Their Nine-Month Surprise Read online

  She’s determined to do it all by herself...

  but he’ll do anything to earn her trust!

  Returning from vacation, veterinary tech Lachlan Reid is shocked—the woman he’s been dreaming about for months is on his doorstep. He hasn’t forgotten his one magical night with Marisol Cardenas—nor will he now that she’s pregnant! Lachlan has always wanted to be a dad and works tirelessly to make Marisol see his commitment. But can he convince marriage-shy Marisol to form the family of their dreams?

  Lachlan coughed again. The desk creaked as he let it take more of his weight. “And you didn’t say anything? It’s June, Marisol.”

  He dealt with distress all the time. Pet owners and ranchers, pale and shaking when their animals were in need of care. Idiot hikers, defensive and cranky when they had to admit they should have taken a compass instead of relying on their now-dead cell phone’s GPS. But nothing he’d run across in either job quite matched the mix of ire and dread flashing in Marisol’s green eyes.

  “You have got to be kidding me.” The words were muffled by her clenched teeth.

  “Am I kidding you? Try the other way around.”

  “I’m clearly not.” Mouth tight, she waved a hand at her stomach.

  Son of a... He’d run his hand over her abdomen dozens of times before. Back when it had been flat. And now it wasn’t. His baby was in there. “Last time I checked, ‘mind reader’ wasn’t anywhere on my résumé.”

  * * *

  SUTTER CREEK, MONTANA: Passion and happily-ever-afters in Big Sky Country

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome back to Sutter Creek—this time, with dogs! Each of the dogs is inspired by furry friends I’ve known over the years. The German shorthaired pointer in Their Nine-Month Surprise is a composite of the three pointers my family has owned and loved. It was so much fun imagining the breed traits in Fudge, search and rescue handler Lachlan’s right-hand lady. Or at least that’s her role until Marisol turns up in his life.

  Marisol Cardenas initially comes to town in Holiday by Candlelight to visit her brother, Zach, and has a hell of a holiday fling with Lachlan. Marisol’s PhD program, Lachlan’s business plans and the fact Marisol lives in Canada means they initially write off anything long-term, but where would the fun be in that? I knew I had to throw something life-altering at them. What better than an unexpected pregnancy?

  Between babies, dogs and search and rescue, Their Nine-Month Surprise is packed with sweetness, challenges and a whole lot of love. Let me know your thoughts on Lachlan’s quest to earn Marisol’s trust—you’ll find me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest (laurelgreerauthor). Or hop on to my website, laurelgreer.com, to check out the rest of the Sutter Creek series!

  Happy reading!

  Laurel

  Their Nine-Month Surprise

  Laurel Greer

  Raised in a small town on Vancouver Island, Laurel Greer grew up skiing and boating by day and reading romances under the covers by flashlight at night. Ever committed to the proper placement of the Canadian eh, she loves to write books with snapping sexual tension and second chances. She lives outside Vancouver with her law-talking husband and two daughters. At least half her diet is made up of tea. Find her at www.laurelgreer.com.

  Books by Laurel Greer

  Harlequin Special Edition

  Sutter Creek, Montana

  From Exes to Expecting

  A Father for Her Child

  Holiday by Candlelight

  To my critique partners—Ashley, Bee, Deana, Kelly, Stacy and Tiana. I couldn’t do this without you (or the carbohydrates and bubbly). Thank you for your love, support and brilliant feedback.

  Contents

  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

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Her Savannah Surprise by Nancy Robards Thompson

  Chapter One

  Marisol Cardenas’s car was only the second one in the lot when she pulled up to the Sutter Creek Veterinary Clinic. Excellent. She’d purposefully planned to arrive ahead of opening hours, before Lachlan got busy and found yet another excuse to blow her off. When she’d left him a voice mail back in January, she’d told him they could talk later.

  She hadn’t meant five months later.

  But after he hadn’t called back, she tried the clinic. And wow, his receptionist. A peach, that guy. The snarky “He’s in the Andes”—she’d laughed at that one. As if Lachlan would be traveling given how committed he’d been to starting his dog training facility. The subsequent “He’s in Australia” and “Why don’t you fly to Korea and see him there instead of clogging up my phone line” excuses had been equally creative, but not nearly so funny.

  And she’d been too busy throwing up to test what the fourth song and dance would be.

  Message received, Lachlan.

  But have I got one to give to you.

  He could use his receptionist as a human shield all he wanted, but couldn’t avoid her in person. And yeah, it had taken her months to get her life together enough to be able to come back to Sutter Creek. But now that she’d arrived, she was here for good.

  Her second-hand maternity clothes and mismatched dishes and many, many textbooks were now stacked in the living room of her new apartment, a tangible—and heavy—reminder that her life was in Montana, now.

  And with it, her child’s life. Lachlan’s child, too.

  She’d driven past his apartment building on her way into town yesterday, and his truck had been right out front. Only the boxes and suitcases stacked to the roof of her ancient hatchback had prevented her from ringing his buzzer until he acknowledged her existence for the first time since December.

