Marriage by Contract Part 2

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 2

When baby Christopher was born that stormy June night, he had two mothers—Annie, the troubled young woman who gave him life, and Bethany, the loving nurse who promised Annie she’d take care of him. And now that Bethany’s proposed a marriage of convenience to Tony, Christopher may have an instant family.

Tony’s having second thoughts about the wedding since Bethany confessed her secret. It shouldn’t make a difference—their marriage is supposed to be temporary anyway. But he’s finding it harder to imagine a future without her. What dreams must he give up to make the marriage work?

The story concludes in Marriage by Contract Part 3.

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!

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 2

Sandra Steffen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Contents

Chapter Three Continued

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Bethany Kent fell in love with Christopher the moment he was born. She promised Annie that she would look after the baby, but she never expected Annie to disappear. Since Bethany can’t have children of her own, this could be her only chance. But there’s a catch. She must have a husband for the adoption to be approved. Enter Tony Petrocelli. Tony needs a wife to get a promotion. The perfect deal? Looks like it…until Tony discovers Beth’s secret. Can he go through with the wedding knowing Beth can never have his children? He loves Christopher too, but is that enough? It’s decision time…

Chapter Three Continued

“I can’t have children.”

Tony took a step back, his head coming up with the shock of discovery. Beth released the breath she’d been holding, her last ray of hope extinguished by the surprise, and then the realization, that crossed his face. As one moment stretched to ten, she lowered her gaze to the grip she had on the back of his leather office chair. She’d recognized the expression deep in Tony’s eyes. Her ex-husband, Barry, had worn the same look more than a year ago when the doctor had given them the results of all the tests, all the surgeries and attempts that had failed.

“Are you sure?”

Pulling her gaze from her white knuckles, she said, “I’m sure. I have a severe case of endometriosis. Believe me, I’ve tried everything, every way there is.”

A knock sounded on the door, breaking the silence that stretched tight between them. “What is it?” Tony said, his voice a low growl.

The receptionist poked her head into the office. Obviously aware of the tension in the room, her gaze swung from Tony to Beth and back again. “I’m sorry to bother you, Dr. Petrocelli, but there’s an urgent message for Bethany.” She turned her attention to Beth before continuing. “You’re to go to the employee lounge immediately.”

Slowly coming to her senses, Beth nodded, although the message didn’t make sense. Her nursing shift was over. Why would she be needed in the lounge? “Thanks, Connie,” she said. “Tell them I’ll be right there.”

Casting one last glance at the clear-cut lines of Tony’s profile, she said, “Let’s talk later!” Taking careful note of his slight nod, she followed the other woman from the room.

* * *

If Beth Kent had been thinking clearly, she would have known something was wrong. The corridor was unusually quiet, the door leading to the employee lounge closed tight, the blinds drawn. Feeling strangely disoriented, she turned the knob.

The sudden roar was deafening, the burst of lights blinding. Nearly everyone she worked with on a daily basis was huddled together in the small room, laughing expectantly.

“Surprise!”

“We gotcha!”

“You didn’t think we’d let you get married without throwing you a surprise shower, did you?” Kitty Garcia, the nurse who worked in the nursery, exclaimed in a thick Spanish accent and friendly brown eyes.

“She’s surprised, all right,” someone else declared. “Just look at her.”

Beth did her best to smile. They were right. Her surprise was completely genuine. If they knew the half of it, the joke would be on them.

Karen Sloane, one of the most loved resident doctors at Vanderbilt Memorial, looped her arm through Beth’s and said, “We didn’t know whether to throw you a baby shower or a wedding shower. Then we remembered who you were going to marry, and we knew exactly what kind of shower we had to have for you.”

Beth didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t even sure the wedding was still on now that Tony knew about her infertility. She bit her lip, shuddering inwardly at the thought.

“Come on, Beth,” Karen insisted with an understanding smile. “These people aren’t going to give up until you’ve opened every last gift.”

Beth had known Karen Sloane for years. They were alike in many ways, so alike, in fact, that they both tended to keep their problems to themselves. When Karen’s eight-year-old daughter had been trapped in a cave during the mud slide, the two women had found strength in their similarities. A friendship had formed in the days following the massive storm that rocked Grand Springs to its core, and although Victoria had been found, unharmed, there were still shadows in Karen’s gray eyes.

Kitty Garcia grasped both women’s hands and drew them into the center of the room. Winking mischievously at Beth, she said, “I can’t wait to see your face when you open the gift from me. You will be happy. Sí?”

