For a Baby

For a Baby
C.J. Carmichael

Heather Sweeney has always wanted a baby. Unfortunately, she's in love with a married man, so her chances don't look good. Then one lonely night she turns to T. J. Collins, who always seems to be there for her when life is at its lowest. A few weeks later Heather discovers that she's about to get her greatest wish–but with the wrong man.Heather and T. J. decide to marry, which makes perfect sense. Even if they're not in love, they've known each other forever. But it doesn't take long before Heather begins to feel as if she's married a stranger.Somehow–for the baby's sake–she has to find a way to make her marriage work. Especially once Heather discovers she may have married the right man after all.

“Hot, isn’t it?” Heather said. “I brought food.” She pulled out two sandwiches and passed one to T.J.

He caught her hand rather than the sandwich. “Your fingers are trembling.”

Couldn’t he just have let it pass without comment? But T.J. had never been one to let anything go. Throughout their school years he’d teased her mercilessly about her red hair and freckles. And she’d never made a secret about the fact that she despised him for it.

That didn’t stop them from sleeping together, though. No denying the sexual pull between them, much as she wanted to. Even now she felt it, despite the other, weightier, issue on her mind.

“You’re probably wondering why I asked you to meet me here.”

T.J. didn’t say anything. Somehow that made it even harder. She’d had a whole speech planned out. But in the end, she managed only two short sentences.

“I’m pregnant, T.J. Just thought you should know.”

Dear Reader,

Have you ever known someone who seemed like such a terrific person, but who never had anything go right for her? That’s what Heather Sweeney’s love life has been like—up until now.

If you’ve read a previous book of mine, Small-Town Girl, you already know the history….

Heather was jilted by her first love, Russell Matthew, and she’s never really gotten over that disappointment. Her subsequent marriage to a cop ended when he was shot in the line of duty. After all that, not even Heather’s best friend, Adrienne, could blame her for being cynical about her chances for a happy-ever-after marriage.

But in this book, Heather finally gets her chance. For true love, a husband, a baby…the whole package.

I am always happy to hear from readers. Please contact me through my Web site at www.cjcarmichael.com. Or send mail to the following address: #1754 - 246 Stewart Green S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T3H 3C8.

Sincerely,

C.J. Carmichael

For a Baby

C.J. Carmichael

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

This book is dedicated to the memory of my grandma Dora,

who used to spin the most wonderful yarns.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER ONE

Mid-April

SHE’D MADE A MISTAKE COMING to the bar. This place wasn’t going to cheer her up. She didn’t even feel like drinking.

Heather Sweeney eyed the glass of vodka and orange juice in her hand and wondered how her life had come to this point. She was too young to feel washed up, but that was exactly how she felt. She was a thirty-five-year-old, widowed schoolteacher who loved children but would probably never have any of her own.