Father by Surprise: A Man of Distinction / His Baby Surprise
Together for the first time in one volume, two classic romance stories from Sarah M. Anderson and Lisa Childs.A Man of DistinctionNick Longhair said goodbye to his life on the reservation without regrets—even though Tanya Rattling Blanket refused to join him. But when business brings him back, he finally understands what he exchanged for money and power. Tanya has been raising his baby! Determined to give his child every advantage, Nick isn't about to leave again…at least not alone.His Baby SurpriseProfessional hockey player Brooks Hoover is home to recuperate and map out his future…which wasn't supposed to include fatherhood! Yet there's a baby on his doorstep. Even more surprising, the once prim and proper Priscilla Andrews—now his boss—agrees to help him with the baby. All this domestic sharing makes him think he's more of a family man than a big-time sports star.
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Together for the first time in one volume, two classic romance stories from Sarah M. Anderson and Lisa Childs.
A Man of Distinction
Nick Longhair said goodbye to his life on the reservation without regrets—even though Tanya Rattling Blanket refused to join him. But when business brings him back, he finally understands what he exchanged for money and power. Tanya has been raising his baby! Determined to give his child every advantage, Nick isn’t about to leave again…at least not alone.
His Baby Surprise
Professional hockey player Brooks Hoover is home to recuperate and map out his future…which wasn't supposed to include fatherhood! Yet there's a baby on his doorstep. Even more surprising, the once prim and proper Priscilla Andrews—now his boss—agrees to help him with the baby. All this domestic sharing makes him think he's more of a family man than a big-time sports star.
Father by Surprise
A Man of Distinction
Sarah M. Anderson
His Baby Surprise
Lisa Childs
Contents
Award-winning author Sarah M. Anderson loves to put characters from different worlds into new situations and see how their backgrounds and cultures take them places they never thought they’d go. When not helping out at her son’s school or walking her two rescue dogs, Sarah spends her days having conversations with imaginary cowboys and American Indians, which is surprisingly well-tolerated by her wonderful husband and son. Find out more about Sarah at sarahmanderson.com.
Look for more books by Sarah M. Anderson in Harlequin Desire—the ultimate destination for powerful, passionate romance! There are six new Harlequin Desire titles available every month. Check one out today!
To Jason, for being my hero as a father and husband.
Chapter 1
Nick Longhair got out of his Jaguar, his Italian loafers crunching on the white rock that made up the parking lot at tribal headquarters for the Red Creek Lakota. The building might have had a fresh coat of paint in the past two years, but otherwise, it was as he remembered it. Narrow little windows, low ceilings and an overall depressing vibe.
For the past two years, he’d worked out of a corner office on South Dearborn, one of the priciest blocks in Chicago. Marble floors, custom furnishings and floor-to-ceiling views of Lake Michigan. It had been the height of luxury, and a true measure of how far he’d come.
He looked around his current surroundings. A three-legged dog hopped across the lot a few feet away from him. The other vehicles weren’t Bentleys or Audis or even Mercedes, but rusty pickup trucks and cars with mismatched hoods and plastic sheeting for windows. This wasn’t a measure of how far he’d come. It was a measure of how far he’d fallen.
All he had ever wanted was to get off this rez. He could still remember seeing The Cosby Show on the working TV at a friend’s house and discovering that other folks lived in great big houses where kids had their own rooms, water came out of the sink and lights turned on with the flip of a switch. The shock of realizing that some people had those things—and that those people weren’t always white—had made him look at his childhood with brand-new eyes. The discarded trailer with cardboard patched over the windows and the holes in the roof? Not normal. Having to share a bed with his brother and mom? Not normal. Having to haul buckets of water from the stream and then hope he didn’t get sick drinking it? Not normal. Not even acceptable.
Yeah, it sounded stupid to say that a sitcom had changed his life for the better. But at the age of eight, he’d realized there was a different life off the rez, and he wanted the big house, the fancy cars, the nice clothes. He wanted it all. And he’d spent his entire life earning it.
So being forced to come back to the rez felt worse than any demotion. If he hadn’t been ordered to take this case—and if his future promotions didn’t rest upon a clean victory—he wouldn’t be here. Maybe he should have quit instead of taking this assignment. He didn’t want to feel the stink of poverty on his skin again. It had taken years to clean the poor out of his pores. But he was the best at what he did, and what Nick did was lead lawsuits against energy companies. This was the kind of case he couldn’t walk away from. This was the kind of case that made a person’s career.
Nick shook his head, forcing himself to focus on what he was here to accomplish.
As the youngest junior partner in the history of the law firm of Sutcliffe, Watkins and Monroe, he’d won judgments for clients against BP for the oil spill in the Gulf, coal mines for the toxic runoff they dumped into the groundwater and even nuclear power plants with lax security. In the past five years, he’d gotten very good—and very rich—being environmentally friendly. He’d earned his place at the table.
