Free Commissioned In White (Art of Love Series) by Donna McDonald Page A

pregnancy with Brandon. She said I thrashed around when I slept and woke her up.”
    “Well, I am definitely not sleeping on the couch,” Michael said fiercely. “There will be none of that craziness in my household.”
    Drake laughed at Michael’s pronouncement. It would be interesting to see how the emotional male adapted to fatherhood. Being a parent tended to calm you down considerably, as he well knew.
    “When Carrie gets past the first trimester and the baby starts to move, you’ll be hard pressed to deny her anything. Of course, I do recall there being one giant upside which I will refrain from describing in too great of detail. Let’s just say that there is nothing like a hormonal woman full of fantasies,” Drake remarked, arranging several pieces in the case.
    Michael laughed and kept on polishing. “Thanks. You don’t know how badly I needed to see the bright side of it all today. We weren’t supposed to even be trying again for ten more months. Our attempts at birth control failed, and this isn’t the first time. It was all I could do to keep Carrie from killing the doctor.”
    Drake laughed, but couldn’t keep his face from flushing.
    “Damn—sorry,” Michael said, seeing the older man’s red face. “I’m used to being fairly open with the men in my family. I definitely wasn’t filtering, but I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Drake.”
    “No problem,” Drake said, shrugging off his embarrassment with a grin. “I just haven’t had frank conversations with other men in a while. I’m a little envious of your situation. And it makes me miss my wife, even after all these years.”
    Michael was surprised to hear Drake talking so freely about his dead wife. He couldn’t remember hearing him say anything about her before, even when all the pictures were being hung in the gallery. “Your wife was certainly a beautiful woman. Doesn’t it bother you to sell off your portraits of her?”
    “You know, I get asked that question all the time,” Drake said easily, stopping to look at Michael. “The short answer is no, which is why I do it. The longer one is more complex, but would require a therapist to sort out. Each one is my art as much as it is a picture of my wife.”
    “I hear you,” Michael said, and then grinned. “You can explain it to my brother the psychologist one day—if he ever decides to be in our lives again.”
    “Missing your newly married smart-aleck brother are you?” Drake asked. “I had lunch with him two days ago. Being the youngest ‘doctor’ on staff, he’s getting the usual flack over it. He said he was seriously grateful he’d bought all the new clothes.”
    “Seriously?” Michael asked, frowning. “I haven’t seen Shane in a couple of weeks. Before Reesa, I was used to seeing him several times a week. Hell, I guess I do miss him. How pathetic is that? My brother is my best friend.”
    Drake laughed. “Since I’m an only child, I have no idea. Speaking of siblings, your future stepsister and her twin just walked in the door.”
    Michael laughed at Drake’s joke about Jessica being Brooke’s sister.
    “Tomorrow is the big day. Brooke took Jessica to do the kind of girl things that men aren’t supposed to think about too much. That’s why I came to work with Carrie. If I had known you were going to be available for pregnant wife sitting, I’d have stayed home and finished the art piece I’m working on. It’s the last one before the opening.”
    Drake laughed. “I didn’t know myself that I would be here. It was pure impulse on my part this morning. I’m getting excited about the opening next week and can’t stand to be away from the gallery for long. I’ve gotten way too involved to keep a professional distance.”
    “Me too, actually,” Michael declared. “Carrie’s got people flying in from all over the US for the opening, and more are driving here. I’m just hoping it doesn’t snow on everyone. I knew things were moving along