Sandra Steffen - Burke's Christmas Surprise

And in the New Year, look for our fabulous new promotion FAMILY MATTERS and Romance’s first-ever six-book continuity series, LOVING THE BOSS, in which office romance leads six friends down the aisle.

Happy Holidays!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie. Ont. L2A 5X3

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Linda Thelen,

a beautiful writer, trustworthy confidant, talented

critiquer and a great phone buddy.

We haven’t actually solved the world’s problems, but

we’ve analyzed most of them.

Merry Christmas.

SANDRA STEFFEN

Her fans tell Sandra how much they enjoy her fictional characters, especially her male fictional characters. That’s not so surprising, because although this award-winning, bestselling author believes every character is a challenge, she has the most fun with the men she creates, whether they’re doctors or cowboys, toddlers or teenagers. Perhaps that’s because she’s surrounded by so many men—her husband, their four sons, her dad, brothers, in-laws. She feels blessed to be surrounded by just as many warm, intelligent and funny women.

Growing up the fourth child of ten in a family of ambitious and opinionated people, she developed a keen appreciation for laughter and argument, for stubborn people with hearts of gold and intelligent people who aren’t afraid of other intelligent people. Sandra lives in Michigan with her husband, three of their sons and a blue-eyed mutt who thinks her name is No-Molly-No. Sandra’s book, Child of Her Dreams, won the 1994 National Readers’ Choice Award. Several of her titles have appeared on national bestseller lists.

Dear Reader,

I love books about babies, because when I read about a bundle of joy, I remember mine. I’ll never forget the wonder of my first baby, of looking into his eyes, and of smelling that amazing newborn scent. It was love at first sight, but it was terror at first sight, too. Oh my gosh! What did I know about caring for someone so tiny and helpless? My husband and I laughed and cried our way through it, and by the time our first was six, we’d presented him with three little brothers. Although we knew a lot more about parenting by then, the wonder of holding each of them for the first time, of looking into their eyes and of smelling their newborn scents, never diminished. Neither did the fear. Oh my gosh! What did I know about caring for someone so tiny and helpless and one or two or three others?

All my bundles of joy are driving now. One has braces, one has an earring and—gulp—all are dating. It’s because of them that my life motto is Never Wait Till. The Last Minute To Worry. I’ve learned that with the worry comes the wonder, for you see, every time I hug them, I’m reminded of how far they’ve come and where they began. So here’s to bundles of joy—those in books, those in our arms and those in our memories.

Sincerely,

Chapter One

Outwardly, not much had changed in Jasper Gulch, South Dakota. But then, it wasn’t the outward changes Burke Kin-caid was concerned about. He pulled in to the last available parking space on Main Street, pushing his car door open before he’d even cut the engine and lights. Snow flurries stung his face as he made a beeline for the diner across the street. He stopped a foot short of the door, one hand on the handle, the other deep in the pocket of his black overcoat. This was it. The moment of truth. The moment he’d been waiting for for two and a half years.

God. Two and a half years.

His arrival was going to be a surprise. Hell, it was going to be a shock. He’d spent many a sleepless night trying to decide how to handle it. He could have called or written. But what could he have said? “Hi, Lily. This is Burke. Burke Kincaid. I don’t know if you remember me or not, but you and I spent one incredibly passionate night together a few years ago, and I was hoping—”

What was he hoping? That she wanted to take up where they’d left off? That she remembered?

He remembered.

Lily’s gray eyes had been filled with dreams, her pale skin prone to blushes that night when he’d hiked into town after running out of gas near the village limits. He’d had every intention of simply using her telephone to call for a lift and a gas can, then continuing on his way to Oklahoma City where he’d planned to visit his half brother. But Lily had smiled at him, and he’d lost all sense of direction, all sense, period. He’d followed her into her tiny kitchen where she was brewing a pot of tea. He supposed that first kiss had been inevitable, being near her in such a tight space. The second had thrown him for a loop, but it was nothing compared to how he’d felt when he’d discovered he was her first lover. She had a body a man could lose himself in, lose his mind over. He would have been back sooner. If only...

No. He’d already spent too much time on “if only.” He couldn’t change the past any more than he could control it. Today was what mattered. Today, and what happened in the next ten minutes.

The bell jingled over the door when he stepped inside the diner. The lights were on, and more than a dozen cowboy hats hung on pegs near the door, but the tables and booths were empty. Following the noise to an open door in the back, Burke entered a room that was nearly bursting with ranchers and cowboys. His gaze immediately searched the handful of women. None was Lily.

A short man with thinning gray hair and intelligent blue eyes rushed over. “Glad you could make it,” Doc Masey said, shaking Burke’s hand.. “Have a good trip?”

“Uneventful,” Burke answered, continuing to search the crowd.

“Good, good.” The old doctor removed his wire-rimmed glasses and painstakingly cleaned them on a white handkerchief he took from his pocket. Holding them up to the light, he said, “My wife used to insist that if she couldn’t see in, I couldn’t see out. Wise woman, God rest her soul.”

Before Burke could do more than nod, the doctor rushed on. “Isn’t usually this much of a hubbub before our town meetings, but tonight our very own rodeo champion is gonna ask one of our local gals to marry him, and a lot of folks have turned out to watch.”

Burke’s second nod was interrupted by a commotion in the front of the room. A man with a limping cowboy swagger strolled to a podium and called, “Folks, would you take your seats so I can get this show on the road?”

Boots thudded and metal chairs creaked as the men and women of Jasper Gulch moseyed to their places. Taking a seat next to Doc Masey, Burke scanned the crowd. There was a lot of whisker stubble, a lot of flannel and faded denim, a lot of indentations in hair where a cowboy hat normally sat. Five rows up and a dozen seats over, a woman with wavy brown hair turned her head slightly.

Lily.

The noise receded and Burke’s thoughts froze. In some far corner of his mind he heard Doc Masey explaining how the town had been dying due to the shortage of women, and how the town council had decided to advertise for women three years ago. The names of some of the gals who had answered that ad meant nothing to Burke; his attention was trained on a woman who had grown up here.

He’d almost convinced himself that his memories had enhanced Lily’s beauty. In reality, his memories hadn’t done her justice. Her skin was as pale as he remembered, her hair was slightly shorter, waving to her shoulders instead of halfway down her back. Her smile was serene, regal. How had so much beauty gone undetected all these years? Were these ranchers and cowboys blind?