The Pregnant Colton Bride

by Marie Ferrarella

  Mirabella knew all that was required of her was silence. That and a ride back to the office. But she just couldn’t keep quiet, not when she looked at him and saw what he was going through.

  “What are you going to do?” she finally asked him, watching a cavalcade of emotions parade across Zane’s rugged face.

  “Same thing I was going to do before the sheriff decided to accuse me of kidnapping and whisked me off to that poor excuse of an interrogation room. I’m going to find out exactly what happened to my father and who’s responsible for it.” He thought about the assignment he’d given to his IT expert. “I’ve got a lead Meyer Stanley is following up on. Hopefully, he’s made some headway and will get back to me soon.”

  Taking in every syllable as if it was golden, Mirabella nodded. “And until then?”

  Zane sighed, resigned to playing a waiting game for the time being.

  “And until then, we’ll keep my father’s company running as smoothly as we can, getting things done that need doing. When he comes back, I don’t want my father returning to a corporation that’s falling apart or on the verge of bankruptcy, or a takeover. Or some kind of trumped-up investigation.”

  At this point, until he knew who he was dealing with, he wouldn’t think of anything as unapproachable or safe. “I want him coming back to a business that’s doing even better than it was when he suddenly disappeared.”

  Mirabella smiled at him as she came to a stop at a red light. “I hope you know Mr. Eldridge is very lucky to have you.”

  “It works both ways, Belle,” Zane told her. “My sister and I are lucky to have him. A lot of men in Eldridge Colton’s position would have kicked their wives’ first kids to the curb, or exiled them to a year-round program at some boarding school the second they were old enough. But he didn’t. Eldridge did right by Marceline and me. The least I can do is to repay that kindness and do right by him—that means, in part, keeping his department running smoothly—and it also means not sitting back while the sheriff and his people stumble along, trampling on clues. It means taking an active part in finding him,” Zane concluded.

  She was moved by his passion and his dedication. “What can I do to help, Mr. Colton?”

  He smiled at her offer. The woman really was very sweet, he thought.

  “I’ll let you know,” he promised, although he really doubted there was anything she could do to help him find his father, which was his top priority at this moment and would continue to be until Eldridge was finally found.

  * * *

  They got back to the office building rather quickly. Mirabella returned his car back to its designated parking space, and then they rode up to the twenty-third floor together. Despite the fact that he was understandably preoccupied, Zane still couldn’t help noticing the queasy look on Mirabella’s face. It seemed to get more pronounced as the elevator bypassed all the lower floors and went straight up to their floor in what felt like record time.

  The swift ascent had all but drained the little color from her face, bringing in its stead an exceedingly pained, pale hue.

  The moment the elevator door slid open, Mirabella vacated the silver enclosure. In his estimation, she seemed rather unsteady on her feet.

  “I’ll be back in a moment,” she said, making a beeline for the ladies’ room.

  The woman definitely belonged home. He watched as she disappeared into the bathroom farther down the hall.

  He was debating following her and placing himself next to the ladies’ room door. If he heard her being sick, he was going to insist she get herself checked out by her own physician. He didn’t want to be responsible for her ruining her health.

  However, right at that moment, he felt his cell phone vibrating in his jacket pocket.

  Now what? he couldn’t help wondering, exasperated. Swiping his finger along the bottom of the screen, he braced himself as he said, “Zane Colton.”

  “Mr. Colton,” the voice on the other end of the line said, “it’s Meyer.”

  Zane instantly snapped to attention. “Have you got a name for me, Meyer?”

  “Not yet, sir,” the man said apologetically. “Unfortunately, there’s a great deal of decryption to wade through. It’s taking longer than I thought, but I’m getting closer. I did find out the payments stopped a couple of days before your stepfather was kidnapped. That might have been motive enough for someone to kidnap him.”

  Hopefully it wasn’t motive enough for someone to kill him, Zane thought.

  Chapter 5

  Zane was just putting his cell phone back into his jacket pocket when he saw Mirabella coming out of the restroom. Rather than pale, his administrative assistant’s face was now a shade closer to pea green.

  Deeply concerned, he momentarily forgot about the call he’d just received. Instead, Zane turned his attention to his assistant’s welfare. Crossing to her, he touched her forearm. Her skin felt almost clammy to his fingertips.

  Since she’d been ignoring his advice, he raised his voice when he spoke to her. “Belle, I insist you go see a doctor and get checked out. You can’t continue like this.”

  Mirabella offered him a weak smile, unable to do anything more than that. She felt as if all of her strength had been sapped. Although she did feel worse than she had previously, she knew she just had to tough it out. This would fade soon enough, just the way it had been doing for the last couple of months.

  “I’m fine, Mr. Colton. Really. It’s just a little upset stomach I can’t... I can’t...seem to...shake.”

  The last word was uttered in a whisper, if that loud. The hallway had begun to spin and then her surroundings, usually so well lit, began to darken as well as shrink, until everything went completely black around her.

