When I See Your Face. Laurie Paige

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      “If you need me, I’ll come running. Real quick, darling.”

      Shannon huffed in exasperation. “You’ll do no such thing. I know how to dial 9-1-1 if I need help.”

      “I’m closer. If you’ll keep making food like this, I’ll come over every night and check your place for bogeymen.”

      “Ha-ha,” she said.

      Rory was ten times more attractive than any man she’d ever met. And a hundred times more dangerous to her heart. Shannon thought of his kisses. When he teased and called her “darling” she couldn’t help but respond, even though she knew he didn’t mean it as an endearment.

      Life with him would be fun. If he loved her. If she loved him. She froze, overwhelmed at the idea.

      Dear Reader,

      It’s the little things that mean so much. In fact, more than once, “little things” have fueled Myrna Temte’s Special Edition novels. One of her miniseries evolved from a newspaper article her mother sent her. The idea for her first novel was inspired by something she’d heard a DJ say on her favorite country-western radio station. And Myrna Temte’s nineteenth book, Handprints, also evolved in an interesting way. A friend received a special Mother’s Day present—a picture of her little girl with finger-painted handprints and a sweet poem entitled “Handprints.” Once the story was relayed to Myrna, the seed for another romance novel was planted. And the rest, as they say, is history….

      There are plenty of special somethings this month. Bestselling author Joan Elliott Pickart delivers Single with Twins, the story of a photojournalist who travels the world in search of adventure, only to discover that family makes his life complete. In Lisa Jackson’s The McCaffertys: Matt, the rugged rancher hero feels that law enforcement is no place for a lady—but soon finds himself making a plea for passion….

      Don’t miss Laurie Paige’s When I See Your Face, in which a fiercely independent officer is forced to rely on others when she’s temporarily blinded in the line of duty. Find out if there will be a Match Made in Wyoming in Patricia McLinn’s novel, when the hero and heroine find themselves snowbound on a Wyoming ranch! And The Child She Always Wanted by Jennifer Mikels tells the touching tale of a baby on the doorstep bringing two people together for a love too great for either to deny.

      Asking authors where they get their ideas often proves an impossible question. However, many ideas come from little things that surround us. See what’s around you. And if you have an idea for a Special Edition novel, I’d love to hear from you. Enjoy!

      Best,

      Karen Taylor Richman, Senior Editor

      When I See Your Face

      Laurie Paige

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      This book is dedicated to Paul and Marci,

       Steve and Andi with wishes for all the love

       and happiness your hearts can hold.

      LAURIE PAIGE

      says, “In the interest of authenticity, most writers will try anything…once.” Along with her writing adventures, Laurie has been a NASA engineer, a past president of the Romance Writers of America (twice!), a mother and a grandmother (twice, also!). She was twice a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist for Best Traditional Romance and has won awards from Romantic Times Magazine for Best Silhouette Special Edition and Best Silhouette. Recently resettled in Northern California, Laurie is looking forward to whatever experiences her next novel will send her on.

      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

      Shannon Bannock waved at the children on the gaily decorated float, part of the parade assembling in the parking lot diagonally across from her. Standing at the intersection, she directed traffic away from the main street of Wind River, Wyoming, where the Parade of Lights festival took place each year on the Sunday before Christmas.

      As a detective for the combined police-sheriff offices of the town and county, she normally handled domestic matters for the department, but at this hectic time of the year, every officer filled in where needed.

      Noting a group of kids and an adult approaching the corner, she quickly set out the wooden road barriers, then led the children and their caretaker across the street to a good spot to view the parade.

      “Merry Christmas,” she called to an old school chum’s eight-year-old daughter as the festivities began. For a second she marveled at that fact—that one of her best friends from high school had a child that age. Next year would be the tenth reunion of the class. Amazing.

      Of her old pals, she was the only one not married. Friends said she shepherded everyone else into family units but was afraid to try matrimony herself. That wasn’t true at all. She just didn’t wear her heart on her sleeve. In actual fact, she’d met someone she thought was quite nice, a new attorney in town—

      “Yo, lady cop,” a masculine baritone called.

      Glancing over her shoulder, she gazed into light blue eyes and a face that—according to Marilee at the hair and nail shop—should have graced a monument as an example to all women of true male beauty. Rory Daniels, local heartthrob.

      He was a respected veterinarian and someone she’d known all her life. He was five or six years older than she was, though, and, being an upperclassman, hadn’t been part of her particular group of friends. Dressed in a down jacket that emphasized the color of his eyes, his hair blowing attractively across his forehead, she had to admit he was the best-looking man in the county.

      The fact that he irritated her no end didn’t lessen the impact. They had clashed over county land use, a street-improvement project and the use of woman police officers. He thought they should stay off the street and in the office. She thought women weren’t utilized to their full potential.

      In her opinion, he was opinionated and arrogant…in a charming way. She grinned at the thought. He was certainly a man to turn a woman’s head. Some women, she corrected, not her. She had her life planned, and it didn’t include a stop at Heartbreak Hotel because of a man.

      “Any possibility I can get through?” he asked.

      Seeing that the parade was at last getting underway, she shook her head. “Sorry. Unless it’s an emergency?”

      He stepped down from the pickup and stood beside her. “Not really. A mare being a bit slow about foaling. The family called and asked me to stop by.”

      “The parade will be over in twenty minutes,” she told him. “Or you can drive down to the overpass on the highway.”

      “I’ll wait.”

      She shrugged as he stuck his hands in his back pockets and stood with his legs in a wide stance like a man braced for the vagaries of life. When he smiled at some kids in the marching band that led off the parade, Shannon noted admiration in their eyes.

      Actually,