The Black Sheep's Baby
Thirteen years ago Eric Lanagan fled his tiny Iowa hometown with wanderlust in his heart and a vow never to return.And yet, all these years later, who should pull into the old family homestead but Eric - now a world-renowned photojournalist - with a little pink bundle strapped to his chest. Not to mention a beautiful redheaded attorney on his tail . And said redhead, Devon O'Rourke, was more than just an attorney.She was the child's aunt, and she had serious doubts about Eric's claim that he was the baby's father - and even more doubts about her own growing attraction to him. For his very presence was making her think thoughts she had no business thinking and want things she could never have.
Читать The Black Sheep's Baby онлайн беплатно
âI didnât mean to startle you.
I came in late last night.
âIn the stormâ¦â Devon was talking too fast. Her voice kept bumping up against her galloping heart.
My God, what was this all about? She couldnât be frightenedâDevon OâRourke didnât scare easily. This was the man whoâd been named as the father of her sisterâs child. In spite of the harshness of Ericâs features, except for that brief flash of anger in his eyes, he didnât look at all like someone capable of violence. In fact, there was something about him that was almostâ¦oh, good heavens, the word sweet was the one that came the most insistently to mind, with that endearing distraction, the juxtaposition of a fuzzy pink-hatted head and tiny waving fist against a naked, muscled masculine chestâ¦. Her heart gave another lurch.
She could be in no danger here, not from this man.
Not right this minute, anyway.
Dear Reader,
July is a sizzling month both outside and in, and once again weâve rounded up six exciting titles to keep your temperature rising. It all starts with the latest addition to Marilyn Pappanoâs HEARTBREAK CANYON miniseries, Lawmanâs Redemption, in which a brooding man needs help connecting with the lonely young girl who just might be his daughterâand he finds it in the form of a woman with similar scars in her romantic past. Donât miss this emotional, suspenseful read.
Eileen Wilks provides the next installment in our twelve-book miniseries, ROMANCING THE CROWN, with Her Lord Protector. Fireworks ensue when a Montebellan lord has to investigate a beautiful commoner who may be a friendâor a foe!âof the royal family. This miniseries just gets more and more intriguing. And Kathleen Creighton finishes up her latest installment of her INTO THE HEARTLAND miniseries with The Black Sheepâs Baby. A freewheeling photojournalist who left town years ago returnsâwith a little pink bundle strapped to his chest, and a beautiful attorney in hot pursuit. In Marilyn Tracyâs Cowboy Under Cover, a grief-stricken widow who has set up a haven for children in need of rescue finds herself with that same needâand her rescuer is a handsome federal marshal posing as a cowboy. Nina Bruhns is back with Sweet Revenge, the story of a straitlaced woman posing as her wild identical twinâand now missingâsister to learn of her fate, who in the process hooks up with the seductive detective who is also searching for her. And in Bachelor in Blue Jeans by Lauren Nichols, during a bachelor auction, a woman inexplicably bids on the man who once spurned her, and winsâor does she? This reunion romance will break your heart.
So get a cold drink, sit down, put your feet up and enjoy them allâand donât forget to come back next month for more of the most exciting romance reading aroundâ¦only in Silhouette Intimate Moments.
Yours,
Leslie J. Wainger
Executive Senior Editor
The Black Sheepâs Baby
Kathleen Creighton
KATHLEEN CREIGHTON
has roots deep in the California soil but has relocated to South Carolina. As a child, she enjoyed listening to old timersâ tales, and her fascination with the past only deepened as she grew older. Today, she says she is interested in everythingâart, music, gardening, zoology, anthropology and historyâbut people are at the top of her list. She also has a lifelong passion for writing, and now combines her two loves in romance novels.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Prologue
December 20âLos Angeles, California
She woke in the milky twilight that passed for darkness in the city, knowing sheâd dreamed of Susan again. As always, she couldnât remember much about the dreamâno details, not even a face. Just a voiceâSusanâs voice, childish and frail, calling to her. Calling her, pleading with her. Help meâ¦help me, Devon. Pleaseâ¦donât leave me. Help meâ¦.
She threw back the covers and rose, paced barefoot to the window. She stared out across the glittering jeweled carpet that stretched all the way to the sea, squinting hard to hold back angry tears. How was I supposed to help you, she thought, when I didnât even know where you were? You ran away, damn you. Itâs not my fault. Itâs not my fault!
She held herself tightly as she shivered, and swallowed hard, once, then again. A tear ran warmly down her cold cheek.
Susan had been fourteen when sheâd run awayâalmost a woman. But the voice in her dream was that of a little child.
Help me, Devonâ¦.
Dammit, Susan, she thought, angry and weary at the same time. I am helping, canât you see that? Iâm sorry if I let you down, but Iâm trying to make it up to you now, the only way I know. Isnât that enough?
She brushed at her cheek and jerked away from the window. The luminous numbers on the clock portion of the built-in entertainment center beside her bed glowed green-gold in the gray twilightâ2:14 a.m. Way too early to even think about leaving for the airport. And yet she knew better than to try to go back to sleep. Calm, now, and resolute, she went to her walk-in closet and took her rolling overnighter from its shelf. She lifted it onto the bed, unzipped it and began, carefully and methodically, to pack.