  * * *

  One moment he was speaking with Mirabella, trying in vain to talk some sense into her, the next moment her eyes were rolling back in her head and he saw her literally begin to sink right in front of him. Stunned, Zane barely had time to react.

  Moving quickly, he caught Mirabella in his arms and kept her body from crumpling down to the floor.

  Panicked, he tried to rouse her. “Belle? Belle, are you all right? No, damn it, of course you’re not,” he snapped angrily, a helpless feeling sweeping right through him.

  “Need help, Mr. Colton?” Nancy, one of the newest employees who’d been hired when the security section had expanded, asked as she ran up.

  The fewer people involved, the better, he couldn’t help thinking. He knew Mirabella wouldn’t appreciate people staring.

  “No, I’ll handle it,” he told the other woman. The next moment, he picked the unconscious assistant up into his arms.

  “Are you sure?” Nancy called after him.

  “I’m sure. Thanks,” he answered without looking back. With that, he carried Mirabella into his office.

  He missed the knowing looks exchanged between Nancy and another woman who had just come out to see what the commotion was all about.

  Closing the door to his office with his elbow, Zane gently lay the woman down on his sofa.

  She was still unconscious.

  At a loss as to what to do, he briefly contemplated loosening Mirabella’s clothing, but quickly vetoed that idea. She wasn’t having any trouble getting air in. Mirabella had apparently fainted for an entirely different reason.

  A state-of-the-art bathroom, complete with a sink and shower, was part of his office suite. Zane went to get a wet towel.

  Returning quickly, he laid it across Mirabella’s forehead, hoping that might help rouse her.

  If it didn’t work, his next step was to call for an ambulance, something he had a feeling Mirabella wouldn’t want.

  Adjusting the compress on her forehead, he stepped back and unconsciously held his breath as he watched her intently.

  A few seconds later, he saw Mirabella’s eyes begin to flutter open.

  Thank God.

  She began to struggle, trying to get into a sitting position. Zane gently pushed her back
down.

  “Don’t try to get up just yet,” he warned.

  Disoriented, it took Mirabella a moment to get her bearings and a few more to focus in on her surroundings. The last thing she remembered was being in the hallway, talking to Zane.

  “Where am I?” Her brain felt as if it was wrapped in heavy gauze.

  “I brought you into my office. You fainted.”

  As familiarity dawned on her, followed closely by embarrassment, Mirabella tried to bolt upright. “No, I didn’t,” she protested.

  He wasn’t about to argue with her. “Have it your way. You took a short nap and would have wound up at my feet if I hadn’t caught you.”

  Her head felt as if it was emerging out of a tailspin. Even so, she couldn’t just lie here. That would be totally unprofessional. This was Zane’s office.

  Clutching the side of the sofa, she swung her legs down until she could feel the floor beneath her feet. Taking a deep breath, she began to rise, only to feel her legs growing wobbly.

  She had no choice but to sink down into the sofa again as she struggled to pull herself together.

  “Sorry,” she murmured.

  Zane made no reply. Watching her, it suddenly hit him what was going on. Putting his hand on her shoulder to press her down again as she tried for a second time to gain her footing, he sat down next to her.

  He shook his head. How could he have not seen this before?

  “You know,” he told her, “I can be pretty dense sometimes.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” she heard herself saying.

  Her voice sounded distant and tinny to her ear. Mirabella was still having a great deal of difficulty focusing on the room. She clenched her hands in her lap, unaware she was clutching the towel he’d placed on her forehead. Her mind scrambled for a way to explain herself out of this. She didn’t want him or anyone else knowing the truth, at least not yet.

  “What I mean,” he replied patiently, “is I don’t always pick up on all the clues that are right there in front of me.”

  Her breath caught in her throat as her heart seemed to stand still for a moment.

  Had Zane guessed the crush she had harbored for him all this time had turned into something that was now a great deal more? Did he know his every kindness had warmed her heart and that she had begun to see him as something other than just her boss? Did he suspect that lately he’d begun to enter her dreams on almost a nightly basis?

  Mirabella racked her brain, trying to come up with something to deflect his suspicions, if it wasn’t already too late.

  But before she could come up with any sort of a reply, Zane rendered her entirely speechless by asking, “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

  Her mouth dropped open and she could only stare at him in total silence. Her mind went blank and words completely failed her.

  “I take that as a yes,” he commented in response to her total silence.

  What he didn’t comment on, either to her or to himself, was how the realization of Mirabella’s apparent delicate condition suddenly created wide, stinging holes through his entire being.

  He found himself feeling vastly disappointed and he couldn’t even begin to explain, to himself and certainly not to her, why. After all, he wasn’t one of those supermoralists who professed to know what was best not just for himself but for everyone else around him.

  As far as he was concerned, he’d always espoused a philosophy of live and let live. What that meant was he believed everyone had a perfect right to live their lives the way they wanted to, as long as no one else was hurt in the process.

  But that was just it, he realized. This did hurt. It hurt a great deal.

