Candy Halliday - Adopted Parents

Hallie pushed herself up on her elbow to look at him.

“What we should have done a long time ago.”

“To get each other out of our systems, you mean?”

He kept his eyes closed when he said, “I’ll never get you out of my system, Hallie.”

“Nor you, mine, Nate. But that really doesn’t change the situation, does it?”

He opened his eyes and sat up, resting his back against the headboard. “No. It doesn’t.”

Hallie sat up, too, bringing her knees to her chest as she pulled the sheet up around her. “Do you really think that I haven’t thought about what it would be like if we kept Ahn?”

Dear Reader,

As a parent and a grandparent, the parenting role is naturally near and dear to my heart. A Ranch Called Home was my tribute to the single mom. And in Dad’s E-mail Order Bride I paid homage to the single dad.

In my third Harlequin Superromance, however, I wanted to explore a different side of parenting. I’ve always had the utmost admiration for people who open their hearts and adopt a child. But it wasn’t until I began thinking about writing an adoption story that I realized I’d never given much thought to the other side of the adoption coin—the unselfishness involved in putting a child’s best interest first.

Adopted Parents addresses that issue. And as I began writing the story from the aunt and uncle’s point of view, I began to understand that loving a child enough to do the right thing is just as important as loving a child enough to become a parent.

I hope you enjoy reading Hallie and Nate’s story as they struggle through a tragedy to find true love. I love to hear from readers, so please visit my Web site at www.CandyHalliday.com.

Best always,

Candy Halliday

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Romance author Candy Halliday lives in the Piedmont of North Carolina with her husband, a spastic schnauzer named Millie and an impossible attack cat named Flash. Candy’s daughter and son-in-law and her two teenage grandchildren live nearby. Candy loves to hear from readers. Visit her on the Web at www.candyhalliday.com.

This book is dedicated to the loving parents who give adopted children a second chance—and to those who step aside to make it possible.

Special thanks to my super agent, Jenny Bent.

Extreme thanks to my amazing editor, Wanda Ottewell.

Love and thanks always to my incredible family: Blue, Shelli, Tracy, Quint and Caroline.

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

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

IN A PERFECT WORLD there would be no tragic news that your sister and brother-in-law had been in a fatal car accident. No baby left behind. No difficult decisions to be made about the child’s future.

But the world wasn’t perfect.

No one knew that better than Hallie Weston.

The past three weeks had been a nightmare, her emotions spinning so fast Hallie felt trapped inside a revolving door. Disbelief. Inconsolable grief. Blind anger at the drunk driver who had taken Janet and David from her. Back to disbelief again.

At the moment, all Hallie felt was numb.

She was sitting in the boardroom of her dead brother-in-law’s law practice, waiting for a Monday morning meeting with David’s partner, Greg Holder, and all Hallie kept thinking was how adamant David had been six months ago about tying up loose ends after he and Janet adopted their daughter, Ahn. Hallie had believed then that David was simply in his usual attorney mode, dotting his i’s and crossing his t’s when he’d produced the joint guardianship document for her and his brother Nate to sign at the baby’s christening.

Now Hallie had to wonder.

Had David somehow sensed that he and Janet wouldn’t live to finish the journey they started with the precious baby girl they’d brought back from Vietnam? Had Nate wondered the same thing?

And even though Nate sat right beside her it wasn’t a question Hallie would ask.

Because every woman had a guy from her past whom she’d made a complete fool of herself over. Nathan Brock happened to be that guy for Hallie.

Ten years later, she still hadn’t forgiven him.

She’d been only twenty-one then, fresh out of college, and willing to take a peon’s job in order to get her foot in the door at Boston’s top television station. Nate had been thirty—a gorgeous, confident older guy Hallie couldn’t resist. He’d also been her boss, the TV station’s shining star, and already on his way to becoming the award-winning photojournalist he was today.

She’d fallen for Nate hard and fast.

The admiration had not been mutual.

After only one week of working as Nate’s gofer, he’d transferred her to the production department. And he’d told Hallie if she really intended to make it in television she needed to focus on her career and drop the silly schoolgirl crushes.

His smack-down had been cold and swift.

The humiliation had crushed her young ego.

Had Hallie not dragged Janet to Nate’s going-away party for moral support when he got his first big break with CNN, they wouldn’t be together in this boardroom now. Nate’s brother David had also been at the party and their siblings had the instant sparks that Nate and Hallie never had. After Hallie’s big sister married Nate’s little brother, they settled into a polite disregard for each other.

Just as they were doing now.

Sitting in silence, carefully not engaging.

From the corner of her eye Hallie saw Nate’s arm come up to check his watch again. It didn’t surprise her when he rose and walked to the other side of the boardroom.

Nate had always been a restless spirit. He’d never been tied down to any one person or any one place, and Hallie doubted he ever would be. She studied him as he stood at the window staring out at downtown Boston from their tenth-floor advantage.

Damn him.

He was still the sexiest man Hallie had ever seen.

Everything about him said one hundred percent male. Tall. Broad shoulders. Sun-streaked hair that curled just above his collar. Even the way he was standing oozed masculinity—hands at the waist of his khaki pants, his blue dress shirtsleeves rolled up, exposing strong arms Hallie had once dreamed of having around her.

She sighed and looked away.

The reflection in the glass walls of the boardroom made Hallie gasp. The woman staring back at her looked horrible. There were ugly dark circles under her eyes. Her short black hair looked lifeless. And the tailored dress that had once fit now hung on her like a sack.

Hallie reached up and pinched her cheeks, trying to bring a little color back into her face. It didn’t help. Running her fingers through her hair didn’t improve her looks, either. The spiked effect only made her look even more like some homeless stray who had wandered in off the streets wearing someone else’s clothes.

Even sadder, that was how Hallie felt.

Janet and David’s home had been her go-to place, where she’d always celebrated her birthday, and the holidays, or any other special occasion. There she’d gone if she needed comfort, or advice, or just to unwind and get out of Boston for the weekend. Where she’d never needed an invitation and where she’d always felt welcome. And now what had made that house her soft place to land was gone.