Emily Dalton - A Baby For Lord Roderick

He was so small, so precious, so beautiful. And he’d practically been dropped into her lap by a good fairy.

Allie frowned. No, she was definitely romanticizing that part. And arrogant English aristocrat, Liam McAllister, had brought the babe to Allie’s door and into her life.

But what had Liam meant when he said he wanted to be involved in “any and all decisions made about the baby”? Since he’d saved the infant’s life, perhaps he had some continued concern for little Jake’s welfare.

But the baby was in good hands now. The right hands. Her hands.

And that was exactly where he was going to stay—even if she did owe Lord Roderick big time….

Dear Reader,

What better way to celebrate June, a month of courtship and romance, than with four new spectacular books from Harlequin American Romance?

First, the always wonderful Mindy Neff inaugurates Harlequin American Romance’s new three-book continuity series, BRIDES OF THE DESERT ROSE, which is a follow-up to the bestselling TEXAS SHEIKHS series. In the Enemy’s Embrace is a sexy rivals-become-lovers story you won’t want to miss.

When a handsome aristocrat finds an abandoned newborn, he turns to a beautiful doctor to save the child’s life. Will the adorable infant bond their hearts together and make them the perfect family? Find out in A Baby for Lord Roderick by Emily Dalton. Next, in To Love an Older Man by Debbi Rawlins, a dashing attorney vows to deny his attraction to the pregnant woman in need of his help. With love and affection, can the expectant beauty change the older man’s mind? Sharon Swan launches her delightful continuing series WELCOME TO HARMONY with Home-Grown Husband, which features a single-mom gardener who looks to her mysterious and sexy new neighbor to spice up her life with some much-needed excitement and romance.

Best,

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance

A Baby for Lord Roderick

Emily Dalton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To Aimee, Lisa’s second little miracle.

Your smile lights up the room!

With love, from your Auntie Danice

Emily Dalton lives in the beautiful foothills of Bountiful, Utah, with her husband of twenty-one years, two teenage sons and a very spoiled American Eskimo dog named Juno. She has written several Regency and historical novels, and now thoroughly enjoys writing contemporary romances for Harlequin American Romance. She loves old movies, Jane Austen and traveling by train. Her biggest weaknesses are chocolate truffles and crafts boutiques.

HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

586—MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY

650—HEAVEN CAN WAIT

666—ELISE & THE HOTSHOT LAWYER

685—WAKE ME WITH A KISS

706—MARLEY AND HER SCROOGE

738—DREAM BABY

783—INSTANT DADDY

823—A PRECIOUS INHERITANCE

926—A BABY FOR LORD RODERICK

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

“I have to go, Daddy.”

Liam turned his head briefly from the road and looked down at his small daughter in the seat beside him. In the wan light from the dashboard he saw she’d managed to curl herself into a comfortable ball despite the restraining seat belt. “I thought you were asleep.”

Bea stretched a frail-looking arm in front of her, the heel of her hand jutting out like a crossing guard halting traffic, and yawned. “I was. But now I’m awake and I’ve got to go.”

Liam peered out the windows at densely wooded countryside, broken up now and then by open stretches he assumed were the meadows and alpine lakes he remembered from his last and only visit twenty years ago to this northeastern corner of Utah. It was nearly midnight, black as pitch outside, and raining. His visibility was limited, but he was sure they weren’t passing petrol stations. The last one he’d seen of those was a neglected, two-pump enterprise in a bump-in-the-road berg nearly half an hour’s drive behind them.

“We’re almost there, Bea. Do you think you can wait till we get to Gran’s house to go to the loo?”

Bea unfolded herself till her thin legs hung over the edge of the seat, pushed a tangle of brown curls out of her eyes, then started to squirm. “No, Daddy, I can’t wait. I’ve got to go now.”

Liam supposed he could pull over, fetch the umbrella he’d thrown in the boot of the rented car along with their luggage, and shield Bea from the rain while she squatted by the side of the road. But she’d just gotten over a cold and he wasn’t too keen on the possibility of her getting chilled. She’d lost more weight in the last month and she seemed to catch every bug going around. Besides, she’d be embarrassed. She was only five, but she was as self-conscious as a teenager.

Suddenly they crested a rise in the road and he saw lights ahead. Relieved, he announced, “This is your lucky day, Beatrice Mary McAllister. That’s got to be Annabella ahead. Just hold on a little longer, okay?”

Liam would be as happy as Bea to finally reach their destination. He’d traveled enough in the United States to be able to adjust quickly to driving on the right side of the road, but he’d driven nonstop from Salt Lake City and was jet-lagged and exhausted. They’d left the main highway, Route 150, quite some time ago and had been traveling along a dark, lonely road as jigsawed as a puzzle piece. And with Bea asleep, he’d had nothing and no one to keep him company but the rhythmic swish and muted thump of the windshield wipers, the resonating vibration of the tires on the wet road, and a country-music station that faded in and out depending on minor fluctuations in altitude.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of falling asleep at the wheel. Nodding on the road had never been a problem. But he’d been doing too much thinking. Since the tragedy that tore apart his world a year ago, he had avoided the quiet situations that left one tempted to replay the best and worst moments of one’s life. But he was forced to agree with Gran that this trip, and the quiet that went with it, was something he could no longer avoid.

He slowed as outlying houses and buildings cropped up alongside the road. They all looked battened down for the night. “Let’s just hope there’s a petrol station or a restaurant open, because it might take a bit too long to locate Gran’s house. She lives on the edge of town, about a quarter mile up one of these mountains, you know.”

Bea sat up and peered over the dashboard. “Is there a McDonald’s here?”