And Babies Make Four

by Marie Ferrarella

Overview

Accepting the secretary position at prestigious Mallory
and Dixon had been step one in Mindy Richards's
makeover. After all, she was newly single in the
city…with twin babies-on-the-way to support. But her
new life took a turn down memory lane when she
discovered that high school crush Jason Mallory was her
firm's powerful namesake…and her new boss!
At first, Jason seemed uncomfortable with their working
relationship. Until Mindy realized that this business titan
was unsettled by her, and always had been. Suddenly,
despite a painful divorce, despite her pregnancy, she felt
desirable again. But dare she believe that jaded-by-love
Jason could want the fairy tale—babies and all…?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426870361
Publisher:	Silhouette
Publication date:	07/01/2010
Series:	Manhattan Multiples , #1551
Sold by:	HARLEQUIN
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	473 KB

About the Author

Prolific romance author Marie Ferrarella swears she was born writing, "which must have made the delivery especially hard for my mother."

Born in West Germany of Polish parents, she came to America when she was four years of age. For an entire year, Marie and her family explored the eastern half of the country before finally settling in New York. It was there that she was to meet the man she would marry, truly her first love. Marie was only 14 when she first laid eyes on her future husband, Charles Ferrarella.

From an early age, Marie's parents would find her watching television or tucked away in some private place, writing at a furious pace. "Initially, I began writing myself into my favorite shows. I was a detective on 77 Sunset Strip, the missing Cartwright sibling they never talked about on Bonanza, and the Girl from U.N.C.L.E. before there was a Girl from U.N.C.L.E., not to mention an active participant in the serialized stories on The Mickey Mouse Club."

Marie began to write her first romance novel when she was 11 years old, although she claims that, at the time, she didn't even realize it was a romance!

She scribbled off and on, while dreaming of a career as an actress.

During her days at Queens College, acting started to lose its glamour as Marie spent more and more time writing. After receiving her English degree, specializing in Shakespearean comedy, Marie and her family moved to Southern California, where she still resides today.

After an interminable seven weeks apart, Charles decided he couldn't live without her and came out to California to marry his childhood sweetheart.

Ever practical, Marie was married in a wash-and-wear wedding dress that she sewed herself, appliqués and all. "'Be prepared' has always been my motto," the author jokes. This motto has been stretched considerably by her two children, "but basically, it still applies," she says.

Marie has one goal: to entertain, to make people laugh and feel good. "That's what makes me happy," she confesses. "That, and a really good romantic evening with my husband." She's keeping her fingers crossed that you enjoy reading her books as much as she's enjoyed writing them!

Read an Excerpt

And Babies Make Four

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By Marie Ferrarella

Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.

Copyright © 2003 Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. All right reserved. ISBN: 0-373-24551-3

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Chapter One

"Why that no-good so-and-so."

Grabbing up the newspaper from her desk, Eloise Vale narrowly avoided tipping over her
coffee cup and sending a creamy, off-brown river pooling over the exact article she wanted to
read. The one that announced that the ever-dapper, much-sought-after mayor of New York,
Bill Harper, once her Bill Harper until she'd come to her senses, was debating overwhelming
budget cuts in order to balance the city's budget. Budget cuts that would, in addition to other
things, cripple a great many much-needed charitable programs. Her program was on the list of
possibilities.

Ignoring her newly rescued coffee, Eloise sat staring at the article, the words bouncing off her
eyes like so many misfired photon torpedoes, her stomach cramping up as it wound itself into
one huge knot.

There it was, Manhattan Multiples, smack in the middle. The mayor might as well have placed a
gun to her head. Or her heart.

"How could he?" she demanded out loud of the cool pastel-blue walls that surrounded her
Madison Avenue office.

Her office was the very hub that was Manhattan Multiples, an organization that had begun as a
support group championed by one lone woman. Manhattan Multiples had grown like the
proverbial weeduntil it had mushroomed into a foundation occupying three floors of the ten-story building. Rather than just a single small group of people, it now encompassed services that
ranged from support groups - including career counseling, Lamaze, yoga and meditation
classes - not to mention a thriving day-care center, all for women faced with the frightening
and overwhelming reality of giving birth to not just one life-changing child, but two or more.

Eloise knew what that was all about. She'd had to face up to it herself when she'd given birth to
her three boys, now all entering their adolescence together, a state guaranteed to turn her ash-blond hair as gray as her eyes. She hadn't had a clue how to handle the situation, not then. And
she wouldn't have had much more than a hint now if it wasn't for the organization she'd started
and now oversaw, an organization blessed with knowledgeable people who came to share their
experiences, their advice and their acquired wisdom with women who were scared out of their
minds.

"And he wants to pull the plug on us?" Eloise drew the newspaper closer as she looked at the
face of the man she had almost married instead of Walter.

"Think again, Billy-boy. If you think I'm capitulating without one hell of a fight, boy have you got
the wrong woman."

With a pronounced sigh, Eloise threw the paper aside and picked up her coffee.

That Monday morning Jason Mallory had a great many things on his mind as he hurried into the
spacious suite that comprised the securities investment offices of Mallory and Dixon. From the
ridiculous - as in where he'd stashed his dry cleaning ticket for a jacket he needed - to the
sublime, which meant going over the net-quarterly returns of a very successful firm season.

Being instantly and unceremoniously catapulted into the past, however, was not one of them.

But, scheduled or not, that was exactly where he found himself. In the past. More than eleven
years in the past to be exact, at a time when he had been the loner in a local high school where
everyone else seemed to know one another.

At that time, all he'd had were his thoughts, his books and an overwhelming ambition to become
someone. A powerful "someone." Someone a person like Mindy Conway would notice. She'd
been, as much as anything, the reason why he'd been so driven, so compelled to scale those
corporate mountains, so dedicated to accumulating not only money but respect for who and
what he was.

She had been his catalyst, his focus. His impossible dream, even after she'd left town. Because
loners like him didn't stand a chance with popular girls like Mindy Conway.

So, after high school, after she'd gone away to Northwestern, he'd stayed in New York and
attended first NYU, then Columbia University. And diligently worked toward his goal even
though he would never see Mindy again.

After a while, of course, there had been Debra. Debra, with her extensive family connections
that she'd tried to dangle before him like some kind of enticement. Debra with her sexy smile
and her own agenda. Why she'd chosen to single him out as the man she wanted to be with was
still a mystery to him. A flattering mystery.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from And Babies Make Four by Marie Ferrarella
Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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