  “We going to do this, baby?” she murmured, laying her hands on her round belly. “Yeah, I know. It’s time.”

  Time to get out of her car and tell Lachlan he was going to be a daddy. Even though he wasn’t going to like it.

  Acid burned her throat. He’d been honest, at least, when they’d been in the tangled sheets of their passionate, vacation-only fling.

  I’m not looking for any kind of commitment, Marisol. I don’t want strings.

  Nor was she upset that he didn’t want a relationship with her. She didn’t want that, either. A failed marriage during her undergraduate years had taught her that finishing a degree and having a relationship did not mix.

  But parenthood was different. Hopefully, with time, Lachlan would come around to the idea of being a father. As a vet tech in his sister’s practice and a search and rescue handler, he was incredible with dogs and other animals, so she knew he had the capacity to care. He was well loved in Sutter Creek, too, or at least it had seemed so based on the sheer volume of hugs and conversations he’d been dragged into the few times they’d emerged from his bedroom while she’d been here on holiday in December.

  And unless she stopped staring at the cheery blue clapboard building, one of the tiny ski town’s well-meaning residents would spot her, correctly guess her child’s paternity, and pass on the news to Lachlan before she mustered up the courage.

  She could grip her steering wheel and deep breathe all she wante
d, but no relaxation exercise would make this easier.

  Rejection, here I come.

  She hoisted herself out of the car, groaning at her lack of grace as she reached in to snag her satchel off the passenger seat. Her third trimester belly—she’d passed that marker last week—guaranteed she’d be waddling until she gave birth.

  The sun promised a warm June day, but it still hadn’t managed to take the morning chill off. She wrapped her thin cardigan over her ever-expanding bump and headed for the door. If Lach’s shifts were the same as they’d been six months ago, he’d be working seven to four, so would have gotten here over an hour ago. His truck wasn’t in the parking lot, but that didn’t mean anything. He’d told her he usually biked to work in the summer months. And as much as she’d wanted to forget about Lachlan Reid, her brain had collected facts about him like a crow with shiny objects.

  She shut her car door and walked along the cement sidewalk to the front entrance. The renovated rancher had pretty white shutters and planter boxes filled with geraniums and marigolds. The bright dots of color swam in her vision as she momentarily held her breath. She inhaled deeply—not far off what she’d been learning in labor and delivery class—and tried the door handle. Locked. Damn.

  She knocked as loudly as she could in case Lachlan was off somewhere feeding animals or something. Her PhD focus on canine psychology meant she’d visited a fair number of animal clinics, and they usually had similar floor plans, with kennels in the back.

  A lock snicked from the inside, and the door swung open.

  Marisol’s heart raced.

  It needn’t have. The person standing there had Lachlan’s dark blond hair and the same cheek dimples, but was about a head shorter and female.

  “Maggie,” Marisol croaked at the veterinarian. The woman was dressed in purple scrubs, and still had the same pink-on-porcelain complexion as when Marisol had briefly met her in December. Not like Maggie’s brother’s outdoorsy tan. His skin had been almost as brown as Marisol’s, though her complexion came from her Colombian dad. She spent way too much time holed up in university libraries to get any color from the sun. “Uh, nice place you have here. I like the blue paint.”

  Maggie crossed her arms and cocked her head. She took a step back. “Looking for Lachlan, I assume?”

  Marisol swallowed down her panic. She hadn’t gotten much of a read on the vet the last time she was in town. She’d been too busy kissing Lachlan to pay much mind to his family.

  Keep it casual. “Yeah, I thought I’d stop by and say hi.” Before nine on a Monday? Like that’s going to throw her off the scent?

  Judging by Maggie’s laser gaze on Marisol’s belly, veterinary school covered simple arithmetic. “Just say hi?”

  Marisol pressed her lips together. There was something sacred about learning about becoming a parent, about that knowledge transfer. She couldn’t violate it, no matter how much Lachlan’s avoidance stung. She’d been lying to her own brother since she realized she was pregnant, claiming her child was the result of a New Year’s Eve date with a fellow doctoral student. And she’d dodged the “Are you, uh, expecting a roommate at some point?” question when she’d accepted her keys from her new landlord yesterday. The woman, Mackenzie Dawson, worked for the ski resort and knew Marisol’s brother well. Not exactly the person to be spilling secrets to. But Marisol had to handle Maggie carefully. Now that she’d moved to Montana, a good relationship with her child’s aunt was critical.

  “I got to town yesterday and was exhausted. Crashed the minute my brother finished helping me unload my car,” she said quietly. “This is my first chance to speak to Lachlan.”

  “Sweet baby jelly beans,” Maggie murmured. She backed up until she rested against the waist-high counter of the reception desk. An odd mixture of anger and hope stretched her mouth. “I’m going to be an auntie?”

  “I need to talk to your brother.”

  The derision darkening Maggie’s brown eyes made Marisol’s stomach lurch. Apparently, neither Reid sibling was going to be excited about a new addition to their family.

