A Cold Creek Homecoming. RaeAnne Thayne

on>

      

      “What did you wish?” Quinn asked,

      a gruff note to his voice.

      Tess made a face. “If I tell you, it won’t come true. Don’t you know anything about wishes?”

      Right now, he could tell her a thing or two about wanting something he shouldn’t. That sensuous heat wrapped tighter around his insides. “I know enough. For instance, I know sometimes wishes can be completely ridiculous and make no sense. For instance, right now, I wish I could kiss you. Don’t ask me why. I don’t even like you.”

      Her eyes looked huge and green in her delicate face as she stared at him. “OK,” she said, her voice breathy.

      “OK, I can kiss you? Or, OK, you won’t ask why I want to?”

      She let out a ragged-sounding breath. “Either. Both.”

      He didn’t need much more of an invitation than that. Without allowing himself to stop and think, he stepped forward and covered her mouth with his.

      Available in July 2010

      from Mills & Boon®

      Special Moments™

      From Friends to Forever by Karen Templeton

      &

      The Family He Wanted by Karen Sandler

      Baby By Surprise by Karen Rose Smith

      &

      Daddy by Surprise by Debra Salonen

      A Kid to the Rescue by Susan Gable

      &

      Then Comes Baby by Helen Brenna

      The Sheikh and the Bought Bride by Susan Mallery

      A Cold Creek Homecoming by RaeAnne Thayne

      A Baby for the Bachelor by Victoria Pade

      The Baby Album by Roz Denny Fox

      A Cold Creek

      Homecoming

      BY

      RaeAnne Thayne

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains, where she lives with her husband and three children. Her books have won numerous honours, including three RITA® Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine. RaeAnne loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.raeannethayne.com.

      MILLS & BOON

       Before you start reading, why not sign up?

      Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

       SIGN ME UP!

      Or simply visit

      signup.millsandboon.co.uk

      Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

      In memory of my dear aunt, Arlene Wood,

      for afghans and parachutes and ceramic frogs.

      I only wish I’d dedicated one to you before!

      And to Jennifer Black, my sister and hero,

      for helping her pass with peace and dignity.

      Chapter One

      “You’re home!”

      The thin, reedy voice whispering from the frail woman on the bed was nothing like Quinn Southerland remembered.

      Though she was small in stature, Jo Winder’s voice had always been firm and commanding, just like the rest of her personality. When she used to call them in for supper, he and the others could hear her voice ringing out loud and clear from one end of the ranch to the other. No matter where they were, they knew the moment they heard that voice, it was time to go back to the house.

      Now the woman who had done so much to raise him—the toughest woman he had ever known—seemed a tiny, withered husk of herself, her skin papery and pale and her voice barely audible.

       The cracks in his heart from watching her endure the long months and years of her illness widened a little more. To his great shame, he had a sudden impulse to run away, to escape back to Seattle and his business and the comfortable life he had created for himself there, where he could pretend this was all some kind of bad dream and she was immortal, as he had always imagined.

      Instead, he forced himself to step forward to the edge of the bed, where he carefully folded her bony fingers in his own much larger ones, cursing the cancer that was taking away this woman he loved so dearly.

      He gave her his most charming smile, the one that never failed to sway any woman in his path, whether in the boardroom or the bedroom.

      “Where else would I be but right here, darling?”

      The smile she offered in return was rueful and she lifted their entwined fingers to her cheek. “You shouldn’t have come. You’re so busy in Seattle.”

      “Never too busy for my best girl.”

      Her laugh was small but wryly amused, as it always used to be when he would try to charm his way out of trouble with her.

      Jo wasn’t the sort who could be easily charmed but she never failed to appreciate the effort.

      “I’m sorry to drag you down here,” she said. “I…only wanted to see all of my boys one last time.”

      He wanted to protest that his foster mother would be around for years to come, that she was too tough and ornery to let a little thing like cancer stop her, but he couldn’t deny the evidence in front of him.

      She was dying, was much closer to it than any of them had feared.

       “I’m here, as long as you need me,” he vowed.

      “You’re a good boy, Quinn. You always have been.”

      He snorted at that—both of them knew better about that, as well. “Easton didn’t tell me you’ve been hitting the weed as part of your treatment.”

      The blankets rustled softly as her laugh shook her slight frame. “You know better than that. No marijuana here.”

      “Then what are you smoking?”

      “Nothing. I meant what I said. You were always a good boy on the inside, even when you were dragging the others into trouble.”

      “It still means the world that you thought so.” He kissed her forehead. “Now I can see you’re tired. You get some rest and we can catch up later.”

      “I would give anything for just a little of my old energy.”

      Her voice trailed off on the last word and he could tell she had already drifted off, just like that, in mid-sentence. As he stood beside her bed, still holding her fingers, she winced twice in her sleep.

      He frowned, hating the idea of her hurting. He slowly, carefully, released her fingers as if they would shatter