Working Overtime. Raye Morgan

      Suddenly Chareen was lying on the bed—fully dressed—and Michael was on top of her.

      She gasped. His hard, warm body was pressed to hers in so many places. To have a man so close, so strong, was unbelievably intoxicating. It had been so long….

      There was a moan starting deep in her throat. Was it a moan of surrender? Of triumph? Of overwhelming desire?

      She would never know, because at that moment there was a new sound from the hallway: “Mama? Mama?”

      Her eyes snapped open and she used the hands that had been kneading the muscles of his chest to throw him off her. She ran to the door and scooped into her arms the two little redheaded boys standing there.

      “Where did they come from?” Michael asked.

      Chareen looked at him, and her chin rose. “They’re mine,” she said proudly. “Say hello to Mr. Greco, boys. He’s my boss.”

      Dear Reader,

      We’ve been trying to capture what Silhouette Romance means to our readers, our authors and ourselves. In canvassing some authors, I’ve heard wonderful words about the characteristics of a Silhouette Romance novel—innate tenderness, lively, thoughtful, fun, emotional, hopeful, satisfying, warm, sparkling, genuine and affirming.

      It pleases me immensely that our writers are proud of their line and their readers! And I hope you’re equally delighted with their offerings. Be sure to drop a line or visit our Web site and let us know what we’re doing right—and any particular favorite topics you want to revisit.

      This month we have another fantastic lineup filled with variety and strong writing. We have a new continuity—HAVING THE BOSS’S BABY! Judy Christenberry’s When the Lights Went Out… starts off the series about a powerful executive’s discovery that one woman in his office is pregnant with his child. But who could it be? Next month Elizabeth Harbison continues the series with A Pregnant Proposal.

      Other stories for this month include Stella Bagwell’s conclusion to our MAITLAND MATERNITY spin-off. Go find The Missing Maitland. Raye Morgan’s popular office novels continue with Working Overtime. And popular Intimate Moments author Beverly Bird delights us with an amusing tale about Ten Ways To Win Her Man.

      Two more emotional titles round out the month. With her writing partner, Debrah Morris wrote nearly fifteen titles for Silhouette Books as Pepper Adams. Now she’s on her own with A Girl, a Guy and a Lullaby. And Martha Shields’s dramatic stories always move me. Her Born To Be a Dad opens with an unusual, powerful twist and continues to a highly satisfying ending!

      Enjoy these stories, and keep in touch.

      Mary-Theresa Hussey,

       Senior Editor

      Working Overtime

      Raye Morgan

      To Kim Nadelson, for all those great editor things you do.

      RAYE MORGAN

      has spent almost two decades, while writing over fifty novels, searching for the answer to that elusive question: Just what is that special magic that happens when a man and a woman fall in love? Every time she thinks she has the answer, a new wrinkle pops up, necessitating another book! Meanwhile, after living in Holland, Guam, Japan and Washington, D.C., she currently makes her home in Southern California with her husband and two of her four boys.

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter One

      The first thing Michael Greco heard was her low, velvety voice, and when he heard it, the hair stood up on the back of his neck.

      He froze, his hand on a volume of contract dispute records, his heart beating just a little faster. He’d never heard a voice like that before. It seemed to curl around his senses like a slinky cat might wrap itself around your ankles, all sleek and seductive, and at the same time, a provocative mystery that promised to stay just out of reach.

      He’d come into the law section of TriTerraCorp’s empty corporate library to do a little research over the lunch hour. For the last thirty minutes he’d been lost in his search, hidden by the tall bookcases, hardly noticing the group of women who’d come into the library after he’d arrived. The newcomers were gathered around the copy machine, laughing about something they seemed to be working on, obviously oblivious to the fact that he was in the room. The thick carpeting and the constant hum from the computers and other appliances helped to mask his presence. He’d ignored the women. But then that voice had arrived and greeted the others.

      “Well, what do we have here?” she said, her voice husky in a way that stopped him in his tracks. “Is this a secret meeting of the Third Floor Conspiracy, or can anyone join in?”

      “Hi, Char” came the slightly nervous answer, along with a rustling of paper. “We’re just…uh…we’re just…”

      “Oh, let her see it,” a higher voice said impatiently. “Char’s okay. She won’t turn us in. Look, Char, it’s a calendar that we’ve been working on. Just something for laughs, to pass around the office.”

      “A calendar?” Her rich tone seemed to vibrate his senses. “How controversial can that be? Let’s see it.”

      There was more rustling of paper.

      “Oh, you naughty girls. What have you done?”

      Her laugh was just as provocative as he’d thought it would be, and he narrowed his eyes, enjoying it.

      “The Most Eligible Bachelors of TriTerraCorp. What a good idea. These pictures are priceless.”

      “Aren’t they great? The office hunks. Sherry did the graphics on her computer. She’s an artist at this stuff.”

      Michael softly slid the book back into place on the shelf, cursing himself for his involuntary reaction. He still had goose bumps, and it was just a voice, after all. The woman probably looked like a tree gnome.

      And, anyway, it didn’t matter if she did or she didn’t. He’d promised himself a woman-free trip this time. He’d spent too much time dating interchangeable lovelies ever since his marriage had crumbled into the dust and left him grasping for a new focus to his life. Wine, women and song were never the answer to that problem—though it sometimes took a while to get that through thick heads like his.

      “Ignore the voice,” he muttered softly to himself, frowning as he tried to remember what he was looking for on the bookshelf.

      But there it was again.

      “You’ve even got Greg Holstein,” she was recounting. “He looks so cute in that lion suit! And Andy Martinez from Security as a trapeze artist. Sherry, this is a hoot.”

      He swallowed hard. This was really strange. Her voice did something to him. It was almost the way a tuning fork resonated as it caught a note. He felt something respond inside every time she spoke. There was no use trying to pretend it wasn’t happening. But nothing like this had ever happened to him before.

      Maybe