Rutledge Werewolves 1: Scent of Passion (22 page)

“Come on, sis,” Samuel crooned as if she were a frightened bird and not a heavily laboring grown woman, “Tell my little nephew that he’s doing well. He might get a complex after having you calling him a girl for the last seven months.”

Sophie growled at him and tried not to grin at her brother-in-law.

“Listen here, you goob. If you stick that camera in my face or any other orifice again, I will personally get up and stick it in one of
your
orifices that will make your life particularly unpleasant. Am I understood?”

She sighed when Samuel did nothing more than grin charmingly, toss a curl of his shoulder-length hair out of his eyes as it fell out of his short ponytail and wink at his other two brothers.

At least William and Dominic have the good sense to stand by the wall and not annoy me
, she mused, crying out again as another contraction hit her hard. Artemais clutched her hand a little tighter and in his
I’m-being-gentle
voice suggested, “Maybe we should try some of those Lamaze breaths that you made me learn with you in that class, sweetheart?”

Sophie tried valiantly for a minute or so, but when another contraction hit her she gave up, preferring to try and break her husband’s hand instead. That was far more satisfying.

“I’m going to kill you,” she warned Artemais. “I am going to personally castrate each and every male on this planet. Those dicks of yours are lethal weapons and men ought to have a license to use them.
Aaargh
!”

Closing her eyes against the intense pain, Sophie missed the huge grins exchanged between the brothers.

“I see a head!” the doctor called out. Sophie had tried to be nice to the poor man, shadowed over by the four huge, burly men who were in his delivery room, but had forgotten him until he mentioned the head of her daughter.

“Pull it out!” she cried out impatiently, “Damned if I’m going to wait for you to list every one of her body parts!”

Artemais chuckled and positioned himself behind her, bracing his body against her back and holding both her hands.

“Now, come on sweetheart, you’ve come this far, surely you’re not going to let
a man
birth our child?” he teased.

“Damned fine point,” she conceded. And began to push through the intensifying contractions. She felt too much pain, so she instead concentrated and focused all her energies on producing her little daughter. She couldn’t be bothered with expending the breath to yell at Samuel hovering with his new camera, or William and Dominic hovering ready to catch their nephew in case the doctor missed.

Just before she felt that last push arrive, she had a flash. A nearly grown woman, who still seemed partly a girl, laughed and twirled before her in a brightly patterned summer dress. The girl’s curly blonde hair was the image of her own. But when the girl stopped twirling to look at her, Sophie saw her bedroom blue eyes, the very image of her father’s. The young woman blew her a kiss, then continued twirling and laughing in the sunshine. Sophie realized the girl danced in the grassy meadow out behind their big house.

“Christiana,” she whispered, intuitively knowing her daughter’s name.

“I think that’s a lovely name,” Artemais replied, assuming she spoke to him. Over the past few months, everyone in their family had put in their ten cents for the child’s name. Artemais and his brothers had finally decided on Theodore for a boy after their father.

Over the last eight months not once had Sophie backed down on her decree this child would be a girl. Artemais and the boys had simply smiled indulgently. She intended to hold their disbelief of her intuition over their heads for years to come. And use it for all it was worth in the following years.

Finally, the last push came, and with a cry from both mother and daughter, the next generation of Alpha Rutledge wolves was born.

“It’s a girl!” the poor doctor pronounced.

Sophie didn’t even need to say anything. She merely smiled and tried to catch her breath. Looking at the stunned faces of her brothers, and the camera whirling on her little girl, Sophie grinned her pride. She could feel Artemais choking for breath behind her, his brain obviously fried from the long hours of the labor.

“Are you sure?” Artemais finally croaked out, obviously not believing the doctor competent.

“See for yourself,” he replied happily, laying Sophie’s now clean daughter on her stomach. Winking at Sophie, he crossed the room to start cleaning his utensils and probably breathing a sigh of relief his birthing room would soon be free of this family.

Sophie checked two sets of perfect fingers, with their tiny nails, two little baby feet and the obvious gender of her firstborn child.

