Oh, Baby!

So … no.

Sophie was not for him.

Who cared if those plump lips of hers just begged to be kissed? Who cared that her curves still had the power to cause him to squirm? Who cared if he couldn’t seem to banish her from his mind … or his dreams?

Because he was dreaming of her. The other night he’d relived the first time they’d met and the first time they’d made love. It had been so real, he’d been unable to shake the feeling that his subconscious was trying to tell him something.

No.

He couldn’t go there.

He had to forget about her.

There were plenty of other sexy, beautiful and intelligent women out there. He did not have to get entangled with someone who would cause him only grief. He could do this. He could forget about Sophie. It was mind over matter, just as everything was.

Decision made.

Dillon would shove sexy Sophie out of his mind.

Permanently.

* * *

The Crandall Lake Chronicles: Small town, big hearts

Oh, Baby!

Patricia Kay

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Formerly writing as Trisha Alexander, PATRICIA KAY is a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than forty-eight novels of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives in Houston, Texas. To learn more about her, visit her website at www.patriciakay.com.

This book is dedicated, with much love, to my three sisters: Gerri Paulicivic, Marge Ford and Norma Johnson. And to my sisters-in-law, who are equally wonderful: Susan Kay Ardale, Beverly Kay, A. Kay Kay and Theresa Kay.

I am so lucky to have all of you in my life.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

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

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

Excerpt

Copyright

Chapter One

Crandall Lake, Texas—early October

Sophie Marlowe sneaked a glance at the clock. Eleven thirty-five. Twenty-five minutes until her lunch break. Suppressing a sigh, she turned her attention back to the student sitting in front of her desk. “What are you going to do, Kaitlyn?”

The unhappy senior shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“They’re going to have to be told sometime. It would be best if you just tell them now while you still have options.”

The girl nodded, her eyes bleak. “They’re gonna kill me.”

Sophie smiled wryly. “I know your parents. They are lovely, rational people. They won’t kill you.”

“But they’ll be so disappointed,” Kaitlyn muttered.

“I’m sure they will, but they love you. They’ll get over it.” Yet even as Sophie said the rote words, she knew that some parents didn’t get over it easily. When your daughter was smart, got great grades and was on track to attend one of the best universities in Texas, it was hard to discover said daughter wasn’t as smart as you’d thought. That, in fact, she was pregnant and already a couple of months along.

“I wish...” Kaitlyn began.

“I know. You wish this hadn’t happened.”

Two fat tears rolled down Kaitlyn’s cheeks. “Billy’s being so mean to me.”

Now Sophie did sigh. She wasn’t surprised that the father of the baby wasn’t thrilled by his girlfriend’s pregnancy. Honestly. What in the world were these kids thinking? That was the problem. They weren’t thinking. The thinking began after the damage was done, and by then, it was too late. “Would you like me to be with you when you talk to your parents?” As Crandall Lake High School’s guidance counselor, Sophie wasn’t required to do more than listen to and advise students of available resources, but she couldn’t help feeling sorry for the girl in her office. Kaitlyn Lowe was a good kid. In fact, she was one of the last kids Sophie thought would be in this position.

“Would you?”

The raw fear in Kaitlyn’s blue eyes reminded Sophie that the girl was only seventeen. Only a year older than Joy. The thought of Joy, her younger half sister and legal ward, whose parents had died two years earlier, gave Sophie further pause. If it were Joy sitting here now, scared and feeling so alone, wouldn’t Sophie want someone to befriend her, too? “Yes,” she said softly. “I will.”

“Oh, Miss Marlowe, thank you. Wh-when do you want to do it?”

Sophie had book club tonight, but tomorrow was free. “Why don’t I come by tomorrow night? Say about seven-thirty? Will you be through with dinner by then?”

Kaitlyn nodded, then bit her bottom lip.

Later, as Sophie ate her tuna sandwich and apple in the teachers’ lounge, she thought about how hard it was to be a teenager. She was certainly glad those days were long behind her. And she was enormously grateful that Joy had lived up to her name and was a joy to raise. The girl had never given Sophie one moment of trouble, thank the Lord.

She looked up at the noisy entrance of two of her colleagues—Ann McPherson, a chemistry teacher, and Cindy Bloom, who taught computer science and keyboarding.

“Oh God,” Cindy said, fanning herself, “be still, my heart!”

“Yeah,” Ann said. “He’s gorgeous, isn’t he? And I’m sure he knows it.”