EXPECTING HIS CHILD by Leanne Banks Read Free Book Online Page A

labor."
    Martina glanced at the teacher and put aside her distracting thoughts. If she didn't focus on the class, Noah was going to know more about going through labor than she did, and she would never live that down.
    After class, they drove home in silence. He pulled into her driveway, but didn't get out. "You're quiet."
    She smiled. "Rare, isn't it?"
    He nodded. "What's on your mind?"
    She shrugged. "Lots of things. Labor, delivery, wondering what it was like for my mother."
    His gaze turned thoughtful and he squeezed her shoulder. "Worried?"
    "Not really," she automatically said. "There's no reason—" She broke off and smiled at the sensation of her baby's movements.
    "What is it?"
    "I think we've got a rodeo rider." She pressed her hand against her belly and saw the look of curiosity and longing on Noah's face. The expression moved her. Impulsively, she put his hand on her belly.
    His eyes widened. "Hell, she's active!"
    Martina laughed. " He ," she corrected.
    "She," he corrected, then cradled her belly with both hands. "Does she do this all the time?"
    The fascination in his voice did strange things to her heart. "Not all the time. He sleeps some, but sometimes it feels like he's gearing up for a rodeo."
    Noah stroked his fingers over the blouse covering her. The gesture was oddly tender and sensual. "I know this has been happening for centuries, but it still feels like a miracle. You and I made this magic happen."
    With dark eyes, he held her gaze for a long moment, a moment where something inside her seemed to creak and shift.
    Martina wasn't sure there were words for what his eyes were saying to her. Noah leaned closer and she held her breath. He dipped his head and slowly, softly rubbed his warm lips over hers.
    Martina felt the caress electrify her nerve endings from her head to her toes. He kissed her and a hundred emotions tumbled through her. All the passion they'd shared and something more powerful jerked at her like a game of crack the whip.
    Alarm shot through her. She pulled back, staring at him, waiting to breathe. Martina lost herself in his changeable eyes. Sometimes green, occasionally blue and in rare moments gray like a storm-tossed sea, his eyes truly seemed to mirror the inner man. He was one man, yet had such diversity, a diversity that had fascinated her from the moment she'd met him. Strong, rugged, intelligent, intuitive.
    Perhaps too intuitive, she thought. Sometimes she feared he could see everything going on inside her. "I need to go," she whispered, and turned away from him.
    She didn't make it out of the car before he appeared by her side. He cupped her elbow, and though she felt the urge to wrest her arm from him, Martina knew it would have been childish. Still, just his touch set off a riot inside her. She'd run from the intimacy they'd shared, but his closeness stirred up images of his hands exploring and pleasuring her.
    "You haven't forgotten, have you?" he asked in a low voice as they reached her porch.
    "Forgotten what?" she returned, digging for keys in her purse.
    "What it was like when you were mine."
    Her heart slammed into overdrive. "I was never yours."
    Noah boldly lifted his hands beneath her cotton blouse and touched the bare flesh of her belly. "Yes, you were. There's plenty of proof. Here," he said, then skimmed his hand up between her breasts. "And here. You were mine."

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    Chapter 5
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    Y ou were mine.
    Noah's words echoed through Martina's head as she fell into a fitful sleep. The images seeped inside her, at first hazy around the edges.
    He set her on the desk in his hotel room with a playful, yet intent gleam in his eye. Martina's heart fluttered and she wondered what was next. He was always surprising her.
    He skimmed his finger up the inside of her stocking-clad leg all the way to her knee. "I've always thought the man who invented panty hose should have been horsewhipped."
    She grinned. "And why is that? Do you think it would be better for women to