Colonel Daddy. Maureen Child

      “A Celibate Marriage?” Letter to Reader Title Page About the Author Dedication 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 Copyright

      “A Celibate Marriage?”

      Tom Asked.

      

      Kate sniffed and pulled her dress over her head. Wriggling into it, she shook her hair back from her face and stared at him. “At first, Tom, yes.”

      

      “At first?” He clung to those two words like a drowning man snatching at a piece of driftwood.

      

      “I just think it would be best if we didn’t sleep together right away. If we took our time.”

      

      He cocked his head and looked at her through wary eyes. “How much time?”

      

      “I don’t know. However long it takes for us to get to know each other. Become friends.”

      

      A snort of laughter shot from his lungs. “Friends...”

      

      “What’s wrong with that?” she asked, glaring at him.

      

      “Kate,” Tom said, giving her a slow up-and-down look. “I’ve got lots of friends, and not one of them makes me want to strip them naked and carry them off to the forest primeval.”

      Dear Reader

      

      April brings showers, and this month Silhouette Desire wants to shower you with six new, passionate love stories!

      

      Cait London’s popular Blaylock family returns in our April MAN OF THE MONTH title, Blaylock’s Bride. Honorable Roman Blaylock grapples with a secret that puts him in a conflict between confiding in the woman he loves and fulfilling a last wish.

      

      The provocative series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES continues with Leanne Banks’s The Secretary and the Millionaire, when a wealthy CEO turns to his assistant for help in caring for his little girl.

      

      Beverly Barton’s next tale in her 3 BABIES FOR 3 BROTHERS miniseries. His Woman, His Child, shows a rugged heartbreaker transformed by the heroine’s pregnancy Powerful sheikhs abound in Sheikh’s Ransom, the Desire debut title of Alexandra Sellers’s dramatic new series, SONS OF THE DESERT A marine gets a second chance at love in Colonel Daddy, continuing

      

      Maureen Child’s popular series BACHELOR BATTALION. And in Christy Lockhart’s Let’s Have a Baby!, our BACHELORS AND BABIES selection, the hero must dissuade the heroine from going to a sperm bank and convince her to let him father her child—the old-fashioned way!

      

      Allow Silhouette Desire to give you the ultimate indulgence—all six of these fabulous April romance books!

      

      Enjoy!

      

      Joan Marlow Golan

      Senior Editor. Silhouette Desire

      Please address question and book requests to:

      Silhouette Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadians P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

      Colonel Daddy

      Maureen Child

      

www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MAUREEN CHILD was born and raised in Southern California and is the only person she knows who longs for an occasional change of season. She is delighted to be writing for Silhouette Books, and is especially excited to be a part of the Desire line.

      An avid reader, she looks forward to those rare rainy California days when she can curl up and sink into a good book. Or two. When she isn’t busy writing, she and her husband of twenty-five years like to travel, leaving their two grown children in charge of the neurotic golden retriever who is the real head of the household. Maureen is also an award-winning historical writer under the names Kathleen Kane and Ann Carberry.

      To my editor, Karen Taylor Richman, for her support and her belief in me. Thanks for everything, Karen.

      One

      “Major Jennings to see you, sir,” the young corporal said over the intercom.

      Colonel Tom Candello pushed a button and said, “Send her in.”

      He sat back in his chair, his gaze locked on the door across from him. Major Katherine Jennings. Kate. Instantly his mind filled with erotic images. Memories of their last R and R together.

      A week in Japan and they’d hardly left the hotel. But it had been like that between them since they’d first met in Hawaii three years ago. A week-long, incredible affair had led to them deciding to meet again the following year. And then the year after. It was always the same. They arranged their leave time to coincide, met at an agreed-upon location, and surrendered to the overwhelming passion they’d found in each other.

      And except for that one week a year, they led separate lives. Each of them were career Marines, but they were posted at different bases, thousands of miles from each other, which kept them from ever crossing paths.

      Until recently.

      Two months ago, Kate had been transferred to Camp Pendleton, California. His base. His command. Now she was not only his once-a-year lover, she was one of his officers. He’d hardly seen her since she arrived. But for one or two brief meetings, where they were surrounded by other Marines, he hadn’t really spoken to her since their last morning in Japan.

      He stood up abruptly, pushed one hand through his short, black hair and walked to the window. Staring out at the base, he told himself to get rid of the mental images he carried of Kate, naked in bed, her arms held up to welcome him. This wasn’t Japan. This wasn’t even R and R. This was work, and their two worlds were about to collide.

      He felt as though he was on a speeding train heading