Sharon Swan - Cowboys And Cradles

“All right,” Ryder found himself asking, “what do you intend to do with the ranch?”

Eve’s lips curved wryly. “I’m sure you’ll be glad to know, cowboy that I’m leaving most of the land as it is. However, I have some real changes planned for the main house.”

Surely she just meant nothing more than some new drapes, a few rugs scattered about, he assured himself. Simple stuff. Then he remembered that simple simply didn’t apply to this woman.

“Exactly what kind of changes do you have in mind?”

As she’d done earlier, Eve met his gaze head-on and didn’t so much as blink. “To be exact, I’m turning a portion of this house into a day-care center. A day nursery, actually.”

She waited a beat, wanting his full attention for the final blow. “For babies.”

Dear Reader,

Mills & Boon American Romance has rounded up the best romantic reading to help you celebrate Valentine’s Day. Start off with the final installment in the MAITLAND MATERNITY: TRIPLETS, QUADS & QUINTS series. The McCallum Quintuplets is a special three-in-one volume featuring New York Times bestselling author Kasey Michaels, Mindy Neff and Mary Anne Wilson.

BILLION-DOLLAR BRADDOCKS, Karen Toller Whittenburg’s new family-connected miniseries, premiers this month with The C.E.O.’s Unplanned Proposal. In this Cinderella story, a small-town waitress is swept into the Braddock world of wealth and power and puts eldest brother Adam Braddock’s bachelor status to the test. Next, in Bonnie Gardner’s Sgt. Billy’s Bride, an air force controller is in desperate need of a fiancée to appease his beloved, ailing mother, so he asks a beautiful stranger to become his wife. Can love bloom and turn their pretend engagement into wedded bliss? Finally, we welcome another new author to the Mills & Boon American family. Sharon Swan makes her irresistible debut with Cowboys and Cradles.

Enjoy this month’s offerings, and be sure to return next month when Mills & Boon American Romance launches a new cross-line continuity, THE CARRADIGNES: AMERICAN ROYALTY, with The Improperly Pregnant Princess by Jacqueline Diamond.

Wishing you happy reading,

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Mills & Boon American Romance

Cowboys and Cradles

Sharon Swan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For Ann, who always loved a cowboy hero

Born and raised in Chicago, SHARON SWANonce dreamed of dancing for a living. Instead, she surrendered to life’s more practical aspects, settled for an office job, concentrated on typing and being a Chicago Bears fan. Sharon never seriously considered a writing career until she moved to the Phoenix area and met Pierce Brosnan at a local shopping mall. It was a chance meeting that changed her life because she found herself thinking what if? What if two fictional characters had met the same way? That formed the basis for her next novel, and she’s now cheerfully addicted to writing contemporary romance and playing what if?

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

He rode into her life like a god on horseback.

If she hadn’t been so busy slamming on the brakes, the startling sight might have actually thrilled her.

Bits of desert dust, red-tinged and light as air, still swirled around them as she discovered he was mortal—and far from thrilled with her. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t tell you exactly what I think of your driving skills, lady.”

Eve Terry squared her shoulders, instinctively reacting both to the words and the clipped tone. He was human, all right, she told herself. And big. Looking up to meet his gaze would be necessary, she knew, even if he climbed down from his saddle and she stood to her full, taller-than-average height. He clearly outweighed her, as well, by more than a few pounds, and she was no lightweight. Still, she refused to let his size, the whole muscled length of him, intimidate her.

Or at least she refused to appear intimidated. Despite a pounding pulse and a racing heartbeat, aftereffects of their near collision, she managed a calm reply. “I can give you a great reason for keeping your opinions to yourself, cowboy. I just happen to be your new boss.”

Beyond a dirt-specked windshield, she watched a sudden frown appear under the wide brim of a battered tan hat. Honing in, she studied well-formed features, unhampered by the thin coat of dusty grime half concealing them. She’d drawn enough faces to recognize good bone structure when she saw it. High cheekbones, a straight nose and a firm jawline. Cleaned up, he would be attractive, she had no doubt. Not that she was interested. Right now she had a list of priorities, and men, even attractive ones, weren’t on it.

“The boss? Not hardly,” he said, his voice low and a bit gritty, tinged with a Western drawl. “This ranch belongs to an outfit in Dallas by the name of E. T. Holdings.”

“I’m Eve Terry, the owner of that company and—as of ten days ago—this ranch.”

She relished the abruptly stunned look in his green eyes before it disappeared in a flash as his frown deepened. Obviously, it would take more than a formidable surprise, even one as plainly unwelcome as this, to really shake this man. “Would you mind telling me why you rode straight in front of my Jeep?”

He stiffened. “You headed straight toward me. Do you always drive down dry gullies like a bat out of hell?”

She’d never driven down a gully before in her life. The Jeep was less than a week old, a last-minute purchase in Dallas, and she’d been testing the four-wheel drive and her ability to handle it. And she had handled it. She’d actually been enjoying the bumpy ride, with the canvas top down and a warm breeze ruffling what there was to ruffle of her dark-blond hair. Until he’d shown up out of nowhere, racing down one steep side of the gully. She’d stopped in the nick of time to avoid a crash.

“You scared the bejeezus out of Lucky,” he added when she didn’t respond to his terse question.

Lucky? He had to be referring to the caramel-colored stallion he’d brought to a swift standstill. It was the biggest horse she’d ever seen. Not that she’d seen all that many from a distance of less than a yard, of course. City life didn’t lend much opportunity for close encounters with horses. Nevertheless, she knew it was male. There was no missing a certain portion of its anatomy. And it was a huge animal. If they had collided, the Jeep would probably have come out the loser.

“I think Lucky can take care of himself,” she said dryly, tapping a finger tipped with red on the steering wheel. “Now, I suggest you get back to work. That is, if you work for this ranch and aren’t just trespassing.”