A Cold Creek Baby
Dare to dream… these sparkling romances will make you laugh, cry and fall in love – again and again!She’d dreamed about him coming back with a baby in his arms… And now Cisco was home.But the baby he carried couldn’t possibly be theirs. Still, Easton got part of her wish. The man she could never stop loving was back, even for just a little while – with a serious injury, a beautiful baby girl and an explanation about them both that was as flimsy as his excuse for leaving years before.And after five long years of trying to forget him, Easton was faced with a choice: love him – and that little girl – while she had them, or get out now. Because she’d never escape with her heart intact a second time…
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He remembered every moment of their time together five years ago. Each sigh, each gasp. The angle of her head as he touched her, the flutter of her hands curling into his shirt. The agonizingly sweet welcome of her body.
This, though. The sheer delicious reality of having her in his arms once moreâof her heat and softness against his skin, of her mouth trembling beneath hisâbeat the echo of those memories all to hell.
He knew it wouldnât last. It couldnât. In a moment, one or both of them would find a semblance of good sense and pull away. But for now, she was here in his arms and she was kissing him ⦠and the prowling restlessness inside him quieted.
About the Author
RAEANNE THAYNE finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains, where she lives with her husband and three children. Her books have won numerous honors, including three RITA® Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews magazine. RaeAnne loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.raeannethayne.com.
Dear Reader,
I sincerely love every hero and heroine Iâve ever createdâflaws, foibles and allâbut some seem to leave a more indelible impression on my heart than others. After I finished writing A Cold Creek Baby, I must confess to a few little qualms of disloyalty toward all my other heroes when I realized that Cisco Del Norte just might be my favorite hero ever (until the next book, Iâm sure!). I adored this dangerous, troubled, mysterious man from the very moment I came up with the idea for this latest series of Cold Creek books and couldnât wait to tell his and Eastonâs story. I think Iâve received more mail from readers asking when I would finally write their story than about any other characters Iâve created! Through the process of writing A Cold Creek Baby, I came to love them both even more and was so happy to help them find their happy ending together ⦠and to show Cisco the way home for good this time.
All my best,
RaeAnne
Chapter One
Something yanked Easton Springhill out of a sound sleep.
She rolled over and squinted at her alarm clock, which glowed the dismal hour of 4:26 a.m. Her curtains were open, as usual, so she could wake to a view of the mountaintops still covered in snow. But from her bed she could only see a bright glitter of stars pinpricking the dark sky.
With a heavy sigh, she flopped back onto her pillow. She wouldnât be going back to sleep anytime soon, especially since her dratted alarm was set to go off anyway in little more than an hour.
What a pain. She really hated waking up before her alarm clock, especially when she had a feeling sheâd been smack in the middle of some sort of lovely dream. She could only hang on to a few wispy tendrils of memory about what the dream might have been about, but she could guess that somehow he was involved.
She rolled over. Probably better, then, that she woke up. Whenever she dreamed of him, she spent the next day in a strange, suspended stateâpartly elated at having something of him again, even if only through her subconscious, but mostly depressed that she had to wake up and face the endless work of running an Idaho cattle ranch.
Alone, as usual.
The cotton pillowcase rustled as she shook her head a little, annoyed at herself.
She had a wonderful life here. She loved the ranch, she loved her friends, she had an honorary niece and nephew she adored.
So she didnât have the one thing she had wanted since she was just a silly girl. Was that any reason to fret and fuss and pine over the impossible?
She sat up, wondering what had awakened her. Jack and Suzy, her border collies, were barking outside, but that could mean anything from a loose cow to a hapless rodent foolish enough to enter their territory.
Whatever it was, she knew she would never go back to sleep now. Better to just take advantage of the unexpected hour to get some work done before she had to go out and take care of the chores. The Winder Ranch accounts were always waiting, unfortunately.
She slid out of bed and was just feeling around for her robe when she heard a sound that seemed to echo through the huge, empty ranch house.
She froze in the dark, ears straining. What the heck was that? It sounded like a cross between a shriek and a yowl. A moment later, something clattered downstairs, a jangly, ringing sound, as if a hard plastic bowl had somehow fallen out of one of the cupboards onto the kitchen floor.
Her heart pounded and her stomach curled and she wished she had brought one of the dogs inside. Since Chester, her ancient border collie who had been more pet than working dog, died over the winter, she had been alone in the house.
The ranch house sometimes creaked and groaned, as old houses were wont to do, but this was more than the normal settling noises.
She shoved on her slippers and grabbed the robe by her bed to cover the ancient John Deere T-shirt one of the guys had left years ago and grabbed her uncleâs favorite old Benelli that Brant insisted she keep under the bed.