Beth didn’t fully understand the reason for all the elbow jabbing and jovial laughter, but she said a silent prayer of thanks for the poise she’d learned as a child. Accepting the plate of food being pushed into one hand and the gift being pressed into the other, she pasted a smile on her face and pretended that everything was right with the world.

* * *

Tony’s chair creaked as he leaned back in it and tried to relax, but it was nothing compared to the sound it made when he jumped to his feet a second later. At this rate, he was going to wear the blasted thing out, which was exactly what he would do to the new carpet if he didn’t stop pacing.

His last patient of the day had canceled. It was a good thing. His concentration had been nil ever since Beth had told him that she couldn’t have children.

Good God. Beth couldn’t have children.

He still couldn’t believe it. But at least a few things about Bethany Kent were beginning to make sense. He remembered thinking it was strange when she’d brought up the subject of marriage. Strange, hell. It had left him speechless.

Face it, Petrocelli. The woman has been leaving you speechless since the night of the blackout.

That was true enough, but those other bouts of raw surprise had been sexual in nature. In comparison, her disclosure concerning her inability to have children had felt like a kick in the chest.

Tony strode to the window, but for once in his life, the view of the mountains rising in the west failed to reach him. A dozen images of Beth played through his mind. He could practically see the lone tear that had trailed down her cheek that night when Christopher had been born. He could practically hear the depth of emotion in her voice each time she mentioned the baby’s name. She loved that child. There was no doubt about it. She deserved to have him, too. There was no doubt about that, either. But she couldn’t have children. And if he married her, he couldn’t, either.

He paced to the other side of the room. Running a hand through his hair, he turned and repeated the process.

Beth didn’t have to tell him about her infertility. That fact had left him in awe of her strength of character. But dammit, it also filled him with doubts and questions. All jokes about his Don Juan image aside, he took his commitment to his family very seriously. He’d always assumed he’d meet the right woman and settle down to raise a family like each and every one of his sisters had done. It was the Petrocelli way. How could he even consider marrying a woman who couldn’t give him children, or his parents grandchildren?

He didn’t know why he left his office, and he sure as hell didn’t know what he hoped to gain from standing outside the nursery, watching Christopher sleep. The baby’s hand jerked, then slowly relaxed, his little mouth suckling an invisible bottle. Tony knew it was a reflex action. But then, so was the clenching in his own gut.

Laughter and raised voices carried to his ears from someplace down the hall. Of their own volition, his feet followed the sound. He came to a stop a few feet from the employee lounge. Holding very still, he stood in the doorway, silently watching. Balloons bobbed from a centerpiece on one of the tables, voices rose and laughter trailed from one side of the room to the other. Beth stood in the midst of it all, looking regal and poised. He wondered if he was the only one who saw the stiffness in her shoulders or the forced brightness in her smile.

“Open mine next,” Kitty Garcia insisted, thrusting a brightly colored package into Beth’s hands.

There was a lot of speculation as Beth slid her finger beneath a piece of tape and lifted the paper away. “Hold it up!” someone yelled. “This I’ve gotta see.”

Using both hands, Beth pulled a see-through scrap of lace and red satin from the box. A blush tinged her cheeks, but she played along, holding the skimpy teddy to her body, smoothing her hand down its length. She chose that moment to look his way, her gaze meeting his from the other side of the room. Karen Sloane nudged her, and a heartbeat later, the other woman waved. Beth’s lips lifted in a semblance of a smile, and Tony felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him all over again. He returned Karen’s wave and did his best to return Beth’s smile, but it wasn’t easy. Hell, breathing wasn’t easy.

“Come on in, Tony,” somebody yelled.

Others took up the cry, but Tony only stood there, holding Beth’s gaze. She lowered her hands, the teddy dangling from two fingers. Something intense flared through him. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew he’d never felt anything quite like it in his life. This wasn’t just a simple case of him wanting a woman. There was nothing simple about it.

“Come on, Doctor! Have a piece of cake.”

Tony hesitated, casting a cursory glance at the people in the room. He knew that if he took that next step, there would be no turning back. Glancing back at Beth, a jolt went through him, a thought close on its heels. Tony Petrocelli had been raised to trust two things: his Grandma Rosa’s homemade pasta sauce, and his gut instinct. And his gut instinct told him he wanted Bethany Kent.

That want was complicated, not to mention confusing. But he’d been confused before, and truth be told, he liked complications, at least the kind that left him feeling strong and masculine and more alive than he’d felt in a long, long time.

With his eyes trained on Beth, he walked into the room.

Chapter Four

“Goodbye, Beth, see you tomorrow!”

“Yeah, bye, Bethany. Bye, Dr. Petrocelli!”

