Kat Brookes - The Rancher's Baby Surprise

This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental. By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher. ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries. www.millsandboon.co.uk Version: 2020-03-02

Introduction “Hold out your arms and I’ll hand him over to you,” Hannah said with a reassuring smile. Garrett did as she said, feeling an overwhelming sense of awe as she settled the babe into his outstretched arms. So, this was what becoming someone’s father would have felt like. “Now bring him to your chest,” Hannah coached softly. As he settled the towel-swaddled infant against his chest, Garrett felt his heart swell. “I’d like to name him after you,” Hannah said, her eyes drifting shut. Garrett’s gaze snapped up, her words taking him by surprise. “That is, if it’s all right with you,” she mumbled sleepily. “I’d be honored,” he said. Truth was, he couldn’t have been more honored. It wasn’t as if he’d ever have children of his own to pass his name down to. “Garrett Austin,” Hannah said with a sigh. Her soft, even breathing told him she had finally fallen into an exhausted slumber. Garrett looked down at the precious bundle he held in his arms and smiled. “Welcome to the world, Garrett Austin Myers.”

Bible Verse And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. —Psalms 9:10

Dedication I’d like to thank Harlequin for the opportunity I’ve been given to share my stories with so many of its wonderful readers. It was a dream of mine for a very long time to write for Harlequin, and now I am living that dream. I’d like to thank Melissa Endlich for bringing me into the Love Inspired family, the editing department, my cover artist and Harlequin’s fabulous marketing crew. Lastly, I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to my new editor, Carly Silver. Thank you for your time and input with this story. I look forward to publishing many more books with you in the future.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Extract

About the Publisher

Hannah Sanders eased her foot off the gas pedal as she struggled to make out the winding country road ahead. The overcast day had turned as black as night when she’d driven into the storm. Even her car’s high beams struggled to push through the wall of rain before her. Deepening puddles along the barely visible road pulled at her tires, causing Hannah to tighten her grip on the steering wheel even more.

“Dear Lord,” she prayed, resisting the urge to run a hand over her rounded abdomen, knowing she needed to keep both hands firmly wrapped about the steering wheel, “please don’t let anything happen to this baby.” Her sister’s baby.

The wipers, set on high, pushed water to and fro on the windshield, but the deluge outside rendered them nearly useless. Why hadn’t she turned around when she’d seen the approaching storm? As if in answer to her question, the cramping in her lower back returned, this time wrapping around to her swollen abdomen. She hadn’t turned around because, according to her GPS, Bent Creek, Wyoming was the closest town in any direction to seek shelter from the storm she was driving through.

Hannah clenched her teeth as the cramping sensation, one she still hoped was nothing more than false labor pains, settled low in her abdomen. Tears pooled in her eyes. “This can’t be real labor,” she uttered in denial as she fought to push away the sense of panic threatening to overcome her. It was too soon. The baby, the tiny little blessing her older sister and her husband had entrusted her with, wasn’t due to arrive for five more weeks. A child that, following the multicar pileup that had taken her sister’s and brother-in-law’s lives three months earlier, would be Hannah’s to raise. To love.

And love this baby she would. With all her heart. He was all she had left of Heather, her only sibling. She told herself to stay calm. That stress wasn’t good for the baby, and what she was experiencing was nothing more than false labor pains. But what if they weren’t? She couldn’t give birth to Heather and Brian’s son on the side of some rain-soaked road alone. There could be complications? What if—

A crack of thunder erupted in the looming clouds above just as Hannah started across an old wooden single-lane bridge, yanking her from her fearful thoughts. The Honda Civic shuddered almost violently below her. Then, before she could fully process that the rumble she’d both heard and felt wasn’t thunder, the bridge gave way beneath her car.

A panicked cry escaped her lips. She jammed her foot on the brake, not that it made any difference as the nose of her Civic dipped downward. The creek’s rampant flow immediately crested over the front end of the hood on the driver’s side, mixing with the deluge of rain still coming down around her. Hannah’s stomach dropped, and it had nothing to do with the life growing inside her. It was an instantaneous fear of what might very well be her last few moments on this earth. Was this how her sister had felt in the milliseconds before the deadly crash that took her life?

Guilt rose up, overtaking that fear. Her decision to drive on through the storm instead of pulling off onto the side of the road to wait it out would cost her not only her life, but that of the innocent babe she carried inside her. Thick, hot tears of regret rolled down her cheeks. Just when she thought her car was about to be swept away, the rear of the vehicle caught on something, causing it to hang up on the rain-soaked hillside behind her. The car now hung partially submerged in the rushing water of the creek. Thankfully she hadn’t been going fast enough for the front air bags to deploy. There was no telling what kind of injury that might have caused to the baby this far along in her pregnancy.

However, the seat belt she’d secured herself in with, thanks to the downward slant of the vehicle, now pulled taut against her swollen abdomen. While it kept her from sliding forward into the dashboard, it also made it harder to breathe and nearly impossible to move.

The engine sputtered and died as water pushed through the partially submerged hood of the car, causing the headlights as well as the inside lighting to go out. Fearing that any movement she might make would dislodge her car from the creek’s hillside, Hannah sat perfectly still. If one could call it sitting, with gravity wanting to pull her body downward toward the nose of the car.

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