Heart Of A Texan

“If you need anything, I’m here.

All you have to do is ask.”

Posing as personal chef to protective billionaire rancher Jared Stone is the perfect cover for Bella Reid. She must hide her identity and protect her baby at all costs. To Jared, she’s just a struggling single mother. Yet as heat sizzles in the kitchen—and the bedroom—her past catches up to her. Will Bella risk everything to tell Jared the truth?

CHARLENE SANDS is a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than forty romance novels. She writes sensual contemporary romances and stories of the Old West. When not writing, Charlene enjoys sunny Pacific beaches, great coffee, reading books from her favourite authors and spending time with her family. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter, write her at PO Box 4883, West Hills, CA 91308, or sign up for her newsletter for fun blogs and ongoing contests at charlenesands.com.

Also by Charlene Sands

Her Forbidden Cowboy

The Billionaire’s Daddy Test One Secret Night, One Secret Baby Twins for the Texan Sunset Surrender Sunset Seduction The Secret Heir of Sunset Ranch Redeeming the CEO Cowboy The Texan’s Wedding Escape

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Heart of a Texan

Charlene Sands

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07664-7

HEART OF A TEXAN

© 2018 Charlene Swink

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

To my sweet daughter Nikki,

you are an amazing mother of two precious daughters. Every day you make us proud with your abundance of love and kindness.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Extract

About the Publisher

One

Francesca Isabella Forte was hiding out. Not from an evil stalker, an old boyfriend or even a shady loan shark. No, that would be too simple. It was her father. During their last argument, he’d been so furious with her, he’d disowned her. Out-and-out cut her off without a dime. Even worse, he’d threatened to take custody of her child. All because she didn’t want to marry a man he’d chosen for her and she didn’t want to run the Forte Foods empire.

So she’d packed up her belongings and headed straight out of San Francisco’s elite Pacific Heights’ neighborhood to Dallas. Using her middle name, shortened to Bella, and her married name of Reid, to all the world, she was just a young unemployed widow. Her best friend from college, Amelia Gray, had taken her in, no questions asked.

Now, Bella drove along the interstate in her rented Ford Focus, noting how different the flat Texas landscape was from her hilly hometown.

And Bella felt free.

“Hey, Bella,” Amy said. “What did Cinderella say when her photos didn’t show up?”

“Uh...someday my prints will come.”

They giggled at the silliness and then Bella put a shushing finger to her lips. She didn’t want to wake the love of her life, her twenty-two-month-old baby, Sienna, who slept peacefully in the car seat behind her.

Everyone said Sienna was the exact replica of her mommy, with shiny dark hair curling at the tips and pretty meadow-green eyes. Bella ate those compliments up, but always reminded people that Sienna was also bright, and sweet, and kindhearted, and she’d gotten all those traits from her father.

Sienna was the best thing she and Paul had ever done in their lives.