Nothing Less Than Love Read Free Page A

down. She couldn’t even think about telling Jordan right now.
Besides, he wouldn’t want to know, she assured herself.
     
    Marcus nodded as he got onto the
freeway. “Well, you’ll just have to marry me then. I’ll take care
of both of you.”
     
    Tears flooded her eyes again and she
sniffled. “You’re very sweet, Marcus, but I can’t accept your
proposal. Anyway, what would Victoria say?”
     
    His face grew somber. “She can’t say
anything. Last week she broke up with me. It seems her dance
instructor is a wildly attractive Italian gentleman who wants to
marry her. The wedding plans are in full motion. I know it must be
love because she’s even giving up dancing to stay home and play
wifey.” He was so bitter that Gwyneth momentarily forgot her own
trouble. She’d never seen Marcus like this and she knew it would
take a long time for the scars to heal.
     
    She put her hand on his and whispered.
“I’m sorry, for both of us. I know you’re a noble man, Marcus, but
I won’t marry someone I’m not in love with. I know you too well.
You wouldn’t be happy if you settled for less than
love.”
     
    “ What if I love you?” Marcus
tossed out experimentally. “You’re my best friend, and we could be
happy together.”
     
    “There’s no attraction, and you know
it. No,” she shook her head firmly. “Let’s not discuss this again.”
Marcus dropped the subject and they continued back to the Del Royce
manor.
     
    ♥♥♥
     
    Gwyneth turned in early and lay in the
dark, thinking. She knew that abortion wasn’t an option for her
personally, though she was pro-choice. For her, it was a matter of
responsibility—she couldn’t punish an innocent child for her stupid
mistake.
     
    Adoption was out as well. When her
parents were killed, she came to live with Beth, who’d been
wonderful to her. Still, their relationship was not maternal, more
sisterly. Gwyneth never had the opportunity to know her parents,
and she couldn’t consign her child to the same fate.
     
    That left one option open to her, but
that option created more problems. Gwyneth knew that finishing
school would be difficult with a baby, and she wouldn’t feel right
accepting help from Howard and Lilly now. With three years in
business technology she could get a job, but it wouldn’t pay as
well as the same job once she had a degree.
     
    Of course, the biggest question was
should she tell Jordan he had fathered her baby in a moment of
weakness? Would he even believe her? He doubted her motives for
everything and would probably think she was trying to manipulate
him. No, she thought decisively, she wouldn’t tell him about the
baby. At least not now. When she was settled, Gwyneth would
consider letting him know then. It was with a heavy heart that she
finally fell asleep.
     

     
    Determined to have a bit of money when
she left, Gwyneth began to look for a job, and by the end of the
week she was successful. An elderly woman who ran a tea shop in San
Francisco hired her to work full time for the remainder of the
summer at a decent wage, plus commission on selected items. Beth
offered the use of her Honda, so Gwyneth didn’t have to rely on
anyone for transportation. From the time she left in the morning
until she returned at night, she was in control of her life.
Everything seemed clear-cut and manageable, if not easy. However,
at the Del Royce home, the presence of Jordan changed
everything.
     
    She became gloomy thinking of what
Jordan could give their baby that she couldn’t. Once or twice, she
even contemplated accepting Marcus’s proposal but knew that it was
wrong. She would be providing for her baby within his family, but
Gwyneth knew Jordan would kill her if he ever learned the
truth.
     
    ♥♥♥
     
    A week before college started again,
she made plans to leave. She already knew she wouldn’t be returning
to school for a while, but didn’t want Beth or the Del Royces to
become suspicious as to why she wasn’t