Daddy Protector. Jacqueline Diamond

      “That’s a good line. You should use it on a susceptible female.”

      “Which you’re not?” Hale asked sweetly.

      Connie felt heat rise to her cheeks and to cover it grabbed a roll of pressure bandage and began winding it around his foot. “Don’t call me angel. Or honey bunch or any of your other smarmy endearments.”

      “Smarmy?” he echoed.

      “Naive women must melt when you shower them with phony compliments. Well, not me!” She smacked the end of the bandage so it clung without requiring adhesive.

      He flinched. Connie felt guilty, but not enough to apologize.

      “Okay, okay.” Hale shrugged. “I have a naturally flirtatious manner. Don’t take it personally.”

      “Exactly my point!”

      Dear Reader,

      I loved telling the story of Connie and Hale, next-door neighbors who drive each other crazy. They’re opposites in many ways, but dramatic events reveal the underlying values they hold in common. And then there’s that sizzling attraction they’ve fought so hard to suppress, breaking forth at last!

      I also enjoyed weaving in the details of Hale’s work as a police detective. This is the second of three related books I’ve written featuring two policemen and a policewoman.

      Hope you enjoy the continuing stories of Connie, her friend Rachel and her cousin Marta. Still to come is a book in which Marta, who’s struggled for years to recover from a serious accident, finds happiness with the seemingly unattainable man of her dreams.

      For details, reviews and information on future books, please visit my Web site, www.jacquelinediamond.com. Hope to see you there!

      Best,

      Daddy Protector

      Jacqueline Diamond

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      A former Associated Press reporter, Jacqueline Diamond has written more than sixty novels and received a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BOOKreviews. Jackie lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons and two cats. You can e-mail her at [email protected] or visit her Web site at www.jacquelinediamond.com.

      Books by Jacqueline Diamond

      HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

      913—THE IMPROPERLY PREGNANT PRINCESS

      962—DIAGNOSIS: EXPECTING BOSS’S BABY

      971—PRESCRIPTION: MARRY HER IMMEDIATELY

      978—PROGNOSIS: A BABY? MAYBE

      1046—THE BABY’S BODYGUARD

      1075—THE BABY SCHEME

      1094—THE POLICE CHIEF’S LADY *

      1101—NINE-MONTH SURPRISE *

      1109—A FAMILY AT LAST *

      1118—DAD BY DEFAULT *

      1130—THE DOCTOR + FOUR *

      1149—THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE SECRET

      To Beverley Sotolov and Jennifer Green.

      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 Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

      Chapter One

      Hale Crandall really ought to put on some clothes. He looked fantastic without them, though, in Connie’s opinion.

      Sweat spread a bronze sheen across his rugged chest and face, from which exertion had stripped the customary know-it-all grin. A fierce, driving leap…breath coming hard…intensity turning his brown eyes to near-black…

      Then he missed the softball, stumbled across the grass from his yard and plowed headfirst into the pansies and marigolds in Connie’s flower bed. As she drove up, her amusement mutated into annoyance at her havoc-wreaking neighbor.

      Muttering under her breath, she pulled her maroon sedan into the driveway and stomped on the brake. She yanked the door handle too hard, resulting in a chipped fingernail. Well, great! Not exactly Hale’s fault, but she felt even more irked at him, anyway.

      As she marched along the sidewalk—no sense ruining her strappy high heels or her lawn by taking the shortest route—she ignored the group of boys, assorted ages and states of griminess, who’d stopped playing to check on their ringleader. Why weren’t they spending a Saturday in June doing something useful, like studying? Although Connie didn’t have any children, she volunteered to tutor kids struggling in school, and knew how many of them blew off their assignments.

      She stopped a few feet away from her neighbor. “Look at this mess! I hope you plan to replant those flowers.” She barely refrained from adding a well-deserved, “You idiot!”

      A dirt-smeared Hale pushed himself onto the grass and retrieved a clot of nasturtiums from atop his thick, dark hair. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied with his customary sardonic edge.

      With his taste for high jinks, she thought he might plant stink-weeds. “When you’re buying