Claiming His Brother's Baby
His Brother's FamilyCassie Duncan knew it was only a matter of time until Tanner McCord tried to sell her house out from under her. Still, the single mom can’t help but be touched by the sacrifices the handsome loner makes for her and her son—even babysitting when she’s sick! She knows he’s keeping secrets—after all, it runs in his family . . ..Tanner returned to his childhood home in Australia to settle his estranged brother’s estate—not fall for the woman who’d borne his brother’s son! But one look into Cassie Duncan’s blue eyes, and the rancher’s heart was lassoed good and tight. He wants to give Cassie everything she’s been denied–but doing so means confessing the truth about his brother–and might ruin their chances at true family . . . .
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Oliver looked so peaceful and content resting against Tanner’s chest.
Cassie watched Tanner push up from the chair effortlessly. Oliver didn’t protest, but instead seemed to snuggle closer to his uncle. “He was restless,” Tanner explained and gently touched the baby’s head. “And he seems to like this.”
She smiled warmly. “Thank you for taking care of him for me while I was sick.”
Tanner met her gaze. “That’s what family is for, Cassie.”
Her throat tightened. Family. It had been so long since she’d thought she had anyone to call her family, besides her baby son. To have someone to rely upon … to need someone herself, was a different kind of feeling.
“How about I put him in his crib and then make you some tea?” Tanner suggested quietly.
Cassie nodded. “That would be good.”
He moved across the room and stood beside her. Cassie’s heart rolled over when she gazed into the sleeping face of her son and she touched Oliver’s head gently. She glanced up and saw Tanner watching her with a kind of blistering intensity, and the look made her insides quiver.
This was physical attraction … pure and simple.
An attraction she’d always been able to ignore. Until now.
HELEN LACEY grew up reading Black Beauty and Little House on the Prairie. These childhood classics inspired her to write her first book when she was seven, a story about a girl and her horse. She loves writing for Mills & Boon>® Cherish™, where she can create strong heroes with a soft heart and heroines with gumption who get their happily-ever-after. For more about Helen, visit her website, www.helenlacey.com.
For Nani
Because big sisters really are the best!
Contents
Cassie Duncan placed her four-month-old son in his bed and gently rubbed his belly through the pale blue cotton onesie. Oliver’s breathing slowed and she watched his tiny chest rise and fall, marveling at the perfect little person who’d come into her life.
If only your daddy was here...
But Doug was gone. Killed eight months earlier while on tour in the Middle East, he never got to see his son born. Now it was just the two of them, getting through each day. Cassie adored being a mother and loved Oliver more than she’d imagined she could love anyone. But she was sad that Doug would miss seeing his son grow up. He’d had very little family, just a younger brother in South Dakota he rarely saw. And Crystal Point was a long way from there. With a population of eight hundred, the small Australian beachside town sat at the southernmost point of the Great Barrier Reef. It was the perfect place to raise her child—quiet and safe—a place where she fit in, where she led a valuable life.
She grabbed the baby monitor, flicked on the colored shaded night-light and left the nursery. Mouse hunkered down the hall when he saw her. The one-hundred-and-sixty-pound black-and-white Great Dane always stood point at the end of the hall when she was in the nursery with Oliver. The dog pushed his big head against her leg and Cassie rubbed his neck.
“Feel like a snack?” she asked and kept walking.
Mouse followed her through to the kitchen. She gave him a couple of doggy treats and filled up the kettle. Oliver would stay asleep for a few hours, so she had time to make dinner and watch a movie. She rummaged through the pantry and settled on tinned soup and sourdough toast. The dog climbed into his bed by the door and Cassie set about making her meal.
Friday nights always seemed the quietest somehow. In the old days she would have called her best friends, Lauren and Mary-Jayne, to come around and they would have opened a bottle of wine and eaten cheese and crackers and shared stories about their week. But Lauren was recently engaged and making wedding plans with her fiancé. And Mary-Jayne was locked away in her workshop and wouldn’t be around for a week.
And I have Oliver.
Having a baby had changed her priorities. Not that Cassie had ever been much of a party girl. She’d dated Doug for three years before his death and although they hadn’t seen much of one another in the last eighteen months, she had stood by her commitment to their relationship. Being involved with a career soldier had been difficult. However, the long absences and constant worry for his safety hadn’t altered her feelings. She’d loved him, and now she loved their son.
She cranked the lid off the soup tin, poured it into a saucepan and sliced some bread while she waited for the soup to heat up. The baby monitor was quiet and Cassie relaxed when she sat down at the big scrubbed table and ate her dinner. The house was silent, except for its usual creaks and moans. But she loved the house and had lived in it for most of her life.
When her grandfather had fallen ill four years ago and needed full-time care, the house had been sold to an investment buyer to pay for his care and she had become a tenant in her own home. Of course she was grateful to have been able to stay on and lease the property from the new owner.
