Nothing Less Than Love Read Free

his girlfriend.” She
got to her feet and started for the door.
     
    Jordan grabbed her arm and spun her
around. “Don’t walk away from me. We’re not through yet. I’ve been
going over your bills for the year and have a few questions about
your expenditures.”
     
    Gwyneth tried to jerk free, but he was
holding her too tightly. “You don’t want to hear my answers. You’ll
just interpret your own explanations anyway—casting me in the worse
possible light.” She averted her face from his gaze. “Release me or
I’ll scream. I find your touch repulsive.” She swallowed the lump
in her throat when Jordan’s eyes blazed with fury and knew she’d
gone too far, but refused to call back the words. Jordan yanked her
into his arms and ground his lips on hers. To her humiliation, her
body responded immediately and they were soon in a passionate
embrace.
     
    Gwyneth moaned when his lips found the
sensitive spot behind her ear and Jordan suddenly realized what he
was doing. He shoved her away from him. “Get out. Get out of here,
and don’t ever come back!” She recoiled from his rage and ran out
of the office as fast as she could. In the nearest bathroom, she
lost her dinner, then huddled weakly on the floor, weeping. She was
sick again before finally finding the strength to drag herself
upstairs and into bed. It was a long night as she tossed and
turned.
     

     

Chapter Three
     
    Gwyneth awoke the next morning still
feeling sick to her stomach and washed out. After being sick in the
bathroom she plodded downstairs and collapsed on the love seat in
the library. She was still lying there an hour later when Marcus
found her.
     
    “ Are you sick?” he asked as
he felt Gwyneth’s forehead. “No fever.”
     
    Shaking her head, she pulled herself
up. “Just nauseated. I’ll be fine.”
     
    Marcus reached down to help her stand
up. “Come on—we’re going to the doctor.”
     
    “I don’t need a doctor,” Gwyneth
insisted as she leaned against him, still protesting when he led
her to his car. She drowsed through the half-hour drive into the
city, where he took her to an urgency clinic. Gwyneth filed out the
paperwork and rose when the nurse called. “Gwyneth
Barbary.”
     
    She followed the nurse into the exam
room, where she changed into a paper gown and waited for the
doctor. He appeared a few minutes later and silently examined her.
Afterwards he frowned at her, but she’d never seen him smile yet.
“You provided a urine specimen?” he verified.
     
    Gwyneth nodded, clenching her hands.
She wasn’t expecting anything to be wrong except stress or
emotional shock. “You’re pregnant.”
     
    “What?” Gwyneth gasped painfully.
Cramps hit her stomach and she bent forward. “I can’t
be.”
     
    “The results are conclusive,” the
doctor responded. “Of course there are options, such as abortion or
adoption.”
     
    Gwyneth nodded. “I know. I need to
think about all of this,” she said softly.
     
    The doctor nodded and left her to
dress. The nurse brought her a prescription for prenatal vitamins
and Gwyneth left the room and settled her bill.
     
    Marcus was still reading a magazine in
the waiting room and he took one look at her pale face. “What’s
wrong?”
     
    Gwyneth shook her head and walked out
of the office. She was at the car before she burst into
tears.
     
    “ Gwyneth, what is it?” he
demanded, scared.
     
    She started laughing, bitterly. “I’m
pregnant. I can’t believe it, but it’s true.” As she was
explaining, Marcus was settling her in the car and fastening her
seat belt. “I’m having a baby,” she moaned more to herself than
Marcus.
     
    He got behind the wheel, started the
car, and merged into traffic before saying anything. “Will there be
a wedding in the future?”
     
    “No, absolutely not. It was once and
just a mistake. In fact, he hates me, we hate each other. He won’t
want to know about my baby.” Gwyneth took deep breaths and tried to
calm