by Dianne Drake
Zoey clamped her ski poles into the snow and moved forward about an inch, then she stopped. “Do you know how far it is to the bottom?”
“Not as far as it was to the bottom of the hill I just skied.” He pointed to the main hill on the course. It was a pretty straight slope, as far as ski slopes went, but it was also a fairly steep one.
“But you’ve been on skis before.”
“And the next time I bring my girls out here, you’ll have been on skis before, too.”
Zoey looked down at Maddie, who’d already made her run down the beginner’s hill, which the people at the ski lodge called “the bunny hill.” She’d started more toward the bottom of the hill than the top, and had done a nice job of it, with only a couple falls in the few feet she’d skied. Right now, she was sitting in the snow, scooping it up and building a tiny castle. “Maddie did pretty good on her run, didn’t she?”
“For a four-year-old, she was brilliant. And I think she really loved it.”
“Because she takes after her father.”
“And her father hopes to see her new mother do as brilliantly as her daughter did.”
“That’s putting a lot of pressure on me,” Zoey grumbled.
“Just go to the edge and give yourself a shove.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“You want me to shove you?” he teased.
“You shove me and that’s the last thing you’ll ever shove,” she warned as she inched even closer to the edge.
“How about I take Maddie and we meet you down at the bottom?”
“You’d leave me here alone?”
“You’re not going to back out, are you?”
She took a hard look down the hill and huffed out a frustrated breath. “Why does life with you have to be such an adventure?”
“Because you like it that way. Remember those kayaks you bought a couple months ago? As I recall, that was your new adventure to explore.”
“An adventure that didn’t have me flying, uncontrolled, off the side of a mountain.”
“They serve a nice oolong up at the lodge, if you’d rather do that while Maddie and I have another go at the bunny hill,” he offered, knowing full well that his wife wouldn’t hear of it.
She had a spirit like nothing he’d ever seen before, and there was no way Zoey would ever put herself in the position to be left behind. That was one of the things he loved most about her. Of course, the other things he loved... The list was long and growing every day. It was a full life, being married to Zoey, and he was happier than he’d imagined he ever could be.
“I hate oolong,” she said through gritted teeth.
Daniel skied himself up next to Zoey and laid a reassuring hand across her back. “You can do this, you know.”
Her full concentration was on the slope ahead of her now. “In due course,” she said, beginning to take the proper stance, the way he’d taught her. But, once she’d assumed that stance, it was like she froze there. Didn’t move. Didn’t even blink. Barely even breathed. Finally, after a long pause, she said, “Do it, Daniel. Just do it.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he said, smiling as he gave her that gentle nudge then watched her sail over the edge of the hill. She made it about halfway down before her left ski shot out from under her in one direction and her right in the other.
Daniel cringed, watching his wife’s ungraceful descent. And, when it ended in the middle of the run, he reached for Maddie’s hand. “I think we’d better go down to the bottom and collect your mother,” he said. “And help her get back up here. Because, as stubborn as she is, she’s going to want to keep trying this until she gets it right.”
His wife, the perfectionist. It suited him. Zoey suited him. Life suited him again, thanks to Zoey. And that was everything he’d ever hoped for.
* * * * *
EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT
Secret royal prince Dr Elias Santini is stunned when he rushes to an emergency delivery. The patient is Beth Foster…and she’s having his baby!
Read on for a sneak preview of
THEIR SECRET ROYAL BABY
by Carol Marinelli
‘How pregnant is she?’ Elias asked.
‘Twenty-nine weeks. Her waters broke as we got her onto the gurney. Elias, this baby is coming and very rapidly.’
They had reached the cubicle and Elias took a steadying breath.
‘What’s her name?’
Before Mandy could tell Elias he was already stepping into the cubicle.
And before Mandy said the name, he knew it.
‘Beth.’
She was sitting up, wearing a hospital gown, and there was a blanket over her. Her stunning red hair was worn up tonight but it was starting to uncoil and was dark with sweat. Her gorgeous almond-shaped eyes were for now screwed closed and she wore drop earrings in rose gold and the stones were rubies.
They were the same earrings she had worn the night they had met.
He could remember vividly stepping into her villa and turning the light on and watching the woman he had seen only in moonlight come into delicious colour—the deep red of her hair, the pale pink of her lips and eyes that were a pure ocean blue.
Now Valerie had her arm around Beth’s shoulders and was telling her to try not to push.
For Elias there was a moment of uncertainty.
Could Mandy find someone else perhaps? Could he swap with Roger?
Almost immediately he realised there was no choice. From what Mandy had told him this baby was close to being born.
His baby?
Don’t miss THEIR SECRET ROYAL BABY by Carol Marinelli
Available March 2017
PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY
www.millsandboon.co.uk
Copyright ©2017 by Carol Marinelli
Also available in March from Mills & Boon Modern Romance is Carol Marinelli’s 100th book, THE INNOCENT’S SECRET BABY
ISBN: 978-1-474-05133-0
THE NURSE AND THE SINGLE DAD
© 2017 Dianne Drake
Published in Great Britain 2017
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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