Brenda Harlen - The Maverick's Thanksgiving Baby

“Oh. Wow.”

Jesse felt stunned … and humbled, as he registered the shape of their baby: the outline of the head and the body, even the skinny little legs and arms, and—most awesome and overwhelming—the rapid beating of the heart inside the chest.

He had some experience with ultrasounds—mostly with respect to equine fetuses. But this was completely outside his realm of experience. This was an actual human baby—his and Maggie’s baby. He knew that he’d done very little to help grow this miracle inside her. Yes, he’d contributed half of the baby’s DNA, but since then, he’d done nothing. She was the one who was giving their baby everything he or she needed, the only one who could.

He wanted to say something to express the awe and gratitude that filled his heart, but his throat was suddenly tight.

* * *

The Maverick’s Thanksgiving Baby

Brenda Harlen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

BRENDA HARLENis a former family law attorney turned work-at-home mum and national bestselling author who has written more than twenty books for Mills & Boon. Her work has been validated by industry awards (including an RWA Golden Heart® Award and the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ choice Award) and by the fact that her kids think it’s cool that she’s “a real author.”

Brenda lives in southern Ontario with her husband and two sons. When she isn’t at the computer working on her next book, she can probably be found at the arena, watching a hockey game. Keep up to date with Brenda on Facebook, follow her on Twitter, at @BrendaHarlen, or send her an e-mail at brendaharlen@yahoo.com.

For Leanne Banks,

who shared some honest truths about cowboys …

and other subjects :)

XO

Contents

Cover

Introduction “Oh. Wow.” Jesse felt stunned … and humbled, as he registered the shape of their baby: the outline of the head and the body, even the skinny little legs and arms, and—most awesome and overwhelming—the rapid beating of the heart inside the chest. He had some experience with ultrasounds—mostly with respect to equine fetuses. But this was completely outside his realm of experience. This was an actual human baby—his and Maggie’s baby. He knew that he’d done very little to help grow this miracle inside her. Yes, he’d contributed half of the baby’s DNA, but since then, he’d done nothing. She was the one who was giving their baby everything he or she needed, the only one who could. He wanted to say something to express the awe and gratitude that filled his heart, but his throat was suddenly tight. * * *

Title Page The Maverick’s Thanksgiving Baby Brenda Harlen www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author BRENDA HARLEN is a former family law attorney turned work-at-home mum and national bestselling author who has written more than twenty books for Mills & Boon. Her work has been validated by industry awards (including an RWA Golden Heart® Award and the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ choice Award) and by the fact that her kids think it’s cool that she’s “a real author.” Brenda lives in southern Ontario with her husband and two sons. When she isn’t at the computer working on her next book, she can probably be found at the arena, watching a hockey game. Keep up to date with Brenda on Facebook, follow her on Twitter, at @BrendaHarlen , or send her an e-mail at brendaharlen@yahoo.com .

Dedication For Leanne Banks, who shared some honest truths about cowboys … and other subjects :) XO

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

Copyright

Chapter One

July

Jesse Crawford was an idiot. A completely smitten and tongue-tied idiot.

But far worse than that indisputable fact was that Maggie Roarke now knew it, too.

What had ever possessed him to approach her? What had made him think he could introduce himself and have an actual conversation with a woman like her?

While he’d never been as smooth with women as any of his three brothers, he’d never been so embarrassingly inept, either. But being in close proximity to Maggie seemed to rattle his brain as completely as if he’d been thrown from the back of a horse—and that hadn’t happened to him in more than fifteen years.

The first time he saw her, even before he knew her name, he’d been mesmerized. She was tall and willowy with subtle but distinctly feminine curves. Her blond hair spilled onto her shoulders like golden silk and her deep brown eyes could shine with humor or warm with compassion. And her smile—there was just something about her smile that seemed to reach right inside his chest and wrap around his heart. A ridiculously fanciful and foolish idea, of course, and one that he wouldn’t dare acknowledge to anyone else.

It was no mystery to Jesse why a man would be attracted to her, but he was still a little mystified by the intensity of his reaction to her—especially when he didn’t know the first thing about her. The discovery that she was a successful attorney in Los Angeles should have put an end to his ridiculous crush. Experience had proven to him that city girls didn’t adapt well to the country, and there was no way a lawyer—from Hollywood of all places—would be interested in a small-town rancher. But still his long-guarded heart refused to be dissuaded.

He’d come to the official opening of the Grace Traub Community Center today because he knew she would be there, because he couldn’t resist the opportunity to see her again, even from a distance. It had taken the better part of an hour for him to finally summon the courage to introduce himself. And when he did, without muttering or stumbling over words, he felt reassured that things weren’t going too badly.

She offered her hand and, in that brief moment of contact, he’d been certain that he felt a real connection with her. And then she smiled at him, and all his carefully rehearsed words slid back down his throat, leaving him awestruck and tongue-tied and destroying any hope he had of making a good first impression.

He’d almost been grateful that Arthur Swinton intruded on the moment, whisking her away for a private word. Jesse had stood there for another minute, watching her with the older man and wondering if she might come back to finish the conversation they hadn’t even started. But Arthur had no sooner turned away when another man stepped into her path: Jared Winfree—also known as the Romeo of Rust Creek Falls.

The cowboy tipped his head down to talk to her. Maggie smiled at him, though Jesse noticed that her smile didn’t seem to have the same debilitating effect on the other man, who leaned closer for a more intimate discussion. Jesse finally unglued his feet from the floor and walked out of the community center, berating himself for his awkwardness.

His cell phone started ringing before he’d hit the bottom step, and he pulled it out to answer the call. At this point, he didn’t even care who was on the other end of the line—he was grateful for any distraction.

After a brief conversation with Brett Gable, he was feeling marginally better. The local rancher was having trouble with an ornery stallion and wondered if Jesse could take a look at him and let the owner know if he was wasting his time trying to tame the animal or if he just needed to adjust his tactics. Jesse promised that he’d go out to the Gable ranch the next day.