Million Dollar Marriage (17 page)

Lucy used the keycard Holden’s mother had given her to enter the building, and took
the elevator up to the tenth floor. All the way, she was chanting a mental mantra.
Telling herself she could do this—she could face Holden with the truth and deal with
the consequences. It was her only choice, really. Mary Ellen had made her see that.
She couldn’t just give up everything
she had without at least trying to make things right.

She could do this.

The elevator doors slid open and Lucy stepped out of them just in time to see a blond
bimbo who looked like a former swimsuit model, exiting Holden’s apartment.

“Oh, my God,” Lucy whispered. Her heart squeezed tight in her chest and tears sprang
to her eyes as the woman strode past her, not even giving her a glance as she stepped
into the elevator and jabbed a button. The doors slid closed.

Lucy stood there for a full minute. She should leave. She should just leave. It was
pretty clear now where Holden stood. His first night without her, and already he was…he
was…

She bit her lip, and turned in search of a stairway. She didn’t want to wait for the
elevator’s return.

A door stood at the far end of the hall with the word Stairs painted on its face in
unattractive yellow block letters. But then, unbidden, Mary Ellen’s voice filled Lucy’s
mind.

Stiffen up that spine, haul your tail over to that apartment, and fight for your man!

Clenching her teeth, Lucy turned and walked slowly to Holden’s door. At the very least,
she would tell him what she thought of his little tryst with the blond bombshell.

She lifted her chin, wiped at her tears with an angry hand, and knocked hard on the
door.

Holden’s voice, raised and impatient, came from the other side. “Dammit to hell, Becky
Sue, I told you, I’m not interested!”

Lucy stood stock-still. She blinked, as her mind processed his words. He hadn’t been
playing around with that…that woman. Battling a small, relieved, even hopeful smile,
she lifted her hand and knocked again.

“Get this through your head,” Holden all but growled. The doorknob turned and the
door was flung open as he said, “I am in love with my…” Then he saw her standing there.
“Wife,” he finished, but the word was almost a whisper.

“Hello, Holden.”

“Lucy….” He pulled her into his arms, held her hard to his chest, and stroked her
hair. “Lucy, God I’m so glad it’s you. Baby, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I just didn’t
know….”

“Didn’t…didn’t know what?”

She pulled away from him, searching his eyes and seeing them dampen even as she did.
Then she looked past him and spotted the familiar-looking file folder lying open on
the table. She gaped at him. “Holden? Are those
my
medical records?”

He lowered his head. “I’m sorry. I know it was wrong, but when your father told me
what really happened all those years ago… God, Lucy, you lost an ovary—and a baby—because
of me.” He pulled her close again, rocking her slowly in his arms. “And now those
cysts, and they want to remove the other one. Honey, if you’d told me…if you’d only
told me why you were so determined to get pregnant…”

She let herself be held, comforted in his arms. All the while wondering what his motives
might be now. Did he know? Did he know
everything?

“If I’d told you…” she prompted.

He framed her face with both hands, gazing down
into her eyes. “I don’t know. If the ovary has to come out, Doc, then it has to. It’s
your life we’re talking about here. And God knows, we can adopt a baby. I don’t want
to risk losing you.”

She tried to keep a lid on her emotions, but they were damn near swamping her. “It
wouldn’t be a risk to have a baby,” she said. “It only takes nine months, and I could
have the ovariectomy right after the birth. With close monitoring, I could have a
perfectly normal pregnancy.”

He searched her face. “Are…are you sure?”

She nodded.

“Then…” He took a breath, bit his lip. “Then let’s do it. Let’s have a baby.”

She lowered her head. “I thought you said you didn’t want one right now.”

“That was before I knew it might be our only chance.”

“My only chance, Holden. Not yours.”

He stared down at her, his eyes intense and wide. “Doc, haven’t you figured things
out yet? Lucy, I’m in love with you. I don’t want anyone else, much less a child with
anyone else. Not now, not a year from now…not ever. Just you. I love you, Lucy.”

She didn’t reply. Just stared up at him, wanting with everything in her to believe
him—to believe he wasn’t just saying this because he knew she was already pregnant.
“I—I just need to know one thing,” she whispered, unable to speak any louder.

“What?”

Her lips trembled. She bit them to still the motion. “How much of that file did you
read?”

His frown seemed perplexed. God, she hoped it was
perplexed. He glanced at the file folder. “I… About all of it, I guess.” Then his
face paled, and his brows rose. “Why, Lucy? Is there something I don’t know. Something
wrong? Did they find—”

She pressed a finger to his lips. If he’d read the entire file, then he must know
she was already pregnant…and all of this was…

Then, slowly, her mind cleared. She looked again at the file. One file, and if it
had all the information about her ovarian problems in it, then it had come from Karen
Flemming’s office.

Not Susan Martinez’s.

Karen had no idea she was pregnant.

“Honey? Lucy, tell me. If something’s wrong, then I—”

Lucy smiled through a new flood of tears. “Nothing’s wrong. Nothing’s wrong at all,
Holden. In fact, for the first time, I think everything is right.”

“Then what…”

“I love you, too, you know,” she told him. “I always have.”

He bent toward her, kissed her long and slow. When he lifted his head again, he said,
“Thank God for that. Lucy, sweetheart, I do want a baby. I—the idea scared me, I admit
that, but having a child with you is the most incredible gift I can imagine. And if
you’re sure it’s safe for you…” He smiled, a sexy little smile she loved more than
life. “Then I think we ought to get started right away.”

“Maybe sooner than you think.” He tilted his head. “Come sit with me for a minute,
Holden. There really is something you ought to know.”

His expression puzzled, he stepped away, taking her
hand in his and pulling her with him to the sofa. They sat, side by side, and Lucy
reached for the file, flipped over the pages he’d already read, skimming them just
to be sure.

“I wanted to get some birth control,” she told him, closing the file at last. “But
I knew my regular doctor would ask too many questions. She knew how much I wanted
a child, you see. So I went to see another doctor, Susan Martinez, and she insisted
on running a pregnancy test before she’d write me a prescription.”

Holden looked at her, looked at the file folder again, looked back at her. “Lucy?”

“The results of that test wouldn’t be in this file. I’m glad because I thought for
a while there, you were only saying all these things because you knew.”

“Because I knew… Does this mean…what I think it means?”

She nodded. “If you think it means you’re going to be a father, then, yes, Holden.
It does. I’m pregnant.”

His smile was blinding, and the tear that slid from his eye to roll slowly down his
cheek touched her very soul. In wonder, he laid his palm gently across her belly.
Closing his eyes, he pulled her close, tenderly, gently, he held her. “I love you,
Lucy Fortune. I was empty before, but you…you’ve filled me. You are my heart and my
soul. I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work. We’ll build your clinic, we’ll
do whatever you want. Together. I swear I will make you and this baby so happy…”

“Oh, Holden,” she whispered, stroking his hair. “You already have.”

Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Maggie Shayne for her contribution
to THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS series.

ISBN: 978-1-4603-1135-6

MILLION DOLLAR MARRIAGE

Copyright © 1999 by Harlequin Books S.A.

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