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BOOK 5 PART TWO
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Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
Vincent Salazar’s eyes — and suddenly Cliff had no doubt that this was who the man was — darted to Lynne’s face as she stepped forward, her fingers clinging tightly to Cliff's. ‘What did you say, girl?’ he demanded in a rasping voice. Tension emanated from him; it was in his hunched stance, in his tght face, in his dark eyes under his thick brows. It paled his brown face, making his eyes seem even blacker. ‘What did you say?’ he asked again in a voice hardly more than a rough whisper. Lynne didn’t reply. She knew perfectly well the man had heard what she said. ‘How can you know that?’ Salazar barked abruptly, not moving an inch except to straighten, squaring his big shoulders, but suddenly seeming to fill the room with a menacing presence. Cliff stepped protectively in front of Lynne again, staring the man down. Lynne, refusing to let Cliff face this alone, slipped around him and lifted her chin as she said, ‘I know because, in seeing you, I see what my husband will be in another t
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
“Miss Salazar, are you all right?’ Dr Baker put her hand on Lynne’s shoulder. ‘What?’ Lynne pulled herself back from wherever it was her whirling mind had taken her and said, ‘Oh, oh, yes. I’m... fine.’ She was still having difficulty answering to the name Mrs Salazar, but this .. . Lord, this was even more difficult. The doctor settled back in her chair, frowning slightly. “That’s good.’ She looked down at Lynne’s chart, fiddled with a pen and said, ‘I see here that you have two very young children. You know, don’t you, that the medical profession recognizes that there are times in a woman’s life when a pregnancy is all wrong, and that arrangements can be made? It’s safe and effective and quite simple at an early stage like this.’ ‘No!’ Lynne’s voice was sharp and one hand curved protectively around her lower abdomen. ‘Oh, no. Thank you, but no.’ As Lynne got behind the wheel of the car, she wondered dimly if she should even be driving, the condition her mind was in, but she got
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE 'Cliff, you’d better go wake your dad up and tell him we’re leaving.’ ‘Huh? What? Leaving? Where are we going?’ Cliff came instantly awake, if not instantly intelligent. ‘To the hospital, silly. Dr Baker said, when the contractions were five minutes apart, to call her and then to come in. I’ve called her and she’ll be there. waiting for us.’ He sat up in bed staring at her, stark terror on his face. ‘Lynne, now wait a minute. I don’t think! . can... I don’t know if I... Oh, my God! Now? Right now?’ Lynne nodded and sat on the edge of the bed, rocking back and forth for several long seconds while Cliff held her shoulders and prayed. Hard. ‘Go and wake up your dad,’ she said when she could breathe evenly again. ‘So he knows he has to listen for the kids and make them breakfast and stuff.” Vincent had insisted on spending the last three weeks of Lynne’s pregnancy with them for just that reason. When Cliff came back with a tall, straight and immediately alert Vincent in to
Being Yours BOOK 6
Last week Jill McCall had thought her world was in a fairly secure orbit. Today, she felt like she’d been hit by Halley’s comet.What a shock to discover that she’d been downsized by the company that had hired her fresh out of college. Downsized, as her boss kindly explained, meant that the company was laying off workers in an attempt to become more financially stable.Tell that to her apartment manager, Jill snorted. The company might be more fiscally healthy, but being laid off right after Thanksgiving meant it was going to be a very slim Christmas for her. So much for that bonus she’d been counting on.To add to the feeling of being torn loose from the universe, only last week she had broken off her engagement to her fiance. The relationship, she’d realized, was comfortable, but missing something. It was sadly lacking in fire, and in passion, she had decided. At least it had seemed that way before a note had been dropped on her desk at work, revealing thatCarl had enough passion t
Being Yours BOOK 6
Dustin opened the door so the woman carrying the baby could walk past him into the house. ‘Mother!’ he called. ‘We’ve got company!’The lady eyed him a bit peevishly before walking into the parlor off the hall. He watched in amazement as she sat down, settled the baby in her arms, and popped the cap on the bottle. Testing it deftly on her arm, the woman shrugged, then put the bottle to the baby’s lips. The infant started sucking greedily. It was a relief, though the baby’s fussing hadn’t really been that loud. He just hadn’t been able to bear knowing that the minuscule person was hungry. Tiny gulping sounds in the antique-furnished parlor made Dustin smile.But not as much as the sight of the woman cuddling the infant to her breast, close and secure, as she murmured soft, comforting words to it.A large piece of the past suddenly lodged in Dustin’s throat. His wife, Nina, had wanted their baby so badly. And although even the baby hadn’t been enough to keep Nina’s unhappiness at bay fo
Being Yours BOOK 6
‘So, what makes you interested in the position, Jill?’ Eunice’s question pulled Jill’s gaze away from surreptitiously watching Dustin talk to the sheriff who had arrived a few minutes earlier.‘Stability,’ she answered. ‘The idea of living in one place for a year is very appealing.’Jill thought about her answer, knowing that there had been more that had pulled her ojit to the ranch on Setting Sim Road. Meeting Mrs Reed’s eyes, Jill said honestly, ‘The bonus at the end of a year was an incentive also.’Eunice nodded. Jill watched as the baby opened her mouth in an angelic yawn. ‘Although I suppose you weren’t counting on both of us joining you for the holidays. Will you have enough room?’‘Space isn’t a problem at all. I rather like the idea of a house full of people during Christmas. It’s been somewhat lonely around here. If we can agree on the position, then your coming here is very fortuitous. We’ll need help with this baby, of course.’‘Hello, Ms McCall,’ the sheriff said, coming
Being Yours BOOK 6
Eunice showed Jill the room she would have during her stay at the ranch. It was light and cheery, with yellow-striped wallpaper on the walls and white eyelet curtains at every window. A window seat on the far wall, overlooking the front of the house, had a yellow, cabbage rose cushion in place.‘I love the room, Mrs Reed,’ Jill said. ‘I’ll be very comfortable in here.’‘I hope you will, my dear,’ Eunice replied pleasantly. ‘What I think you’ll like best is that the adjoining bathroom connects to the room Joey stays in. That way you don’t have to go so far if he needs you at night.’‘I can’t wait to meet him,’ Jill said.Eunice smiled. ‘He’ll be home from visiting his other grandparents shortly. Now, there’s something I hope you’ll do for me, Jill,’ Eunice continued, stopping to pause in front of the vanity mirror hanging over an antique table. Her fingers lightly patted the silvery-white dross of her hair, twisted into a delicate chignon, which Jill thought suited her.‘I’ll do whatev
Being Yours BOOK 6
Jill sat up straight in the seat. ‘A bribe?’‘Yeah. I’m thinking if they know their daughter is safe and happy, then they won’t want you to leave the ranch.’‘Oh. I hadn’t thought of it that way,’ Jill said softly.They were silent the rest of the drive back, except for some tersely polite comments about the scenery. Dustin hadn’t been deaf yesterday to Jill’s intention to stay only one week if he didn’t mind his p’s and q’s. Could she blame him for trying to ease things with her folks? Shoot, at the rate he was going, he was going to run out of housekeeper candidates by the New Year. Yet Dustin sensed he’d hurt her feelings with his blunt answer, and he really hadn’t meant to. He was just telling it the way he saw it. Obviously, Jill was a tender-hearted little thing. He hoped his mother was right about her being perfect for the job. A tender heart wasn’t likely to survive the harshness of life on a country ranch. The previous housekeepers hadn’t possessed hearts, and they still hadn
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