new wife.
Beth entered the room, a sterling silver tray containing fancy little sandwiches in her hands. She graciously offered one to Winston and Mac, smiling at something her father said. It was strange, but Tony sensed love between these family members, just not closeness.
They were a far cry from the Petrocellis, that was for sure. His family hadn’t been able to wait to meet their soon-to-be adopted son, Christopher. The Bowers had yet to see him. Beth had offered to wake him and bring him down, but Katherine had declined, saying that she couldn’t fathom disturbing a sleeping child. The Bowers were polite, well mannered and well-bred. Now that he’d met them, Tony understood where Beth had acquired her class. He also understood the reason she’d been running on nervous energy these past few days, trying to make everything perfect for tonight. As far as he was concerned, she’d nearly outdone herself. She’d served wine in fluted stemware and had stacked cubes of fine cheese and hors d’oeuvres on gleaming silver and sparkling crystal trays. He’d never seen her looking more elegant. Or nervous.
Candles flickered on the mantel, threading her auburn hair with gold and honey. A lamp behind her shone through the hem of her ivory-colored dress, delineating the curve of her knee and the edge of a lacy slip. These past few days, Tony had discovered that his wife had a passion for pretty underclothes. He had a passion for removing them.
It didn’t matter that this marriage started out as a contract, with Tony needing a wife to get a promotion, and Beth needing a husband to adopt Christopher. A connection neither expected was getting stronger, and no one knew where it would take them, but they were both enjoying the ride.
Beth glanced across the room, sending him a tremulous smile. For a moment, her innermost feelings played across her face, making him doubt that he was the only one who had sex on his mind. Desire roused inside him, and suddenly he thought of one way to chase away her nerves. Something told him the Bowers would look askance at him if he swung his new wife into his arms and carried her upstairs. But it would definitely liven things up.
Beth shook her head at Tony, doing her best to school her features into a mask of calm. Still, she felt warmed by the expression in his dark eyes, and flushed with heat that had nothing to do with the mid-September temperatures outside. Her family had been here for nearly two hours, and she was beginning to believe they might all make it through the evening without incident. She wasn’t surprised that everyone seemed taken with Tony. After all, he was a doctor, which was a fitting profession in their eyes. He was also an incredibly charming man.
“Beth?”
The absent way she said “Hmm?” earned her a smile from her sister.
“I’m sorry to break into your reverie, and I know Mother doesn’t think we should wake a sleeping child, but MacKenzie and I would like to be home before the children go to bed. And I’d really love to see the baby.”
Beth started to turn toward the doorway that led to the foyer, but was stopped by Janet’s quiet voice. “I know how much work planning an evening such as this requires, and here you’ve done it with a newborn baby in the house. You must be exhausted. May I bring him down?”
Beth nodded, and Janet walked away, the swish of her skirt as elegant as her demeanor. Janet was two years older than Beth. Their hair was a similar color, but Janet’s was smooth and manageable. She was pretty and bright and nice—the perfect Bower sister. In comparison, Beth had always felt second-rate, especially in their parents’ eyes. Her grades had never been perfect, her choice of careers a mystery to them, her divorce shameful. She hadn’t even been able to get something as simple and basic as motherhood right.
“Look, everyone. Isn’t he adorable?” Janet called softly, practically floating toward the center of the room with Christopher in her arms.
Beth smiled just as she did every time she caught a glimpse of that small bundle of joy. Christopher was sucking on his fist. Honestly, she couldn’t have felt more pride burgeoning inside her if he had been negotiating world peace. In that instant she realized that there was no wrong way to become a mother. It didn’t matter that her baby hadn’t grown beneath her heart. This special child had grown within it.
She glanced at her family and was pleased to see them smiling their approval.
“He’s a fine-looking boy.”
“He seems very alert.”
“He’s undoubtedly extremely bright.”
“Just look at all that dark hair.”
Tony wasn’t really surprised at the Bowers’ reactions to Christopher. If they hadn’t been decent people, Beth wouldn’t have turned out the way she had. She was standing next to her sister. Side by side, the family resemblance was unmistakable. Both of them had inherited their height and hair color from their father, and their poise and bone structure from their mother.
“Beth,” Janet said, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if his eyes turned blue like yours?”
“If his eyes are blue, they’ll be like Annie’s, not mine,” Beth said, accepting Christopher from Janet’s outstretched arms.
“Who’s Annie, my dear?” Winston Bower asked.
“She’s the young girl who gave birth to him.”
Tony had never heard a more simple statement change the atmosphere in a room so suddenly and completely. The Bowers were far too polite to gasp, but they did share collective deep breaths and furtive glances.
“You’ve actually met the birth mother?” Katherine asked.
At Beth’s nod, her father said, “Do you think that’s wise?”
“It would have been difficult to deliver Christopher if Annie hadn’t been present, Father.”
“You delivered that baby?” Winston asked.
