The Pregnant Heiress. Eileen Wilks

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       THE TEXAS TATTLER All the news that’s barely fit to print!

      Fortunes Host “Members-Only” Party

      In the wake of Miranda Fortune’s shocking revelation about bearing twins out of wedlock comes the next revelation. Notorious bad boy Cameron Fortune fathered three illegitimate heirs with three different women prior to his death. Family patriarch Ryan Fortune hosted a party at the Double Crown Ranch this past week to welcome these stunned individuals into the family fold.

      No expense was spared as the Fortunes served the finest champagne and fanciest hors d’oeuvres. Although one heir declined the invitation, international importer Jonas Goodfellow, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Sam “Storm” Pearce, businessman Justin Bond and a very pregnant Emma Michaels mingled with their new relatives.

      “There was something mysterious about Emma,” according to one unnamed source. “She didn’t want to have much to do with the Fortunes.” Of course, this reporter couldn’t help noticing that she spent an awful lot of time talking to the P.I. who’d tracked her down. Was she just expressing her gratitude…or could something be brewing between them?

      Dear Reader,

      Welcome to the world of Silhouette Desire, where you can indulge yourself every month with romances that can only be described as passionate, powerful and provocative!

      The ever-fabulous Ann Major offers a Cowboy Fantasy, July’s MAN OF THE MONTH. Will a fateful reunion between a Texas cowboy and his ex-flame rekindle their fiery passion? In Cherokee, Sheri WhiteFeather writes a compelling story about a Native American hero who, while searching for his Cherokee heritage, falls in love with a heroine who has turned away from hers.

      The popular miniseries BACHELOR BATTALION by Maureen Child marches on with His Baby!—a marine hero returns from an assignment to discover he’s a father. The tantalizing Desire miniseries FORTUNES OF TEXAS: THE LOST HEIRS continues with The Pregnant Heiress by Eileen Wilks, whose pregnant heroine falls in love with the investigator protecting her from a stalker.

      Alexandra Sellers has written an enchanting trilogy, SONS OF THE DESERT: THE SULTANS, launching this month with The Sultan’s Heir. A prince must watch over the secret child heir to the kingdom along with the child’s beautiful mother. And don’t miss Bronwyn Jameson’s Desire debut—an intriguing tale involving a self-made man who’s In Bed with the Boss’s Daughter.

      Treat yourself to all six of these heart-melting tales of Desire—and see inside for details on how to enter our Silhouette Makes You a Star contest.

      Enjoy!

      Joan Marlow Golan

      Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

      The Pregnant Heiress

      Eileen Wilks

      EILEEN WILKS

      is a fifth-generation Texan. Her great-great-grandmother came to Texas in a covered wagon shortly after the end of the Civil War—excuse us, the War Between the States. But she’s not a full-blooded Texan. Right after another war, her Texan father fell for a Yankee woman. This obviously mismatched pair proceeded to travel to nine cities in three countries in the first twenty years of their marriage, raising two kids and innumerable dogs and cats along the way. For the next twenty years they stayed put, back home in Texas again—and still together.

      Eileen figures her professional career matches her nomadic upbringing, since she’s tried everything from drafting to a brief stint as a ranch hand—raising two children and any number of cats and dogs along the way. Not until she started writing did she “stay put,” because that’s when she knew she’d come home. Readers can write to her at P.O. Box 4612, Midland, TX 79704-4612.

      Meet the Fortunes of Texas

      Meet the Fortunes of Texas’s Lost Heirs. Membership in this Texas family has its privileges and its price. As the family gathers to welcome its newest members, it discovers a murderer in its midst…and passionate new romances that only a true-bred Texas love can bring!

      CAST OF CHARACTERS

      Flynn Sinclair: Although this hardened private investigator’s job ended as soon as he’d brought Miranda Fortune’s twins to Texas, one look at a very pregnant, scared Emma Michaels told him that his work had only begun….

      Emma Michaels: She’d fled from an abusive relationship in the dead of night, but seven months pregnant, this reluctant heiress wasn’t quite so fleet-footed. The only person who could help her was a darkly handsome stranger whose deep voice had already inspired a fantasy—or two.

      Justin Bond: Getting to know the Fortunes had changed Emma’s twin brother…and the first thing on this businessman’s “to do” list was wooing back his wife!

      Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Prologue

      February: just off I-10, north of Huachuca City,

       Arizona

      She smiled a lot. Flynn couldn’t figure out why. The elderly couple she was waiting on now could have been excused for thinking she’d shown up at the truck stop this morning just for the pleasure of looking at the photos the old woman had spread out on the table.

      Her smile was bright and natural, too, not forced. Sunny-side up, like the eggs she’d set in front of Flynn a few minutes ago. It made people smile back. Flynn couldn’t make sense of that smile.

      If the old couple had been paying attention, they would have seen that she didn’t have time to stop and ooh over pictures of their grandkids. They would have seen the exhausted smudges beneath those baby-blue eyes, too.

      Flynn paid attention. To everything. It was his job.

      She detached herself from her elderly admirers and was making her way along the row of booths in her station when a trucker with a handlebar mustache slid out of a booth and stood, blocking her. He tried out a smile that looked creaky from disuse. He also tried to pat her fanny.

      She dodged his hand and said something Flynn couldn’t catch over the noise in the truck stop. He frowned. The trucker might be a slug or just an idiot. There were plenty of both around, men who would want a taste of that sunshine and grab for it.

      He had an urge to explain manners to Handlebar Mustache in terms the man would understand. His fingers twitched with the need to make a fist. But he wasn’t needed. Handlebar headed for the register, the lines of his face drooping in disappointment. Flynn’s gaze switched to his subject as she hurried behind the counter to replace the coffeepot on its warmer.

      She was too skinny. With her brown hair pulled back in that bobbing ponytail she looked like a kid, her face all eyes and smiling