One Week To Build A Happy-Ever-After?
The cowgirl: Brooke Laughton wants one thing: the family she canât have. When a gorgeous man and a giggling baby girl step onto her Cedar River ranch, her dream comes true. Or so she hopes...
The city boy: Tyler Madden wants to find the babyâs unwitting birth fatherâBrookeâs missing brotherâand fulfill a promise to the late mother. Then he can go back to his lucrative law practice. Or so he hopes...
But one little baby has a different agenda. Little Cara wants a family...and the lonely cowgirl and the commitment-phobic lawyer are just the mommy and daddy she needs! Sheâs got one week to show them whatâs right in front of them. Desire. Love. And the promise of a forever family...
Man and baby took her breath away.
Standing in her driveway, Tyler looked too gorgeous for her peace of mind. It took two seconds to figure out she wasnât immune to him. Sheâd been out of action when it came to dating and sex. But right then, in low-riding jeans and a baby on his hip, Tyler was the sexiest man sheâd ever seen. And her hibernating libido immediately kick-started out of slumber.
âYou wanted me,â he said, his blistering gaze connecting with hers. âSo you have me.â
She could have played dumb, but she knew sheâd swindled him out of his hotel and onto her ranch. âSo youâll stay?â
âWeâll stay. For a week.â
Part of her was delighted but another part was nervous. After two years, sharing her home with a man tied her belly in knots.
This is about the baby...not him.
She took a deep breath and led him inside. As he entered, he turned to look at her. A gust of awareness swept the house, an intimacy that defied logic and made her hot all over. His gaze held her captive, and no matter how she tried, she couldnât look away.
It was going to be a long week.
* * *
The Cedar Rivier Cowboys: Riding into town with romance on their minds!
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Cedar River, South Dakota! Also welcome to my tenth book for Harlequin Special Edition, The Cowgirlâs Forever Family.
Brooke Laughton is a former barrel racer turned rancher. Sheâs also a kind and generous woman who longs for a family of her ownâsomething she believes she will never have after a long-running battle with infertility. But when a handsome stranger turns up on her doorstep with a baby in his arms, she feels like someone may have just handed her the moon. The baby is the motherless child of her younger and absent brother, and the stranger is Tyler Madden, a New York lawyer who is now calling all the shots regarding her niece. As she tries to get her brother to come home and keep the bank from foreclosing on the ranch, Brooke realizes that itâs not only the baby who is capturing her heart, but also the no-nonsense, no-commitment man, who is clearly daddy and husband material...even if he doesnât know it!
I loved writing Brooke and Tylerâs story and seeing how these two very different people became a family together. Families come about in many waysâmaybe through partnerships or marriage, birth or adoptionâbut the binding factor is always love. I do hope you enjoy The Cowgirlâs Forever Family, and Iâd like to invite you back to Cedar River very soon for my next book.
I adore hearing from readers and can be reached by email, Twitter and Facebook, or sign up for my newsletter via my website at helenlacey.com. Please visit anytime, as I love talking about my pets, my horses and of course, cowboys. Iâll also be sharing news about my latest series for Harlequin Special Edition, The Cedar River Cowboys!
Warmest wishes,
Helen Lacey
HELEN LACEY grew up reading Black Beauty and Little House on the Prairie. These childhood classics inspired her to write her first book when she was seven, a story about a girl and her horse. She loves writing for Mills & Boon Cherish, where she can create strong heroes with a soft heart and heroines with gumption who get their happily-ever-after. For more about Helen, visit her website, www.helenlacey.com.
For my wonderfully supportive editor, Susan Litmanâwho allowed me the time I needed for this one. Thank you.
Chapter One
Brooke Laughton shot up in bed.
Rubbing her eyes, she quickly checked the clock. Nine twenty. Sheâd been in bed for less than fifteen minutes. The dogs were barking, which meant either one of the horses were out, a feral cat had found its way into the chicken run againâor someone was skulking around the ranch house.
Swinging her legs off the bed, she pulled on the sweatpants sheâd discarded fifteen minutes earlier and grabbed her sweater. The dogs were still barking and she heard a soundâthe slam of a car door. Tension snaked up her spine. Not that she was scared. She could handle herself and the rifle she kept stashed in her wardrobe. She grabbed the gun, shoved her feet into a pair of loafers and left the room. The floorboards creaked as she made her way down the hallway and when she reached the living room doorway, she blinked at the lights beaming through the front window.