Metsy Hingle - Dad In Demand

Cover Page

Excerpt “Katie, Darling;” Sean said, his voice sharp despite the endearment. “Stop tossing that word friend at me.” “But we are friends, we.” “Katie,” he warned. “Stop it, or—” Her eyes went all dark and liquid. “Or what?” she asked in a voice that had gone as smoky as her eyes. “Or I haul you into my lap and kiss you until I knock the socks off both of us.” “But we’re supposed to be friends.” “Is friendship enough for you?” he asked. Because right now friendship didn’t seem nearly enough for him. Not when she was looking at him as though he was her fantasy come to life, the knight to slay her dragons. Not when he wanted to be the man to make her believe in fairy tales and magic again.…

Dear Reader Dear Reader, Welcome to Silhouette Desire—where you’re guaranteed powerful, passionate and provocative love stories that feature rugged heroes and spirited heroines who experience the full emotional intensity of falling in love! Wonderful and ever-popular Annette Broadrick brings us September’s MAN OF THE MONTH with Lean, Mean & Lonesome. Watch as a tough loner returns home to face the woman he walked away from but never forgot. Our exciting continuity series TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB continues with Cinderella’s Tycoon by Caroline Cross. Charismatic CEO Sterling Churchill marries a shy librarian pregnant with his sperm-bank baby-and finds love. Proposition: Marriage is what rising star Eileen Wilks offers when the girl-next-door comes alive in the arms of an alpha hero. Beloved romance author Fayrene Preston makes her Desire debut with The Barons of Texas: Tess, featuring a beautiful heiress who falls in love with a sexy stranger. The popular theme BACHELORS & BABIES returns to Desire with Metsy Hingle’s Dad in Demand. And Barbara McCauley’s miniseries SECRETS! continues with the dramatic story of a mysterious millionaire in Killian’s Passion. So make a commitment to sensual love-treat yourself to all six September love stories from Silhouette Desire! Enjoy! Joan Marlow Golan Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire 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

Title Page Dad In Demand Metsy Hingle www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author METSY HINGLE is a native of New Orleans who loves the city in which she grew up. She credits the charm of her birthplace, and her own French heritage, with instilling in her the desire to write. Married and the mother of four children, she believes in romance and happy endings. Becoming a Silhouette author is a long-cherished dream come true for Metsy, and one happy ending that she continues to celebrate with each new story she writes. She loves hearing from readers. Write to Metsy at P.O. Box 3224, Covington, LA 70433.

Dedication For Rita and James Hingle. Mom and Dad. With love and thanks for their extraordinary son and for the gift of their love. Happy 60th Anniversary!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Copyright

Sean said, his voice sharp despite the endearment. “Stop tossing that word friend at me.”

“But we are friends, we.”

“Katie,” he warned. “Stop it, or—”

Her eyes went all dark and liquid. “Or what?” she asked in a voice that had gone as smoky as her eyes.

“Or I haul you into my lap and kiss you until I knock the socks off both of us.”

“But we’re supposed to be friends.”

“Is friendship enough for you?” he asked.

Because right now friendship didn’t seem nearly enough for him. Not when she was looking at him as though he was her fantasy come to life, the knight to slay her dragons. Not when he wanted to be the man to make her believe in fairy tales and magic again.…

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Silhouette Desire—where you’re guaranteed powerful, passionate and provocative love stories that feature rugged heroes and spirited heroines who experience the full emotional intensity of falling in love!

Wonderful and ever-popular Annette Broadrick brings us September’s MAN OF THE MONTH with Lean, Mean & Lonesome. Watch as a tough loner returns home to face the woman he walked away from but never forgot.

Our exciting continuity series TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB continues with Cinderella’s Tycoon by Caroline Cross. Charismatic CEO Sterling Churchill marries a shy librarian pregnant with his sperm-bank baby-and finds love.

Proposition: Marriage is what rising star Eileen Wilks offers when the girl-next-door comes alive in the arms of an alpha hero. Beloved romance author Fayrene Preston makes her Desire debut with The Barons of Texas: Tess, featuring a beautiful heiress who falls in love with a sexy stranger. The popular theme BACHELORS & BABIES returns to Desire with Metsy Hingle’s Dad in Demand. And Barbara McCauley’s miniseries SECRETS! continues with the dramatic story of a mysterious millionaire in Killian’s Passion.

So make a commitment to sensual love-treat yourself to all six September love stories from Silhouette Desire!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

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

is a native of New Orleans who loves the city in which she grew up. She credits the charm of her birthplace, and her own French heritage, with instilling in her the desire to write. Married and the mother of four children, she believes in romance and happy endings. Becoming a Silhouette author is a long-cherished dream come true for Metsy, and one happy ending that she continues to celebrate with each new story she writes. She loves hearing from readers. Write to Metsy at P.O. Box 3224, Covington, LA 70433.

For Rita and James Hingle. Mom and Dad.

With love and thanks for their extraordinary son

and for the gift of their love.

Happy 60th Anniversary!

“I’m going to have a baby.”

Sean Fitzpatrick’s size-thirteen foot slipped off the desk, and he grabbed the arms of his chair to keep from sprawling onto the floor. Stunned, he stared at Katie Malloy—the woman who had been his buddy and his best pal for more years than he cared to count. “You’re what?”

“I’m going to have a baby,” she repeated calmly, looking just as innocent now as she had nearly twenty years ago-right before she’d fired that first snowball across the backyard fence and hit him between the shoulders.

She was yanking his chain. Had to be, Sean decided, and reached for his coffee. “Quit joking around, Malloy. I’m not buying it. You might want to try selling that line to Michael and Ryan,” he told her, referring to his brothers and partners in the detective agency. “They’re more gullible than me.”

“But I’m not joking. I am going to have a baby. And I want to hire you to help me find the father.”