To Make a Marriage Read Online Free PDF Page A

‘You decided to come down, after all,’ he murmured distantly.
    He was still angry, Andie realised. But by what right? Okay, so they had all been a bit unthinking where Audrey’s resignation was concerned, but Adam had no idea of the circumstances of the last few weeks—and he would remain in ignorance as far as she was concerned! He had no right to judge what he didn’t understand. Besides, she still stuck by her position that it wasn’t for any of them to stand in the way of what Audrey had decided she wanted to do.
    â€˜Yes, as you can see,’ she replied, sitting forward in her seat as she prepared to stand up. ‘You’ll have to excuse me, I’m afraid; I was just about to go over to the hothouse to check on Mummy’s roses.’
    Adam gave her a derisive glance. ‘I’m sure they can continue to grow for the next ten minutes or so without your checking on them! Long enough for you to sit with me while I drink my coffee, at least.’
    She drew in a sharp breath at his undoubted mockery. She and Adam seemed to have been at odds with each other just recently—and she couldn’t say it was something she was very comfortable with.
    â€˜I’m sure they can,’ she acknowledged softly as she remained seated. She was feeling slightly vulnerable since her leave-taking of the magazine yesterday, and certainly didn’t feel up to another confrontation with Adam. ‘Did you know that it was Jonas presenting Danie with a bunch of yellow roses, just like the ones Mummy loved to grow, that confirmed for Danie that she was in love with him?’ she continued conversationally.
    â€˜No.’ Adam smiled as he stretched his long length in thechair opposite hers. ‘Although that sounds like the unpredictable Danie we all know and love,’ he went on affectionately. ‘How do you feel about having a doctor in the family?’
    Her aversion to anyone in the medical profession, since going into hospital at the age of five to have her tonsils out, had become a family joke. And as Adam had been almost part of that family for the last twenty years…
    She retained her casual demeanour. ‘He could come in useful, I suppose,’ she answered flippantly.
    Adam chuckled. ‘I’m sure Jonas would be pleased to hear it!’
    â€˜He’s an obstetrician, did you know?’ Andie said.
    â€˜I think Rome did mention it.’ Adam nodded. ‘I wonder how on earth Danie ever met him?’ he asked thoughtfully.
    Andie knew exactly how her impulsively madcap sister had met the gorgeous Jonas Noble. But that was something else that wasn’t for public knowledge. And in this particular case, Adam was definitely part of the public…
    â€˜Rome is out on the estate somewhere,’ she very firmly changed the subject. ‘But he shouldn’t be too much longer.’
    â€˜I’m not complaining,’ Adam drawled, smiling warmly as Audrey returned with the promised cup and saucer.
    â€˜What man would complain about having coffee with two beautiful women?’
    â€˜One beautiful woman, I’m afraid,’ Audrey announced.
    â€˜The post has just arrived, so I’ll have to leave the two of you for a while,’ she told them regretfully.
    â€˜Shall I pour, or would you like to be Mother?’ Adam invited sardonically, once he and Andie were alone once more.
    Andie gave him a sharp glance, her hands clenched tightly on the arms of her chair as she felt her cheeks lose all their colour, breathing shallowly in her shock.
    Did Adam know? Had her father, despite her request for privacy, confided her condition to this man, his best friend?
    Because she was going to be ‘Mother’—in six months, she was going to have a baby!
    The realisation of her pregnancy nine weeks ago had come as a tremendous shock to her, one that she hadn’t taken to too readily initially. After all, without the baby’s