From Friends To Lovers To...Parents?
Claire DeAngeloâs fantasy was the white picket fence and a husband and babies. She thought sheâd found it, but now sheâs getting a divorce. Her exâs behavior is bordering on harassment, so itâs lucky Claire runs into her college buddyânow undercover copâLuke Devlin.
Luke canât believe his luck. Heâs investigating a smuggling ring, and Claire lives in the building he has under surveillance. What better way to keep an eye on the criminals than to move in! When Claireâs ex becomes hostile, Lukeâs protective instincts take over and the attraction between old friends heats up.
Back in college, Luke was a carefree playboy. So when Claire discovers sheâs pregnant, she knows better than to expect Luke to be family material. Sheâs finally getting that white picket fence and a babyâ¦even if thereâs a piece missing!
âWe were both drinking,â Luke said about his ex. âA lot.â
Claire gave him an anxious look.
âOne night she went out, with a blood-alcohol reading that was something like three times the legal limit, and plowed into a tree.â
âOh, Luke. Was she hurt? Was anyone else?â
Aside from that night at the ER, heâd never talked about the baby. Not with anyone.
âShe wasnât wearing a seatbelt, so she was pretty badly banged up. And...she was pregnant, and she lost the baby.â
âOh, my God. Luke, Iâm so sorry.â
âI accused her of being careless and irresponsible, trying to trap me into marrying her, forcing me to have a baby I didnât want.â
Claire snatched her hand away, averting her eyes.
He hated that she pulled away, mostly because he had no clue what it meant. Had he said too much? Sounded too harsh?
âShe knew I didnât want a family. Thereâs no way Iâll bring another Devlin child into the world and have it grow up the way I did.â
âBut youâre not your father, Luke!â
Dear Reader,
Thereâs something about a reformed bad boy that grabs our interest, donât you agree? Give him a badge and a gun, and heâs really got our attention! Luke Devlin, the hero of this book, is one of those men, and I have to confess to being a tiny bit jealous of the heroine, Claire DeAngelo. These two have both suffered some major disappointments since they were study buddies back in college, so when they run into each other years later, they both have trust issues to overcome.
Readers whoâve been following my Ready Set Sold seriesâthe stories of three entrepreneurial young women who run a real-estate business in Seattleâhave told me theyâre looking forward to Claireâs story, and I hope all of you will have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. To be honest, it never really felt as though I was writing this story; it was more like Luke and Claire were telling it to me, and all I had to do was get it on paper. That doesnât always happen with a book, but I love it when it does!
Samantha from The Christmas Secret and Kristi, who you met in the The Daddy Project, are both back, offering their friend Claire a shoulder to lean on in Daddy, Unexpectedly. Since we have a bad boy cop, there has to be a villain; and as always for the animal lovers among us, thereâs a dog, and this time Iâve added a cat for good measure. And because this is the third and final book in the series, it was especially fun for me to bring all these characters together one last time and share their happy-ever-afters with you.
I always enjoy hearing from readers, so I invite you to visit my website at www.LeeMcKenzie.com and drop me a line.
Happy reading!
Lee McKenzie
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
From the time she was ten years old and read Anne of Green Gables and Little Women, Lee McKenzie knew she wanted to be a writer, just like Anne and Jo. In the intervening years, she has written everything from advertising copy to an honors thesis in paleontology, but becoming a four-time Golden Heart finalist and a Harlequin author are among her proudest accomplishments. Lee and her artist/teacher husband live on an island along Canadaâs west coast, and she loves to spend time with two of her best friendsâher grown-up children.
For my two proudest accomplishments,
Joe and Michaela
Chapter One
Claire DeAngelo stabbed her fork into the last piece of lettuce on her plate. Two hours ago it was barely appetizing. Now warm and wilted, it was just plain gross. She dumped it into the trash can under the sink and put her lunch dishes in the dishwasher.
âForget about food. You have more important things to think about.â She walked purposefully back to the dining table, sat and opened the calendar on her laptop.
This had been a busy week. She had closed the sale of a home in Seattleâs Victory Heights neighborhood and listed two others. Sheâd lined up three showings tomorrow morning for some prospective home buyersânewlyweds in search of their dream home. She would be tempted to tell them it was all downhill once the honeymoon was over, but she was a real estate agent, not a marriage counsellor.