Authors: Caridad Piñeiro
Tags: #romance, #suspense, #romance series, #Entangled Publishing
To Love and Serve (21 page)
Chapter Thirty-four
Ryder watched Diana pace back and forth, back and forth, in Sebastian and Melissa’s living room as they all waited for Maggie to arrive. An emergency case had kept Diana’s friend tied up at the FBI lab later than expected.
He took a seat on the sofa to wait with Melissa, clenching his knees with his fingers to keep them from fidgeting, as anxious as Diana to find out what Maggie and Melissa thought about the new symptoms she’d been exhibiting. The intense weakness and fatigue coupled with the stomach-twisting nausea worried the hell out of him. Finally, she sat beside him and tucked herself beneath his shoulder. He put his arm around her and pulled her close. It would be fine. It had to be.
She laid her hand on his leg. The sapphire and diamond engagement ring he’d given her winked at them, a vivid reminder of the promises they’d made to each other, of the life they would share together forever. He only prayed her two friends wouldn’t tell them that not even his transforming kiss could save her. That her new symptoms meant the contamination had damaged her body too badly for a turning to be successful. It would kill him to lose her.
It couldn’t happen.
When Sebastian came in, he settled himself on the arm of Melissa’s chair and she eased her hand nervously into his.
So not good
. Diana must have felt it, too. She gripped Ryder’s thigh harder. His muscles tensed, like a defendant waiting for the verdict before a jury. The intercom buzzed, alerting them to Maggie’s arrival, and when she walked in, she took a seat in a nearby chair. The glance she shot Melissa was all business.
“Okay,” Diana ground out impatiently. “Say something. Please.”
“It’s tough to know how to start,” Melissa said, sharing a worried glance with Sebastian.
“Just get it out,” Ryder said sharply, then winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.” Inside he was a mess, and he could only imagine what Diana was feeling. She had that almost eerie resolve about her that he’d noticed the other day.
Whatever it was, she would handle it, and so would he.
Maggie cleared her throat. “The lysis that was going on in your body has diminished.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” Diana asked, her voice hopefully expectant.
The two women looked at one another before Melissa explained. “But there’s something else going on in your body. We’re not sure if that’s the reason the lysis has slowed.”
Before either Ryder or Diana could respond, Maggie blurted out, “You’ve had a lot of queasiness lately, right?”
“A lot,” she answered.
“Your breasts are sensitive,” Melissa added.
Sebastian popped off the chair. “This is TMI. Maybe I need to leave.”
“You need to stay to hear this,” Melissa warned, and continued. “You’ve been very emotional and very tired, right?”
“For months. Tell me something new,” Diana responded gruffly.
Her two friends looked at one another again, and almost in unison said, “You’re pregnant.”
Poleaxed
. That was the only way to describe how Ryder felt. For a moment he went completely deaf, unable to hear what else was being said as his brain repeated the one word over and over.
Pregnant. Pregnant.
Pregnant
.
“That’s not possible,” he heard himself saying over the excited babble.
Diana rubbed her hand along his thigh in a calming motion and he looked up at her. Her features were peaceful. Accepting.
“It’s okay, Ryder.” Was she kidding? What part of this was okay? Her body had barely been holding its own, and now she was pregnant? With his baby.
His baby.
A human baby.
The thought gripped him so hard, he couldn’t stay still. He surged from the sofa in a burst of vamp speed and rushed to the far side of the room to be alone.
He had to process everything he’d blocked from his mind moments earlier. Three months along. Vitals have stabilized. We don’t know how this will affect your health. We’re not sure you can carry it to term.
Her touch came against his back, the touch he would know anywhere. His senses filled with the smell of her and the beat of her life force. He’d sensed something different about its rhythm lately, and now he knew what it had been.
“I don’t know what to say, darlin’,” he admitted, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Say that you’re angry. Say that you’re happy. Just say something, please.”
Of all the ways to act, he realized he’d done the most wrong-headed thing by shutting her out. He’d had to turn off everything else because his emotions overwhelmed him. But he had to be honest with her, and share what he was feeling.
“I’m afraid,” he admitted. “For you. For the baby.” He lowered his hand to cover her still-flat belly.
“But I’m incredibly happy for both of us. I never dreamed— God, I never dared to hope—”
He pulled her into his arms, lifted her, and buried his head against her shoulder. He dragged in a ragged breath of her to keep inside and cherish.
…
Diana held Ryder close, understanding both his fear and his joy. She’d experienced them, too, and had no idea what would come next. As much as she’d longed for a baby of her own, she’d been truthful the other day when she told Sebastian she didn’t have time for a family. That she was too much like her father. Her life hadn’t been her own since she’d taken up his cause to do the right thing.
