Building Dreams. Ginna Gray

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      Dear Reader

      We’ve all heard that pregnant women “glow.” I’ve actually heard some men say that they thought their wives were even more beautiful and sexy when pregnant. Thinking about that, I wondered if a man could fall in love with a woman who was expecting a child.

      From that point, what I call “the what ifs” kicked in. What if he was a man who loved kids and had wanted a big family? A man who had been raised in a large, happy family? What if he’d been married before and had a son, but his wife had run away with another man, abandoning him and the boy and leaving him bitter—against women and marriage? What if circumstances (with a little help from his son) throw the heroine and hero together?

      From such thoughts, dear reader, a book begins to take shape. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.

      Happy reading!

      GINNA GRAY

      A native Texan, Ginna Gray lived in Houston all her life until 1993, when she and her husband, Brad, built their “dream home” and moved to the mountains of Colorado. Coming from a large, Irish/American family, in which spinning colorful yarns was commonplace, made writing a natural career choice for Ginna. “I grew up hearing so many fascinating tales, I was eleven or twelve before I realized that not everyone made up stories,” Ginna says. She sold her first novel in 1983 and has been working as a full-time writer ever since. She has also given many lectures and writing workshops and judged in writing contests. The mother of two grown daughters, Ginna also enjoys other creative activities, such as oil painting, sewing, sketching, knitting and needlepoint.

      Books by Ginna Gray

      Silhouette Special Edition

      Golden Illusion #171

      The Heart’s Yearning #265

      Sweet Promise #320

      Cristin’s Choice #373

      *Fools Rush In #416

      *Where Angels Fear #468

      If There Be Love #528

      *Once in a Lifetime #661

      *A Good Man Walks In #722

      *Building Dreams #792

      *Forever #854

      *Always #891

      The Bride Price #973

      Alissa’s Miracle #1117

      *Meant for Each Other #1221

      †A Man Apart #1330

      †In Search of Dreams #1340

      †The Ties that Bind #1395

      Silhouette Romance

      The Gentling #285

      The Perfect Match #311

      Heart of the Hurricane #338

      Images #352

      First Love, Last Love #374

      The Courtship of Dani #417

      Sting of the Scorpion #826

      Silhouette Books

      Silhouette Christmas Stories1987

      “Season of Miracles”

      Wanted: Mother1996

      “Soul Mates”

      Building Dreams

      Ginna Gray

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      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

       Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter One

      It was too quiet.

      The thought struck Ryan McCall halfway up the stairs, and he paused, his expression puzzled. Normally by that point he could hear rock music rattling the walls of his apartment. Or, at the very least, the television blaring. His son rarely did anything in moderation.

      Ryan trotted up the remaining steps, curious but not particularly alarmed.

      The first vestige of the latter feeling came a moment later when he unlocked his door and opened it to a dark apartment. Stepping inside, Ryan flipped on the living room lights and checked his watch. It was only nine—too early for Mike to be in bed. Maybe he had fallen asleep watching television in his room.

      “Mike! You here?”

      There was no answer. Frowning, Ryan tossed the mail onto the coffee table and strode across the room, heading for the door that led into the bedroom hallway. “Hey, Mike! Where are you?”

      His son’s room was empty. The bed, on which the boy wallowed periodically throughout the day, was made up in Mike’s usual haphazard manner but it showed no sign of having been touched.

      The room was crammed with a thirteen-year-old boy’s clutter. A catcher’s mitt and a bat and ball lay on the desk, along with dozens of baseball cards, two crushed soft drink cans, a deflated football, a pair of dirty socks, a pocket electronic game, and an assortment of candy wrappers, rocks and scraps of paper. A squadron of model airplanes hung from the ceiling and another half-finished aircraft sat on a sheet of newspaper in the middle of the floor. In a pile in the corner, where Mike had tossed them, were a torn kite, a Frisbee and a skateboard. A ratty sneaker with a hole in the toe lay on its side beside the bed. Yet, for all its messiness,