SWEET ANTICIPATION
He was in love with Lauren
What a preposterous idea!
But was it really so farfetched? Lauren was everything he could want in a woman, not to mention the added bonus that she was carrying his child. Lately, Jordan hadn’t been able to keep her out of his mind. He spent more time thinking about her than he did about his job, which was for him a unique experience. No one had ever been more important to him than his work, but now he found himself counting the hours until he could be with her.
However, love was a very strong and frightening word. He liked her, respected her, enjoyed being with her, and wanted to protect her from all the bad things in life. But was that love or had he begun to take his role as father-to-be a little too seriously?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathy Clark gets ideas for stories from photographs, newspaper articles and even from gossip columns. She likes to take a little piece of a real-life event, or even a scene in a movie, and turn it around, add some background and people, then create a whole new situation. She admires heroines who are strong and lively and heroes who are sensitive and tender.
Sweet Anticipation
is Kathy’s debut for Harlequin American Romance, though it is her eighth novel. She lives in Colorado with her husband and their five sons.
To my new friends in Colorado,
especially Chris Pacheco
Published November 1987
eISBN: 97-803-73162-246
Copyright © 1987 by Kathy Clark. All rights reserved. Philippine copyright 1987. Australian copyright 1987. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
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 incidents are pure invention.
The Harlequin trademarks, consisting of the words HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE. HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCES, and the portrayal of a Harlequin, are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited; the portrayal of a Harlequin is registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in the Canada Trade Marks Office.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
“Ms. Nelson? Are you Ms. Lauren Nelson?”
A vibrant masculine voice broke into her daydreams, bringing Lauren reluctantly back to the noisy cafeteria. Forcing an impersonal smile to hide her slight irritation, she looked up from her medium-rare roast beef into the hostile gray eyes of a stranger.
“Yes, I’m Lauren Nelson. And you’re—?” she queried expectantly, her head tilted back almost uncomfortably as she tried to read the expression on his anger-stiffened face. He was obviously very upset with her, or with something she had done, but for the life of her, Lauren couldn’t recall ever having seen the man before that very minute.
“My name is Jordan Daniels.” He announced each word with studied emphasis.
“Dr.
Jordan Daniels.”
His self-introduction was followed by several seconds of silence, as if he was waiting for her to recognize his name. Lauren was not impressed by either his title or his manner, but she resisted the urge to shrug her shoulders and respond with a disinterested, so what! Although she didn’t have a clue about where the conversation was heading, she suspected the moment had great significance to him. She wished he would hurry up because her food was getting cold and she was beginning to get a crick in her neck.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t place either you or your name,” she apologized as she warmed her smile in an attempt to break the icy wall that stood between them. “Possibly I’ve done an arrangement or delivered a plant for you, and you weren’t satisfied. If that’s the case, then I apologize, and I’ll be happy to replace it, if you’ll tell me what was wrong,” she offered helpfully, hoping he would fill her in before the situation became embarrassing.
“All right. Possibly you don’t recognize my name. They probably didn’t give you that information,” he admitted stonily. “But here’s a piece of information that should kill your appetite. It sure has ruined mine since I found out about it.”
With a sigh Lauren rested her fork on the edge of her plate and awarded the man her undivided attention. “Okay, Mr.—er—Dr. Daniels. What’s your problem?”
“My
problem!” The words hissed through his gritted teeth. As if suddenly aware that he was making a scene in the middle of a busy cafeteria, he glanced around to see if anyone had decided this conversation was more interesting than his or her own. Noticing he had attracted a few curious glances, and to avoid sharing his problems with the world, he pulled out the chair next to hers. Ignoring her surprised expression, he joined her at the table before continuing his attack.
“My
problem is fixing to become
your
problem, Ms. Nelson, because I have tracked you down here today to tell you that you are pregnant with my baby and I intend to get him back!”
Lauren’s gaze automatically fell to her gently rounded stomach whose size was successfully camouflaged behind the cleverly designed maternity dress that she had recently purchased. She had, in fact, been delighted when she could no longer button her slacks or fasten her belts and had gone on an extravagant shopping spree. Her new maternity clothes filled her closets and fit her blooming body nicely.
