Two Little Miracles

by Caroline Anderson

• ISBN13: 9780373175680
• ISBN10: 037317568X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-10
• Publisher: Harlequin

Summary

Julia hasn't seen her husband, Max, for almost a year--but he's just walked through the door looking as breathtaking as ever!Max has come to make things right with his beloved Julia. But he hasn't bargained on meeting two surprise little twin girls....Now Max has two weeks to prove he's the best husband and father in the world!

Excerpts

'I've found her.'Max froze.It was what he'd been waiting for since June, but now-- now he was almost afraid to voice the question. His heart stalling, he leaned slowly back in his chair and scoured the investigator's face for clues. 'Where?' he asked, and his voice sounded rough and unused, like a rusty hinge.'In Suffolk. She's living in a cottage.'Living.His heart crashed back to life, and he sucked in a long, slow breath. All these months he'd feared...'Is she well?''Yes, she's well.'He had to force himself to ask the next question. 'Alone?'The man paused. 'No. The cottage belongs to a man called John Blake. He's working away at the moment, but he comes and goes.'God. He felt sick. So sick he hardly registered the next few words, but then gradually they sank in. 'She's gotwhat?''Babies. Twin girls. They're eight months old.''Eight--?' he echoed under his breath. 'So he's got children?'He was thinking out loud, but the PI heard and corrected him.'Apparently not. I gather they're hers. She's been there since mid-January last year, and they were born during the summer--June, the woman in the post office thought. She was more than helpful. I think there's been a certain amount of speculation about their relationship.'He'd just bet there had. God, he was going to kill her. Or Blake. Maybe both of them.'Of course, looking at the dates, she was presumably pregnant when she left you, so they could be yours--or she could have been having an affair with this Blake character before.'He glared at the unfortunate PI. 'Just stick to your job. I can do the maths,' he snapped, swallowing the unpalatable possibility that she'd been unfaithful to him before she'd left. 'Where is she? I want the address.''It's all in here,' the man said, sliding a large envelope across the desk to him. 'With my invoice.''I'll get it seen to. Thank you.''If there's anything else you need, Mr Gallagher, any further information--''I'll be in touch.''The woman in the post office told me Blake was away at the moment, if that helps,' he added quietly, and opened the door.Max stared down at the envelope, hardly daring to open it. But, when the door clicked softly shut behind the PI, he eased up the flap, tipped it and felt his breath jam in his throat as the photos spilled out over the desk.Oh lord, she looked gorgeous. Different, though. It took him a moment to recognise her, because she'd grown her hair and it was tied back in a ponytail, making her look younger and somehow freer. The blonde highlights were gone, and it was back to its natural soft golden-brown, with a little curl in the end of the ponytail that he wanted to thread his finger through and tug, just gently, to draw her back to him.Crazy. She'd put on a little weight, but it suited her. She looked well and happy and beautiful, but oddly, considering how desperate he'd been for news of her for the last year--one year, three weeks and two days, to be exact-- it wasn't Julia who held his attention after the initial shock. It was the babies sitting side by side in a supermarket trolley. Two identical and absolutely beautiful little girls.His? It was a distinct possibility. He only had to look at the dark, spiky hair on their little heads, so like his own at that age. He could have been looking at a photo of himself.Max stared down at it until the images swam in front of his eyes. He pressed the heels of his hands against them, struggling for breath, then lowered his hands and stared again.She was alive--alive and well--and she had two beautiful children.Children that common sense would dictate were his.Children he'd never seen, children he'd not been told about, and suddenly he found he couldn't breathe. Why hadn't she told him? Would he ever have been told about them? Damn it, howdaredshe keep them a secret from him? Unl