With the tiny patch of blonde fluff on her head, and what Sophie knew would prove to be her father’s blue eyes, Sophie felt a happiness and peacefulness she had never known well up in her.

Snuggling her baby close, Sophie decided not to tease with
I told you so’s
and simply sat up, kissed her blissfully quiet daughter’s head, and handed her over to her father.

“Artemais, this is Christiana.”

Placing the newborn in his arms, she felt tears trickle down her face at Artemais’ stunned expression.

“She’s a girl.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. Unable to hold back any longer, she let her amusement out.

“Well of course she is, what have I been telling you for the last seven months?”

“But the tests were inconclusive, the doctors couldn’t tell from the ultrasounds… Samuel said he saw his…there’s never been a girl born to us…” Artemais stopped speaking when Christiana grabbed his nose and pulled.

Laughing, he stood up and walked over to his brothers.

“Look! I have a girl!”

Sophie rolled her eyes, secretly pleased at the doting, silly expressions her brothers-in-law held as they cooed, made faces and boastings of what
they
would teach Christiana. With three uncles that big, and an already obviously overprotective father, Sophie knew her daughter would be the safest and most protected young woman on the planet.

When the guys looked at each other, and turned towards her, Sophie wondered what they were doing. As they stepped up to the bed and all knelt, Artemais handed her back her daughter. Raising an eyebrow in query, she carefully took Christiana back and waited for the explanation.

“We want to know if Christiana Rose would be acceptable to you.”

Rose had been their mother’s name, and Sophie knew it would crush them if she didn’t accept it. Smiling happily, with another damned tear rolling down her face, she nodded. Before she could speak, Christiana raised her fists, and started to cry for her dinner. “I think even Christiana agrees with her new name. But I also think she’s as demanding as the rest of you. I’d better feed her and get some rest. I think I’ll need it.”

William, Dominic and Samuel all stooped to kiss Christiana and Sophie and then rushed out of the room, animatedly talking about pink frilly dresses and Barbie dolls. Sophie rolled her eyes and secretly hoped her daughter would become a tomboy—just to confound her uncles.

Sophie started Christiana suckling, then lay back on the uncomfortable bed. As she was wheeled into her little room by the orderlies, she had to smile at the protective and possessive way Artemais watched every move and step the poor men made.

Finally back in her own room, Sophie yawned, totally exhausted. She sat up, nodding her head to indicate Artemais should lie in behind her. As he made himself comfortable, and his arms crept around both her and her new little daughter, Sophie had never felt so safe or comfortable.

Wrapped protectively in her husband’s arms, both Sophie and Christiana fell asleep.

About the author:

Elizabeth Lapthorne is the eldest of four children. She grew up with lots of noise, fights and tale-telling. Her mother, a reporter and book reviewer, instilled in her a great appreciation of reading with the intrigues of a good plot.

Elizabeth studied Science at school, and whilst between jobs complained bitterly to a good friend about the lack of current literature to pass away the hours. While they both were looking up websites for new publishers, she stumbled onto Ellora’s Cave. Jumping head-first into this doubly new site (both the first e-book site she had ever visited, as well as her first taste of Romantica) they both devoured over half of EC’s Scent of Passions in less than a month. While waiting for more titles to be printed (as well as that ever-elusive science job) Elizabeth started dabbling again in her writing.

Elizabeth has always loved to read, it will always be her favourite pass-time, (she is constantly buying new books and bookshelves to fill), but she also loves going to the beach, sitting in the sun, having coffee (or better yet, CHOCOLATE and coffee) with her friends and generally enjoying life. She is extremely curious, which is why she studied science, and often tells “interesting” stories, loving a good laugh. She is a self-confessed email junkie, loving to read what other people on the EC board think and have to say, she laughs often at their tales and ideas. She recently has developed a taste for the gym. She’s sure she read somewhere it was good for her, but she is reserving judgment to see how long it lasts.

Elizabeth welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at P.O. Box 787, Hudson, Ohio 44236-0787.

Also by Elizabeth Lapthorne:

Lion In Love

Payback

Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.

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