Patricia Johns - His Unexpected Family

Suddenly A Mother

When a baby is dropped into her life without warning, Emily Shaw is overjoyed. It’s a bit odd that her distant cousin named single Emily as guardian, but she’s thrilled all the same. She never thought she’d get to be a mom. Another unexpected blessing is that baby Cora arrives in the arms of police chief Greg Taylor. Despite all three of them instantly bonding, Greg has promised himself he’ll never be a father. And now Emily’s smooth-talking relative is challenging her right to raise Cora. Will Emily have to make an impossible decision between the child she already loves and the man who loves her?

“You’re willing to walk away from this?”

Emily forced the words out, unsure if she really wanted to hear the answer. Her heart hammered in her throat, and she met Greg’s gaze.

“Walk away?” He shook his head and his eyes met hers, snapping in irritation. “Do I look like I’m walking away to you?”

He was angry now, too, and she could feel the tension in the room mounting. She’d rather face him angry than keep butting her head up against his self-controlled calm.

“Then what are you doing?” she demanded.

He dropped his arms and stepped toward her. He pinned her with those fierce blue eyes, emotions battling over his rugged features. “I’m trying really, really hard not to fall head over heels in love with you, Emily. That’s what I’m doing.”

“And how is that working out for you?” she asked, lifting her chin in defiance.

His answer was a last step toward her, his strong arm sliding around her waist and pulling her close to him so that she could feel the steady beat of his heart.

PATRICIA JOHNS

willfully became a starving artist after she finished her BA in English literature. It was all right, because she was single, attractive and had a family to back her up “just in case.” She lived in a tiny room in the downtown core of a city, worked sundry part-time jobs to keep herself fed and wrote the first novel she would have published.

That was over ten years ago, and in the meantime, she’s had another ten novels published. This book is her first for Love Inspired, and her dedication to the written word hasn’t diminished.

She’s married, has a young son and a small bird named Frankie. She couldn’t be happier.

His Unexpected Family

Patricia Johns

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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The Lord your God is with you,

the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

in His love He will no longer rebuke you,

but will rejoice over you with singing.

—Zephaniah 3:17

To my mom, who raised a writer

Contents

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

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

Emily was expecting a baby. In fact, she was expecting the little one to arrive that very afternoon, and every car that passed by on the road outside made her look up. She attempted to keep herself occupied by sorting through the boxes of decorations she’d taken from her kindergarten classroom the week before, but the distraction wasn’t working terribly well.

Emily looked down at the laminated cards with big, colorful letters printed across them. As she absently arranged them and tucked them into an envelope to be used in September, her eyes flickered back toward the window. Her plan had been to get as much work out of the way as she could before little Cora arrived, but perhaps that had been overly ambitious. Pulling her dark waves away from her face with one hand, she dropped the envelope on top of a box of art supplies.

The crunch of tires on her gravel drive made her look up again, her eyes trained out the window. A police cruiser eased behind her SUV, and before the driver’s-side door even opened, Emily pushed herself out of her seat and went to open the front door.

The police officer faced away from her as he leaned into the backseat. Broad shoulders tapered down to a strong back, and she half expected him to lift some heavy weight from the car. But then he straightened and turned toward her, a baby car seat in one hand, his steel-blue eyes moving over her matter-of-factly.

“Miss Shaw?” he said.

“Hi,” Emily said. “Yes, that’s me.”

“Sorry I’m late.” He walked across the last of the drive to the shade of her front door. His biceps flexed under the weight of the car seat, and he gave her a professional smile. “It’s nice to meet you in person. I’m Chief Greg Taylor. We spoke on the phone.”

“Yes, yes, absolutely.” She stepped back to let him inside, and as he passed her, his arm brushing hers, she could just detect the musk of his cologne.

He was better-looking than she’d given him credit for during their telephone conversation. With close-cropped blond hair, going just a tiny bit gray at the temples, he had a calm and collected look about him. His blue eyes seemed to take in every detail as his gaze swung around the room. He placed the car seat on the couch, and Emily moved closer to the little bundle, bending down to peek at the tiny face.

The baby was sleeping, a baby girl so tiny that Emily was almost afraid to touch her. She had a downy frosting of red hair on top of her head, and her skin was so pale that Emily thought she was nearly translucent. The little thing lay there in the car seat, her small pink tongue sticking out in her sleep, and Emily let out a soft sigh.

“There she is.” Emily touched one little hand, feeling the baby-soft skin. When she looked up, she saw Chief Taylor watching her thoughtfully.

“I’m sorry about your cousin.” He pressed his lips together. “Were you close?”

“Not really.” Emily felt slight embarrassment flush her cheeks. “I didn’t know she trusted me this much...you know, leaving me as guardian in her will.”

“How long since you saw her last?” he asked.

“Years...maybe five or six?” Emily tried to recall the last time she and her cousin had been in the same room. It had been some sort of family reunion, and she was pretty sure it was the time that one of her uncles broke his leg falling off the porch.

“She obviously thought a lot of you.”

Emily nodded. “She was quite private. I mean, we were Facebook friends, but she didn’t really post anything. I didn’t know much about what was going on with her.”

“It’s understandable.” He gave her a sympathetic smile and made a couple of notes on a pad of paper.

“I didn’t know she was pregnant,” Emily added. “She didn’t tell anyone.” She looked back down at the tiny baby and shook her head sadly. “But looking at Baby Cora, there is no denying who her mother was.”

Emily bent down and unbuckled the harness. Cora wriggled as Emily slid a hand under her little rump and lifted her out of the car seat. The infant nestled into Emily’s arms, snuggling close, and she felt a wave of tenderness for the tiny thing.