Leigh Greenwood - Married By High Noon

Dana had spent countless hours fantasizing about her best friend’s big brother.

And now Gabe looked even better than she remembered. Taller. More rugged.

But it wasn’t his broad shoulders or tight jeans that riveted her attention. It was the dark eyes that stared into hers until she wanted to run away again.

But Dana wasn’t a little girl now. And she hadn’t the slightest intention of running away. She told herself her feelings for Gabe Purvis were long gone, and he’d never had any for her.

She told herself she’d come to Iron Springs strictly to fight for little Danny’s future….

But was the real reason standing before her?

Dear Reader,

Happy Anniversary! We’re kicking off a yearlong celebration in honor of Silhouette Books’ 20th Anniversary, with unforgettable love stories by your favorite authors, including Nora Roberts, Diana Palmer, Sherryl Woods, Joan Elliott Pickart and many more!

Sherryl Woods delivers the first baby of the new year in The Cowboy and the New Year’s Baby, which launches AND BABY MAKES THREE: THE DELACOURTS OF TEXAS. And return to Whitehorn, Montana, as Laurie Paige tells the story of an undercover agent who comes home to protect his family and finds his heart in A Family Homecoming, part of MONTANA MAVERICKS: RETURN TO WHITEHORN.

Next is Christine Rimmer’s tale of a lady doc’s determination to resist the charming new hospital administrator. Happily, he proves irresistible in A Doctor’s Vow, part of PRESCRIPTION: MARRIAGE. And don’t miss Marie Ferrarella’s sensational family story set in Alaska, Stand-In Mom.

Also this month, Leigh Greenwood tells the tale of two past lovers who must be Married by High Noon in order to save a child. Finally, opposites attract in Awakened By His Kiss, a tender love story by newcomer Judith Lyons.

Join the celebration; treat yourself to all six Special Edition romance novels each month!

Best,

Karen Taylor Richman

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

has authored twenty historical romances and debuted in Silhouette Special Edition with Just What the Doctor Ordered. The proud parent of three children ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-four, Leigh lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can write to Leigh Greenwood at P.O. Box 470761, Charlotte, NC 28226. A SASE would be appreciated.

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

As she slowly drove down the single street in the tiny mountain community of Iron Springs, Dana Marsh felt like she was stepping back into the past. She hadn’t been here in fourteen years, yet nothing had changed. If it hadn’t been for the little boy sleeping in his car seat behind her, she would have felt that she was a teenager again, coming to spend the summer with her grandmother.

In the town that had betrayed her. She’d sworn never to come here again.

“Wake up, darling. We’re here.”

She was glad Danny had slept almost the entire trip from New York. He still didn’t understand that his mother’s sudden death a month earlier from cancer meant he’d never see her again. He asked for Mattie all the time, especially at night. Dana hadn’t wanted to change his routine by uprooting him from his home so soon, but his uncle had insisted that she bring him to Virginia the minute he recovered from his fever.

Dana pulled her Jaguar to a stop in front of a two-story, white, clapboard house.

“Want juice,” Danny announced.

Danny had his mother’s soft Southern accent rather than the sharp edge of Dana’s New York inflection. Even though Danny wouldn’t be two for another month, he could already talk as well as a four-year-old. That didn’t surprise Dana. He had a brilliant executive of a Fortune 500 company for his father, and an innovative artist for his mother.

“Let’s wait until we get inside,” Dana said.

He still wasn’t potty trained. She didn’t think her initial meeting with Gabe and his lawyer would be the best time to change a wet diaper. She expected Gabe would cringe in disgust. Why should he have any ability to understand a child’s feelings, even his nephew’s? He hadn’t understood hers when she was sixteen.

She got out of the car and opened the back door.

“I’ll get you out of this nasty old car seat. You’ll soon be able to run around to your heart’s content.” There had to be some advantages to living at the ends of the earth. There were plenty of safe places to play.

She took Danny out of his car seat and carried him up the steps of the tall, stark-white house built in the shape of an L. It used to be mostly hidden by trees and vines, but the trees had been trimmed, the vines pulled down and the overgrown boxwoods pruned to a manageable size. Marshall Evans opened his door before she could ring the bell.

“You’re late,” Marshall said.

“Sorry, but I can’t gauge the exact length of a trip from New York,” she said as she stepped inside.

Dana had forgotten that Marshall’s house was filled with Victorian furniture as valuable as it was ugly. She wondered if he would sell her a few pieces. She had a client who was heavily into Victorian. She told herself to forget antiques. She had come to fight for Danny’s future. She was also on vacation. Her doctor had ordered her to take a complete break from business.

“Where’s Gabe?” she asked as her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit interior. Marshall had pulled the heavy, floral print curtains together to shut out the sunlight.

“In the kitchen,” Marshall said, turning in that direction and leaving her to follow.

Everything was backward here. In New York people entertained in the living room. In Iron Springs, only strangers sat in the parlor. Dana passed through a second parlor, a dining room and an old-fashioned butler’s pantry. Enough antiques to set up an entire showroom.

Dana didn’t get a chance to look at the kitchen. Gabe Purvis rose from the table when she entered the room, banishing all thoughts of antiques from her mind.

Shock sent the past thundering down on her like a rock slide. One summer, when she was eleven and Gabe seventeen, he had winked at her as he handed her a cone of butter pecan ice cream. She had fallen in love then and there and made up her mind to marry him when she got out of college. She’d spent countless hours fantasizing about him, prying details about him from his sister. Mattie had laughed at the notion of her best friend marrying her brother, but Dana thought he was the most wonderful boy in the world.

Gabe looked better than she remembered. He had grown taller and had filled out. He looked more rugged, more solid. Despite the season, he wore a checkered shirt rolled up at the sleeves, tight jeans and heavy work shoes. But it wasn’t his clothes that riveted her attention. Nor was it his broad shoulders and powerful forearms, which she supposed came from lifting heavy lumber and wrestling with large pieces of furniture. It was his face that defined his character, his powerful jaw and wide forehead, shaggy brows and weather-roughened skin, thick, nearly black hair that refused to be tamed. And black eyes that stared into her until she wanted to run away.