Beth’s gaze darted around the room. She didn’t like where the conversation was headed but wasn’t certain how to curtail it. “Annie did the hard part,” she said quietly. “All Tony and I had to do was…”
Having never had a stomach for even the most innocuous scratches and contusions, Katherine held up a delicate hand and gave her head a firm shake. “Bethany, please, you know how I react to the mere thought of…”
“Hors d’oeuvres, anyone?”
All eyes turned to Janet, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere holding a silver tray containing little cucumber sandwiches and stuffed mushrooms. “Do try the mushrooms, Mother. Beth made them, and they’re delicious.”
Katherine and Winston both relaxed, accepting one of each. The topic was changed and the moment was saved. Janet smiled demurely at everyone she passed. Beth smiled in return, thinking there was something to be said for having a sister who was perfect in every way.
* * *
“Well?” Beth asked, moving Christopher to her shoulder for a burp. “Were they what you expected?”
“I liked them.”
The rocking chair they’d received from Tony’s grandmother creaked slightly, and Beth’s hand thudded quietly as she patted the baby’s narrow back. Christopher had finished his formula and was sleeping soundly, which meant the last burp wasn’t going to be easy to draw out. Since she’d learned the hard way what happened if she laid him down before he’d released it, she continued to pat his back.
“No, really,” she said to Tony, who was lounging in the doorway on the other side of Christopher’s narrow room. “You don’t have to spare my feelings.”
“I’m not sparing anything. I think they’re very pompous but nice in an upper-crust kind of way. They seem to have accepted your marriage and the fact that they weren’t invited to the wedding with a certain degree of diplomacy. Now I know where all that poise of yours comes from.”
“That,” she said quietly, “was one thing I got right.”
Christopher released a sound that was bigger than he was, eliciting a smile from both Beth and Tony. Staying where he was in the doorway, Tony said, “Oh, I think you’ve gotten a lot more right than poise.”
The baby sighed in his sleep. Kissing his smooth, soft cheek, Beth was filled with maternal love for the child in her arms, and with longing for the man watching them from the doorway. Tony had removed his tie as soon as everyone left and unbuttoned his shirt some time later. His dress slacks were slung low on his hips, his chest and feet as naked as the longing in his eyes.
Wondering if Christopher could feel her heart rate accelerate, she rose from the chair and slowly lowered him into his crib. “They took the news quite well, considering,” she said, referring to her family’s reaction to her sudden marriage and decision to adopt Christopher. “And they all seemed to like you. Even my mother.”
“What’s not to like?”
She rolled her eyes before covering the baby with a lightweight blanket. “Janet told me I’d made a wise choice. Coming from her, that was high praise. Janet is the perfect daughter, you see, and I’m her somewhat-less-than-perfect younger sister.”
“Families are complicated. God knows, mine is. I get the feeling your mother would have preferred you to choose some nice, safe career, if you had to have a career at all. Her remarks tonight were intended to remind you of your place and social standing, and hold you there. That isn’t where you want to be.”
Beth straightened and slowly turned. Smiling, she whispered, “Thank you for the recap.”
“Anytime.”
Tony pushed himself from the door frame and ambled into the room with the easy grace of a man who knew exactly what he wanted. Beth’s eyes closed dreamily, because what he wanted was her, and being wanted by Tony Petrocelli was a very heady sensation.
Yesterday had marked the one-week anniversary of their wedding. They’d gotten off to a slow start, so to speak, but they’d made up for lost time these past few days. Sometimes their lovemaking had been as long and languid as a summer afternoon. Other times they came together like two people sharing an illicit stolen moment. Those times, their lovemaking was frenzied, their desire catching fire like a match on dry tinder. Tonight, the passion in Tony’s eyes told her he had plans for the two of them, slow, languorous plans he would share with her as soon as he was good and ready.
“What?” he asked, moving around her in a slow circle, noting the amused look on her face.
Turning only her head, she said, “I was just thinking that you were probably a difficult child.”
“This from the daughter who defied her parents at every turn?”
“I only defied my parents at every other turn.”
He’d circled behind her and was coming around to her right side. “What did your father and brother-in-law say to you when they cornered you just before they left?”
“Mac and my father?” she asked dazedly. “Oh, they wanted to know if we’d signed a prenuptial agreement.”
“I’m not after your family’s money, Beth.”
“What are you after?”
His gaze dropped below her shoulders and took a long time returning to her eyes. Cocking her head playfully, she smiled. “Allow me to rephrase that question. What else are you after?”
Tony groaned softly. “What makes you think I’m after anything else?”
“Do you mean sex is all you expect from this marriage?”
“I’m sorry I brought the subject up.”
Something in his tone alerted her to an underlying problem. She’d wanted to talk to him about this before the wedding, to pin him down, to force him to tell her exactly what he wanted from their marriage, and how long he expected it to last. Now that they’d broached the subject, she didn’t want to ignore it. “I think we should discuss this, Tony.”
“No.”
