Cowboys And Cradles. Sharon Swan

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      “All right,” Ryder found himself asking, “what do you intend to do with the ranch?”

      Eve’s lips curved wryly. “I’m sure you’ll be glad to know, cowboy that I’m leaving most of the land as it is. However, I have some real changes planned for the main house.”

      Surely she just meant nothing more than some new drapes, a few rugs scattered about, he assured himself. Simple stuff. Then he remembered that simple simply didn’t apply to this woman.

      “Exactly what kind of changes do you have in mind?”

      As she’d done earlier, Eve met his gaze head-on and didn’t so much as blink. “To be exact, I’m turning a portion of this house into a day-care center. A day nursery, actually.”

      She waited a beat, wanting his full attention for the final blow. “For babies.”

      Dear Reader,

      Mills & Boon American Romance has rounded up the best romantic reading to help you celebrate Valentine’s Day. Start off with the final installment in the MAITLAND MATERNITY: TRIPLETS, QUADS & QUINTS series. The McCallum Quintuplets is a special three-in-one volume featuring New York Times bestselling author Kasey Michaels, Mindy Neff and Mary Anne Wilson.

      BILLION-DOLLAR BRADDOCKS, Karen Toller Whittenburg’s new family-connected miniseries, premiers this month with The C.E.O.’s Unplanned Proposal. In this Cinderella story, a small-town waitress is swept into the Braddock world of wealth and power and puts eldest brother Adam Braddock’s bachelor status to the test. Next, in Bonnie Gardner’s Sgt. Billy’s Bride, an air force controller is in desperate need of a fiancée to appease his beloved, ailing mother, so he asks a beautiful stranger to become his wife. Can love bloom and turn their pretend engagement into wedded bliss? Finally, we welcome another new author to the Mills & Boon American family. Sharon Swan makes her irresistible debut with Cowboys and Cradles.

      Enjoy this month’s offerings, and be sure to return next month when Mills & Boon American Romance launches a new cross-line continuity, THE CARRADIGNES: AMERICAN ROYALTY, with The Improperly Pregnant Princess by Jacqueline Diamond.

      Wishing you happy reading,

      Melissa Jeglinski

      Associate Senior Editor

      Mills & Boon American Romance

      Cowboys and Cradles

      Sharon Swan

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      For Ann, who always loved a cowboy hero

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Born and raised in Chicago, SHARON SWAN once dreamed of dancing for a living. Instead, she surrendered to life’s more practical aspects, settled for an office job, concentrated on typing and being a Chicago Bears fan. Sharon never seriously considered a writing career until she moved to the Phoenix area and met Pierce Brosnan at a local shopping mall. It was a chance meeting that changed her life because she found herself thinking what if? What if two fictional characters had met the same way? That formed the basis for her next novel, and she’s now cheerfully addicted to writing contemporary romance and playing what if?

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Epilogue

      Chapter One

      He rode into her life like a god on horseback.

      If she hadn’t been so busy slamming on the brakes, the startling sight might have actually thrilled her.

      Bits of desert dust, red-tinged and light as air, still swirled around them as she discovered he was mortal—and far from thrilled with her. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t tell you exactly what I think of your driving skills, lady.”

      Eve Terry squared her shoulders, instinctively reacting both to the words and the clipped tone. He was human, all right, she told herself. And big. Looking up to meet his gaze would be necessary, she knew, even if he climbed down from his saddle and she stood to her full, taller-than-average height. He clearly outweighed her, as well, by more than a few pounds, and she was no lightweight. Still, she refused to let his size, the whole muscled length of him, intimidate her.

      Or at least she refused to appear intimidated. Despite a pounding pulse and a racing heartbeat, aftereffects of their near collision, she managed a calm reply. “I can give you a great reason for keeping your opinions to yourself, cowboy. I just happen to be your new boss.”

      Beyond a dirt-specked windshield, she watched a sudden frown appear under the wide brim of a battered tan hat. Honing in, she studied well-formed features, unhampered by the thin coat of dusty grime half concealing them. She’d drawn enough faces to recognize good bone structure when she saw it. High cheekbones, a straight nose and a firm jawline. Cleaned up, he would be attractive, she had no doubt. Not that she was interested. Right now she had a list of priorities, and men, even attractive ones, weren’t on it.

      “The boss? Not hardly,” he said, his voice low and a bit gritty, tinged with a Western drawl. “This ranch belongs to an outfit in Dallas by the name of E. T. Holdings.”

      “I’m