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The Forbidden Marriage
Rebecca Winters
When Michelle Howard finds herself agreeing to nurse Zak Sadler for the next month, she's not sure what she's let herself in for!Michelle is reluctant to get so close to this sexy new Zak, whom she hasn't seen for two years. Any relationship with Zak is strictly off-limits! But when Zak proposes, Michelle is left wondering if she can risk all to say yes…?
Rebecca Winters has written over forty-five books for Harlequin Romance® and is an internationally bestselling author. Her wonderfully unique, sparkling stories continue to be immensely popular with readers around the world.
Praise for REBECCA WINTERS:
About The Prince’s Choice
“Rebecca Winters…is pure magic.”
—Romantic Times
About Claiming His Baby
“Rebecca Winters creates an extraordinary tale with a majestic setting…and a strong emotional conflict.”
—Romantic Times
Every woman has dreams—deep desires, all-consuming passions, or maybe just little everyday wishes! In this brand-new miniseries from Harlequin Romance® we’re delighted to present a series of fresh, lively and compelling stories by some of our most popular authors—all exploring the truth about what women really want.
Step into each heroine’s shoes as we get up close and personal with her most cherished dreams…big and small!
Is she a high-flying executive…but all she wants is a baby?
Has she met her ideal man—if only he wasn’t her new boss…?
Is she about to marry, but is secretly in love with someone else?
Or does she simply long to be slimmer, more glamorous, with a whole new wardrobe?
Whatever she wants, each heroine finds happiness on her own terms—and unexpected romance along the way. And she’s about to discover whether Mr. Right is the answer to her dreams—or if he has a few questions of his own!
This month enjoy The Forbidden Marriage by Rebecca Winters.
And look out for more stories in the WHAT WOMEN WANT! miniseries, coming soon!
The Forbidden Marriage
Rebecca Winters
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
MICHELLE HOWARD had just reached the second floor of her brother’s Spanish-styled home in Riverside, California, when she saw her niece Lynette come out of the guest bedroom at the other end of the hall.
As soon as their eyes met, the eighteen year old brunette jumped. “Aunt Michelle—what are you doing here?”
Michelle had probably frightened her niece who’d thought no one else was in the house besides Zak. Maybe that was the reason she’d sounded faintly accusatory just now.
“I was about to ask you the same question. Your mom said you had classes at college this morning.”
“Only one on Thursdays. It starts at eleven.”
Michelle glanced at her watch. “Considering the heavy traffic, you’d better hurry if you want to get there on time.”
Lynette’s pretty features hardened. “I think I can manage my own life, thank you.”
Both Graham and Sherilyn had been complaining about their only daughter’s change of attitude. It had come on over the summer. According to them she’d turned into someone defensive and difficult.
After this experience Michelle was beginning to understand what they meant. Lynette was behaving like a different girl. Michelle had never known her to be outright rude before.
“Forgive me, honey. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m sorry.” With two ice bags and her blood pressure case tucked in one arm, she gave her niece a hug with the other, but Lynette barely reciprocated.
Puzzled, Michelle stepped back. Looping a strand of neck length ash blond hair behind her ear she said, “Your mother asked me to come over and check up on your uncle Zak while she did some grocery shopping.”
Her niece’s expression remained mutinous. “I am capable of waiting on him.”
“I know. It’s just that she’s an anxious sister who wanted my medical assessment of her brother’s condition this morning.”
“He wouldn’t be out of the hospital if he weren’t getting better,” Lynette said on a sarcastic note. “I’m almost nineteen, but everyone around here still thinks of me as an adolescent. You can be damn sure my parents never treated Zak like this!” Her brown eyes flashed in anger.
Michelle winced because she’d never heard Lynette so upset she’d swear in front of her. “I think it has more to do with the fact that your uncle Zak was already nine years old when my brother married your mom.”
Even at nine, Zak had been a law unto himself. Michelle remembered back to those early days when her brother Graham had worked so hard to win Sherilyn’s aloof younger brother around without coming across like a heavy handed stepfather type.
It had paid off. They had a great relationship as brothers-in-law now.
“Why do you insist on calling him my uncle? There’s no blood tie between us.”
Lynette, Lynette.
Her niece’s bizarre behavior was finally beginning to make sense. The stretch from teen to adult could be a very confusing, painful time.
“Come on, Aunt Michelle. You know it’s true. First his birth parents abandoned him and he lived in foster homes. Then Mom’s parents adopted him and then they got killed. By the time I started kindergarten, Zak was already in high school. I hardly ever saw him.”
“Nevertheless he’s your uncle, and that makes him a member of your family,” Michelle reminded her. “After Graham married your mom, they raised him and me with all the love two people possibly could. Zak and I were so lucky to have an older brother and sister who provided a stable home for us with both of our parents dead.”
Naturally Sherilyn had wanted to bring her brother home to convalesce after his accident at the construction site. Michelle supposed that like anyone just out of the hospital, Zak was probably craving a little TLC about now.
