Linda Goodnight - Married In A Month

“You have to be tired of rubbing his back. Let me.” A delicious fluttering began in Kati’s stomach at the sight of Colt’s strong hands, large and dark against the small baby’s blue fleece bunny pajamas. The picture was beautiful, moving. She had to look away.

The baby sighed deeply, his little arms and legs going limp as Colt’s hands worked a magic rhythm.

“I think you’ve got the touch,” she said.

“Yeah?” Colt looked pleased. “I never thought he liked me.”

Kati grinned. Who wouldn’t like Colt Garrett? “I think he’s finally comfortable enough to sleep.”

Very gently he lifted the baby and stood cradling the child in one arm while he extended the other to Kati. She knew touching him was a mistake, but she just couldn’t help herself. Taking his hand, she let him pull her up until she was no more than a breath away from his naked chest. Moonlight gilded them, the cowboy, the sleeping baby and the nanny.

The nanny, she had to remind herself. She was only…the nanny.

Dear Reader,

The summer after my thirteenth birthday, I read my older sister’s dog-eared copy of Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss and I was hooked. Thousands of romance novels later—I won’t say how many years—I’ll gladly confess that I’m a romance freak! That’s why I am so delighted to become the associate senior editor for the Silhouette Romance line. My goal, as the new manager of Silhouette’s longest-running line, is to bring you brand-new, heartwarming love stories every month. As you read each one, I hope you’ll share the magic and experience love as it was meant to be.

For instance, if you love reading about rugged cowboys and the feisty heroines who melt their hearts, be sure not to miss Judy Christenberry’s Beauty & the Beastly Rancher (#1678), the latest title in her FROM THE CIRCLE K series. And share a laugh with the always-entertaining Terry Essig in Distracting Dad (#1679).

In the next THE TEXAS BROTHERHOOD title by Patricia Thayer, Jared’s Texas Homecoming (#1680), a drifter’s life changes for good when he offers to marry his nephew’s mother. And a secretary’s dream comes true when her boss, who has amnesia, thinks they’re married, in Judith McWilliams’s Did You Say…Wife? (#1681).

Enjoy!

Mavis C. Allen

Associate Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To the men in my life:

Dwayne: Gentle soul whose love runs deeper than words. Mike: Who keeps me close to God. Travis: “Beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” Cody: Truly a gift from Heaven. Thank you for the joy you are. Gene: God in his kindness and wisdom knew how much I needed you. Thank you for loving me.

Silhouette Romance

For Her Child… #1569

Married in a Month #1682

A romantic at heart, Linda Goodnight believes in the traditional values of family and home. Writing books enables her to share her certainty that, with faith and perseverance, love can last forever and happy endings really are possible.

A native of Oklahoma, Linda lives in the country with her husband, Gene, and Mugsy, and adorably obnoxious rat terrier. She and Gene have a blended family of six grown children. An elementary school teacher, she is also a licensed nurse. When time permits, Linda loves to read, watch football and rodeo and indulge in chocolate. She also enjoys taking long, calorie-burning walks in the nearby woods. Readers can write to her at linda@lindagoodnight.com

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Kati Winslow took a deep breath, exhaling with a shaky sigh. The next few minutes could mean the beginning—or the end—of her dreams. Perched on the edge of a heavy leather armchair in the very masculine office of the Garret Ranch, her palms grew damp just thinking about this crazy plan of hers.

The next few minutes could mean the end of her if she didn’t handle things right. Any man wild enough to throw his leg over the back of a Brahma bull was certainly capable of tossing an impertinent woman out the same door she’d come in.

But she’d face a wild bull rider or even a mountain lion if she had to. Anything for Kati’s Angels.

Checking one last time to be certain her imagination hadn’t run away with her again—that she really and truly had an appointment with Colt Garret—she glanced at the newspaper ad crumpled in her lap like a hamburger wrapper.

“Cowboy has motherless baby. Urgently needs live-in child care at Garret Ranch.”

The ad was followed by a phone number, a list of qualifications, and the words exceptional pay.

All well and good, but it wasn’t the job she needed. It was the man who’d placed the ad—former rodeo cowboy and present owner of one of the biggest spreads in north Texas—Colt Garret.

Kati’s heart did three back flips and a full Gaynor at the thought of the man who held her future in his hands, a man who’d held a special place in her heart for more than ten years. A man who didn’t even know she existed.

Nervously she brushed at the skirt of her only decent suit, flicking away an imaginary speck of lint. Kati hoped the mint-green skirt and matching jacket looked mature and sensible. More than anything she had to convince Colt that she was not as crazy as she was going to sound.

She swallowed the dry lump in her throat and, for the hundredth time, rechecked her appearance. Sensible white heels flat on the floor. Skirt carefully pulled over her slender knees. Pristine white blouse buttoned to the top. The entire rig was so totally out of character, if Colt didn’t hurry up the neat knot of hair would become a waterfall of dark, straight locks hanging down her back. And she’d be forced to kick off these pinching heels.

Where was he? Her gaze flicked anxiously from the fancy cowboy art hanging over the fireplace to the acres of lush green pasture visible outside the picture window and back to the solid oak entry. During their phone conversation, Colt had stressed his desperate need for a nanny. Under the circumstances that was exactly what she wanted to hear. But if the situation was all that urgent why hadn’t Colt met her at the door instead of that tattooed man who looked as though he’d stuck his finger in a light socket? And where was Colt now?

She twisted her foot, feeling the first warning twinge of a toe cramp. Just as she bent for a foot massage the study door flew open and a harried looking cowboy, cradling a screaming, flailing baby, charged into the room. Kati straightened suddenly, the cramp forgotten in a rush of emotion.

Even unshaved and rumpled, Colt was more gorgeous than she remembered. Her heart joined her toe in a vicious cramp.

Wide-shouldered, skinny-hipped, he wore a red Western shirt that accentuated his darkness. Faded Wrangler jeans followed the angle of long, muscled thighs. Above a pair of red-rimmed eyes the color of Hershey’s Kisses, his dark brown hair needed a trim.

He was tall and trim and gorgeous, and he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of her.

“Are you Kati Winslow?” he asked above the din of the wailing infant.