This time she didn’t try to hide her irritation. In fact, she even managed a dry chuckle. “I’m afraid, doctor, that you have made a terrible mistake. If my husband were here, he’d tell you just how ridiculous your accusations are.”
“Cut the crap,
Mrs.
Nelson. I know that you’re not married and I know where, when and how you got pregnant.”
This statement momentarily silenced Lauren. How could he possibly know these things? She was positive that she had never met this man, and she didn’t have the slightest idea how he could know so much about her private life. She was becoming a little frightened and was glad the encounter was in a public place. She hoped someone would come to her aid when she screamed if this man tried to kidnap her or blackmail her. God only knew what weird ideas he was entertaining in his obviously deranged mind. She nibbled nervously on her lower lip, but that was the only outward sign of her distress. She had learned, through the last year, how to put on a show of bravado and self-confidence that could fool even her closest friends. Surely she could use it to end this conversation as quickly and decisively as possible.
Waving her left hand toward him to display her delicate gold wedding set, she replied, “I can’t imagine where you got your information. There is absolutely no way in the world that you could be the father of my child.” She met his gaze with a cool stare. “It’s really none of your business, anyway,” she added defensively.
“The day you checked into the hospital and became pregnant with
my
baby, it became my business.”
Startled, she stammered, “How do you know these things? How could you—unless—?” Suddenly her sapphire-blue eyes widened as a horrible thought struck her with a force that almost took her breath away.
“I’m glad to see that you are an intelligent woman,” Jordan snorted. As he watched her expression change from one of confidence to incredulity, he went on, “Your genes, together with mine, of course, should give
my
child an extra measure of mental acuity. And, thank God, you’re not bad looking either.” He spoke harshly, his rain-gray eyes raking her rigid form. Nothing missed his perceptive gaze, from the glossy sheen of her shoulder-length honey-blond hair to the paleness of her delicately featured face and down the slight, but well-toned, body that even now nourished his child.
His
child, he repeated to himself as his eyes lingered on her abdomen, over which she had crossed her hands in an instinctively protective gesture. Unconsciously, his face softened and his look became almost wistful as he considered the magnitude of this development. He was going to be a father and even though he had found out the cold, hard facts only hours ago, the true meaning of the words had not hit him until this moment.
Lauren didn’t notice the subtle shift of his mood as the man’s musings mellowed. Her mind was filled with jumbled, frightened thoughts about the events of the past few minutes and the past few months. The hospital staff had promised her that a confrontation such as this would never happen. This baby was hers and hers alone and no one would ever know the identity of its natural father … least of all the father! Surely this man, this Dr. Daniels, couldn’t know with absolute certainty that he was the father. Even she didn’t know.
Possibly he had been one of the contributors to the sperm bank and had somehow found out about her participation in the program. But it was impossible for him to know for sure. Wasn’t it? Confusion made her panicky and the large, crowded cafeteria suddenly seemed to suffocate her, scratching her nerves with the noisy babble of people talking and silverware clattering. Struggling to regain her self-control long enough to get away from this obnoxious man, Lauren sucked in several deep, calming breaths as she tried to decide on a plan of action.
He had to be bluffing. She couldn’t imagine what his reasoning might be or what he hoped to gain from the situation, but she certainly would not allow herself to be upset by his rantings and threats. She had waited a long time for this baby and no crazy stranger was going to bulldoze her into giving it up. It was important for the health and well-being of her child that she remain serene throughout her pregnancy. So, as calmly as possible, she lifted her napkin with shaking fingers and dabbed at her bloodless lips before laying it neatly beside her plate. Picking up her purse from the empty chair beside her, Lauren stood up, determined not to remain in this man’s presence any longer than possible.
She made her parting statement with as much dignity and disdain as she could muster. “I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about. I hope you haven’t spent a lot of time and energy generating these ludicrous ideas of yours because they have absolutely no basis in fact. I can assure you that of all the men in the world, you are the last one I would choose to be the father of my child. If you ever try to bother me again, I will have you arrested and file enough charges against you to keep you in court for years,” she promised, and with a toss of her head that sent her dark golden hair swirling around her shoulders, she turned and marched out of the cafeteria.
