Lisa Bingham - Man Behind The Voice

Despite the fact that her voice sounded far too needy in her own ears, she had to know the entire picture. She had to see him.

“Dark brown.”

Like molasses. Like his voice.

“Your eyes?”

“Dark brown.”

She fought the burgeoning awareness filtering through her veins, filling her with a languid heat. It wasn’t right to be responding this way to a volunteer. It wasn’t in the least bit businesslike.

But, dear heaven above, she was beginning to form an image of him in her head, which wouldn’t go away. The clarity of her imagination was strange and disturbing, as if somewhere, somehow, she’d seen him before….

Dear Reader,

Welcome to another joy-filled month of heart, home and happiness from Harlequin American Romance! We’re pleased to bring you four new stories filled with people you’ll always remember and romance you’ll never forget.

We’ve got more excitement for you this month as MAITLAND MATERNITY continues with Jacqueline Diamond’s I Do! I Do! An elusive bachelor marries a lovely nurse for the sake of his twin nieces—will love turn their house into a home? Watch for twelve new books in this heartwarming series, starting next month from Harlequin Books!

How does a proper preacher’s daughter tame the wildest man in the county? With a little help from a few Montana matchmakers determined to repopulate their town! Sparks are sure to fly in The Playboy’s Own Miss Prim, the latest BACHELORS OF SHOTGUN RIDGE story by Mindy Neff!

An expectant mother, blinded from an accident, learns that the heart recognizes what the eye cannot see in Lisa Bingham’s touching novel Man Behind the Voice. And when a little boy refuses to leave his ranch home, his mother must make a deal with the brooding, sexy new owner. Don’t miss Carol Grace’s delightful Family Tree.

Spice up your summer days with the best of Harlequin American Romance!

Warm wishes,

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Man Behind the Voice

Lisa Bingham

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

To Danilyn.

Thank you for teaching me to see with new eyes.

Lisa Bingham is a resident of Tremonton, Utah—a rural farming community where the sounds of birds and the rustle of wheat can still be heard on hot summer evenings. She has written both historical and contemporary romances and loves spending time watching her characters grow. When she isn’t writing, she spends time with her husband on his three-hundred-acre farm and teaches English at a local middle school.

HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

602—NANNY JAKE

635—THE BUTLER & THE BACHELORETTE

651—THE DADDY HUNT

662—DANA AND THE CALENDAR MAN

692—THE PRINCESS & THE FROG

784—AND BABIES MAKE TEN

835—MAN BEHIND THE VOICE

HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

540—WHEN NIGHT DRAWS NEAR

Prologue

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

Jackson MacAllister groaned, his body pounding with a thousand aches, the worst of which seeming to center over his left eye. Inexplicably, his mind stumbled through a dense emotional fog, while his eyes stared at…

At what?

It took several long moments for Jack to realize that his face had been pressed into something soft. A balloon?

No.

An airbag.

In a sickening rush, he was inundated with memories. For most of the day, the weather had been cold, with the windchill factor causing temperatures to drop to well below freezing. Jack, who had been working with a filming crew near Estes Park, Colorado, had been eager to finish his assignment and begin the long drive to California.

With the road ahead of him and weeks of difficult stunt work behind him, Jack had been making good time out of the canyon. Traffic was sparse at eight in the evening. The weather had long since chased most of the skiers away.

Jack had been whistling softly to himself, enjoying the hot coffee he’d taken with him from the commissary and the soft music drifting from the speakers of his brand-new pickup truck. But then, Jack had topped the rise and taken a blind curve.

As soon as he focused on the scene awaiting him in the valley below, his good mood vanished. Silhouetted in the headlights of another car, he saw a three-car accident blocking the road in front of him.

Immediately, Jack’s instincts kicked in. Years of stunt driving for films made his actions second nature. He’d swiftly applied the truck’s antilock brakes, steering well away from the accident should he overshoot his mark. But just when he’d begun to believe he had the situation under control, the truck hit a patch of black ice and…

Jack winced, remembering the horrible screech of metal, the exploding whoosh of his air bag, the grinding explosive sound of his car colliding with the others. And then a scream.

A scream.

In an instant, his mind cleared and Jack was suddenly galvanized into action. Ignoring the aches and pains of his own body, he grappled with his door handle, all to no avail. The impact had dented the panel to a point where nothing short of the “Jaws of Life” would open it.

Reaching behind the bench seats of his pickup, he grasped a toolbox. Flinging open the lid, he removed a small metal awl. By placing the tip against the window and applying pressure…

Bam!

The pane shattered, spraying him with tiny chunks of glass. Tucking the awl and a small first-aid kit into the deep pocket of his jacket, Jack carefully slid through the aperture, assessing the scene that lay before him.

A delivery truck was evidently the first vehicle to hit the ice, skidding sideways across the road so that it was hit in turn by a large sedan, and then a smaller compact car.

Jack’s heart thudded painfully in his ears as he saw the damage his much larger vehicle had made to the tiny car. “Donormobiles” One-Eye Sullivan, Jack’s co-worker and friend, called the small compact cars. The diminutive vehicles were great on gas mileage and kind to the wallet, but in a high-impact crash they provided only a minor buffer between the driver and an oncoming car.

“Is everybody all right?” Jack shouted to a pair of figures who were beginning to emerge from the sedan.

“I think so,” an elderly gentleman called back.

Glancing behind him at the hill to ensure no other cars were about to hurtle toward them, Jack made a sweeping wave to the couple. “Get off the road and away from oncoming traffic.”

“What about the other drivers?”