The Maverick's Bride-To-Order. Stella Bagwell

       Her heart began to pound as her breath caught in her throat. Her skin had come alive at his touch, tingling and yearning for more.

       He’s going to kiss me!

      And she realised she wanted him to. Wanted it more than anything else in the whole wide world!

      She sat up slightly and met him halfway, wrapping her hand behind his neck, embedding her fingers in his tousled hair and pulling his face towards hers, meeting his lips with hers, indulging in a wonderful, tentative, exploring first kiss.

      Fireworks were going off throughout her body. She felt tense and relaxed and excited all at once. Her hands itched for his touch, to be holding him. Their mouths opened as the kiss deepened and his tongue took hers, and then she was breathing him, kissing him, holding him, in a way she’d never felt with a man before. His bristles scorched her face and it was a sweet agony as passion took them both by surprise and hunger for each other burned them to their very core.

       This is Lucas!

      Of course it was! He’d been there in front of her all this time, the man for her, and she’d let him be just a friend for all that time—not knowing, never allowing herself to think about it. Why hadn’t she thought about it?

       Perhaps I did. In fact I know I did!

      She’d once let the thought of what it would be like to sleep with Lucas occupy her mind for many a night. But she’d not wanted to risk their friendship. She’d always dismissed it.

      I need to breathe.

      She couldn’t remember how. Instead she continued to kiss him, to feel his soft hair in her fingers, his chest against hers, the yearning for more …

      For so long she’d wondered what it would be like. This moment. This kiss. Yet she knew she had to stop it. Knew she had to let him go. Because this wasn’t meant to happen!

      ‘We shouldn’t do that.’ She sounded breathless. ‘We can’t risk it … there’s a baby now.’

       Dear Reader

      Hello, and welcome to my very first Mills and Boon^® Medical Romance™! I wanted to kick off my medical writing career exploring an issue that has always fascinated me, and so I knew I had to do a surrogacy story.

      I’m nowhere near brave enough to be a surrogate myself, but I am eternally fascinated and proud of those women who do volunteer to have a baby for someone else. In this story that woman is Callie Taylor—a midwife, a fascinating woman who loves babies but has never wanted one for herself. Or so she thinks …

      It led me to thinking: just what happens when the surrogate has doubts about what she’s doing? When I heard about women who’d ended up keeping the baby I knew I had to explore this with my characters, Callie and Lucas. They both deserve love and I hope you will enjoy their journey as much as I enjoyed writing about it.

      I would love to hear from readers. If you want to contact me you can do so at Twitter, on @louisaheaton, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Louisaheatonauthor, or on my website: www.louisaheaton.com

      Warmest wishes

       Louisa

      LOUISA HEATON first started writing romance at secondary school, and would take her stories in to show her friends, scrawled on lined A4 paper in a big red binder, with plenty of crossing out. She dreamt of romance herself, and after knowing her husband-to-be for only three weeks shocked her parents by accepting his marriage proposal and heading off to Surrey to live with him. Once there, she began writing romance again and discovered the wonderful world of Mills & Boon^® Medical Romance™.

      After four children—including a set of twins—and fifteen years of trying to get published, she finally received ‘The Call’! Now she lives on Hayling Island, and when she’s not busy as a First Responder she creates her stories wandering along the wonderful Hampshire coastline with her two dogs, muttering to herself and scaring the locals.

      Visit Louisa on Twitter, @louisaheaton, on Facebook, www.facebook.com/Louisaheatonauthor, and on her website: www.louisaheaton.com

       THE BABY THAT CHANGED HER LIFE is Louisa Heaton’s debut title for Mills & Boon® Medical Romance™!

      The Baby

      That Changed

      Her Life

      Louisa Heaton

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      Table of Contents

       Cover

       Excerpt

      Dear Reader

       About the Author

       Title Page

       Dedication

      PROLOGUE

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

       CHAPTER THREE

       CHAPTER FOUR

       CHAPTER FIVE

       CHAPTER SIX

       CHAPTER SEVEN

       CHAPTER EIGHT

       CHAPTER NINE

       CHAPTER TEN

       EPILOGUE