Her Unexpected Baby

Trish Wylie

Литагент HarperCollins EUR

Adam Donovan' s good looks and charm may win over every other woman in the world, but divorced mother Dana Taylor is immune. Or so she thinks, until the night Adam poses as her date…and the pretence is so real that they become close. Now she' s thrilled to discover she' s pregnant! But she' s also wary. She' s been through one difficult marriage, and has had enough emotional trauma to last a lifetime. What will it take for her to believe Adam is different–that he can bring her the happiness she deserves?

Her Unexpected Baby

Trish Wylie

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

Trish Wylie worked through a lot of careers to get to the one she’d wanted in her late teens. She has flicked her blond hair over her shoulder while playing the promotions game, patted her manicured hands on the backs of musicians in the music business, smiled sweetly at awkward customers during the retail nightmare known as the run-up to Christmas, and got completely lost in her car in every single town in Ireland while working as a sales rep. It took all that character building and a healthy sense of humour to get her dream job. She spends her days in reindeer slippers, with her hair in whatever band she can find to keep it out of the way—makeup as vague and distant a memory as manicured nails—while creating the kind of dream man she’d still like to believe is out there somewhere. If it turns out he is, she promises she’ll let you know…after she’s been out for a new wardrobe, a manicure and a makeover…

For the “Newbies.”

My special friends: Ally, Hannah, Nic and Ola.

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

THERE was something about a wedding that made families pick on the unattached members of their clan. When Dana Taylor’s brother Jack finally met his match and tied the knot, the entire Lewis family, at least the female members, seemed to descend on Dana like flies round—well, honey.

Dana refused point-blank to liken herself to anything else that flies might hover around.

‘You need to get back out there.’

‘Out there where, exactly?’ She kept a smile on her face, despite the fact she knew exactly what her eldest sister was referring to. Oh, yeah, she knew rightly. And so did not want to talk about it.

Tess sighed. ‘Dating.’

‘Oh, that out there.’

The next sibling in order of birth nodded as she took a sip of champagne. ‘Honey, it’s long since due. You can’t just sit in that run-down house of yours and wait for the menopause to arrive.’

She couldn’t? Why was she paying a mortgage, then, if it wasn’t so she could have her own space to do whatever the hell she liked in? Dana blinked slowly, then narrowed her eyes as she thought.

Tess nodded in agreement with Rachel. ‘Just because things didn’t work the first time it doesn’t mean there isn’t someone else out there who’d be great for you.’

‘You make it sound as if I live like some kind of hermit.’

‘Don’t you?’ Rachel raised an elegant eyebrow. ‘When’s the last time you went out and had fun?’

‘I took Jess to the beach last month.’

‘That’s mother-daughter fun. I mean…’ She leaned her head in closer and winked. ’Fun.’

‘She means sex.’ Her sister Lauren stated the obvious with a small nod.

Dana took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. ‘Why can’t I just live alone and be happy?’

Tess snorted. ‘Because you’re not happy.’

‘Who says I’m not?’ she demanded.

‘It’s obvious you’re not.’

‘How the hell is it obvious?’

‘See? If you were happy you wouldn’t need to be defensive.’

Dana shook her head. ‘Sometimes I really wish you wouldn’t take the mothering role so seriously with us all. I’m fine.’

Tess, who had taken on the job of parent when their real mother had left them early on, simply shrugged h