Having the Bachelor's Baby. Victoria Pade

      “Okay, it’s a deal….”

      Ben held out his hand for Clair to shake, and she took it without thinking.

      But that perfectly innocent handshake made her extremely aware of the heat of his skin, the strength of his grip, the sensuality of his touch—things she didn’t want to be aware of at all. And just the fact that she was, spurred her to say, “I don’t think you should walk me to the cottage. I’ll just slip out as if I was never here, and we’ll be that much closer to putting the reunion behind us and starting over.”

      “You’re sure?”

      “Positive.” She smiled and left. Somehow she’d gone from nearly hyperventilating at just the thought of seeing Ben Walker again to actually being tempted to linger a while with him. He had an effect on her like no other man ever had.

      Although maybe his having unusual effects on her shouldn’t have come as such a surprise under the circumstances….

      Circumstances in which he’d managed to conquer her infertility!

      Dear Reader,

      Well, we hope your New Year’s resolutions included reading some fabulous new books—because we can provide the reading material! We begin with Stranded with the Groom by Christine Rimmer, part of our new MONTANA MAVERICKS: GOLD RUSH GROOMS miniseries. When a staged wedding reenactment turns into the real thing, can the actual honeymoon be far behind? Tune in next month for the next installment in this exciting new continuity.

      Victoria Pade concludes her NORTHBRIDGE NUPTIALS miniseries with Having the Bachelor’s Baby, in which a woman trying to push aside memories of her one night of passion with the town’s former bad boy finds herself left with one little reminder of that encounter—she’s pregnant with his child. Judy Duarte begins her new miniseries, BAYSIDE BACHELORS, with Hailey’s Hero, featuring a cautious woman who finds herself losing her heart to a rugged rebel who might break it…. THE HATHAWAYS OF MORGAN CREEK by Patricia Kay continues with His Best Friend, in which a woman is torn between two men—the one she really wants, and the one to whom he owes his life. Mary J. Forbes’s sophomore Special Edition is A Father, Again, featuring a grown-up reunion between a single mother and her teenaged crush. And a disabled child, an exhausted mother and a down-but-not-out rodeo hero all come together in a big way, in Christine Wenger’s debut novel, The Cowboy Way.

      So enjoy, and come back next month for six compelling new novels, from Silhouette Special Edition.

      Happy New Year!

      Gail Chasan

      Senior Editor

      Silhouette Special Edition

      Having the Bachelor’s Baby

      Victoria Pade

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      VICTORIA PADE

      is a bestselling author of both historical and contemporary romance fiction, and mother of two energetic daughters, Cori and Erin. Although she enjoys her chosen career as a novelist, she occasionally laments that she has never traveled farther from her Colorado home than Disneyland, instead spending all her spare time plugging away at her computer. She takes breaks from writing by indulging in her favorite hobby—eating chocolate.

      NORTHBRIDGE NEWS

      The bad boy is back…

      and better looking than ever!

      The one-time bad boy of Northbridge is back in town, but is it for business, as he claims—or for pleasure, as it seems? After taking a quick drive by the old Northbridge School for Boys, the discreet reporter noticed just how many changes Ben Walker already made to the place…and how close he seemed to previous owner Clair Cabot. Rumor has it that Ben and Clair got awfully cozy a few months back at the Northbridge High School reunion. And since I’m sworn to report the full story… A source has revealed she recently spotted a trench-coated Clair skimming the titles in Bella’s Books—in the childcare section! So how cozy did they get that night? Looks like only nine months will tell!

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter One

      “Northbridge. Thirty miles. Thirty short miles…”

      Clair Cabot was talking to herself. But reading the sign above the highway out loud as she drove underneath it didn’t ease any of the tension she was feeling. In fact, the closer she got to her destination the more her stress level increased.

      Northbridge. The small Montana town where fifteen-year-old Clair and her father had moved when her father had purchased a ranch to turn into a school and quasi-boot-camp for troubled preadolescent boys.

      The small Montana town where Clair had gone to high school and met and married her high-school sweetheart before moving with him to Denver.

      The small Montana town she’d last visited for a single night in June to attend her graduating class’s tenth reunion.

      The small Montana town where, for the second time in her life, a man had altered her course….

      “Take a deep breath and blow it out. Take a deep breath and blow it out,” she recited, performing the relaxation technique advised by her doctor when she’d passed out in her office a week ago.

      The deep breathing helped a little. Only a little. Because after all, she was still getting closer and closer to Northbridge with every passing minute. To Northbridge and to the Northbridge School for Boys…and to the school’s new owner—Ben Walker.

      Clair had to do the deep breathing again at just the thought of Ben Walker.

      Ben Walker—Northbridge’s bad boy.

      Or at least that’s what he’d been as a teenager. So bad that by the time Clair had arrived in town he’d already been sent to Arizona for a program for adolescents in trouble. Which meant that even though Clair’s best friend through high school had been Ben Walker’s twin sister, Cassie, Clair hadn’t even met Ben until the last semester of senior year when he’d been allowed to come back to graduate with his class. And by then Clair had been so involved with Rob Cabot she hadn’t even noticed Cassie’s hardtack twin.

      Until the reunion in June.

      “Stupid reunion,” Clair muttered.

      But the reunion wasn’t to blame for what had happened the last time she was in Northbridge, she thought, contradicting herself. It was Rob Cabot who had set the wheels into motion. It was his fault.

      Her ex-husband.

      She’d asked him if he was going to the reunion—not face-to-face, she hadn’t wanted to ever see him again after the divorce. But she’d e-mailed him and asked him.

      And that’s all she’d done—she’d asked him. Nicely. Politely. She hadn’t goaded him or challenged him or done anything to provoke him. She hadn’t even let him know that if he was going, she wasn’t—although that had been her plan. She’d only e-mailed and asked him if he was going. A simple question that had only required a simple, straight-forward, honest answer.

      And that’s what she’d thought he’d given her.

      He’d said there was no way he was going, that he and his new wife—the