  Finding out Mirabella was pregnant, that there was a man in her life, someone she’d cared enough about to sleep with—because he knew she wasn’t the type to have careless, meaningless sex with just anyone—somehow felt as if it crushed his very soul.

  Damn it, Colton, get over it. She’s your administrative assistant, not your long lost soul mate, a small voice in his head insisted.

  Usually, that small voice had a great deal of wisdom going for it. But this time around, Zane just wasn’t so sure.

  Still feeling shaky, Mirabella told herself that she couldn’t just continue sitting there, saying nothing while Zane made assumptions. Dead-on assumptions, unfortunately, but still, she had to say something to defend herself. To not say anything made her seem either stupid, or indifferent to her situation.

  Or just plain brazen.

  She was none of those. She never had been. What she was, Mirabella thought, was completely overwhelmed. Never in her wildest dreams did she believe she would ever be in this sort of a situation. She’d thought if she ever did find herself pregnant, it would be because it had been a conscious choice on her part.

  Hers and her husband’s.

  Instead, things had just happened around her without her actual consent. This was not how she’d envisioned her life.

  Mirabella clenched her hands into fists on either side of her. She absolutely refused to allow herself to behave like a victim. And in order to not be a victim, she had to get out in front of this situation, had to take charge of it as well as of the rest of her life. Her pride would allow for nothing less.

  “Yes,” she replied in a quiet voice.

  “Yes?” he repeated, uncertain exactly what she was saying yes to.

  The time lapse between when he’d stopped talking and she had just spoken up had been large enough to leave a great deal of room for confusion. And right now he was confused as well as disappointed.

  “Yes, you’re right,” she told him stoically. “I am pregnant.”

  Again, he felt as if he’d just been sucker punched. Upbraiding himself that there was no reason for him to feel this way didn’t seem to change anything.

  “Are congratulations in order?” he asked in a subdued voice.

  He assumed, since Mirabella was making this admission, she intended to keep the baby, but he wasn’t about to take anything for granted, just in case. He waited to be told her intentions.

  “Right now,” she replied honestly, “I’m not sure just what’s in order. I’ll let you know when—and if—I ever stop being so damn sick.”

  Zane remained sitting on the sofa, shifting slightly so he was now on the far edge. He didn’t want to appear to be crowding her.

  “Have you been to see a doctor?” he asked her. Her welfare was still his main concern.

  “Oh, yes,” she told him with exaggerated feeling. It was the doctor who had indifferently informed her of her condition.

  Zane picked up on her tone of voice. “The doctor wasn’t reassuring?”

  “If by that you mean did he tell me about my options, yes, he did. To quote him, I could either ‘have it, or not have it.’ And,” she continued, trying not to allow her emotions to break through, “if I went with door number one, I still didn’t have to keep it once the ‘residency’ period was up. I could always give it up for adoption,” she said, quoting the doctor.

  The conversation she’d had with the doctor had left her so cold and numb, she’d spent the rest of the day and part of the next crying.

  “What are you going to do?” Zane asked her, forgetting for the moment that as her boss, he had no right to ask her questions of such a personal, probing nature.

  She took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. “I’ll let you know the second I stop throwing up everything but the kitchen sink so I can think clearly.”

  Mirabella felt another wave coming over her and fought to keep it from overwhelming her. She pressed her hand against her stomach as if that could somehow contain and subdue the pending waves of nausea and keep them from coming up.

  “If this is what it feels like, why would any woman in her right mind ever want to be pregnant?” she asked miserably.

  He was doing his best to maintain a professional distance, but he just couldn’t help feeling sympathetic about what she was going through.

&
nbsp; “I’m definitely no expert, but I don’t think it feels like that for every woman,” he told her. “And from what I’ve heard, a lot of women think it’s all really worth it—once they get to hold their baby in their arms.”

  Zane paused for a moment, debating whether or not to ask her the next question. It turned out to be a very short debate.

  “How does the baby’s father feel about all this?”

  Mirabella stiffened, inadvertently recalling the man’s parting words to her. Words she had no desire to repeat. Nor did she want to remember anything about him, because he had turned out to be so very different from the man he had pretended to be.

  But that was on her, Mirabella thought the next moment. How naive could she have been not to realize some men would say anything just to get what they were after? It wasn’t as if she’d lived a sheltered life, she knew these things happened, that there were men—a lot of men—who lied.

  The problem was, she didn’t realize this could happen to her, that someone would knowingly and deliberately lie to her. The very fact that this had happened to her made her feel violated.

  But she was determined it wouldn’t destroy her.

  She turned her head to look at Zane. “I’d rather not talk about that if you don’t mind,” she replied a little formally.

  It was his cue to pull back, to drop the subject that wasn’t any of his business to begin with.

  But because Mirabella was his administrative assistant, because he interacted with her every day and relied on her being as efficient as she had been up until now, for this as well as so many other reasons, her well-being was his concern.

  In his view, the term well-being encompassed a great deal of territory.

  “But he does know, right?” he prodded, watching Mirabella’s face for a telltale clue. “The baby’s father does know about its existence? You did tell him, right?” He wanted to know.