Secret Dad
SECRET MARRIAGE?She called herself "Charlie Smith," and only Denver McCaine remembered her as Adrianna Charlyne Chandler. But Charlie was no longer the aloof-but-beautiful heiress a rugged mercenary like him could only dream about. Now she was a struggling single mom who'd run from the husband her wealthy family had chosen for her. And her new life was wonderful - until her family found her… .The only way Charlie could keep her happy home was if she pretended to be Denver's wife. But her son secretly longed to make Denver his real dad. And soon Charlie wondered how much tender loving protection she could take before dreams of happily-ever-after took hold of her wistful heart… .
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ExcerptLetter to ReaderAbout the AuthorTitle PagePrologueChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenCopyright
“Are you trying to prove something by taking care of me?” Charlie asked.
“That’s crazy,” he said, avoiding her gaze.
“Oh? You mean you might turn out to be a good guy after all?”
“I’m no saint,” he warned her.
She surprised him by reaching up to touch his cheek with her finger. “What are you, then?”
She was too close, too tempting. Moving on reflex, he grabbed her by the hair at the back of her head and forced her face an inch from his own. “I’m probably harder and rougher and less refined than any man you’ve ever been with, Charlie,” he told her, his voice a low rumble in his throat. “Don’t take this lightly.”
“I take you very seriously,” she told him softly, her voice pulsing with the excitement he was rousing in her blood. “You are the most serious thing that has happened to me in a long time.”
Dear Reader,
Happy Valentine’s Day! And what better way to celebrate Cupid’s reign than by reading six brand-new Desire novels...?
Putting us in the mood for sensuous love is this February’s MAN OF THE MONTH, with wonderful Dixie Browning offering us the final title in her THE LAWLESS HEIRS miniseries in A Knight in Rusty Armor. This alpha-male hero knows just what to do when faced with a sultry damsel in distress!
Continue to follow the popular Fortune family’s romances in the Desire series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES. The newest installment, Society Bride by Elizabeth Bevarly, features a spirited debutante who runs away from a business-deal marriage ..into the arms of the rugged rancher of her dreams.
Ever-talented Anne Mane Winston delivers the second story in her BUTLER COUNTY BRIDES, with a single mom opening her home and heart to a seductive acquaintance, in Dedicated to Deirdre. Then a modern-day cowboy renounces his footloose ways for love in The Outlaw Jesse James, the final title in Cindy Gerard’s OUTLAW HEARTS miniseries; while a child’s heartwarming wish for a father is granted in Raye Morgan’s Secret Dad. And with Little Miss Innocent? Lori Foster proves that opposites do attract.
This Valentine’s Day, Silhouette Desire’s little red books sizzle with compelling romance and make the perfect gift for the contemporary woman—you! So treat yourself to all six!
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
Please address questions and book requests to:
Silhouette Reader Service
U.S 3010 Walden Ave., P.O Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
About the Author
RAYE MORGAN favors settings in the West, which is where she has spent most of her life. She admits to a penchant for Western heroes, believing that whether he’s a rugged outdoorsman or a smooth city sophisticate, he tends to have a streak of wildness that the romantic heroine can’t resist taming. She’s been married to one of those Western men for twenty years and is busy raising four more in her Southern California home.
Prologue
Robbie lifted his tousled head and listened. He could hear his mother talking and laughing softly with friends in the next room. The sound of her voice filled his almost-six-year-old heart with satisfaction and he snuggled down into his thick, soft covers, holding his teddy bear. He loved his mom.
“But where’s your dad?” his friend Billy had asked insistently that afternoon when they were playing in the mud at the edge of the lake. “Where is he, huh?”
He, frowned, remembering. It made him feel funny and hollow inside to think about it. Billy had a dad. He was big and loud and he took Billy fishing on Sunday afternoons. You were supposed to have a dad. Where was his dad?
His mother had said just tonight, “Your birthday is coming up, Robbie. Better start thinking about what you’re going to wish for.”
Could you wish for a dad for your birthday? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to say anything to his mom. He hated it when she looked sad and something told him asking for a dad would make her sad. So he would have to ask someone else.
Putting his hands together, he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and whispered, “Please, please. Could you bring me a dad? I promise I’ll sweep the porch every day and brush my teeth every night. So could you? Could you make him sort of big? I really, really need him.” He opened his eyes, then quickly closed them again, because he’d almost forgotten. “Thank you,” he added quickly. “Thank you very much. And God bless Mom.”
One
Denver McCaine winced as he climbed the trail to the cabin he’d rented for the month. His bruised, broken and thirty-eight-year-old body was rebelling, and he didn’t blame it. He’d wanted something remote, but if he’d known the cabin was going to be this hard to get to, he would have opted for something closer to the edge of the water.
“Go stay at Big Tree Lakes,” his coordinator, Josh Hoya had advised him. “You’ve had three rough assignments in a row. You’re not going to make it through another one without taking some time to heal.”
