Christie Ridgway: Beginning With Baby

Jackson closed his eyes for an instant, trying to shut out the sensation of the baby in his arms, as well as the bittersweet memories the feeling evoked.

“You did it. You got him to sleep again.” Phoebe smiled as she bent over to retrieve the baby, the rounded neckline of her dress falling forward to give Jackson an innocent peek at two perfectly fine breasts in a white lacy bra.

He bit back a groan, and looked away as she scooped the baby out of his arms.

At last. It was over. Phoebe was finally leaving, and there’d be no more contact between them, he promised.

At the door, though, she spun around, the beginnings of a smile brightening her face. He wanted to shut his eyes again.

“Gee,” she said. “I just gotta ask. What are you doing at 6:30 a.m. for the rest of your life?”

Dear Reader,

With spring in the air, there’s no better way to herald the season and continue to celebrate Silhouette’s 20th Anniversary year than with an exhilarating month of romance from Special Edition!

Kicking off a great lineup is Beginning with Baby, a heartwarming THAT’S MY BABY! story by rising star Christie Ridgway. Longtime Special Edition favorite Susan Mallery turns up the heat in The Sheik’s Kidnapped Bride, the first book in her new DESERT ROGUES series. And popular author Laurie Paige wraps up the SO MANY BABIES miniseries with Make Way for Babies!, a poignant reunion romance in which a set of newborn twins unwittingly plays Cupid!

Beloved author Gina Wilkins weaves a sensuous modern love story about two career-minded people who are unexpectedly swept away by desire in Surprise Partners. In Her Wildest Wedding Dreams from veteran author Celeste Hamilton, a sheltered woman finds the passion of a lifetime in a rugged rancher’s arms. And finally, Carol Finch brings every woman’s fantasy to life with an irresistible millionaire hero in her compelling novel Soul Mates.

It’s a gripping month of reading in Special Edition. Enjoy!

All the best,

Karen Taylor Richman

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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With love for my friend Maureen Caudill, who so generously shares her expertise and so unfailingly offers her support.

Silhouette Special Edition

Beginning with Baby #1315

Yours Truly

The Wedding Date

Follow That Groom!

Have Baby, Will Marry

Ready, Set…Baby!

Big Bad Dad

The Millionaire and the Pregnant Pauper

considered herself a writer from that first haiku (about the sound of footsteps in the rain) she wrote in second grade. She became a romance writer in the sixth grade, when she penned a series of love stories starring herself and the teen idol of the time. She turned published author after marrying the love of her life and having two sons.

Now she lives in Southern California, where she writes, wifes and mothers. She prefers not to say which one comes first, but they are all vitally important to her. When she isn’t concocting a new story or concocting some way to sneak vegetables into fish sticks and applesauce, she makes time to volunteer in her boys’ school. Finally, for her sanity, she always finds a way to curl up with a good book.

You may contact her at P.O. Box 3803, La Mesa, CA 91944.

Dear Reader,

Last night I held a friend’s baby daughter. I snuggled her warmth and sniffed her baby-shampooed hair and pressed kisses against her cheeks. When she fussed—the buzz of a gnat compared to the elephant-trumpet hollering of my seven-year-old son—I automatically shifted into a rocking motion as natural as breathing.

She’s a preemie—a miracle on top of a miracle—and each time I look at her it’s like Christmas and rainbows and cotton candy all rolled into one. Call it maternal instinct, call me a sucker for the scent of baby powder, but babies have a way of taking my heart hostage.

In Beginning with Baby, babies appeal to heroine Phoebe Finley as much as they do to me. So when one who needs her love enters her life, Phoebe doesn’t hesitate to do what’s necessary—including accepting help from sexy Jackson Abbott. He’s a hard man with a daddy’s touch, and the closer she gets to him, the more Phoebe realizes how easy it would be to love Jackson, too.

Enjoy Beginning with Baby! May it capture for you a little of the unique magic that only babies bring into the world.

Happy reading!

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

Epilogue

When Phoebe Finley felt compelled to say those all-important words for the first time in her twenty-four years of life, the setting was near perfect.

It was past midnight on the first of August, and the moon hung in the sky, as fat and ripe as summer fruit. Ready for wishing, the stars glistened as if newly washed. A breeze, warm and scented with night-blooming jasmine, meandered through the open window of her third-story apartment, the air teasing the white lace of her sleeveless, sheer batiste nightgown.

Crickets provided the musical score, but it was just a rhythm really, the pulse beat of this once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Phoebe held Rex close in her arms, he was awake, too, and the emotion just came out of nowhere to overwhelm her—kidnapping her, so to speak—filling her heart until she just had to say the words or she might pop.

“I think I’m in lo—”

No! Her mouth shut on the dangerous phrase with an audible snap. She had no business even thinking such a thing, let alone saying it.

Rex looked at her quizzically, then yawned, and she found the gesture so adorable and so fascinating she knew she was one toenail away from deep, dark, trouble.

“I gotta find your daddy, Rex,” she said aloud to the two-month-old in her arms, her two-month-old baby nephew, her stepbrother’s son. “I gotta find your daddy before I make a big mistake.”

Keeping the infant against her, she clambered out of bed and crossed the bedroom floor to the living room of the divided-up Victorian house she called home. Phoebe didn’t even bother glancing toward the crib set up in the corner. Like his father before him, Rex was a night owl.

On the small dining room table was the computer she used in her medical transcribing business, her printer and a telephone. The baby tucked firmly in the curve of one arm, she picked up the receiver and used her thumb to dial her younger stepbrother’s number. “Please, please, please answer,” she whispered, as she listened to the ring. Of course Rex’s daddy hadn’t picked up any of the times she’d called in the last fourteen days, but Phoebe was an optimist by nature, and this was an emergency of the first order.