  “You should have talked to him months ago,” Maggie said. “I know you haven’t yet, because if you had, and if you’re going to tell him what I think you’re going to tell him, he would have filled me in.” She waved a hand at Marisol’s stomach. “It’s not like this is new information for you.”

  Holy crap, were the halogen pot-lights overhead emitting solar flares? Sweat beaded on Marisol’s brow, and she shucked out of her cardigan, then held it in front of her bump. “He blew me off.”

  “He wouldn’t do that,” Maggie insisted.

  No, sorry, he had your receptionist do it for him.

  Holding in the sarcastic response, Marisol spread a hand over the cotton of her maternity blouse and aimed for a neutral smile. “Maggie, I really don’t feel right confirming or denying anything with anyone except Lachlan. Is he here?”

  The other woman shook her head. “He’s starting late.” She checked her watch. “He’ll be here in ten.”

  Marisol gritted her teeth. “Mind if I wait?”

  “You’d better.” Maggie’s lips flattened, but she motioned for Marisol to enter and have a seat in the waiting area. “You’re going to let him be involved, right?”

  “If he wants to be.” Marisol winced. Ack. There went not confirming anything. Sure, it was a technicality at this point, but still. She mentally kicked herself as she eased into a seat in the space adjacent to the reception desk, filled with pet-friendly vinyl chairs and stunning wildlife photography.

  “If he wants to be?” The exclamation nearly rattled the front window. “You clearly don’t know Lachlan very well.”

  How could she have? She’d come in December to visit her brother, Zach, and his fiancée and child, and had spent a good chunk of the vacation in a passionate fling with Lachlan. Hours before catching the plane home, she had brought up the impossibilities of a long-distance relationship. It had been nice to have that as an excuse instead of having to explain her feelings about commitment. Lachlan had saved her further, though, throwing out his “no strings” line. He’d explained that everything in his life had to focus on expanding Maggie’s clinic with a training facility for working dogs.

  She could thank her divorce for teaching her to appreciate Lachlan’s kind of clarity.

  She’d understood his single-minded priorities, too. She’d delayed her academic goals when she married young. Her husband had been a grad student, and she’d reduced her course load to part-time so that she could work to pay a bigger chunk of their bills. They’d planned for her to go back full-time once he finished his degree. But he’d accumulated more bills than she’d known about.

  Even though the judge presiding over their divorce had ruled that her ex was responsible for payment, he defaulted on the payments, and the creditors had come after her. Settling his debts in a desperate attempt to avoid bankruptcy had made it even harder to finish her degrees in the ideal amount of time. Working part-time, scrambling for scholarships and grants, borrowing from her parents—she’d been playing catch-up for close to a decade. She’d learned to bury her pride, to scrimp and plan.

  And when she realized she was pregnant, she came up with a new plan. One that she loved, no matter what Lachlan decided to do. Living in Sutter Creek meant she was blocks away from her brother and his family. That was more hands-on support than she had in Vancouver, given their parents and sisters lived a couple of hours outside of the city. And she’d even been able to arrange to complete her PhD prospectus and dissertation research at the university in Bozeman. She’d been lucky to find a professor who was experienced in canine psychology. God, given how involved Lachlan was with avalanche dogs, he probably knew her supervisor. His interest in canine behavior had been one of the reasons Marisol had started flirting with him in the first place.

  Now that she was set for support and her
degree, it didn’t matter if he was too busy building a dog-training empire to get involved with their baby. She wouldn’t be left in a hospital, grieving alone...

  There won’t be any grieving this time. Just joy.

  Swallowing down the memories threatening to emerge, she glanced up at Maggie, who was still standing by the reception desk with a perplexed look on her face. “I know your brother as well as he let me know him.”

  Maggie’s brow crinkled. “Are we talking about the same Lachlan?”

  “Given your nose scrunches up identically when you’re confused? Yeah.”

  “Oh.” White teeth tugged on a lipstick-free mouth. “You know a few things about him, then.”

  I know a lot about him. Mainly things to do with his naked body, though. Nothing useful for figuring out coparenting.

  Instead of trying to turn any of that into something shareable, she shrugged.

  Maggie’s throat bobbed, and her eyes grew damp. “He’s going to be elated. He’s wanted a family forever.”

  Elated? That didn’t make any sense. “But—”

  Marisol’s phone chimed in her satchel. “Excuse me, that might be Lach. I texted him yesterday.” Yet another unanswered message, but at least she could say she’d tried.

  She pulled out her phone. Just her brother, a text asking her to call. “Crap, I need to make a call, but my phone isn’t set up with US minutes yet—sorry to impose, but is there one I can use?”

  “Behind the reception desk. Dial six to get out. Just make sure you vacate the seat by eight fifty-nine, or face my receptionist’s wrath.”

  “If that’s the only wrath I face today, I’ll be golden,” she muttered as she crossed the room to the reception counter.

  Maggie caught her wrist. “What do you mean?”

  Heat rose up Marisol’s neck. “It was a joke. Poorly timed, maybe, but let’s be honest—you’ve been edging on laying into me since I got here, and I wouldn’t be surprised if your brother did the same, so...”