Once A Bad Girl (21 page)

‘Oops.’ Lottie bit her bottom lip. They stared at each other for a long, long moment. Then they both laughed.

‘Oh well,’ he said. ‘I’m planning on marrying you and getting you pregnant anyway.’

‘I thought you said we had to talk before we did anything from now on.’

He planted his hands on the floor either side of her head. She could feel him start to get hard inside her all over again. ‘You do the talking,’ he said, rocking his hips. He gave her that killer smile. ‘I’ll do the anything.’

And that was how Lottie knew that this time she’d found the real thing.

‘I cannot believe you talked me into this.’ Smoothing her hands over her purple-silk dress, Lottie checked her reflection in the mirror for the umpteenth time. The dress flowed to her ankles, subtly emphasising her curves, and the hairdresser had performed some sort of miracle with hairspray and straightening irons. But even so. ‘Look at me!’

‘You look beautiful, darling,’ her mother said, as she spritzed herself with perfume.

‘I look short and fat!’

‘Lottie, you are six months pregnant. You do not look fat. Now, I’m going to go find your father and make sure he’s in his seat.’

‘Okay mum,’ Lottie said. She gave her mother an awkward half-sideways hug. ‘I guess I’m ready, anyway.’ Tonight was the opening night for the jazz club, and she would be the first act on stage. Nerves collided with anticipation and excitement. It was a dizzying mix.

Helen slipped out of the dressing room as Josh slipped in, looking more gorgeous than ever in black evening trousers and a white shirt. ‘I swear you get more beautiful every damn day,’ he said, stepping in behind her. ‘How is that possible?’

‘Because every day you’re older therefore your eyesight is worse?’ Lottie suggested, squealing when he nipped at the nape of her neck as punishment. He slid his hands over her arms and up again, then cradled her belly.

The baby kicked hard against his hand, and Lottie couldn’t hold back a smile. She loved the feeling so much. The past six months had been a crazy whirlwind of change. Starting with the auction house, which Josh had bought from her parents before they’d disappeared on a Caribbean cruise.

She and Josh had spent two months working round the clock to get the place converted into a jazz club. The offices were being used for music lessons, and they were already booked solid for the next year. Then Marlene had finally surrendered and checked herself into rehab.

And in amongst all that, Lottie had plucked up the courage to take a pregnancy test. She’d already known the answer, but she’d made Josh read the test anyway, and she didn’t think she’d ever seen him so happy.

‘There is nothing wrong with my eyesight,’ he said, giving her a cheeky pat on the bum. ‘Now sit down, and I’ll help you with your shoes.’

‘I can do my own shoes!’ Lottie retorted, as he shooed her down onto the velvet armchair in the corner. ‘I’m not that big.’

‘Humour me.’ He reached behind him, pulled something from his back pocket and handed it to her. ‘Here. I brought you some reading material.’

Lottie turned the magazine the right way up. ‘
Guilty Pleasures
?’

He raised an eyebrow and worked a thumb over the arch of her foot, the touch sending a glorious wave of pleasure through her body. Surrendering to the sensation, Lottie relaxed back into the chair and started to read. Celebrities’ worst-ever hair extension disasters, red-carpet howlers, and a whole section devoted to the subject of male waxing. She flicked through a couple more pages.

Her forehead knotted in confusion. ‘Josh, why are you,…’ Words failed her as she read the headline:

Josh took the magazine from her shaking hand, and held up a little blue box. It didn’t escape her notice that his hands weren’t quite steady either. He opened it up. Inside was the most exquisite diamond ring she’d ever seen. She couldn’t quite make it out. All she could see was bright, breathtaking sparkle in a bed of plump white satin. ‘Is that a fake?’

He rolled his eyes. ‘This, babe, is about as real as it gets. Now do you want it or not?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes!’

by Ainslie Paton

From the bestselling author of
Grease Monkey Jive
comes a rollercoaster rock-and-roll ride of confronting fears, making music, and learning to be true
.

Rielle Mainline is a rock star with a hardcore image, a troubled heart, and a twenty-five-city tour to front with her band, Ice Queen. She should be ecstatic. But the tour includes Sydney and Rielle has spent years running away from that city.

Jake Reed knows Rielle’s reputation as a prize bitch will make being Ice Queen’s tour manager a challenge, but Jake’s confident he can handle her — until he meets her. Then he’s off-balance, not sure if he wants to run as fast as he can towards or away from her. Sparks fly, tempers flare, and two loners are about to discover that being alone isn’t the same as being lonely.

by Elisabeth Rose

For lovers of Debbie Macomber, a powerfully emotional romance about one tragic event, and the family, community, and love that must face the consequences
.

Twenty-seven years ago, in the heat and chaos of raging bushfires, local police find a toddler and a newborn baby beside the body of a runaway teenage girl, and the course of two people’s lives is altered forever…

When Shay Brookes and Joelle Paice meet again, they experience an instant, but immediately suppressed attraction. Together, seeking their birth parents, they traverse the emotional minefield of ruptured families — both old and new — discovering lies, mistakes, truths, guilt, and ultimately love, all rippling out from one tragic moment in the past.

by Maggie Gilbert

For readers of Jenny Downham, John Greene and Maureen McCarthy, a poignant young adult romance about following your dreams and realising what really matters
.

What can you do when your own hands are the enemy? Hold on tight, for as long as it takes.

Melissa has secrets. Sure it’s pretty obvious she has Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, but no one knows how bad it is or how many pills she takes for the pain. She’s determined to make her horse Jinx into a champion and she dreams that her childhood friend William will one day see
her
, rather than her condition.

So when William asks her out and Jinx is shortlisted for selection in an elite training program, it seems Melissa’s dreams have come true. But when her secrets are exposed, all those dreams come crashing down around her. Can William ever forgive her? And can she learn about letting go in time to truly ride on air when it matters most?

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ISBN: 9780857990419

Title: ONCE A BAD GIRL

Copyright © 2013 by Jane O’Reilly

All rights reserved. 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 publisher, Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Limited, Locked Bag 7002, Chatswood D.C. NSW, Australia, 2067.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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