Forever And A Baby. Margot Early

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      He wanted to thank her for being pregnant with their child

      He wanted to thank her for loving that child so unconditionally. “I love you,” he said.

      Dru watched his lips. Her legs shivered, her heart pounded. A prickling warmth needled her face and scalp. She hugged herself.

      Ben stood closer, touched her cheeks.

      “I love you,” he repeated, his body almost brushing hers, ready to catch her if she fell into another fearful trance—a memory of their past, in the desert. Ready to catch her whenever she fell, or at least help her up. “Will you marry me?” he asked.

      Dru saw the man across from her, and on the thought that she’d never love another, her eyes filled.

      She’d believed that about Omar, too. Her husband. Now dead.

      But Ben Hall was this baby’s father—and would be her husband. Soon.

      Dear Reader,

      I’m happy to introduce the fourth book in my continuing Harlequin Superromance series, THE MIDWIVES. While the characters from You Were on My Mind, Talking About My Baby and There Is a Season enjoy the love they’ve found, we meet two new midwives, best friends Dru and Keziah.

      Keziah attends home births on the island of Nantucket. But Dru, a certified nurse midwife, was torn from her vocation years ago by family notoriety and her marriage to a renowned financier. Just as it seems all her dreams will be lost, her husband’s death brings her a chance at love with childhood friend Ben Hall, and much more. Finally Dru has the chance to regain herself—and to bear a child of her own.

      I hope you enjoy this story and that you’ll be eager to learn what happens between Keziah and Dru’s twin, Tristan, in The Story Father. And what happened between them in the past.

      Thank you so much for reading my books.

      Sincerely,

      Margot Early

      Books by Margot Early

      HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE

      625—THE THIRD CHRISTMAS

      668—THE KEEPER

      694—WAITING FOR YOU

      711—MR. FAMILY

      724—NICK’S KIND OF WOMAN

      743—THE TRUTH ABOUT COWBOYS

      766—WHO’S AFRAID OF THE MISTLETOE

      802—YOU WERE ON MY MIND (THE MIDWIVES)

      855—TALKING ABOUT MY BABY (THE MIDWIVES)

      878—THERE IS A SEASON (THE MIDWIVES)

      Forever and a Baby

      Margot Early

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      The nature of this book, its landscapes and seascapes, its peoples and their backgrounds, dictated two things. One is that I would do extensive research; the second is that I would both take artistic license and make some mistakes (which are two different things, though they can look the same). The following people generously gave of their time:

      Marina Alzugaray, MS, ARNP, CNM, Cathy Hartt, CNM, and Bill Dwelley, MS, LM, WEMT-I, thoroughly answered extensive questions about the art, science and business of midwifery.

      David M. Good, M.D., P.C., thoughtfully addressed the mental health questions I asked. Without his help, this book would not have been written.

      My sister Joan Early Farrell, Matt Hunder and James M. Early, my father, answered questions about fishing, boating and sailing. My family has always speedily assisted when I’ve needed help with my books.

      Deb Kidwell, owner and breeder of the Azawakh of Kel Simoon, told me about these noble sighthounds and helped me name both of the heroine’s dogs, always increasing my appreciation for this beautiful and unusual breed.

      Julie Elliott allowed me to use invaluable information for sections of the book having to do with belly dancing. Nearly all of my information on belly-dancing, including song translations, came from her rich and fascinating Web site, The Art of Middle Eastern Dance.

      Finally, this book required the use of numerous reference texts. They include: Serpent of the Nile by Wendy Buonaventura, Return of the Tribal by Rufus C. Camphausen, The Hungry Ocean by Linda Greenlaw, Nantucket: Seasons on the Island by Cary Hazlegrove, The Ocean Almanac by Robert Hendrickson, The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, Ethnic Dress by Frances Kennet, Sahara Unveiled by William Langewiesche, Veiled Sentiment and Writing Women’s Worlds by Lila Abu-Lughod, Nantucket Gardens and Houses by Taylor Lewis and Virginia Scott Heard, Lonely Planet Travel Guides, the mystery novels of Francine Mathews, Black Tents of Arabia by Carl R. Rasway, Dangerous Places and Come Back Alive by Robert Young Pelton, Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger. Internet resources were too numerous to mention.

      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

      PROLOGUE

      Orange Street

      Nantucket Island

      “WE NEVER KNOW OUR ANCESTORS because it’s their prerogative to lie to us.” Dru said this to me while standing beneath the oldest portraits her family owns, full-size likenesses of a thirty-nine-year-old whaling captain and the fourteen-year-old girl he brought back from Morocco. The girl wore long gossamer pants and a floor-length gown, with a belt of silver coins at her waist, coins everywhere but at her throat. There, an elaborate necklace of hammered silver. Cuffs of silver covered her wrists, and bangles of silver and dyed leather interrupted her forearms, while a crown dripping with more coins swirled round her head. From the crown fell hair as thick as Dru’s but hennaed red. Henna stained her skin, as well, in the intricate designs Dru called mehndi. The shade beneath, her own, was luminescent. The artist had not altered it. It was the color sand takes on in the shade. Weak coffee with a spoon of skim milk. Slavery had left Nantucket long before 1842. Nudar was Captain Haverford’s wife. I found