Gina Wilkins - Secretly Yours

His gaze was focused on her mouth. “I’m trying to talk myself out of kissing you. It might help if you would push me away or something.”

She lifted a hand to his chest, but it simply rested there, feeling his heart beating strongly against her palm. “I should push you away,” she murmured, trying to convince herself.

“Yes.” His other hand rose, cupping her face. His head lowered until his mouth almost, but not quite, touched hers.

Impulsively, Annie tightened her fingers around the fabric of his shirt and closed the distance between them. She had come to Honoria to make her own decisions. To try new experiences. And she had just decided that kissing Trent McBride was an experience she didn’t want to miss. So, before she lost her nerve, she touched her lips to his.

She might have taken the initiative, but Trent quickly turned that around. He gathered her in his arms and transformed her tentative kiss into an embrace that nearly singed her eyelashes.

She should have known, she thought, wrapping her arms around his neck, that Trent McBride would kiss like this….

Dear Reader,

With every book I write, I start with the question “What if?” What if a man who was born to fly becomes permanently grounded by a tragic accident? What if this man, who no longer considers himself hero material, falls in love with a woman who seems to be in need of one?

These were the questions I asked myself when I began writing Secretly Yours, the second book about those Wild McBrides. Luckily, Trent and I discovered together that he is still more than “wild” enough to be the perfect hero for Annie Stewart, the young woman who’s come to Honoria, Georgia, to start a new life. And it’s a good thing, because Annie’s going to need a hero when her old life catches up with her….

What no one in Honoria knows is that there’s still one member of the McBride family they haven’t met—and this one could be the “wildest” McBride of them all. Mac Cordero’s whole life has been a scandal. He’s coming to town for answers—and a taste of revenge. Don’t miss Mac’s story in Yesterday’s Scandal, a Harlequin single title, on sale September 2000.

Enjoy,

Gina Wilkins

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

749—THE LITTLEST STOWAWAY

792—SEDUCTIVELY YOURS *

Secretly Yours

Gina Wilkins

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For my sisters-in-law: Lisa, Sandy and LuLu, who love to remind me that they’re younger than I am.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

“YOU’VE DONE WHAT?” Trent McBride asked, in a voice that had been known to make his peers quake.

But Bobbie McBride had never been easily intimidated—and especially not by one of her own three offspring. She faced her youngest without flinching. “I’ve hired a housekeeper for you. You’ve heard us mention Annie Stewart, who’s been cleaning the McBride Law Firm offices since she moved to town six weeks ago. She’s very conscientious and she’s already got quite a few clients, but she still needs steady work.”

“I don’t need a housekeeper.”

“You most certainly do. You keep this place tidy enough, I’ll admit, but Annie will take care of the little details you never even notice. She’ll do your laundry, too.”

“I can wash my own underwear.”

His mother continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “She’ll come twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and stay a couple of hours each time. I’ve arranged to have her start next week.”

Though he, better than most, knew the futility of trying to argue with his mother, Trent made the effort, anyway. “I don’t want her to start next week. How am I supposed to pay a housekeeper on what’s left of my insurance settlement? And before you even suggest it, I’m not letting you and Dad pay for this.”

“You never let us pay for anything,” Bobbie replied matter-of-factly. “All three of my children are stubborn as mules and irritatingly independent. But you, my dear Trent, have always taken first place. As it happens, I’ve worked out all the details regarding payment, too. I’m sure you’ve heard that Annie moved into the old Stewart place just down the road from here. Turns out strange old Carney Stewart was her great-uncle, and he left the house and property to her when he died last year. No one even knew Carney had family until then. Anyway, the place is in terrible shape, and it needs a lot of repairs. I told Annie you’re a skilled woodworker, and she’s willing to trade her services in exchange for yours.”

“I am not a handyman.”

“Perhaps not, but you’re certainly available. And it will be good for you to get out of the house more. As long as you’re reasonably careful, the exercise will be good for you, too. Not to mention the fact that you’ll be doing a big favor to a very nice young woman.”

“I don’t do favors.”

“You’ll do this one.” Her voice was as soft as his—and just as unyielding.

Bobbie McBride had been a schoolteacher for more than thirty years. When she got started on one of her famous lectures, there was no stopping her. And when that lecture was directed toward one of her three adult children, there was no point in trying to interrupt. Though Trent had recently turned twenty-six, his mother could still reduce him to a sullen adolescent.

“If you think for one minute that I’m going to let you live out the rest of your life brooding in this cottage like some sort of crusty old hermit, you are very mistaken,” she said flatly. “Do you want to end up like Carney Stewart, old and alone? I’ve given you more than a year to pull yourself together. It’s been eighteen months since the accident. It’s time for you to stop sulking and get on with your life.”

Trent kept his gaze focused on the unadorned wall in front of him. “I’m not sulking. I’m living exactly the way I choose.”

“You sit here alone for days. You rarely go out in public. You neglect your family and rebuff your friends. You aren’t eating right and you aren’t doing the exercises you were given. This is the way you choose to live?”

“Yes,” he answered simply.

She shook her gray head in exasperation. “Well, I’m not going to stand by quietly while you ruin your life.”

“Too late, Mother.” He tried to sound bored, but he was aware of the undertones of self-pity. “I did that eighteen months ago.”

“Sometimes,” she said after a moment, “what I think you need most is to be taken behind the wood-shed.”

He was surprised to feel one corner of his mouth twitch in what was almost a smile. “You just might be right.”

Bobbie reached for her coat. “I have to be going. Annie will be here Tuesday morning at nine. You two can work out the details of this arrangement then.”

As tempted as he was to refuse, he knew it wouldn’t be worth the effort. “All right. I’ll give it a month, but that’s it, Mother.”