The Night before Baby

by Smith, Karen Rose

  Letter to Reader

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Books by Karen Rose Smith

  About the Author

  Prorogue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Teaser chapter

  Copyright

  THE OFFICE GRAPEVINE

  Barrington Corporation News Bulletin

  Vol.1 No. 2

  February 1999

  • The rumors are true! Olivia McGovern is pregnant and sources say that dashing lawyer Lucas Hunter was seen kissing the pretty paralegal under the mistletoe at the company Christmas party a few months ago. Could he be the baby’s father?

  • And, is anyone else wondering who the mysterious Rex Barrington III is? After all, no one has laid eyes on him, and he fired his assistant over the phone. All we know for sure is that those who have spoken to him say he has the sexiest voice.

  • Finally, there’s no gossip juicier than this statement overheard fro m Molly Doyle about her boss—“Sometimes, when he speaks at a departmental meeting, I think he’s asking me to marry him.” Does sweet Molly have a chance at hooking Jack Cavanaugh, one of Barrington’s most eligible bachelors?

  Dear Reader,

  Happy Valentine’s Day! What better way to celebrate than with a Silhouette Romance novel? We’re sweeter than chocolate—and less damaging to the hips! This month is filled with special treats just for you. LOVING THE BOSS, our six-book series about office romances that lead to happily ever after, continues with The Night Before Baby by Karen Rose Smith. In this sparkling story, an unforgettable one-night stand—during the company Christmas party!—leads to an unexpected pregnancy and a mustread marriage of convenience.

  Teresa Southwick crafts an emotional BUNDLES OF JOY title, in which the forbidden man of her dreams becomes a pregnant woman’s stand-in groom. Don’t miss A Vow, a Ring, a Baby Swing. When a devil-may-care bachelor discovers he’s a daddy, he offers the prim heroine a chance to hold a Baby in Her Arms, as Judy Christenberry’s LUCKY CHARM SISTERS trilogy resumes.

  Award-winning author Marie Ferrarella proves it’s Never Too Late for Love as the bride’s mother and the groom’s widower father discover their children’s wedding was just the beginning in this charming continuation of LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER. Beloved author Arlene James lends a traditional touch to Silhouette Romance’s ongoing HE’S MY HERO promotion with Mr. Right Next Door. And FAMILY MATTERS spotlights new talent Elyssa Henry with her heartwarming debut, A Family for the Sheriff.

  Treat yourself to each and every offering this month. And in future months, look for more of the stories you love...and the authors you cherish.

  Enjoy!

  Mary-Theresa Hussey

  Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

  Please address questions and book requests to:

  Silhouette Reader Service

  U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

  Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

  THE NIGHT BEFORE BABY

  Karen Rose Smith

  To my cousin, Paul Arcuri,

  my “expert” on small planes.

  Special thanks and acknowledgment to Karen Rose Smith

  for her contribution to the Loving the Boss series.

  Books by Karen Rose Smith

  Silhouette Romance

  *Adam’s Vow #1075

  *Always Daddy #1102

  *Shane’s Bride #1128

  †Cowboy at the Wedding #1171

  † Most Eligible Dad #1174

  †A Groom and a Promise #1181

  The Dad Who Saved Christmas #1267

  ‡Wealth, Power and a Proper Wife #1320

  ‡ Love, Honor and a Pregnant Bride #1326

  ‡Promises, Pumpkins and Prince Charming #1332

  The Night Before Baby #1348

  Silhouette Special Edition

  Abigail and Mistletoe #930

  The Sheriff’s Proposal #1074

  *Darling Daddies

  †The Best Men

  ‡ Do You Take This Stranger?

  Previously published under the pseudonym Kari Sutherland

  Silhouette Romance

  Heartfire, Homefire #973

  Silhouette Special Edition

  Wish on the Moon #741

  KAREN ROSE SMITH

  lives in Pennsylvania but, after researching settings for this book, has decided she’d like to visit Arizona in the future. She insists one of the best aspects of writing romances is learning new locations, though her favorite part is writing the happily-ever-after. Readers can write to her at P.O. Box 1545, Hanover, PA 17331.

  Olivia McGovern and Lucas Hanter

  are delighted to annouce

  their surprise, marriage

  and the upcoming birth of their

  little corporate, dividend.

  Prorogue

  Christmas Eve

  “Maybe you should return to the party before I do,” Lucas Hunter suggested to Olivia as he buckled his belt. Still disconcerted by a passion he didn’t understand, his tone was more brusque than he intended. His sudden, overwhelming desire for this woman had led him to invite her to the privacy of his office where they’d talked for a while then...

  The awkwardness between them was as palpable as the silence as she buttoned her ivory silk blouse and straightened her skirt. Her green gaze met his for the first time since they’d made love on the black leather couch.

  “We might avoid gossip if I go back first.” Olivia’s voice was still slightly husky with the breathlessness that had characterized their lovemaking.

