Sandra Steffen - Sky's Pride And Joy

“You’re pregnant.”

Sky couldn’t help it if it sounded like an accusation.

“You heard,” Meredith calmly replied.

That was it? That was all she had to say? “Are you going to tell me who the father is?”

“In the past four years I’ve only been with one man.” While the implication was still soaking in, she moved backward, stepping inside the shop. “But don’t worry, I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth.”

Then the door slammed. And Sky blinked. The lock clicked into place.

She wouldn’t marry him if he were the last man on earth? Who’d said anything about marriage? Besides, if he set his mind on marrying a woman, she darn well would be his wife!

Dear Reader,

This holiday season, as our anniversary year draws to a close, we have much to celebrate. The talented authors who have published—and continue to publish—unforgettable love stories. You, the readers, who have made our twenty-year milestone possible. And this month’s very special offerings.

First stop: BACHELOR GULCH, Sandra Steffen’s popular ongoing miniseries. They’d shared an amazing night together; now a beguiling stranger was back in his life carrying Sky’s Pride and Joy. She’d dreamed Hunter’s Vow would be the marrying kind…until he learned about their child he’d never known existed—don’t miss this keeper by Susan Meier! Carolyn Zane’s BRUBAKER BRIDES are back! Montana’s Feisty Cowgirl thought she could pass as just another male ranch hand, but Montana wouldn’t rest till he knew her secrets…and made this 100% woman completely his!

Donna Clayton’s SINGLE DOCTOR DADS return…STAT. Rachel and the M.D. were office assistant and employer…so why was she imagining herself this widower’s bride and his triplets’ mother? Diana Whitney brings her adorable STORK EXPRESS series from Special Edition into Romance with the delightful story of what happens when Mixing Business…with Baby. And debut author Belinda Barnes tells the charming tale of a jilted groom who finds himself all dressed up…to deliver a pregnant beauty’s baby—don’t miss His Special Delivery!

Thank you for celebrating our 20th anniversary. In 2001 we’ll have even more excitement—the return of ROYALLY WED and Marie Ferrarella’s 100th book, to name a couple!

Happy reading!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Silhouette Romance

Child of Her Dreams #1005

*Bachelor Daddy #1028

*Bachelor at the Wedding #1045

*Expectant Bachelor #1056

Lullaby and Goodnight #1074

A Father for Always #1138

For Better, For Baby #1163

†Luke’s Would-Be Bride #1230

†Wyatt’s Most Wanted Wife #1241

†Clayton’s Made-Over Mrs. #1253

†Nick’s Long-Awaited Honeymoon #1290

The Bounty Hunter’s Bride #1306

†Burke’s Christmas Surprise #1337

†Wes Stryker’s Wrangled Wife #1362

†McKenna’s Bartered Bride #1398

†Sky’s Pride and Joy #1486

Silhouette Desire

Gift Wrapped Dad #972

Silhouette Special Edition

Not Before Marriage! #1061

Silhouette Books

36 Hours

Marriage by Contract

The Fortunes of Texas

Lone Star Wedding

SANDRA STEFFEN

Growing up the fourth child of ten, Sandra developed a keen appreciation for laughter and argument. Sandra lives in Michigan with her husband, three of their sons and a blue-eyed mutt who thinks her name is No-Molly-No. Sandra’s book Child of Her Dreams won the 1994 National Readers’ Choice Award. Several of her titles have appeared on the national bestseller lists.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Skyler Buchanan hoisted the last fifty-pound sack of feed onto his shoulder and headed for his truck. Neil Anderson, manager of the J.P. Feed and Ranch Supply Store, wrestled the sack from Sky’s shoulder, adding it to the top of the stack on the bed of the truck before climbing morosely to the ground. “Gonna be another scorcher, that’s for sure.”

Sky cast a cursory glance at the horizon. The sky was clear, the midmorning sun hot, the day promising to be hotter. Sky didn’t mind the heat.

“Jake expectin’ you back right away?” Norbert, the oldest Anderson brother, asked from the shade of the old building. The J.P. Feed & Ranch Supply Store sat around the corner from the village main street. The old-timers said it had been painted once, but nobody could agree on the year, or the color. Whatever color it had once been, time had dulled it to the same faded, weathered gray of all three of the Anderson brothers’ cowboy hats.

At Sky’s shrug, Norbert grimaced. “Oh, yeah. You come and go as you please. I knew that. Must be this heat.”

“Either that,” Ned, the middle brother added, “or boredom.”

“God, yes,” Neil declared. “Boredom. Not a dang thing ever changes in this dusty corner of South Dakota.”

Sky swiped his brown Stetson off his head, but again, he only shrugged. Unlike the other bachelors in the area, he wasn’t looking for things to change around here. What was wrong with life just the way it was? Besides, no matter what the local boys said, not everything stayed the same in Jasper Gulch. Babies were born, kids grew up, girls left town, old folks died. There’d been other changes, too. New stores had opened, a couple of businesses had changed hands. In fact, one of those changes involved Neil, who’d left the family ranch to manage the feed store a couple of months back. Neil did a good job, but he still wasn’t happy. None of the Anderson brothers were. According to the Jasper Gulch grapevine, Ned and Norbert spent so much time here that folks had taken to wondering who was minding the ranch.

“Grab yourself a root beer out of the cooler in the office and sit a spell with us in the shade,” Neil insisted.

Sky glanced at the other two men who were already popping the tops of their soda cans. He could have taken the time to join them, but he just wasn’t in the mood to listen to complaints about the weather and taxes and the sorry price of beef and how nothing ever happened in Jasper Gulch. Cramming his hat back on his head, he said, “Maybe next time, boys.”

Without a backward glance, he climbed into his truck and turned the key. The air streaming in his open window was hot and dry. He considered stopping at the diner, settling at a quiet table, and ordering up a tall glass of lemonade or iced tea. He had plenty of time to make up his mind, because when he turned onto Main Street, he had to crawl to a stop in order to let the clucking hens otherwise known as the staunchest members of the Ladies Aid Society cross the street in front of him. He’d gotten on their good side a couple of years back when he’d sided with them instead of with the local boys who’d decided to advertise for women to come to their fair town. The leaders of the Society had insisted that such an ad would draw riffraff and worse, women of ill repute. Sky’s reasons had been a lot less political.