Secret Surrogate. Delores Fossen

      He was every bit the rough-and-ready Texas cowboy tonight

      Just over six feet tall. Long and lean. Intense and imposing. With a fierce don’t-mess-with-me demeanor. He was the kind of man who could stop a heart in midbeat. Or send one racing.

      He seemed to be doing both on Kylie right now.

      The past three years had obviously been hard on him. She could see the stress etched on his rugged, naturally tanned face and in the depth of his eyes. Stress that she was responsible for.

      “Don’t make this harder than it already is,” Lucas mumbled in a rough whisper.

      She knew what he meant. He had to come inside, look around. He’d need to put that on the report. Lucas wouldn’t want anyone to question his procedure or accuse him of cutting corners because of the bad blood between them. But he also wanted to do this as quickly as possible so he could get the heck out of there.

      Something she totally understood.

      Secret Surrogate

      

      Delores Fossen

      

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      For Mickey, Stacy, Selena, Scott,

       Trent, Miranda and Hunter

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Imagine a family tree that includes Texas cowboys, Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, a Louisiana pirate and a Scottish rebel who battled side by side with William Wallace. With ancestors like that, it’s easy to understand why Texas author and former air force captain Delores Fossen feels as if she was genetically predisposed to writing romances. Along the way to fulfilling her DNA destiny, Delores married an air force top gun who just happens to be of Viking descent. With all those romantic bases covered, she doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration.

      CAST OF CHARACTERS

      Kylie Monroe—She has no idea that her surrogacy will put hers and Lucas’s lives—not to mention their hearts—at risk.

      Sheriff Lucas Creed—Since his wife’s brutal murder, he’s vowed never to love again. But with Kylie carrying his child, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep her and the baby safe. Now he has to figure out a way to safeguard his heart, as well.

      Cordelia Landrum—She blames Kylie for her sister’s death, but does Cordelia also want Kylie permanently out of the picture?

      Kendrick Windham—The director of the surrogacy clinic who holds Kylie and Lucas responsible for an impending investigation of suspicious business practices.

      Dr. Finn McGrath—Lucas’s best friend. Or is he?

      Isaac Dupont—To keep his unscrupulous activities from coming to light, would this ruthless attorney resort to murdering Kylie, Lucas and their unborn child?

      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 Eighteen

      Chapter Nineteen

      Chapter One

      Fall Creek, Texas

      Kylie Monroe tightened her grip on the .357 Magnum and kept her index finger on the trigger.

      She waited in the dark. Deep in the corner where she hoped the shadows hid her.

      Listening.

      Praying.

      Mercy, was she ever praying.

      Maybe those footsteps that she’d heard outside belonged to one of the deputies from the Fall Creek Sheriff’s Office. Heck, she was even hoping it was a neighbor who’d dropped by. Fat chance of that, though. Her nearest neighbor was nearly two miles away, and it was close to midnight. Hardly the time for visitors.

      Besides, she’d seen no car lights. No sound of an engine. Or any other indication that whoever was out there had neighborly intentions. The footsteps likely belonged to the shadowy figures she’d seen in the woods on the east side of her property.

      She made a quick check of the clock on the mantel. Sweet heaven. Where was the deputy? She’d made that 911 call well over a half hour ago.

      Of course, it seemed more like an eternity.

      Because her legs were trembling, Kylie leaned against the wall of the tiny foyer and tried not to make a sound. That included humming. Several times, she’d caught herself humming a little louder than was probably safe. Of course, maybe no sound was safe right now.

      The baby she carried inside her kicked and squirmed as if he or she knew something was terribly wrong. That didn’t surprise her. After all, her entire body was tense—every muscle knotted, her breath thin.

      It only got worse when she heard another sound that she’d anticipated.

      And dreaded.

      There was a sharp groan of wood. No doubt from one of the creaky floorboards on the porch. Someone was just outside her door. Mere inches away.

      Her heartbeat began to race out of control, but she tried to stay calm. For the sake of the baby. And for her own sake. So she could respond accordingly.

      Unfortunately, respond accordingly might mean she’d have to use deadly force.

      She was a trained law enforcement officer, Kylie reminded herself. Except she hadn’t carried a badge or even held a gun for nearly three years. Maybe she wouldn’t even remember her firearms’ training. But it didn’t matter. She would do whatever it took to protect the baby and herself.

      “Kylie?” a man called out. “It’s me—Lucas Creed.”

      Oh, mercy.

      That didn’t do much to steady her heart rate or her breathing.

      However, Kylie did lower her gun, and she eased her finger off the trigger. Sheriff Lucas Creed wasn’t exactly the threat her body had prepared itself for.

      But he was a threat of a totally different kind.

      “I didn’t hear you drive up,” she informed him.

      Lucas didn’t answer right away, but she thought she heard him mumble something. A not-so-pleased kind of mumbling. One she understood. Because, after all, her comment probably had seemed like some kind of accusation.

      “I parked at the end of the road,” he responded. “You told the dispatcher you thought there might be trespassers on your property. I looked around. Didn’t see anyone.”

      That was the good news.

      The bad news was that Lucas Creed was standing on her porch.

      Kylie eased her gun onto the foyer table and inched