  Lovemaking. What a poor choice of words. Somehow the sparks he always felt whenever he passed Olivia McGovern in the halls of the Barrington Corporation had ignited tonight as they’d fallen into conversation at the office party, kissed under the mistletoe and gone to his office. Discovering that they were both spending Christmas Eve alone, they’d somehow found themselves in an embrace on the couch.

  He’d only had one glass of spiked punch and couldn’t blame it on that.

  And to top things off, she’d been a virgin!

  A virgin.

  Totally unexpected. Especially since the rumors circulating about her and her boss, Stanley Whitcomb, seemed to be proven by the late nights Olivia spent in Stanley’s office, their familiar rapport, her glances of admiration for the man when she thought no one was watching.

  “Lucas...”

  “Let’s not try to explain this, Olivia. Blame it on the holiday. Blame it on palms swaying in December. Phoenix might not have snow, but it has its own Christmas charm. We simply succumbed to the season. I’m just sorry that... I mean, if you had told me it was your first time—”

  Her face was flushed with embarrassment. “I never expected this to happen.”

  “Neither of us did.” He knew better than to expect honesty from a woman, or innocence. But the vulnerability in Olivia’s eyes told him she’d been just as surprised as he’d been by the tempestuous desire that had overtaken them.

  He reminded himself that she was a paralegal, studying for the bar, with designs on her boss. After his last relationship, Lucas had no desire to trust in more from a woman than a few moments of pleasure. “Go on back to the party, Olivia. Nothing happened here that can’t be forgotten.”

  She hesitated, then ran her fingers through her long auburn hair and unlocked the door. When she closed it behind her, he told himself he could forget.

&nb
sp; And he would.

  Christmas bells sounded outside. He took a deep breath, inhaling the lingering scent of Olivia’s perfume, remembering her satin skin under his fingertips, the shuddering of his body as he’d made her his.

  He would forget.

  Because he’d never unlock his heart to a woman again.

  Chapter One

  Olivia rushed past the oleander hedges bordering the masonry wall at the side entrance to the Barrington Corporation. The scent of citrus seemed to trail after her in the early-February breeze, a fragrance she usually enjoyed. But for the past few weeks...

  Now she knew why she couldn’t keep her breakfast down, why she’d preferred only tea for lunch, why the “virus” that had begun soon after Christmas Eve had continued to plague her. Because it wasn’t a virus.

  As her doctor had told her during her lunch hour—she was pregnant.

  Almost oblivious to the pleasant blue, tan and deep salmon accoutrements of the east wing of Barrington, a corporation that owned everything from vacation getaways in the States to hotels in Europe, she jabbed at the button for the third floor and the legal division. She’d planned her life and looked forward to becoming a full-fledged lawyer. She’d woven a dream about her and a stable man—her boss.

  But now...what was she going to do?

  If only she and Lucas Hunter hadn’t kissed under the mistletoe, hadn’t talked about being alone on Christmas Eve, hadn’t bonded in some inexplicable way that night and ended up making love on the couch in his office!

  It was behavior alien to her. It had been the first time she’d ever made love to a man, for goodness’ sake. And the aftermath? They’d dressed, an awkward silence between them. And after a brief conversation that hadn’t helped the awkwardness at all, they’d gone back to the party separately as if nothing had happened.

  That one night, that indiscretion, that excitement she’d felt the first moment she’d seen Lucas Hunter when he’d come to work at Barrington six months ago, was going to change her life forever!

  Her hand protectively fell across her stomach as she stepped onto the elevator and it rose to the third floor. She’d love this child no matter what happened. She’d—

  When the elevator door slid open, Lucas stood there as sexy and rakishly handsome as ever. Her mouth went dry and her hands became clammy. He was wearing the same fine navy suit he’d worn on Christmas Eve. His tawny blond hair fell across his brow just as casually as when she’d run her fingers through it....

  “Hello, Olivia.”

  Lucas’s deep voice seemed to vibrate under her hand on her tummy, and she quickly dropped it to her side. The politeness in his blue eyes and their cool remoteness led her to compose herself as she stepped from the elevator. “Good afternoon, Lucas.”

  Straightening her shoulders, she forced herself to walk toward Stanley Whitcomb’s office and forget for the moment Lucas was the father of her child. She had to sort her thoughts before she could decide what to do about this baby... and Lucas Hunter. When she should tell him. If she should tell him.

  As she walked down the hall, she thought about the rumors she’d heard about Lucas. Opening the door to Stanley’s office suite, she greeted Stanley’s secretary, June, with the best smile she could muster and settled behind the teak desk. She’d worked here as a paralegal part-time as she finished law school but full-time since the end of summer when she’d missed the bar exam. In August she’d gone home to Tuscon for the test, prepared to pass and begin her future. But on the way to the exam she’d gotten tied up by a traffic accident! If an applicant was late for the twoday testing, even five minutes, he or she had to wait until the next time it was given and try again. Nothing would keep her from taking the exam at the end of February. This time it would be given in Phoenix, and she’d make absolutely sure she was there on time with plenty to spare.

