Teresa Southwick - An Unexpected Partnership

“I’m having your baby.”

“Prove it.”

He’d been duped—hard—once before, so ex–hockey star Leo Wallace can’t take Tess at her word. Yes, they had one amazing night, but she told him to forget it ever happened. And now she wants Leo’s help to save her family business? Leo agrees to be the partner Tess needs. But it’s going to take a paternity test to make him believe this baby is his. He just can’t trust his heart again...no matter what it’s saying.

TERESA SOUTHWICKlives with her husband in Las Vegas, the city that reinvents itself every day. An avid fan of romance novels, she is delighted to be living out her dream of writing for Mills & Boon.

Also by Teresa Southwick

Finding Family…and Forever?One Night with the BossThe Rancher Who Took Her In ADecent ProposalThe Widow’s Bachelor BargainHow to Land Her LawmanA Word with the BachelorJust a Little Bit MarriedThe New Guy in TownHis by Christmas

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

An Unexpected Partnership

Teresa Southwick

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09096-4

AN UNEXPECTED PARTNERSHIP

© 2019 Teresa Southwick

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. 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.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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To my friend Vicki Kahler Goeres. It seems like

yesterday we were new neighbors who clicked

immediately and bonded over our hair. We don’t

live on the same street anymore, but the friendship

is still going strong. Thanks, buddy.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

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

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Tess Morrow needed to cry.

Grief had been trapped in her chest all day, and the pressure to let it go grew more painful by the second. She’d been strong during her grandfather’s memorial service here at The Pub. All Patrick Morrow’s friends had shared their stories of him, the funny, generous, kind man who’d raised her, and she hadn’t shed a tear. People offered condolences and she gracefully thanked them. But if one more person said “I’m sorry for your loss,” the composure that was making her face hurt would shatter. If the stragglers didn’t leave pretty soon, she couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t see her ugly, wet, snotty cry.

She both yearned and dreaded to be alone when it happened. Still, the sooner she sped up them up, the sooner she could mourn privately.

She walked over to the booth by the front window and smiled at the three men and one woman there. They were here to pay their respects. “Can I get you anything? Another beer? Glass of wine?”

All four shook their heads. They were older, longtime friends of her grandfather. Silver-haired John Alexander gave her a sympathetic look. “How are you holding up, honey?”

“Okay,” she lied. “I learned how to be strong from him.”

“That was Pat,” he agreed. “Strongest person I ever knew.”

The older woman sitting beside him touched his arm and gave the other two men a look. “We need to go. It’s been a long day for Tess.”

The others murmured their agreement and slid out of the booth. Every one of them asked if she needed anything and then hugged her. Made sure she knew to call if they could help her at all. Finally, blessedly, she closed and locked the door behind them. She lowered the shades on the big glass windows looking out on the nearly empty parking lot. Finally she was alone.

“Tess?”

She whirled around, heart pounding. “Dear God, Leo. You scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“What are you doing here?” She blew out a long breath.

“I came to pay my respects to Pat,” he said. “He was my friend.”

“I meant still . What are you still doing here?”

“Just wanted to stick around. Make sure you’re okay.” He shrugged one broad shoulder.

Leo “The Wall” Wallace used to play professional ice hockey up until two years ago when an ankle injury ended his career. That sucked for him, but prevented female heartbreak in every major city with an NHL team.

He was a really big man, not just tall, but muscular, too. He had dirty-blond hair that insisted on curling and blue eyes that normally sparkled with mischief and flirtation. Right now they were somber and a little sad. Her grandfather had had a soft spot in his heart for this man. Tess’s heart? Not so soft for him.

“Where did you come from?” Her pulse was finally slowing to normal.

“My favorite booth.”

She glanced at it in a far, shadowy corner that Pat had called the penalty box. In honor of Leo and his time spent in one during his hockey career.

“Well, I didn’t see you.” That was only half a lie. She’d ignored him, or tried to. He was a reminder of problems—personal and otherwise.

In the last year or so, bar revenue had declined. They were losing business to trendier establishments, and six months ago her grandfather had approached Leo about investing in The Pub. He’d introduced her and suggested lending Leo’s celebrity name and a bit of capital to modernize and shake things up. She’d assured Pat that the two of them together could come up with a plan to make the place profitable again. But he was sick. Losing the man who’d taken her in when she was six years old hadn’t been part of that plan.