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“Fifteen Years Ago You And Your Father Took Me In, Bella—Treated Me Like Family. It’s A Debt I’ve Never Forgotten. And One I Intend To Repay.”
He graced her with a slash of a smile. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”
“That’s a very generous thing to say. But you don’t owe me anything. One night’s stay is all I’ll be—”
“We’ll see about that,” he interrupted. “We’ll see what the doctor says tomorrow.”
“All right, Michael,” she said, too tired to argue. “But I don’t want to take your room from you. I can move into a guest room or—”
“That’s not necessary.” His smoky gaze briefly scanned hers. “You look very comfortable right here in my bed.”
Her eyes widened. One night. Just one night.
He regarded her for a moment; then he turned to leave.
“It’s good to see you again,” she called after him.
He paused in the doorframe but didn’t look back. “It’s good to see you, too, Bella.”
Dear Reader,
’Tis the season to read six passionate, powerful and provocative love stories from Silhouette Desire!
Savor A Cowboy & a Gentleman (#1477), December’s MAN OF THE MONTH, by beloved author Ann Major. A lonesome cowboy rekindles an old flame in this final title of our MAN OF THE MONTH promotion. MAN OF THE MONTH has had a memorable fourteen-year run and now it’s time to make room for other exciting innovations, such as DYNASTIES: THE BARONES, a Boston-based Romeo-and-Juliet continuity with a happy ending, which launches next month, and—starting in June 2003—Desire’s three-book sequel to Silhouette’s out-of-series continuity THE LONE STAR COUNTRY CLUB. Desire’s popular TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB continuity also returns in 2003, beginning in November.
This month DYNASTIES: THE CONNELLYS concludes with Cherokee Marriage Dare (#1478) by Sheri WhiteFeather, a riveting tale featuring a former Green Beret who rescues the youngest Connelly daughter from kidnappers. Award-winning, bestselling romance novelist Rochelle Alers debuts in Desire with A Younger Man (#1479), the compelling story of a widow’s sensual renaissance. Barbara McCauley’s Royally Pregnant (#1480) offers a fabulous finale to Silhouette’s cross-line CROWN AND GLORY series, while a feisty rancher corrals the sexy cowboy-next-door in Her Texas Temptation (#1481) by Shirley Rogers. And a blizzard forces a lone wolf to deliver his hometown sweetheart’s infant in Baby & the Beast (#1482) by Laura Wright.
Here’s hoping you find all six of these supersensual Silhouette Desire titles in your Christmas stocking.
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
Baby & the Beast
Laura Wright
MILLS & BOON
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LAURA WRIGHT
has spent most of her life immersed in the world of acting, singing and competitive ballroom dancing. But when she started writing romance, she knew she’d found the true desire of her heart! Although born and raised in Minneapolis, Laura has also lived in New York City, Milwaukee and Columbus, Ohio. Currently, she is happy to have set down her bags and made Los Angeles her home. And a blissful home it is—one that she shares with her theatrical production manager husband, Daniel, and three spoiled dogs. During those few hours of downtime from her beloved writing, Laura enjoys going to art galleries and movies, cooking for her hubby, walking in the woods, lazing around lakes, puttering in the kitchen and frolicking with her animals. Laura would love to hear from you. You can write to her at P.O. Box 5811 Sherman Oaks, CA 91413 or e-mail her at [email protected].
To my wonderful editor, Stephanie Maurer—
here’s to our beloved “Beasts!”
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
One
Snow fell relentlessly from a gunmetal-gray sky, coating the naked trees with an icy frosting.
Isabella Spencer pulled her wool hat down over her ears, trying to ignore the wintry glaze forming on the scarf that covered her neck and mouth. Pushing back a mounting sense of worry, she closed the door on the remaining warmth inside her lifeless car and stepped out onto the deserted road. She was two hours outside Minneapolis—and thirty miles from the small town she wanted so desperately to return to.
But fate seemed to have other ideas.
It was barely November, yet the frigid morning wind whipped at her face like tiny knives, batting her from side to side as though she were nothing more than a crumpled ball of newspaper.
Flares. Go get the flares. Someone will be by soon.
Her center of gravity newly broadened by several inches, she trudged carefully through a foot of snow to the trunk of her car, cursing the imbeciles at the weather station for their false predictions, cursing her cell phone with its short-lived battery. And as she rooted out several orange flares, lit them and laid them in the snow, she cursed the car that her husband