“You’re wrong, Ms. Lauren Nelson.” The now-familiar masculine voice drifted to her reluctant ears over the other noises. “I
will
see you again and then we’ll see who will be filing charges against whom.”
Lauren wasn’t sure how she made it back to her shop. Her rubbery legs barely carried her over the threshold before she collapsed on one of the lightly padded stools behind the counter. Dr. Daniels’s last words kept echoing in her mind like a needle stuck in the groove of a broken record.
“Lauren, you look awful,” her assistant, Rita, gasped with the familiarity of an employee who was also a valued friend. “Here, prop your feet up while I get you a cool drink,” she ordered as she pulled another stool close enough for Lauren’s legs, then disappeared into the back room.
Obediently, Lauren lifted her feet up on the stool, then leaned back and closed her eyes.
Calm, I must stay calm,
she reminded herself as she tried to blank out that irritating voice with all its wild accusations. Everything had been going so smoothly for her lately. Why did this have to happen to her now, marring an otherwise beautiful experience that she had been hoping to cherish?
Choosing to become a single mother had been the largest and most difficult decision of her life. She had discovered that it was more complicated and tedious than she could ever have imagined. It certainly had taken more planning and thought than it would have if she had gone about it the conventional way—with a husband in the privacy of their own home. But circumstances beyond her control had made this impossible, and determined not to let this setback keep her childless, Lauren had taken a bold step toward her future happiness.
She had quickly discarded the idea of involving a man in a brief affair to achieve her goal. Not one for casual involvement, such a plan not only completely repulsed her but would have been an insult to the memory of Johnny, her husband and the only man she had ever loved. Unfortunately, Johnny was no longer here to help her.
He had always been there for her, ever since the first day of high school when she had missed the last two stairs and fallen, literally, into his arms. From that day, there had never been anyone else for her. The day after her graduation from high school, they had gotten married and Lauren had worked in her mother’s flower shop for the next six years while Johnny finished earning his college degree, then became established in the insurance business. Money had been tight, but the glowing innocence of young love, which they still shared, had helped them make it through the hard times. Even though they had both wanted to start a family right away, they had decided to wait until they could afford to do so and until Lauren could stay home with the babies: not just one baby, but four, which they had planned to have in quick succession.
But life has a peculiar way of interfering with even the best of plans. When Lauren and Johnny had finally decided the time was right for her to get pregnant, she hadn’t. After two years of disappointments, they both had fertility tests. When it was discovered that Johnny’s sperm count was so low the chances were slim he would ever father a child, they tried to forget their disappointment and decided to find other ways of expanding their family. For two more years they struggled with the red tape and complications of adoption before investigating more unconventional possibilities.
Artificial insemination had seemed to provide the perfect solution. By matching the donor’s physical appearance as much as possible to Johnny’s and giving Lauren the experience of carrying her own child from the moment of conception, it would be the next best thing to getting pregnant on their own. They had registered for the program, learned its guidelines and planned for the child they would soon be creating. But before the date scheduled for her to go to the clinic to receive the donor sperm, a drunken driver crossed a median, crashing into Johnny’s car as he returned from a late evening appointment. He was killed instantly.
The next year had been the worst of Lauren’s life as she grieved the loss of the man who had been both her husband and her best friend, without even the consolation of a child. When she had decided to go ahead with the artificial insemination, it was as if she had been given a new reason to live. The child would be her link with the past. Through this child, Johnny would live again. Even though he wouldn’t be there to share parenthood with her, it would be
their
child, whom she would raise just as they had discussed. And because the father would be an anonymous donor, no man would ever be able to lay claim to the child and disrupt her plans.
Six months earlier she had been lucky enough to become pregnant on the very first try. She had not even let morning sickness mar a textbook-perfect pregnancy. She took her vitamins, watched her diet, modified her exercise and tried not to work the long hours she was used to working at the flower shop that she had purchased from her mother. Things had been perfect until today-until Dr. Jordan Daniels ruined her lunch and possibly her life.
