Tycoon Cowboy's Baby Surprise

It only takes one night in Vegas... From USA TODAY bestselling author Katherine Garbera.

Wedding planner Kinley Quinten’s luck runs out when her job brings her back to Texas—and face-to-face with her child’s father, rancher Nate Caruthers. The passion that got them in trouble during a one-night stand three years ago is still there, too strong to deny.

Nate can’t help it: Kinley gets under his skin. But what happened in Vegas really needs to stay there. Too bad that cliché only gets him so far as he falls for the woman whose baby secret will change everything!

Tycoon Cowboy’s Baby Surprise is part of The Wild Caruthers Bachelors duet.

Everyone went into the room but Nate. He hung back.

Kinley shook her head.

“What are you doing here?” “I’m the big brother of the groom. He asked me to come, so I did,” Nate said. “This is why I wanted us to chat earlier. Just to clear the air. Like I said, I was a jerk, and I’m sorry. I don’t want anything to mess up Hunter’s wedding.”

Oh.

When he said it like that, he sounded so reasonable. And she realized that coming to Cole’s Hill had more consequences than she’d thought. She was losing her professional edge because of Nate. Part of it was the way he made her pulse speed up. A bigger part was the fact that he was her daughter’s father and she hadn’t told him. And the cost of keeping that secret seemed higher than she might be able to pay.

“Sorry. I’m just a little short-tempered today. Must be the jet lag.”

“Don’t be. It happens to the best of us. After the tasting, can we get a drink and talk? It’s obvious we’re going to need to.”

* * *

Tycoon Cowboy’s Baby Surprise is part of The Wild Caruthers Bachelors duet: These Lone Star heartbreakers’ single days are numbered

Tycoon Cowboy’s Baby Surprise

Katherine Garbera

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestselling author KATHERINE GARBERA is a two-time Maggie Award winner who has written more than seventy books. A Florida native who grew up to travel the globe, Katherine now makes her home in the Midlands of the UK with her husband and a very spoiled miniature dachshund. Visit Katherine on the web at www.katherinegarbera.com, or catch up with her on Facebook and Twitter.

To Courtney and Lucas, who showed me that being a mom is about the best damned job any woman can have and for making my life so much richer.

As always special thanks to Charles for being a wonderful editor and for getting me. Also thanks to Nancy Robards Thompson, who originally brainstormed a version of this story with me.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Extract

Copyright

One

“Pack your bags, kid, we’re taking the show on the road,” Jacs Veerling said as she swept into Kinley Quinten’s office. The term was a stretch for the large workroom she shared with Willa Miller, the other wedding planner who worked for Jacs.

Jacs had the smarts of Madeleine Albright, the figure of Sofia Vergara and the business savvy of Estée Lauder. She was fifty but looked forty and had made her career out of planning bespoke weddings that were talked about in the media for years, even after the couples had split up. She wore her short hair in a bob, and the color changed from season to season. As it was summer, Jacs had just changed her color to a platinum blond that made her artic-blue eyes pop.

“Who’s going on the road? Both of us? All three of us?” Kinley asked. Based in the Chimera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, they did in-house weddings, but the bulk of their business came from destination weddings all over the world. Wherever their A-list clients wanted.

“Just you, Kin,” Jacs said. “I’ve inked a deal to plan the wedding of reformed NFL bad boy Hunter Caruthers. It’s taking place in your home state of Texas, and when I mentioned your name, he said he knew you. Slam dunk for us. I think that might be why he picked our company over one in Beverly Hills.”

Caruthers.

At least it was Hunter and not his brother Nate.

“I can’t.”

Willa abruptly ended her call with a client, saying she’d call back, and turned to Jacs, who gave Kinley one of her patented she-who-must-be-obeyed stares.

“What? I’m sure I heard that wrong.”

Kinley took a deep breath and put her hands on her desk, noticing that her manicure had chipped on her middle finger. But really she couldn’t help the panic rising inside her. She had no plans to return to Texas.

Ever.

“I can’t. It’s complicated and personal, so I really don’t want to go into it, but please send Willa instead.”

Jacs walked over and propped her hip on the edge of Kinley’s desk, which was littered with bridal gown catalogs and photos of floral arrangements. “He asked for you. Personally. That’s the only personal that matters to me. Will you die if you go to Texas?”

“No. Of course not.” Kinley just didn’t want to see Nate again. She didn’t even want to see her dad again in person. She was content with their weekly Skype chats. That was enough for her and for her two-year-old daughter, Penny.