  The door to Stanley’s office opened, and he brought a folder to her desk. As always, the touch of gray in his black hair added to his distinguished look. In his late forties, he was fit and trim. He’d been widowed for ten years and was everything stable she’d ever searched for in a man. Since she’d come to Barrington, he’d been her mentor, and all she’d wanted was for him to notice her as a woman rather than as his paralegal.

  But now...

  Stanley placed the folder on her desk. “Those are the new contracts for managers—Olivia, you’re very pale. Are you feeling all right?”

  Hormones must be addling her brain as well as her stomach. All she could think about was Lucas, Christmas Eve and the doctor’s smile when he’d told her the baby would arrive at the end of September.

  Suddenly the weight of all of it closed in on her. “Actually, I am feeling a little under the weather. Can I take those contracts home?” She’d never asked for time off before, except for the bar exam.

  “Of course you can,” Stanley said quickly. “Give me a call if you have any questions.”

  Her boss was such a nice man. Without Lucas’s edge. Without the aura of restrained sensuality, without—

  Standing, she gave Stanley a weak smile, picked up the folder and her purse and left the office.

  Olivia intended to drive home, make herself a cup of tea and think. But as she passed a shopping mall and saw a children’s store, she impulsively circled the block and found a spot in the parking lot near the shop. Impulsiveness had never been part of her nature. Since she was old enough to realize her dad’s spontaneity and dream-chasing took him away from home and hurt her mother, she had vowed to be dependable and mature for her mom’s sake. Maturity meant planning, taking responsibility, working toward a goal.

  As she crossed the threshold of the store and found herself in the midst of cribs, mobiles, strollers and high chairs, she felt like Dorothy landing in Oz. She wandered past a row of car seats and into the section with clothes, stopping before a rack of baby shirts. They were so small! When she moved into the infant section, the enormity of being pregnant as well as being a mother seemed both glorious and totally overwhelming.

  She closed her eyes for a moment and saw Lucas Hunter’s face.

  He had the right to know he was going to be a father.

  Now.

  Hurrying out of the store, she hoped Lucas hadn’t been leaving to fly off somewhere. He’d been hired by Rex Barrington II to handle a sensitive merger negotiation, then he’d stayed on to handle another. The news that he owned his own plane and could fly anywhere Rex needed him to go at the drop of a hat had spread through the offices his first week at the complex. It was also well-known that he flew off somewhere almost every weekend. Personnel said he wasn’t married.

  But he could very well be involved Olivia’s heart raced at the thought of telling him her news.

  Information concerning the hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado, that Barrington was thinking about acquiring should have filled Lucas’s mind with facts and figures he usually analyzed like a human calculator. But ever since he’d run into Olivia at the elevator...

  His descent into lunacy on Christmas Eve had haunted him for the past five weeks—as had Olivia’s face, her smile, the wonder in her eyes.

  The light knock on his office door was a welcome intrusion.

  Since his stay at Barrington was temporary, he’d insisted he didn’t need a secretary. He flew to hotel locations or was involved in meetings as much as he worked in his office.

  “Come in,” he called, expecting a courier or Rex Barrington himself.

  When Olivia opened the door, Lucas denied the fact that his blood was rushing faster. She looked pale but as lovely as always in an emerald green suit the same color as her eyes.

  Before he could stand, she came inside, clenched her hands in front of her over her purse and said, “I’m pregnant.”

  All of his life, Lucas had learned that composure was the secret of handling others, to taking charge, to easing any complicated situation. “And what would you like me to do about it?” he asked calmly and evenly as if he were discussing a mer
ger.

  Her green eyes registered surprise... and then hurt. He didn’t think he’d ever recognize hurt in a woman’s eyes again without thinking she was trying to manipulate him. But before he could reassess his response and the best way to proceed, Olivia turned and fled his office.

  Coming to his feet, Lucas started after her. As he glanced down the hall, he didn’t see her at the elevator but he heard the thud of the stairwell door. How could she move so fast in those high heels?

  Inside the stairwell, he caught a flash of green as she rounded the last flight. “Olivia. Wait!”

  But either she didn’t hear him or didn’t care to hear him. Finally he caught up to her in the parking lot as she fumbled with her key to unlock her car door. When she ignored him, he clasped her elbow. “We need to talk.”

  She pulled her arm from his grasp. “I don’t think so.”

  “Olivia, you took me by surprise.”

  Going still, she stared up at him. “I don’t expect you to do anything about this. I just felt you had the right to know.”

  There was something he had to ask. “Are you sure this baby’s mine?”

  Where before he’d seen hurt in her eyes, now he saw anger. Inserting her key in the lock, she opened her door.

  “Olivia...”

  “I wouldn’t have come to you if I weren’t sure. I’ve never slept with another man, Lucas, so there’s no doubt this baby is yours.”