As she held Ryder and covered the hand that lingered over her belly, she realized that now, if she and the baby survived, she would have another role to play.
She’d been born to serve others on the day her father had died. But today…
today she’d been reborn, and her mission had changed, yet remained the same in a way.
“We’ll handle this together. I know we will,” she whispered. He cradled her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly, sealing the promise. Smiling as they both finally allowed the happiness of the moment to chase away the fear.
She’d told Jesus that love would find a way, and it had.
Together
. So, together they walked back to their friends and family, embracing the new life with which they’d been gifted.
Reborn with the love that would sustain them, hopefully for years to come.
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling paranormal and romantic suspense author Caridad Pineiro wrote her first novel in the fifth grade when her teacher assigned a project – to write a book for a class lending library. Bitten by the writing bug, Caridad continued with her passion for the written word and in 1999, Caridad’s first novel was released. Over a decade later, Caridad is the author of more than thirty published novels and novellas. When not writing, Caridad is an attorney, wife and mother to an aspiring writer and fashionista. For more information, please visit www.caridad.com or
www.rebornvampirenovels.com
.
Her Rocky Mountain Guardian
by Margery Scott (Contemporary Romance/Suspense)
An unforgivable disappearance…
Four years ago, Jennie Brooks and Sheriff Brae Colton were engaged to be married—then Jennie disappeared without a word.
Leads to a mysterious reunion…
Brae has always hated Jennie for deserting him just as they were set to begin their life together. But when he finds her badly injured in a hit and run accident on a snowy mountain road, he can’t deny the love he’s never forgotten. He hopes for a second chance at love—until she regains consciousness with no memory of her identity, or what they once shared.
Where love holds the key to everything…
Despite their past, Jennie’s still the woman Brae fell in love with in high school—the woman he’s falling for again. The mysteries surrounding her disappearance, and her injuries, make him wonder if he can trust her, but when the bullets start flying, his first priority is to protect her and catch her would-be killer. If they can’t find a way to restore her memory soon, they may both end up dead, any chance at love gone forever.
In the Arms of a Stranger
by Virginia Kelly (Contemporary Romance/Suspense)
A dangerous man on the run…
Wounded and accused of treason, CIA operator JP Blackmon is on the run from his own agency and desperate to clear his name. When he finds out his old partner is dead, he’ll do anything to get to the truth...including using his partner’s widow.
Finds a vulnerable woman looking for answers…
Abby Price wanted nothing more than a family and a safe home. But her late husband kept big secrets from her—secrets that got him killed and has government agents watching her every move. And she’s started fearing for her life. The only man who can help her is a mysterious stranger who suddenly appears out of nowhere. But can she trust him?
Together they discover a passion worth dying for.
As danger stalks them at every turn, unexpected passion flares between JP and Abby. But the last thing either wants or needs is more complications. Romance? No. Way. That would involve trust—something neither is willing to do. But in the end, sharing their deadly secrets is their only hope for survival…their only hope to hold onto the love they’ve just begun to share…
Leaving Las Vegas
by Aleah Barley (Contemporary Romance/Suspense)
When wild-child Glory Allen gets caught in the middle of a kidnapping attempt, she has to decide if rescuing the sexy Luke Tanner is worth risking her life. Especially after the high and mighty casino magnate just accused her of cheating in his casino.
Her decision to help, causes Luke to step into her hometown to develop a community that doesn’t need improvement—a community Glory’s gambling earnings were meant to save—and the chemistry between them is about to explode.
Now Glory is stuck helping Luke figure out who set him up and what to do about their own burning attraction…before Glory’s hometown, and her life, are lost for good.
Two Can Play
by Dawn Atkins (Contemporary Romance/Suspense)
Live. Breath. And Believe—to Rena Novo there’s nothing better than being a part of the most popular virtual-reality game—EverLife…until she’s given a Quest to evict her best friend from the society she’s come to love. If she completes the job—she’ll rise to the top, but a sexy recruit is stirring a different kind of passion within her and making her question everything that makes her life complete.
Hunting for his missing sister, investigative reporter Gage Stone goes undercover in the gaming cult that’s taken over his sister’s life. But his biggest obstacle is the sizzling attraction between he and Rena, the extremely hot gamer assigned as his trainer. As their attraction builds, Gage realizes his sister isn’t the only one he can’t leave without. Now he must convince Rena the rhetoric the company’s pushing is just a plot that will culminate in the deaths of hundreds… before she turns him in and gets them all killed.