“Goodbye! Thanks for everything,” Beth called from the doorway, waving as the last two guests left the party. Suddenly, the employee lounge seemed awfully quiet.

“Would you close the door?” Tony asked from a few feet behind her.

Although she would have preferred to postpone their conversation, she closed the door and slowly turned around. She hadn’t known what to make of the sight of him standing in the doorway half an hour ago, and she certainly didn’t know what to make of the sight of him standing an arm’s length away right now, but fear and hope were fighting over the butterflies in her stomach. And fear was winning.

Tony was wearing his ordinary doctor attire—dress slacks, shirt and tie. There was, however, nothing ordinary about the barely there smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. Rather than take the risk of reading too much into his expression, she waited for him to begin.

Eyeing the lingerie and other gifts lying on a nearby table, he finally said, “Now that I know what goes on at bridal showers, I understand why my sisters like them so much. Add a stripper and a keg of beer, and they’re not much different from bachelor parties, are they?”

From now on, Beth told herself, she was going to expect him to say the last thing she expected. Shaking her head slightly, she said, “Not all bridal showers are like this one. I had several prior to my first marriage, and believe me, they were all extremely prim and proper.”

“No wonder the marriage failed.”

He’d done it again. Surprised every coherent thought right out of her head. Luckily, her answer was automatic. “I think you and I both know why my marriage failed, Tony.”

She had his undivided attention now. Lowering her voice slightly, she said, “I ran into Barry and his new wife last week. She was very beautiful, and very pregnant.”

Tony didn’t say anything, and she surged ahead. “Barry couldn’t deal with my endometriosis. He couldn’t even bring himself to say it.”

Tony’s eyebrows rose slightly at the medical term. As a doctor, he knew it well. In mild to moderate cases, it made menstruation painful and conception difficult. In severe cases it made one excruciating and the other impossible. “What has your doctor done about your condition?” he asked levelly.

“For now, I’m on medication. Eventually, I’ll need a hysterectomy. It’s pretty much textbook, isn’t it?”

Outwardly, Tony didn’t move, but inside, his thoughts were surging in every direction. He knew firsthand how devastating a diagnosis of endometriosis can be. He’d broken the news to a number of his patients over the years. Suddenly, he wished he could have been there for her, to hold her hand, or offer her his understanding, because he had a feeling her ex-husband hadn’t been concerned about her needs.

Beth stared up at Tony. He’d been quiet for a long time, obviously absorbing the information. He brushed a strand of hair off her face, his fingertips moving to her cheekbone as if he’d been wanting to touch her all day. She stared up at him, afraid of what he might do. Afraid of what he might not do.

Calling on her last vestige of courage, she said, “I’m thirty-five years old. Adopting Christopher could very well be my only chance at motherhood. I don’t blame you for having doubts, but this arrangement doesn’t have to be permanent. I’ll sign a prenuptial agreement, and I’ll give you a divorce anytime you want. Of course, I won’t blame you if you’ve changed your mind completely.”

Tony let his fingers glide through the wisps of hair in front of Beth’s ear, trail down the smooth column of her neck and brush the delicate ridge of her collarbone. He could hear her breath catch in her throat, could see the slight quiver in her proud chin. He couldn’t name all the emotions crashing through him, but he knew damn well a woman like her shouldn’t have to beg.

Moving closer, he said, “Are you having second thoughts, Beth?”

If the situation hadn’t been so serious, he would have smiled at her double take.

“Do you mean…?”

He nodded.

“But I thought…”

He shrugged.

“Then, you’re not…?”

He shook his head.

Beth had never much cared for sounding like an idiot. But she couldn’t help it. She could hardly believe her eyes or her ears. Tony hadn’t changed his mind about marrying her. Or if he had, he’d changed it back again. He still intended to marry her. What kind of a man would do that, knowing what he knew? Just who was Tony Petrocelli?

The shadow of a five o’clock beard gave him a rugged look, but it was the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth that sent her thoughts into a tailspin all over again. His eyes darkened with amusement and a kind of fire she’d never seen before. He wanted her. He was making no effort to disguise it, or hide it, or deny it.

He wanted her. It was that simple.

An unwelcome tension settled over her, because there had been nothing simple about the look that had crossed his face when she’d first told him about her inability to have children. Doing everything in her power to hold on to her composure for a few more minutes, she squared her shoulders and took a backward step. Tony only followed. She took another, and so did he. Holding up her hand in a halting motion, she said, “Tony, we have to talk about this.”

“Are you having second thoughts, Beth?” he asked again.