Knowing how fiercely independent he was, this was a good way to avoid the ministrations of a number of women who, according to Sherilyn, hoped to be the one. However Zak hadn’t shown signs of wanting to settle down yet.
No doubt he didn’t want any of them to see him in his weakened condition. Michelle had nursed enough men young and old in her career to understand that part of the male psyche. They wore their pride like a shield. There could be no show of vulnerability.
When Michelle’s husband Rob had fallen fatally ill, he’d been so adept at hiding his fears and emotions, he’d created a wall between them she could never breach.
“How come you aren’t working?”
Lynette’s truculent tone made the situation transparent to Michelle. Now that Zak was home for a while, her niece wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.
Since college he’d made several trips a month from Carlsbad to Riverside to visit the family, but he hadn’t come nearly as often as Sherilyn and Graham would have liked.
Michelle hadn’t seen him in two years because she’d been out of town on one nursing job or another during those times.
Caring for various patients in their own households had been her panacea to get on with her life after losing her husband to Lou Gehrig’s disease. The last contact she’d had with Zak had been at Rob’s funeral.
“I just finished a job in Murrieta.”
She didn’t add that her patient, Mike Francis, the prominent Californian pro golfer on the PGA circuit, now recovered from his severely broken leg because of a car accident, had asked her to fly to Australia with him for an invitational tournament next month.
Beneath the conventionally handsome golfer’s arrogance lived a man with a great deal of charm who could make her laugh. On top of that, she’d never been to Australia. The thought of exploring a little of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef sounded intriguing.
Although she’d applied for a passport in anticipation, Michelle was still trying to make up her mind whether she should go. She suspected he would always love his ex-wife, yet she knew he was trying to make a new beginning with Michelle.
In the course of being his nurse, she’d learned enough about him to know he wasn’t a man who made a commitment lightly. If she didn’t want a new beginning with him just as badly, then she had no business going away with him.
Neither of them needed more pain in their lives.
“As long as we’re on the subject, how grouchy is our patient this morning?” she teased in the hope of putting Lynette in a better mood.
“He’s still asleep and won’t want to be disturbed.”
Her niece was definitely warning her off. At some point this summer Lynette had left her girlhood behind.
“I’m up now,” came a deep masculine voice sounding an octave lower than she’d ever heard it before. Surprised, Michelle wheeled around.
Her breath caught.
“Zak—”
His six-foot-two frame was braced in the doorway at the end of the hall. Alarmed to realize what an effort he was making to remain upright, she started toward him.
“I thought I heard you talking to Lynette,” he said as she drew closer. “It’s been a long time, Michelle.”
She swallowed hard.
Suddenly she had the answer to her niece’s drastic transformation.
The last two years had brought changes. Adult changes. Still and always seven years younger than Michelle, Zak Sadler was a grown man now in every sense of the word. His black hair and strong masculine features made him utterly fascinating.
The aloofness that had characterized him years ago had turned into a compelling sensuality that threw out a male challenge Michelle couldn’t possibly ignore.
He wore the bottom half of a pair of gray sweats and nothing else, unless you counted the bandage wrapped around the ribs of his chest.
Zak was all hard-muscled male with a bronzed tan that came from working in the California sun. At twenty-eight, he was a man in his prime, the head of Sadler Construction Company in Carlsbad, a beach city close to two hours away from Riverside depending on the traffic.
He’d always worked construction and knew how to save his money. Refusing Graham’s financial help, he’d put himself through college to earn his construction engineering degree. According to her brother and Sherilyn, he’d built up an enviable business by bringing many of his former co-workers together. Apparently it was thriving.
Michelle couldn’t help but admire him for knowing what he wanted and going after it with single-minded determination.
But right now all she could think about was Zak’s impact on her. She’d known him for years as Sherilyn’s adopted brother, but she’d never thought of him in a physical way until now.
Struggling to keep her voice steady she said, “It’s good to see you again, Zak, but you shouldn’t be out of bed yet. I was bringing you some fresh ice bags.”
“Just what the doctor ordered.”
Something in his tone produced a quivery sensation in Michelle’s stomach that made no sense at all.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lynette had walked up next to Michelle, her avid gaze fastened on Zak. “I could have gotten some for you.”
He gave a negligent shrug of his broad shoulders, bringing more muscles into play. “I appreciate that, but I didn’t know I was hurting again until I came awake a minute ago.”
The whole time they’d been talking, his unsettling gaze had been narrowed on Michelle. Now it flicked to Lynette.
“Aren’t you going to be late for school? With the high cost of tuition these days, you can’t afford to miss class. That’s no way to start your freshman year.”
Michelle shivered because she already knew how Lynette would react to those remarks.
Her niece’s complexion lost color before she shot Michelle a hostile glance. In the next instant she flung around and headed for the stairs without saying a word.
Zak started for the bed with difficulty.
“Weren’t you a little hard on her?” Michelle asked, hating to have been caught in the cross fire.
“Not hard enough,” came the cryptic reply. “If you’ll play nurse for a while, I’ll tell you a story.”
