Nine Months' Notice. Michele Dunaway

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      Her friends would understand. They’d vowed on graduation day to have it all—love, marriage and children.

      And Tori, well, she had Jeff. He didn’t love her. She was going to have his baby and he didn’t know. The situation was all messed up.

      “You’ll be late,” she told him, impatient to get him out of the office. “And I have phone calls to make.”

      “Oh. Okay.” He moved toward the door, as if reluctant to believe that she would really send him away. After all, how many times had she caved over the years?

      “Call me if you change your mind about us.” And with that he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him.

      Tori put her head in her hands. She’d made it.

      She’d seen him…and survived.

      Dear Reader,

      Two of my best friends are single mothers. One was in her twenties, engaged at the time she got the news. My other friend was in her early thirties, and she found out she was expecting after she’d already broken off the relationship. Both knew the road ahead would be difficult, and they have done a phenomenal job raising their respective boys.

      You may remember Tori, Jeff’s girlfriend from Unwrapping Mr. Wright. Tori’s just received nine months’ notice that her life is about to change in a major way. Not only is she starting a new career in a new city, but she’s also going to be a single mother. She’s ready to do this alone, but Jeff has other, better ideas. Long ago Tori vowed to have it all upon graduation (career, husband and family), and Jeff’s determined to make her dreams come true, even if not quite in the order she’d planned.

      I hope you enjoy Nine Months’ Notice, the final book in my AMERICAN BEAUTIES miniseries. I had a great time writing Tori’s story. (Lisa’s was The Marriage Campaign; Cecile’s The Wedding Secret.) This book marks my fourteenth for Harlequin Books and I can’t state enough times how grateful I am that you, the reader, have been with me all the way.

      As always, enjoy the romance and feel free to drop me an e-mail at [email protected]. Happy reading,

      Nine Months’ Notice

      Michele Dunaway

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      In first grade Michele Dunaway wanted to be a teacher when she grew up, and by second grade she wanted to be an author. By third grade she was determined to be both, and before her high school class reunion, she’d succeeded. In addition to writing romance, Michele is a nationally recognized high school English and journalism educator. Born and raised in a west county suburb of St. Louis, Michele has traveled extensively, with the cities and places she’s visited often becoming settings for her stories. Described as a woman who does too much but doesn’t know how to stop, Michele gardens five acres in her spare time and shares her life with two young daughters, six lazy house cats, one dwarf rabbit and two tankfuls of fish.

      Michele loves to hear from readers. You can reach her via her Web site, www.micheledunaway.com.

      Books by Michele Dunaway

      HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

      988—THE PLAYBOY’S PROTÉGÉE

      1008—ABOUT LAST NIGHT…

      1044—UNWRAPPING MR. WRIGHT

      1056—EMERGENCY ENGAGEMENT

      1100—LEGALLY TENDER

      1127—THE MARRIAGE CAMPAIGN *

      1144—THE WEDDING SECRET *

      For Lisa & Jenni. You go, girls.

      Contents

       Prologue

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

      Prologue

      Tori Adams was nobody’s fool, except maybe when it came to Jeff Wright. She might have an excuse once a year for letting her boss be her pied piper, but that didn’t excuse the other 364 days. Eight years ago, when she’d started her new job at Wright Solutions, you could rationalize her infatuation by calling her young. Just out of college. Naive.

      They’d worked together for six years before she’d given in to her desires and mixed business with pleasure. The relationship had a rocky start, but, like baked Alaska after the fast flare, everything had calmed down.

      They’d settled into a monotonous, dead-end rut.

      Not that