Elena got pregnant.
He couldn’t believe it. She’d been on the pill. They’d used condoms faithfully.
He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t be saying he was the father if it wasn’t true.
A baby. She was having his baby. Rogan felt something like wonder.
He also felt a slow anger, like hot coals burning red beneath a layer of ash. All those times he’d almost called her—but stopped himself before he actually went through with it. He should have called her. Maybe if he had, she would have busted to the truth before now.
Maybe if he had, he wouldn’t be racing against the clock to have a prayer of being there when his own child was born.
Dear Reader,
Elena Cabrera, illegitimate daughter of Bravo family patriarch Davis Bravo is ready for love. Builder Rogan Murdoch is ready for his freedom. Finally.
Rogan’s parents died tragically when he was barely an adult and not only did he take over the family business, Murdoch Homes, but he also became guardian and stand-in parent to his three younger siblings. It hasn’t been an easy time. But he and his family made it through. Now, the last of his charges, his baby sister, is off to college in the fall. And he’s looking forward to being footloose at last.
But then he meets Elena. The attraction is instant. And powerful. But he knows she’s not the kind of woman who’ll go for a casual affair. And that’s all he’s ready for right now.
He should stay away from her. Far, far away.
But somehow, fate keeps throwing them together. And every time he sees her, it’s harder for him to resist her—let alone remember all the reasons he needs to be free.
Happy reading everyone,
Christine Rimmer
“Elena, I don’t know how to say this…”
“Say what?” Carefully, so not too much filling would spill out, Elena Cabrera lifted a taco off her plate.
“I’ve met someone else.”
Elena had her mouth wide open to take a bite. Instead, she eased the taco back down to the plate. Then she put her hands in her lap and stared across the cozy corner table at totally hunky Antonio Aguilar.
So much for going on the pill, she thought.
They’d been dating for two months now. She’d started on the pill two weeks ago. Because she’d been really, really hoping that Tonio would be the one.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Elena.” His dark-chocolate eyes were full of regret. “I don’t know why we never really clicked….”
Clicked. They hadn’t clicked. Was that the problem?
Something was. She was twenty-five years old and still a virgin.
Nothing against being a virgin, per se. Until not all that long ago, being a virgin had been her choice. Men had made advances. She’d turned down every one.
After all, she was a woman of principle. She’d been saving herself for true love. Seriously. True, forever love. Like her sister, Mercy, had with Luke.
Like her parents had.
Or like she’d always thought they had.
But then, three years ago, she’d learned that her darling Papi wasn’t her biological father, after all. Her father’s sworn enemy, Davis Bravo, was. Her mom had been lying to her dad for all these years, letting him believe that Elena was his. Letting Elena believe it, too.
Needless to say, her dad and her mom weren’t together anymore.
So much for true, forever love.
“Elena.” Tonio leaned toward her across his untouched plate. He looked more than a little annoyed. “Have you heard a single word I said?”
“Uh, yeah. It’s not working out. You’ve found someone else.”
“This is pretty much the whole problem. You know that, don’t you?”
“This?”
“This.” He said a bad word in Spanish under his breath and made a sweeping gesture with his lean brown hand, his sculpted cheekbones flushed with color. He was definitely not happy with her. “You.”
“Me.”
“You. Elena, when we’re together, you act like you’re a thousand miles away.” He pushed his plate toward the center of the table with a look of pure disdain. “And now I’ve met Tappy, well, there’s no comparison. Tappy adores me. A man needs that, to know that his woman is there for him, that he has her absolute undivided attention when he speaks.”