Expecting His Brother's Baby
SHE WAS THE WOMAN HE' D ALWAYS WANTED BUT COULDN' T HAVE…Old and forbidden desires began to reemerge when Brock Warner returned to Wyoming to help Kylie run his family' s ranch. He hadn' t pursued her years ago because she' d been too young and achingly innocent–and then his brother had claimed Kylie for his own.OR COULD HE?Kylie' s failing marriage had ended with her unfaithful husband' s death. Now she was left only with bittersweet memories, an empty bank account and a baby on the way. Brock' s homecoming had her thinking back to the kiss they' d once shared. And had her wondering about what could have been….
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Kylie’s hand pressed to her belly, and she was so very grateful for her unborn child.
Alex’s child.
Whenever she looked at Brock and felt things she shouldn’t feel, all she had to do was think about her baby. It was hard enough for one man to accept another’s offspring. In Brock’s case, it would be impossible. Whenever he looked at her, he probably thought about his half brother, Alex—the younger son, the one their father had loved.
How could she have such mixed feelings about all of it? How could she be grieving for Alex, but when Brock walked into the room she felt…touched in some way? Touched by an excitement, an electricity, a bond that had begun when she was seventeen and had never ended.
Had she loved Alex? Yes, she had. But she had to admit, Brock had always affected her…had always made her heart skip faster.
Dear Reader,
When I connect with someone either in friendship or in love, those bonds are lasting. My husband and I have been married thirty-five years. At our first meeting, did I know we’d be committed to each other for a lifetime? I feel I did. And he did, too. After a few months of dating, we certainly did. We had the same values, goals and dreams.
The hero and heroine in Expecting His Brother’s Baby met when Kylie was seventeen. Was she too young to fall in love? Although she buried her feelings for Brock, the roots stayed strong. But so many obstacles blocked their connection.
Can love conquer all?
I believe true love can.
All my best,
Karen Rose Smith
KAREN ROSE SMITH
read Zane Grey when she was in grade school, and she loved his books. She also had a crush on Roy Rogers and especially his palomino, Trigger! Around horses as a child, she found them fascinating and intuitive. Her BABY BONDS series set in Wyoming sprang from childhood wishes and adult dreams. When an acquaintance adopted two of the wild mustangs from the western rangelands and invited Karen to visit them, plotlines weren’t far behind. For more background on the books in the series as well as photos and info about the wild mustangs, stop by Karen’s Web site at www.karenrosesmith.com or write to her at P.O. Box 1545, Hanover, PA 17331.
Thanks to Gale Jacobs, who invited me to visit her
adopted mustangs and learn their stories.
With appreciation to Francee and Dick Shaulles.
Thanks for opening your home and ranch to us. Your family embodies the meaning of ranch life. We’ll never forget our visit.
With appreciation to Ken Martin, who knows and
understands the mustangs so well. Grey Face and his band had to be part of this book.
For information about wild mustangs, visit
www.wildhorsepreservation.com. For adoption information go to www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue
Prologue
Wild Horse Junction, Wyoming
Kylie Warner didn’t often compare herself to other women. She’d been a tomboy all her life, more comfortable on a horse than anywhere else. Function, rather than fashion, had always directed her clothing choice. But meeting this pert and sexily dressed waitress from Clementine’s—Wild Horse Junction’s watering hole—Kylie felt as if she’d let herself go. With her straight blond hair drawn back in a ponytail and her parka fitting snugly over her maternity outfit, she wondered what had happened to her sense of womanly pride since Alex died.
“I’m Trish,” the waitress said with a smile that looked more forced than genuine. “We can use the boss’s office. He went home for dinner.”
When Trish had called Kylie, she’d said she wanted to talk about boarding her horse at Saddle Ridge Ranch.
Since her pregnancy, Kylie hadn’t been able to take on training horses…or even giving lessons. After her baby was born, she was hoping to jump in again with both feet. Until she could, boarding horses would help keep Saddle Ridge from sinking deeper into debt.
At seven-and-a-half-months pregnant, she was driving herself hard, concentrating on the life growing inside of her, managing Saddle Ridge as well as working as office manager at Wild Horse’s temporary employment agency. No wonder she hadn’t gotten her hair trimmed in months or applied more than lipstick before she left the ranch every morning.
As she followed the brunette in the short black skirt down the hall to the saloon’s office, the hairs on the nape of Kylie’s neck prickled. Something about Trish Hammond’s demeanor seemed…off. Kylie’s hand protectively went to her tummy. The fingers of her other hand gripped her purse tighter.
This is about boarding a horse, she scolded herself. Relax.
Yet once she stood inside the small cluttered office and Trish Hammond closed the door, her uneasiness grew. Squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin, she looked the waitress in the eye. “You have one horse to board?”
Trish’s red blouse clung to her breasts as she gave an offhanded shrug. “I never exactly told you I had a horse to board. I just said I wanted to talk about it. Really, I had another reason for asking you here. I have something you might want. It belonged to your husband.”
