Reckless Night in Rio (19 page)
Read Reckless Night in Rio Online
Authors: Jennie Lucas
‘Yeah.’ Lifting a dark eyebrow, he grinned wickedly, clearly remembering their time alone together in front of the fire last night.
She elbowed him in the ribs. ‘I meant with the girls.’
‘Right.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Your sisters seem to be settling well. It’s the first time I’ve seen them since they started college.’
‘You’re not in New York very much these days,’ she teased.
‘I have better things to do than work,’ he growled. ‘Like make love to my beautiful wife.’ Grabbing her again by the lapels of her warm camel-colored coat, he kissed her again, long and hard, before she pulled away.
‘You are insatiable!’
He gave a dark, wicked grin. ‘I know.’
A flash of heat went through her. After they’d married that blustery day in early March, he’d made love to her without protection for the first time. The sensation was so new to him that they hadn’t left the bed for a full week after their wedding. In some ways, Laura thought, she’d been his first, just as he’d been hers. And they’d gotten pregnant on their honeymoon.
Laura put a hand on her jutting belly. Their baby, a little girl, was due in just a few weeks.
‘Thanks for moving up here,’ she whispered. ‘I am so happy to be close to my family.’
His eyes met hers. ‘So am I. And I have you to thank for that.’
Maybe it was pregnancy hormones, but Laura still felt choked up every time she thought of the three girls now living in the same city, all going to college. Two of them were her sisters. Brainy Hattie had transferred to Columbia University, and eighteen-year-old Margaret had opted for NYU.
But the greatest miracle of all—Gabriel’s young niece, Lola, was now at Barnard.
Last spring, shortly after Laura had found out she was pregnant, she had tracked down Izadora, Lola’s mother, and invited their family to come up for a weekend visit to New Hampshire in the private jet. To Gabriel’s shock, they’d accepted.
After twenty years, Gabriel had finally made peace with Izadora and met her American husband, a restaurant owner in Miami. Gabriel had hugged his young niece for the first time since she was a baby. And he’d convinced Izadora to allow him to create a trust fund for Lola. ‘It’s what Guilherme would have wanted,’ he’d said gravely, and put like that, how could Izadora refuse? Lola was now at Barnard College studying art.
‘All this family around us.’ Wiping away her tears with a laugh, Laura shook her head and teased, ‘And you paying for three students at college already. Robby will probably want med school. And now this little one. Are you sure you’re ready for more?’
Gabriel put his hands on her swelling belly beneath her long T-shirt. At nearly nine months along, she could no longer button her wool coat. Half the time she was too hot to wear it, anyway. ‘Just a few weeks now,’ he whispered. Dropping to one knee, he impulsively kissed her belly.
‘Gabriel!’ she gasped with a laugh, glancing up at the big windows of the house.
Her husband looked up at her. His eyes glowed with tenderness and love. ‘I’ll be here this time,
querida
,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Every step of the way.’
‘I know,’ she said, her throat choking with tears of joy. Tugging him to his feet, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. And as the cold wind blew, carrying dry leaves down their long driveway, she felt only warmth and love in the fire of their embrace.
And Laura knew two things.
The fire between them would always last.
And second, that they had an excellent chance of filling all forty rooms.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
First published in Great Britain 2011
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Jennie Lucas 2011
ISBN: 978-0-263-88673-3
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
