A Baby In His Stocking. Hayley Gardner

      If Shea could just show Jared just what he’d been missing— Letter to Reader Title Page Dedication About the Author Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue Copyright

      If Shea could just show Jared just what he’d been missing—

      the warmth, spirit and traditions of a Christmas in Quiet Brook, as well as the fun—maybe she could get him to understand where she’d been coming from. He might even feel some of the things she did about close family ties and loving relationships, and then be in a better position to enjoy his child when it came.

      

      She interlaced her fingers and gazed down at her tummy. With Jared wanting to let her go, it wouldn’t be easy, but somewhere inside her, a tiny bit of hope curled right next to her baby somewhere under her heart....

      Dear Reader,

      

      Happy Holidays! Our gift to you is all the very best Romance has to offer, starting with A Kiss, a Kid and a Mistletoe Bride by RITA-Award winning author Lindsay Longford. In this VIRGIN BRIDES title, when a single dad returns home at Christmas, he encounters the golden girl he’d fallen for one magical night a lifetime ago. Can his kiss—and his kid—win her heart and make her a mistletoe mom?

      

      Rising star Susan Meier continues her TEXAS FAMILY TIES miniseries with Guess What? We’re Married! And no one is more shocked than the amnesiac bride in this sexy, surprising story! In The Rich Gal’s Rented Groom, the next sparkling installment of Carolyn Zane’s THE BRUBAKER BRIDES, a ragged ranch hand poses as Patsy Brubaker’s husband at her ten-year high school reunion. But fhis gal voted Most Likely To Succeed won’t rest till she wins her counterfeit hubby’s heart! BUNDLES OF JOY meets BACHELOR GULCH in a fairy-tale romance by beloved author Sandra Steffen. When a shy beauty is about to accept another man’s proposal, her true-blue true love returns to town, bearing Burke’s Christmas Surprise.

      

      Who wouldn’t want to be Stranded with a Tall, Dark Stranger—especially an embittered ex-cop in need of a good woman’s love? Laura Anthony’s tale of transformation is perfect for the holidays! And speaking of transformations... Hayley Gardner weaves an adorable, uplifting tale of a Grinch-like hero who becomes a Santa Claus daddy when he receives A Baby in His Stocking.

      

      And in the New Year, look for our fabulous new promohon 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

      A Baby In His Stocking

      Hayley Gardner

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      To people who are there for others, like Jennifer S.,

      and the whole Aut-2B-Home E-mail group. I don’t know what I would do without you! Thank you.

      HAYLEY GARDNER

      While the teachers lectured, Hayley used to sit in high school history classes and write romances in her notebook instead of notes. That turned out just fine, because she could always study the textbooks, and the teachers always thought she was their most conscientious student who took down every word they said!

      

      Now, years later, she is thrilled to be following her dream of full-time writing—when she isn’t homeschooling her son, that is. Any free time Hayley has is spent with her husband or researching methods of teaching children with autism or collecting dolls or knitting or taking long, deep breaths... and hoping her readers enjoy her efforts to make them smile and feel good about love.

      Chapter One

      In her office at the department store owned by her family, Shea Denton Burroughs dropped the telephone receiver into its cradle and leaned back in her executive chair, the breath knocked out of her. To suspect having a baby was one thing—to have it confirmed was another.

      For a few seconds, she let herself be wrapped up in the warmth of the love she was feeling for her baby-to-be. Boy or girl, it would have a life in her small hometown filled with the tranquillity, love and laughter that she’d always wanted for her children—a perfect life, just like her own.

      Perfect in every way except one, she thought, tears misting her eyes. Her baby’s father wouldn’t want it.

      “Don’t be sad,” a child’s voice said brightly from the doorway. “It’s Christmastime!”

      Straightening at the sight of a sandy-haired girl about four years old, Shea hurriedly dabbed at the corners of her eyes. In Denton’s department store, family was tops and kids usually had free rein, so a child loose in the office wing didn’t surprise her at all. In fact, at this point, the diversion was welcome.

      “I’m okay, really,” Shea said, smiling warmly at the child’s concern. “Who might you be?”

      “Santa’s helper,” the girl said.

      “I’m glad to meet you.” Shea was. The girl’s reply and the beaming smile on her heart-shaped face positively charmed Shea. “I could use some help from Santa right about now.”

      “I’ll tell him,” the child promised, nodding solemnly. “But he’ll need to know your name.”

      “It’s Shea Burroughs.” Widening her smile a little, Shea added, “Could you also please let him know I’ve been a very good girl all year?”

      The little sweetheart giggled. Still smiling, Shea bent over to get a candy cane out of her desk drawer. But when she looked up, the treat in hand, the girl was gone. Shea rose and went to check the hallway, but the tyke, one of the very few in the small town of Quiet