His voice was too low, too husky, too Italian for her peace of mind. “No, but…”

“Good, because I’d hate for my mother to have to try to explain things to Father Carlos, wouldn’t you?”

Actually, Beth would have liked to hear Elena trying to explain things to Father Carlos. When the other woman was finished, perhaps she could explain what went on in the deepest recesses of her only son’s mind.

Holding her ground, Beth said, “I don’t want you to look back ten years from now and view this as your biggest mistake. I love Christopher, and I know I can be a good mother. I wouldn’t even consider this if I didn’t believe you’d be a good father, too. I just don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret.”

“Give me an update here, Beth. Are you trying to convince me to marry you? Or to not marry you?”

She wouldn’t have been surprised to see a smile lurking around the edges of his mouth. The fact that there wasn’t made his questions even more pointed, and her answer more important. “I want you to do this for the right reasons.”

He reached for her hand, easily drawing her closer. “I know what I’m doing,” he said, his lips brushing hers.

In that moment before he kissed her, everything felt right, and oh, so true. She and Tony were going to be married. And they were going to adopt Christopher. It was as if everything she’d ever done, every heartache she’d ever experienced and endured, had led her to this point in time. It was almost as if it was all meant to be.

* * *

“Annie!”

The glance over her shoulder was a reflex action, as was her slide into an alley at the first glimpse of the police car on the next block. Annie knew without looking that whoever had called out hadn’t been talking to her. How could they be? She didn’t know a soul in Grand Springs except for Todd, and he’d left town months ago. And no one knew her. And really, she had no reason to fear a police officer. She’d done nothing wrong. Unless she counted running away from home more than a year ago when she was sixteen. The memory of the way her mother’s latest boyfriend had looked at her made her skin crawl even now. Running away had been necessary, and quite possibly the first smart thing she’d ever done. But it wouldn’t be the last. She had someone else to think about now. She had her baby. Her son.

She hadn’t intended to leave the hospital without a word shortly after Christopher’s birth, but she’d panicked. She’d had a lot of time to think since then. A lot of time to plan. She hadn’t seen Christopher in almost two weeks. She didn’t have a car, and hitchhiking was risky. She didn’t want to take any more risks than she had to. For once in her life, Annie Moore was going to do things right. That meant she had to take her time, she had to plan, and she had to prepare.

Air brakes hissed as a semi stopped at the corner, the diesel fumes mingling with the greasy smells coming from the fast food restaurants on the corner behind her. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, but a glance at her watch told her that visiting hours were under way at the hospital. The halls would be congested with people, which meant that it would be easier for her to blend in. And it would be easier for her to see her baby without anyone noticing her presence. The last time she’d been to the hospital, the nurse on duty kept watching her, suspicion written all over her face. Annie didn’t understand it. It wasn’t as if there was a law against making sure her own baby was all right. She ached to hold him, but knew she’d have to wait a little while longer. For now, she would have to be content just to see him through the glass.

“Oh, Christopher,” she whispered. “I’m coming.”

Ignoring the emptiness in the pit of her stomach, she tucked her hair underneath a baseball cap and stepped out of the alley.

* * *

“How do I look?” Beth asked, gliding her hands over the pale blue fabric of her dress.

“You look beautiful, and very nervous, which serves you right for allowing the groom to see you before the wedding. Have I taught you nothing about omens and bad luck?”

The soft jingle-jangle of Jenna’s bracelets was comforting, even if her words were clipped and her black eyes were flashing imperiously. Beth tucked her lower lip between her teeth and did her best to hide her smile from her best friend. “I’m not superstitious, remember?”

Jenna Maria Brigante swung around, the hem of her dark green skirt flouncing just above her ankles. Planting her hands on her hips, she sputtered in Romany. Beth crossed her arms and waited for Jenna to finish her tirade. Although she didn’t understand the words themselves, their meaning was universal.

They were in a small room at the top of the stairs in Vince and Elena Petrocelli’s house, waiting for the music to begin downstairs. Chairs were set up in the living room; white bows and fresh-cut flowers had been placed on end tables and shelves in every room on the first floor. Father Carlos had arrived a few minutes ago, which meant that the wedding would begin right on time.

Beth checked her reflection again, wondering if she should have worn her hair up, after all. No, she’d had a traditional wedding once. That time she’d done everything according to custom, wearing her mother’s lace, her grandmother’s pearls, even a penny in her shoe. This wedding would be as simple and true as the reason for its occurrence. For Christopher.

“Here,” Jenna said, pressing a tube of lipstick into Beth’s hand. “For someone who knows exactly what you’re doing and the exact reasons why you’re doing it, you’ve chewed off an awful lot of your lipstick.”