Eileen Wilks - Expecting...And In Danger

AROUND CHI-TOWN

Breaking news! Charlotte Masters, the missing assistant to business tycoon Grant Connelly, is allegedly the target of a hit man. After being questioned by police for her role in the illegal doings at Connelly Corporation, Charlotte dodged the first hit attempt. But why the mysterious woman declined police protection is anyone’s guess. Does this reportedly “honest woman” have something to hide? And Ms. Masters may not be the only one on the run—rumor has it she’s pregnant, so where’s the baby’s dad?

Missing son Rafe Connelly has returned to Chicago to help solve the family’s troubles. The renowned computer whiz is looking into technological tampering at Connelly Corporation. But it may be too late to stem the tide at the beloved Chicago institution. With its flood of troubles, the Connellys may need more than Rafe’s genius to keep them afloat.

Dear Reader,

Wondering what to put on your holiday wish list? How about six passionate, powerful and provocative new love stories from Silhouette Desire!

This month, bestselling author Barbara Boswell returns to Desire with our MAN OF THE MONTH, SD #1471, All in the Game, featuring a TV reality-show contestant who rekindles an off-screen romance with the chief cameraman while her identical twin wonders what’s going on.

In SD #1472, Expecting…and In Danger by Eileen Wilks, a Connelly hero tries to protect and win the trust of a secretive, pregnant lover. It’s the latest episode in the DYNASTIES: THE CONNELLYS series—the saga of a wealthy Chicago-based clan.

A desert prince loses his heart to a feisty intern in SD #1473, Delaney’s Desert Sheikh by award-winning author Brenda Jackson. This title marks Jackson’s debut as a Desire author. In SD #1474, Taming the Prince by Elizabeth Bevarly, a blue-collar bachelor trades his hard hat for a crown…and a wedding ring? This is the second Desire installment in the exciting CROWN AND GLORY series.

Matchmaking relatives unite an unlikely couple in SD #1475, A Lawman in Her Stocking by Kathie DeNosky. And SD #1476, Do You Take This Enemy? by reader favorite Sara Orwig, is a marriage-of-convenience story featuring a pregnant heroine whose groom is from a feuding family. This title is the first in Orwig’s compelling STALLION PASS miniseries.

Make sure you get all six of Silhouette Desire’s hot November romances.

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

www.millsandboon.co.uk

is a fifth-generation Texan. Her great-great-grandmother came to Texas in a covered wagon shortly after the end of the Civil War—excuse us, the War Between the States. But she’s not a full-blooded Texan. Right after another war, her Texan father fell for a Yankee woman. This obviously mismatched pair proceeded to travel to nine cities in three countries in the first twenty years of their marriage, raising two kids and innumerable dogs and cats along the way. For the next twenty years they stayed put, back home in Texas again—and still together.

Eileen figures her professional career matches her nomadic upbringing, since she’s tried everything from drafting to a brief stint as a ranch hand—raising two children and any number of cats and dogs along the way. Not until she started writing did she “stay put,” because that’s when she knew she’d come home. Readers can write to her at P.O. Box 4612, Midland, TX 79704-4612.

MEET THE CONNELLYS

Meet the Connellys of Chicago—wealthy, powerful and rocked by scandal, betrayal…and passion!

Who’s Who in

EXPECTING…AND IN DANGER

Rafe Connelly—The hotshot computer whiz turned daddy-to-be wants it all—security, success, family. But is he using the woman to get the baby…or the baby to get the woman?

Charlotte Masters—The prim and prissy assistant finds herself on the run, pregnant and alone. How long can she deny her heart…and keep her secrets?

Lucas Starwind—For this remaining P.I. on the Connelly case, it’s all about determination, prestige and honor…. Or is it really about revenge?

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

Epilogue

The Windy City was living up to its name the second time someone tried to kill her.

At least Charlotte thought they’d tried to kill her. Sprawled across the hood of a parked car, with panic pounding in her chest, her hip throbbing, her calf burning and her coat flapping in the wind, she couldn’t be sure. Maybe the driver simply hadn’t seen her.

“You all right, lady?”

She stirred and looked up at the concerned face of a tall black man with a gold ring in his nose, another in his eyebrow, a leather jacket and a Cubs cap on his apparently bald head. Several others had stopped on the busy sidewalk to stare and exclaim. She caught snatches of conversation—“Crazy drivers!” and “Must have been drunk…” and “Where’s a cop when you need one?”

Not here, thank goodness. The last thing she needed was to draw the attention of the police.

“I’m fine,” she said to the concerned and the curious. “Thank you for asking.” She pulled herself together mentally as she climbed off the car. Her knees weren’t sure of themselves, but after sorting through her aches, she concluded she wasn’t badly hurt. The car had missed her, after all. Thanks to the wind.

Charlotte had been crossing the street—with the light, of course. She always crossed with the light. She’d finished her bagel two blocks back and had been holding on to the sack, which was destined for the next trash can. A strong gust had grabbed it right out of her hand. She’d turned, meaning to chase it down so she could dispose of it properly…and saw the car.

It had been headed right for her in spite of the red light that should have protected her. It had even seemed to speed up in that split second between the instant she’d seen it and the next, when her body had taken over, hurling her out of its path.

But maybe that was paranoia speaking. Although it wasn’t really paranoia, was it, if there truly were people out to get you?

“You sure you’re okay?” the man in the Cubs cap and nose ring asked. A hefty woman advised her to call the police; another suggested she go to the hospital; someone else thought she should get a lawyer, though what she’d do with one, he didn’t say. Charlotte took a moment to assure them again that she was fine, though she grimaced over the ruined panty hose—four-ninety-five a pair, dammit—and the trickle of blood running down her leg.

She put a hand protectively on her stomach. A little wiggle inside assured her that all was well, and she drew a deep, relieved breath.

Her backpack. Oh, Lord, she couldn’t afford to lose that. Where—? Kneeling, she spotted it halfway under the car and dragged it out. Her arms felt like overcooked spaghetti.

“Hey, you want me to call someone to come get you?” It was the Cubs fan.

“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.” Standing with the backpack slung over her shoulder was a good deal harder than it should have been. Her knees weren’t in much better shape than her spaghetti arms.