Gina Wilkins - Faith, Hope and Family

Officer Dylan Smith.

“Evening, Ms. McCloud. Did you rob a bank?” Dylan’s voice was deeper than the youthful echo that still too frequently haunted her dreams.

“I just felt like taking a drive.”

“At midnight?”

“Is that against the law?”

“No. But doing sixty-five in a forty-five-mile-an-hour zone is. But, you know I’m not going to ticket you.”

“You’d ticket any other speeder. I expect the same treatment.”

His laugh would have warmed some cold spot deep inside her heart if she hadn’t steeled herself against it. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a speeder actually demand a citation from me before.”

“Then I’m free to go?”

He dropped his arm to his side, sighed and stepped back from the car. His voice was suddenly weary. “I’ve never tried to stop you from leaving.”

Dear Reader,

Not only does Special Edition bring you the joys of life, love and family—but we also capitalize on our authors’ many talents in storytelling. In our spotlight, Christine Rimmer’s exciting new miniseries, VIKING BRIDES, is the epitome of innovative reading. The first book, The Reluctant Princess, details the transformation of an everyday woman to glorious royal—with a Viking lover to match! Christine tells us, “For several years, I’ve dreamed of creating a modern-day country where the ways of the legendary Norsemen would still hold sway. I imagined what fun it would be to match up the most macho of men, the Vikings, with contemporary American heroines. Oh, the culture clash—oh, the lovely potential for lots of romantic fireworks! This dream became VIKING BRIDES.” Don’t miss this fabulous series!

Our Readers’ Ring selection is Judy Duarte’s Almost Perfect, a darling tale of how good friends fall in love as they join forces to raise two orphaned kids. This one will get you talking! Next, Gina Wilkins delights us with Faith, Hope and Family, in which a tormented heroine returns to save her family and faces the man she’s always loved. You’ll love Elizabeth Harbison’s Midnight Cravings, in which a sassy publicist and a small-town police chief fall hard for each other and give in to a sizzling attraction.

The Unexpected Wedding Guest, by Patricia McLinn, brings together an unlikely couple who share an unexpected kiss. Newcomer to Special Edition Kate Welsh is no stranger to fresh plot twists, in Substitute Daddy, in which a heroine carries her deceased twin’s baby and has feelings for the last man on earth she should love—her snooty brother-in-law.

As you can see, we have a story for every reader’s taste. Stay tuned next month for six more top picks from Special Edition!

Sincerely,

Karen Taylor Richman

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For my mom, everybody’s Nana.

is a bestselling and award-winning author who has written more than sixty-five books for Harlequin and Silhouette. She credits her successful career in romance to her long, happy marriage and her three “extraordinary” children.

A lifelong resident of central Arkansas, Ms. Wilkins sold her first book to Harlequin in 1987 and has been writing full-time ever since. She has appeared on the Waldenbooks, B. Dalton and USA TODAY bestseller lists. She is a three-time recipient of the Maggie Award for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers, and has won several awards from the reviewers of Romantic Times.

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

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

The Honesty city limits sign was just visible within the range of Deborah McCloud’s headlights. She was tempted to keep driving, leaving the town where she had grown up behind her. Honesty, Mississippi, wasn’t her home anymore; she had escaped nine years ago when she’d left for college, and she hadn’t been back for more than a few days at a time during the past seven years. It was only because her mother and two older brothers still lived here that she returned at all.

Mostly her mother, she acknowledged. She and her brothers had drifted apart in the past few years.

It might have been a Freudian impulse that made her press harder on the accelerator as she moved closer to the edge of town. Probably a barely suppressed desire to escape the unhappy memories here, though she tried not to dwell on them during her infrequent visits with her mother. She supposed it was her brother’s wedding that afternoon that had brought the memories so close to the surface tonight, preventing her from sleeping.

A flash of blue lights in her rearview mirror made her hiss a curse between her teeth. Terrific, she thought, pulling over at the side of the deserted road. The only thing that would make this episode worse was if the officer who had pulled her over was Dylan Smith. Surely, fate wouldn’t be that cruel.

She should have known better.

Resting one hand on the top of her car, Dylan studied her through the open driver’s-door window. Even though he was silhouetted by the yellowish street-lamps above him, she had no trouble picturing his roughly handsome face, nor his bitingly intense steel-gray eyes. The dark-brown hair he had once worn rebel-long was now almost militarily short, befitting his career on the right side of the law.

When he spoke, his voice was deeper than the youthful echo that still too frequently haunted her dreams, but it held the familiar undercurrent of mocking humor. “Evening, Ms. McCloud. Did you rob a bank? Knock over a liquor store? You seem to be in a big hurry to get out of town.”

Knowing her face was illuminated by the same light that shadowed his, she kept her expression impassive. “I’m not leaving town. I just felt like taking a drive.”

“At midnight?”

“Yes. Is that against the law?”

If her challenging tone annoyed him, he didn’t let it show. “No. But doing sixty-five in a forty-five-mile-an-hour zone is.”

“So write me a ticket.” She extracted her driver’s license from her wallet and held it out to him. “If you run this, you’ll see that I have no outstanding warrants.”

He made no move to take the license. “You know I’m not going to ticket you.”

“You’d ticket any other speeder. I expect the same treatment.”

Leaving his hands where they were, he asked, “How was your brother’s wedding?”

The abrupt change of subject made her blink. She lowered her outstretched hand to her lap. “It was fine. No problems.”

“Gideon and Adrienne make a great couple.”

“Yes, they do.” Keeping her voice totally disinterested, she said, “I heard that Adrienne insisted on inviting you. How come you didn’t show up?”

“It’s not like you to ask stupid questions.”

His curt reply made her temper flare again. “Then I’m sorry I asked.”

He sighed. “I didn’t want any unpleasantness to cast a shadow over the wedding. I knew you wouldn’t want me there. And, despite my new friendship with Adrienne, Gideon and I still barely speak. For their sake, and for your mother’s, I didn’t want to risk any problems.”