August Heat

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An Excerpt From: AUGUST HEAT

Copyright ?
LORA LEIGH, 2003.

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing,
Inc.

 Between contractions,
preparation and the smooth transition from pain to woozy comfort, she
watched the three men. They stood silently across the room, their gazes
shadowed and worried, flickering with fear. But Cade looked tortured.

?I?m okay,? she whispered,
smiling for him as the pain receded. ?We?re both going to be fine.?

He moved to her, careful to
stay out of the way of the nurses until he could stand beside the hospital
bed. Then he laid his head beside hers, his hands tangling in her long hair
as he held her to him, his body convulsing with a hard shudder.

?I know,? he whispered
bleakly, his voice so haunted with pain it broke her heart. ?Everything?s
fine. I know that.?

But she could hear his
fears. Fears that had only grown as the pregnancy progressed.

?He?ll be as gorgeous as his
daddy. And just as strong,? she whispered, well aware of the fact that the
child could be no one?s but Cade?s. She had made certain of it.

She had given each of them
the illusion that they would be as much a part of the baby as Cade was, to
keep that bond alive for them. But privately, she had ensured no other
fathered the baby but Cade. He was her soul. Everything that mattered in
this world to her.

As his hands tightened in her hair, his body trembling
with emotion, Marly feared the changes that would soon come crashing into
his life. She wanted her husband happy. Whole. The nightmares were gone,
but she knew his fears still lingered. The fear of losing her. Of being
alone, deep inside, once again. And she swore to herself in that moment,
for Cade, for their baby, she had to make him face the final demon that
haunted him. Him, Brock, and Sam.