Karen Smith - Her Honor-bound Lawman

‡ Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. Love, Honor and a Pregnant Bride #1326

‡ Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. Promises, Pumpkins and Prince Charming #1332

The Night Before Baby #1348

‡ Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом. Wishes, Waltzes and a Storybook Wedding #1407

Just the Man She Needed #1434

Just the Husband She Chose #1455

Her Honor-Bound Lawman #1480

Silhouette Special Edition

Abigail and Mistletoe #930

The Sheriff’s Proposal #1074

Silhouette Books

Fortunes of Texas

Marry in Haste…

Previously published under the pseudonym Kari Sutherland

Silhouette Romance

Heartfire, Homefire #973

Silhouette Special Edition

Wish on the Moon #741

lives in Pennsylvania with her husband of twenty-nine years. She believes in happily-ever-afters and enjoys writing about them. A former teacher, she now writes romances full-time. She likes to hear from readers, and they can write to her at: P.O. Box 1545, Hanover, PA 17331.

Storkville folks hardly remember the day the town bore another name—because the residents keep bearing bundles of joy! No longer known for its safe neighborhoods and idyllic landscape, Storkville is baby-bootie capital of the world! We even have a legend for the explosion of “uplets”—“When the stork visits, he bestows many bouncing bundles on those whose love is boundless!” Of course, some—Gertie Anderson—still insist a certain lemonade recipe, which is “guaranteed” to help along prospective mothers, is the real stork! But whether the little darlings come from the cabbage patch or the delivery room, Storkville folks never underestimate the beauty of holding a child—or the enchantment of first love and the wonder of second chances….

Prologue Emma didn’t know what her experience with men in the past had been. Not much, apparently, because the doctor had told her she was still a virgin. Still, she suspected that Sheriff Tucker Malone was the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on. His brown hair was silver at the temples, but the strength and intensity in his dark eyes always awed her so much, her mouth went dry. Ever since he’d taken her to the hospital, this…electricity crackled between them. Whenever she was close to him, she wanted to get closer. The golden sparks in his brown eyes now told her he might want that, too. “Emma,” he said, his voice husky. She was afraid to move, afraid to answer him, afraid he’d back away. So she just looked up at him, wanting something she couldn’t name, wanting to get to know him, wanting the man-woman connection she’d felt with him from the night they’d met…. Silhouette Romance’s STORKVILLE, USA series— THOSE MATCHMAKING BABIES by Marie Ferrarella (8/00, SR #1462) HIS EXPECTANT NEIGHBOR by Susan Meier (9/00, SR #1468) THE ACQUIRED BRIDE by Teresa Southwick (10/00, SR #1474) HER HONOR-BOUND LAWMAN by Karen Rose Smith (11/00, SR #1480)

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

Sheriff Tucker Malone set down the sheaf of papers in his hand and pushed away from the desk in his office. Rising to his feet, he rolled his shoulders and went to stand at the window. He was too distracted to work, and the distraction was a woman named Emma.

Halloween night in Storkville, Nebraska, was usually quiet with only a few reports of pranks. He’d stayed late tonight in case he was needed. He’d stayed late tonight because he was unsettled by his reactions to a woman who couldn’t remember her own name. Fortunately she’d been wearing a necklace with “Emma” engraved on it. But that’s the only clue he’d had to begin his investigation.

Turning away from the window, he picked up the snapshot of her that lay on his desk. He’d taken it so he could fax it to surrounding towns. Certainly she belonged somewhere…to someone. A mugger had stolen her purse, as well as her overnight satchel, and with them anything that had identified her. No one in Storkville knew her. But she couldn’t have come too far. There had been no abandoned vehicles around the town. It was a mystery.

Her sparkling green eyes stared up at him from the photograph, and her curly, dark coppery-red hair surrounded her face like a soft cloud. Her skin was so delicate, her smile so sweet, and whenever he looked at her a protective urge surged through him….

Get a grip, he scolded himself. Find out who she is so you can send her back where she belongs.

She’d spent the last three days under his roof, and it was driving him crazy. For the past two months Emma had been staying with Gertie Anderson who had witnessed her mugging and fall. But when Gertie’s family had swept in from Sweden as an unexpected surprise, there hadn’t been room for Emma. Before Tucker’s better sense had caught his words, he’d offered her a room in his house.

Hoping Emma had turned in by now—it was almost eleven—he grabbed his leather bomber jacket from the old-fashioned clothes tree and snatched his Stetson from the rack on the wall. After he left his office, he stopped at an open doorway and bid Earl Grimes and Barry Sanchek a peaceful night.

The dispatcher, Cora Beth Harper, smiled at him as he passed her desk. “You’ve been putting in some long hours. Take care driving.” Cora Beth had coal black hair that Tucker suspected was helped by a bottle of dye. She was plump with a voice that could stay calm in any situation, and she liked to mother everyone.