Eighteen months later
Nikki stared at Chris’s image in her cheval mirror. He was breathtakingly handsome in his gray suit, but she would never get ready for the grand opening of Olivia’s new establishment if she kept admiring him. She hurried into her dress, pleased that it accommodated her wondrous secret. “Could you zip me, darling?”
Chris came and stood behind her, kissing her neck as he worked the zipper. She nuzzled him. “At times like this I can’t believe I walked away from you thinking we might never have a chance together.”
Chris laughed, their gazes locking in the reflective glass. “Or that I thought I could find my center without you—when you are my center.”
“Good thing we came to our senses within the month.” Nikki grew serious, caressing his clean-shaven cheek. “I wasn’t whole until you came for me. Until we married.”
“Nor I, my love.” He turned her in his arms and kissed her, roused her. The passion she’d worried would be lost had never burned stronger, deeper. He hugged her to his side, gazed at her adoringly. “I couldn’t have made it through the trial without you.”
His mother had been convicted of harboring a criminal and as an accessory in Dorothea Miller’s murder, and was now serving her sentence in a state correctional facility. His uncle was in a mental institution for the criminally insane. Lorah Halliard’s death had been attributed to natural causes. Her doctor discovered she’d had an undetected heart condition and had very likely overtaxed herself conducting the séance.
“Your dad and Liv are waiting downstairs.” Chris looked at her approvingly. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
In the living room of their new penthouse in downtown Seattle, Chris poured champagne into four glasses and handed one to Nikki, his father-in-law and his sister.
Olivia Conrad had blossomed. Her raven hair was clipped to her chin and flowed free around her face. No longer pale, but tanned and glowing, she’d given up black completely for a rainbow hue of pastel colors.
Diego beamed at his daughter and son-in-law. “Here’s to the continued and prosperous success of Conrad-Sands Unlimited, Inc. May we soon be designing and building more structures like this one.”
No one seemed to notice Nikki setting her drink on the coffee table next to her latest book and Marti McAllister Wolf’s new bestselling mystery, The Ghost Talks.
Chris lifted his glass and turned to his sister. “Here’s to the success of the Conrad Clinic. May all your patients overcome their eating disorders under your skilled and generous guidance, Liv.”
Olivia Conrad blushed. Wedding House had been sold to a wealthy Arab. Chris and Nikki hadn’t wanted any of the money and had given their portion to Dorothea’s family. Olivia was using hers to open an inpatient clinic to help women like herself.
Nikki left the champagne on the table. She linked her arm with her husband’s. “This is a great day for the Conrad family. We’re on our way to repairing the damage of the older generation.”
“Long live the new generation.” Diego raised his glass.
“I’ll drink to that,” Chris said.
“So would L” Nikki sighed. “But I think you’d better make mine sparkling cider.”
Chris’s eyes rounded questioningly. “Don’t you feel well?”
“I feel grand, but I’ve been keeping a little secret from you all.” She grinned at Liv, then her dad and finally at the man she loved more than life. “The first of the new generation will be here in about six months. And I want him as whole and healthy as his father.”
ISBN : 978-1-4592-5135-9
THE BRIDE’S SECRET
Copyright © 1999 by Adrianne Lee Undsderfer
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Milts, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
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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Table of Contents
Nikki noticed immediately how his wet shirt clung to his flat stomach, his musc
Letter to Reader
Dedication
CAST OF CHARACTERS
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
Epilogue
Copyright