Married to the Viscount (45 page)

Authors: Sabrina Jeffries

Tags: #General, #Romance, #Fiction, #Historical

BOOK: Married to the Viscount

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Lily sidled close to stroke little Belinda’s silky brown hair. “Is Mama…going to die?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” he hastened to reassure her. “I’m sure it’s just la grippe. She’ll be over it in no time once she’s had some rest.”

“I been telling the girl that all morning,” Mrs. McFee said, folding her arms over her belly, “but she’s not having a word of it. Won’t rest until she hears the doctor himself say it’s all right.”

“I saw her throw up this morning at breakfast,” Lily said. “It was awful!”

He drew his daughter close with his free hand. “I know, poppet, but I promise it will be all right.” Pray God he could keep that promise.

The door suddenly opened, and Dr. Godfrey came out, smiling broadly.

“How is she?” Spencer asked as he rose.

Dr. Godfrey’s eyes twinkled. “She’s fine, just fine. Progressing nicely.”

What the devil did that mean? Then Abby came out herself, looking a little pale but otherwise well, and he realized the doctor must be right.

“Mama!” Lily cried and ran to her. “I was so worried!”

With a wan smile, Abby hugged the girl. “Nothing to worry about, sweetheart. Now you go off with Mrs. McFee, and take your sister, too. I need to talk to Papa.”

Fear made Spencer’s heart hammer furiously as he handed the baby to Mrs. McFee. He could hardly wait until they were inside her bedchamber with the door shut before asking, “What did Godfrey tell you? What’s wrong?”

She wouldn’t look at him. “Um…I talked to him about your condition.”

“
My
condition?”

“You know, with your…wounds.”

“He knows about my condition,” Spencer said impatiently. “What has that got to do with your condition?”

“He said,” she went on, “that he’s heard of cases recently where even though a man injured there was—” She waved a hand vaguely in the area of his cock, then finished weakly, “He healed after some years.”

He stared at her blankly.

She met his gaze with a wary one. “I’m not ill, Spencer—I’m expecting a child. Our child.”

Abby hadn’t meant to be so blunt, so when Spencer paled
and jerked his stunned gaze down to her belly, she cursed herself for her quick tongue. She’d been worrying about how to tell him ever since she’d started to suspect what was going on.

“Are…are you sure?” he whispered.

“Yes.”

Tears welled in his eyes, and she flew to him in alarm. “It’s yours, I swear it is.”

He clutched her tightly to him. “Of course it’s mine. Whose else would it be?” Then he stiffened and held her away from him. “Oh, Abby, surely you didn’t think I would assume—”

“I was a bit worried.” She smiled sheepishly. “For the past year, you’ve been so convinced you could never sire a child, since we’d tried for so long.”

“Don’t you know by now that I trust you?” he reassured her, cupping her cheek gently in his hand. “I know you would never betray me.”

“Never,” she vowed.

A loving smile crossed his lips before his gaze drifted back to her belly. “When are you due?” he asked, his voice hoarse with emotion.

“Dr. Godfrey says probably six months from now, seven at the most.”

His eyes swung back to hers. “You’ve known that long?”

“I tried not to hope too much when I missed my courses the first time. But when I started feeling ill in the morning and I missed them a second time, I figured I’d better see Dr. Godfrey. I’m sorry if I gave you and Lily a scare, but I didn’t want to say anything until I was absolutely sure.”

“Lily.” He glanced to the door. “We have to tell Lily.”

“Yes.” But as he turned in that direction, she held him back. “Spencer, I want to assure you that having my own baby won’t affect how I feel about the girls. I’ll still love them as much as I do now.”

He faced her with a bemused look. “Of course you will,”
he said, enfolding her in his warm embrace. “As will I.” He pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, then murmured, “Thank you.”

She pulled back and arched one brow. “For what? Bearing you a child?”

“No…well, yes, but that’s not what I meant.” Growing serious, he laid his hand on her belly. “Before I met you, I was sure that having a wife and a family was an unattainable dream. So I’m grateful to the stubborn and persistent woman who showed me it was attainable after all. Thank you, darling, for convincing me to leap the chasm.”

As her heart filled with joy, she laid her hand over his. “And thank you, my love, for leaping.”

About the Author

I’ve been creating fiction for years (I started when I was two and it’s only gotten worse since then), and I plan to continue until my imagination stops filling my head with ideas, which should be sometime in the next century. Besides, writing novels gives me an excuse for not cleaning the house.

Fortunately, my dear husband and son tolerate my obsession because a) I still cook; b) they don’t know how to write novels; and c) they know I’m much happier with plots and characters in my head than with a mop in my hand.

So if you’d like to know more about my eighteen books under various names (or find out just how I turn the flotsam and the jetsam in my head into actual books), visit my website at
www.sabrinajeffries.com.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Books by
Sabrina Jeffries

M
ARRIED TO THE
V
ISCOUNT

D
ANCE OF
S
EDUCTION

A
FTER THE
A
BDUCTION

A N
OTORIOUS
L
OVE

A D
ANGEROUS
L
OVE

T
HE
D
ANGEROUS
L
ORD

T
HE
F
ORBIDDEN
L
ORD

T
HE
P
IRATE
L
ORD

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

MARRIED TO THE VISCOUNT
. Copyright © 2006 by Sabrina Jeffries. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

ePub edition September 2006 ISBN 9780061747342

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