Anna Adams - The Secret Father

His voice was as thick as if he were thinking of making love to her. He clearly was not, but Zach’s low, I’ve-waited-for-you-all-my-life tone had seduced her when they’d met the first time.

She’d been unable to forget him. He obviously hadn’t bothered to remember.

Seeking composure, she crossed to his desk and offered her hand. “Call me Olivia.” For their son’s sake she had to feel out the situation and wait for the right moment to remind Zach of their past.

When he closed his fingers around hers, memories flooded back, images of his hand on her waist, at her breast, the scent of him as he lowered his head to kiss her. She gritted her teeth, recognizing the texture of his palm as if she were touching her own skin.

Why had this man remained such a part of her? As if what she wanted to feel didn’t matter. She backed up a step. He had to release her. Curiosity flickered in his gaze, but not recognition.

Her first love had forgotten her.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Bardill’s Ridge, Tennessee, and to the Calvert family. You’re about to meet three cousins who find love in their own Smoky Mountain backyards.

Put yourself in Olivia Kendall’s shoes. You thought your son’s father, a Navy pilot, died five years ago during a training mission. Then you see him on the news, a small-town sheriff, foiling a bank robbery in Tennessee. You’ve gotten over him—or have you? You’ve made a life that doesn’t include him. You could even choose not to tell him about his son, but a man has a right to know he has a child.

And besides, where’s he been?

Now think about Zach. He lost one of his best friends and his memory in the crash that ended his Navy career. He lost his ability to believe he had a right to life or happiness. When Olivia comes to town he discovers he has a five-year-old son and a lover he doesn’t remember. Together, Olivia and Zach find love that heals the wounds of their past and forges the family that is their future.

I’d love to hear what you think. You can reach me at anna@annaadams.net. Come back to Bardill’s Ridge in November when Zach’s cousin Dr. Sophie Calvert abandons her bodyguard groom, Ian, at the altar.

Best wishes,

Anna Adams

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Debbie, my cousin, but much more—my sister

PROLOGUE

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

EPILOGUE

Six Years Ago

OLIVIA KENDALL HAD three problems. She was pregnant, she couldn’t find her baby’s father, and the moment her own father—James Kendall of Kendall Press—found out, he was bound to fire her to avoid the shame of her unwed motherhood.

Six months out of Columbia’s School of Journalism, she’d spent the summer and fall learning Kendall Press from the mail room up. She couldn’t afford to get fired. Even if she found Lieutenant Zach Calvert, she’d need a salary to support her unborn child.

Behind her the door opened, and every head in the room bent toward the monitors in front of them. After his daily management meeting, her dad always hunted her down to remind her she was wasting her time and his with her learn-it-all attitude. He crossed the quiet, equipment-filled room. “Any news today?”

Her job this week was her favorite—scanning the wires for good stories. “Plenty.” She clipped the word, tugging down the hem of her blouse. She couldn’t be more than seven weeks along, but James Kendall hadn’t reached the top of the media heap by ignoring other people’s secrets.

He stopped beside her desk and pulled up a chair. “You’re always defensive at work because I’m right.” Lowering his voice so that it was covered by the computer’s hum, he flicked the screen she was reading. “You shouldn’t distract yourself from your true job with these menial tasks.”

“Learning how Kendall Press runs is my job, Dad.”

“I’ll teach you. My father taught me.”

“The same father who suggested you park me with him and Grandma while you sowed more wild oats?” Her mother had died in childbirth. Her dad had never remarried.

“Father may have appreciated the value of a good nanny, but he left me a strong company and I’m passing you an empire. Who else can show you how to nourish it?”

He was in his CEO frame of mind. Olivia inched away from him, too stressed to deal with her dad or her curious co-workers. “I’m busy.” And their same old argument meant nothing compared to the fact that her child’s father had disappeared. A Naval pilot, Zach had embarked on a two-week training mission over a month ago.

The weeks had passed. He hadn’t called. He hadn’t shown up. She’d left countless messages on his cell phone. He’d never given her a number for his apartment or his office. She couldn’t even say where he worked for sure. They’d always arranged to meet somewhere neutral. He’d been in Chicago since the end of summer to train on some sort of equipment he’d avoided discussing. She’d seen his apartment once, and only because they’d been desperate for each other and her father had been home that night.

Zach had been more than reserved about his life. He’d been secretive.

Working on very little sleep and even less food, she felt queasy, frightened and idiotic for getting herself in this fix. She refused to leave one more message begging Zach to call her.

Suddenly her father took her arm and turned her to face him. “What’s really wrong with you, Olivia?”

“I don’t want to argue about work.” She avoided his dark brown eyes. “I understand how you feel about Kendall Press. I love knowing what’s going on in the world before anyone else. It’s a rush of power, but I have to learn the job my way.”

“Why don’t you trust my judgment anymore?”

She took refuge in the glowing screen in front of her. She’d changed because she was going to have Zach Calvert’s baby, and when her father knew he might force her out of her livelihood and her home.

Home. A place Zach had described with a softness so unlike him. He’d longed for the farmhouse and the relations he loved in Tennessee. His hunger for family felt foreign to the only child of an only child.

“Olivia, tell me what’s got you on edge.” Losing patience, her father spun her chair.

She stared at him, but her head was with Zach. What if he’d gone home? To Bardill’s Ridge and all those Calverts. The possibility tempted her to confess everything. If anyone could find a guy in a small Tennesseean town, her dad could.

“Good God.” Realization lit his eyes. “That pilot dumped you.” He’d always said Zach, at twenty-six, was too old for her, his job too dangerous. What he’d meant was he didn’t want her to love someone whose work could take her away from the family business. “Olivia?”

“Yeah.” She’d told James about the training mission. “Zach was supposed to come back weeks ago. If he’s home, he’s avoiding me.”

“Have you called? Did you go to his apartment building?”

“I only have a cell phone number he doesn’t answer and I’ve leaned on the buzzer at his building so many times I think his doorman’s about to set the police on me.”

Her father’s head went back as if she’d struck him. “How serious are you about this guy?”

She barely kept from touching her belly where their baby grew, but the truth—that she loved Zach—wouldn’t come out of her mouth either. Not even she trusted true love at twenty-one. She blinked back tears that seemed to stun her dad.