Christmas Bride by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella [Marie Ferrarella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459280892
Publisher: Harlequin

When the first strong stirrings of nausea woke her, Toni moaned and sat up. At least this morning she didn’t have to try not to wake Derek. That was some consolation in his knowing about the situation.

Some, but not much.

With a sigh she looked down, feeling her stomach lurching. The bedding was gone from the floor. Looking around, she saw that the blankets and sheet were neatly folded on the chair where his clothes had been. The pillow was on top. Derek was the child her mother would have loved to have had, she thought. She and her brothers always left a mess in their wake, even now. This man got an A in neatness, but not much else.

Why hadn’t he waited for her?

She covered her mouth, feeling tears forming as the spinning sensation went up another notch within her stomach.

Just as well, she thought, stumbling into the bathroom. She hated having Derek see her like this. She felt like something that had been dragged across the bottom of a parakeet cage and left there.

Toni sank to her knees. They came in contact with the cold, hard tile beside the bowl just as she felt a surge.

Almost five months pregnant and she’d barely gained an ounce. The way her clothes felt, she was afraid she might have lost a few in the bargain.

Finished—she hoped—Toni let out a shaky sigh and pulled herself up again. There had to be a better way to have a baby.

“Death warmed over, that’s what you look like,” she muttered to the bleary-eyed reflection that looked back at her over the sink. “No wonder he’s running away. I would, too, if I saw this.”

She shut out the thought—all thoughts—and showered. By the time she had dressed, she felt a little more human. Not much, but enough to join the rest of the world.

Voices, laughing and chatting, greeted her as she walked down the stairs. They were coming from the dining room. And from the sound of them, they were all female. Derek had to be somewhere else.

She felt a tad better not having to face him.

Day three of the deception, she thought. Toni squared her shoulders as she walked into the dining room.

Nonna was sitting at the head of the table, sipping her usual cup of cocoa. Toni felt her shoulders sag slightly. Derek was there, sitting with Annie, Jackie and her mother.

Holding court, Toni thought with a stab of bitterness.

No, that wasn’t fair. He wasn’t the type to bask in female attention. That had been her father. But back then she had been so pleased, so happy that so many people liked her father, it had never occurred to her to attach any significance to the fact that the preponderance of the crowd had been comprised of women. Women lavishing their attention on him, and her father absorbing it like someone who had an insatiable hunger.

She forced a smile to her lips. “Good morning, everybody.”

A chorus of good mornings greeted her. Toni poured herself a cup of tea, hoped that it would stay down and took a seat on the far side of the table.

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