Secrets Of The A-List. Dani Collins
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Friends in devious places...
Poor Elana Marshall. She just can’t catch a break. But balancing the men in her life is nothing compared to her latest earth-shattering secret. Too bad the Fixer can’t help—there’s a much bigger distraction: a demanding new client looking to pay big money for an even bigger job. Still, with the Marshalls circling the drain and the Fixer’s reputation on the line, “no” is simply not an option...
Super Rich. Super Sexy. Super Addictive.
Secrets of the A-List—read all 12 episodes!
Secrets of the A-List (Episode 10 of 12)
Dani Collins
Praise for Dani Collins
“Her couple is the epitome of miscommunication, but watching them finally ‘get’ each other is worth every page. Oh, and the love scenes are jaw-dropping sizzlers!”
—RT Book Reviews on More than a Convenient Marriage
Canadian DANI COLLINS knew in high school that she wanted to write romance for a living. Twenty-five years later, after marrying her high school sweetheart, having two kids with him, working at several generic office jobs and submitting countless manuscripts, she got The Call. Her first Harlequin novel won the Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best First in Series from RT Book Reviews. She now works in her own office, writing romance.
This episode is dedicated to my grandmother, Lena, who introduced me to serials by insisting on quiet when her “programs” were on—Love of Life and The Young and the Restless. When Dallas started, we watched it together and she loved Dynasty, too. “Oh, I don’t trust that one,” she would say of whichever female character was behaving very badly, as if she knew them in real life. She would have loved to hate Ana. I so wish she was still with us. Secrets of the A-List would have been her jam.
Contents
After taking two pregnancy tests, Elana is awaiting her fate. Pregnant or not? That’s the easy part. The problem arises when she thinks about who the father could be—husband Thom or lover Jarrod? When they said the first year of marriage was hard, they weren’t kidding...and damn, she’s only been married a few weeks so far!
The air wafting through the open window of Whispering Oaks carried a warm, dry mix of sage and chaparral. The weather today was particularly lovely, and some nurse or orderly had clearly thought it would be healthy to let some fresh air into Harrison’s room. Mariella found it as cloying as any hospital sickroom. The grounds she had initially judged restorative, with their tangle of colorful wildflowers across rockeries and walking paths that disappeared beneath shady trees, now struck her as too fussy and close. Claustrophobic.
She dragged her gaze back to the white-on-white room. Its attempt to look comfortable came off cold. The lack of contrast didn’t do her husband any favors, either. His tan was faded and his lips colorless. And he had yet to open his eyes.
Which wasn’t the only reason she found it difficult to face him, even lying still and unresponsive the way he was.
Had he somehow become smaller? Harrison had always dwarfed her, his six-foot height and robust frame making her feel safe and cosseted. Adored. His strength and dynamic personality had captured her from the first, giving her the confidence to hitch her future to his.
Now the light sheet covered a chest that seemed more barrel than muscle. His shoulders didn’t look like the ones that had always carried so much responsibility with such ease. His hair looked saltier, less peppered. His skin was pallid and waxy.
Maybe she simply saw him differently.
Maybe her parents had been right, and he wasn’t so much a driven entrepreneur as an opportunist. A gull, not an eagle.
The cold of the bed rail sank into her palms as she willed his eyes to open, wanting the flash of blue, some hint of the passion he used to have—for life, their future. Her.
She wanted to see the truth.
Who was this man?
For thirty-two years, she had thought him her soul mate. They had built a fortune, a name. A family. And yes, perhaps things had grown a little stale. They weren’t children any longer. They were mature adults with many demands on their time, but they had made a promise to each other. They were supposed to be a team.
She stared with hot, dry eyes, silently reminding him of that. He wasn’t the only one with ambitions. They had overcome challenges together. He had won her over with his desire to win with her.
That meant something, didn’t it? Didn’t they? When had she ceased to be enough? What did the other woman give him? What about the rest of the things he’d kept hidden? How many secrets did he even have? A mistress was bad enough, but the other... She didn’t even know what it was. Crimes? Who was the Fixer?
“Breathe, Tía Mariella,” Gabe said with a light touch against her white knuckles.
She realized she’d been holding air in and exhaled with a hissing rush.
“Where is Dr. Aebischer? I thought he was the best. Harrison should be awake by now, shouldn’t he?”
“These things take time. But if anyone can perform a miracle, it’s him. I promise you.”
Gabe was being such a rock through this. She didn’t know what she would