Married To The Mum-To-Be. Helen Lacey

the moment she realized she was really falling for the son of the man her father hated most in the world.

      So, from day one their relationship became a secret. No one could know. Her parents were good people, honest and hardworking, and they had always put her first. Always. And she wasn’t eager to disrespect the love and devotion they had shown her all their lives.

      Only...

      If she was carrying Liam’s child, hurting them was inevitable.

      Her cell beeped with a text message as she walked into her office. She checked the number and saw that it was Ash saying she’d be at her apartment that afternoon. Kayla texted back, saying she’d see her later and then called her mother and rescheduled her visit. Then she called Shirley and asked her to cover her shift. Her cell rang again a few minutes later, and thinking it might be Shirley again and that something could be wrong, she snatched the phone up quickly.

      “Hello,” she said breathlessly.

      “Hey, it’s me. Liam.” His deep voice wound through her system like silk.

      Kayla managed to take a steadying breath. “What do you want?” She knew she sounded terse and unfriendly, but her patience was frayed.

      “Just to see how you are.”

      “You saw me half an hour ago,” she reminded him. “Not much has changed since then.”

      He was silent for a moment. “I am allowed to be concerned about you.”

      “I know that,” she said, quickly hating how mean and short-tempered she must sound to him. “I’m sorry,” she said and sighed. “I’m just tired. I’ll feel better tomorrow.”

      He took a moment before he spoke again. “Thank you for telling me. I know you could have kept this to yourself until you got confirmation.”

      “If I’m pregnant then it’s your baby, too, Liam,” she said softly, feeling a heady warmth spread through her limbs as the words left her mouth. “I’m not about to exclude you from anything. We’re in this together.”

      “Are we?” he asked and her insides constricted.

      “Yes,” she replied. “We are.”

      He sighed heavily. “Kayla, you do know what this will mean, don’t you?”

      Tension filled her chest. “I don’t want to think about it. Before I start thinking about what any of this means, I need to make sure. We both need to be sure.”

      “Of course,” he said. “But if you are pregnant then we’ll have to make some changes.”

      Oh, she knew. Reveal their relationship to the world. And hurt her parents in the process.

      “I know that,” she replied hotly. “You don’t need to keep reminding me.”

      “I didn’t call to upset you,” he said quietly. “That’s the last thing I want.”

      “I know that, too,” she acknowledged and sighed. “But I’m not accustomed to hurting my parents. I don’t like how the idea makes me feel. I don’t like knowing that they are going to think that I’ve betrayed them.” She sighed heavily. “And in a way, they’ll be right. I knew how my dad felt about your father...about your family. I mean, I’ve known it practically all my life. I was raised on it. But it still didn’t stop me from falling in love with you.”

      Silence stretched out between them, filled with thick, relentless tension. When he spoke again his voice was unusually raspy. “I haven’t heard you admit that for a while.”

      “Admit what?” she queried, but knew exactly what he meant.

      And he was right. She hadn’t said it for weeks. Not even when she was in his arms, making love with him, and he’d whisper the words to her with heart-melting passion.

      “I love you, too, Kayla,” he said so softly that the sound of his voice hit her directly in the center of her chest. “But, you know, perhaps you’re thinking about this the wrong way. You might be imagining the worst for no reason. This situation may do exactly the opposite. It could bring everyone together.”

      It was a nice idea. But a fantasy. Derek Rickard was not the forgiving type. And J.D. O’Sullivan was no better. There was way too much bad blood between the two families to imagine that there could be any kind of truce.

      “I know my father. And yours,” she added. “He won’t be any more pleased about this than my folks.”

      “Frankly, I don’t care about that,” he said bluntly. “I care about you. And if you’re pregnant, then I’ll care about our child. And I’ll protect you both...always.”

      Heat rushed behind her eyes. Whatever Liam’s faults, he was undeniably loyal and fiercely protective of their relationship. It made her love him even more. And it also made the situation much harder.

      “I know you will...and I know you don’t agree with the way I’ve handled things.”

      “Handled things?”

      She heard the query in his voice. “Okay,” she admitted. “The way I haven’t handled things with my parents. If I’m pregnant, we both know they’re going to be hurt and stunned by the news.”

      “You think that’s going to shock them?” He drew in a long breath. “Wait until they find out that we’re married.”

       Chapter Two

      An impromptu Vegas wedding wasn’t something Liam had ever imagined for himself. Nonetheless, that was what he’d had just under a month earlier. Kayla had been at a conference in Nevada and he’d joined her there so they could spend the weekend together without worrying about being discovered. It had been a whim, fueled by three passionate and heady days of endless lovemaking and many bottles of champagne. They’d bought rings, found a chapel and a minister who looked way too much like Elvis to be taken seriously, and gotten hitched to the Blues Brothers’ soundtrack. It had been the happiest day of his life.

      But it was followed by weeks of pretending they meant nothing to each other when they were around their friends, work colleagues and respective families.

      And it was slowly breaking him.

      He loved her and he wanted her in his life every day. Not just a couple of times a week, splitting time between her apartment and his house, snatching weekends together when they could. She wanted to wait to let everyone know they were married, and although he understood her motives, he didn’t agree with them. He knew she didn’t want to hurt her parents. But she was hurting their relationship with her silence. So when they’d come back from Vegas he’d pushed her a little, and finally got her to agree that they would both tell their parents by the end of the month. That was three and half weeks ago and they were no closer to a resolution.

      And he had no idea if there ever would be.

      All his life he’d been used to getting his own way...but not with Kayla. He stretched out his shoulders, so wound up he could barely stand being in his own skin. Only Kayla could make him feel that way. Only Kayla and her deep caramel eyes and perfectly proportioned features. She was easily the most beautiful woman he had ever known. But it wasn’t just her looks that drew him in—everything about her affected him on a primal level. The night she’d crashed into his car everything had changed.

      Gone was the lanky teenager he vaguely remembered was prom queen. Oh, she’d always been attractive, but maturity had given her poise and amplified her beauty.

      Desire, raw and uncomplicated, as wild as a river, as untamed as the Black Hills, had coursed through every cell he possessed. So much so that Liam could barely recall what he’d said to her that night. All he could remember was Kayla, standing in the parking lot in her white dress and fringed, come-take-me cowgirl boots.

      He