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       “That’s better,” he said in a lower tone.

       “A real smile rather than a polite one.”

      Their eyes locked. Time became suspended between one heartbeat and the next. For a moment, caught in those incredibly blue eyes that seemed to open clear to his soul, she relaxed her vigil. Warmth swept through her.

      It was such an odd sensation that it took her a moment to recognize what it was and even longer to realize what had caused the acute stir of blood inside her.

      An attraction. One that promised to be intense.

      Her smile wavered. She wasn’t here for either a fling or something more lasting. Her search for the truth of her past took precedence over everything else. Knowing that, she would leave and start a new life in a new place.

      At least, those were her plans….

      Dear Reader,

      Welcome to more juicy reads from Silhouette Special Edition. I’d like to highlight Silhouette veteran and RITA^® Award finalist Teresa Hill, who has written over ten Silhouette books under the pseudonym Sally Tyler Hayes. Her second story for us, Heard It Through the Grapevine, has all the ingredients for a fast-paced read—marriage of convenience, a pregnant preacher’s daughter and a handsome hero to save the day. Teresa Hill writes, “I love this heroine because she takes a tremendous leap of faith. She hopes that her love will break down the hero’s walls, and she never holds back.” Don’t miss this touching story!

      USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author Susan Mallery returns to her popular miniseries HOMETOWN HEARTBREAKERS with One in a Million. Here, a sassy single mom falls for a drop-dead-gorgeous FBI agent, but sets a few ground rules—a little romance, no strings attached. Of course, we know rules are meant to be broken! Victoria Pade delights us with The Baby Surprise, the last in her BABY TIMES THREE miniseries, in which a confirmed bachelor discovers he may be a father. With encouragement from a beautiful heroine, he feels ready to be a parent…and a husband.

      The next book in Laurie Paige’s SEVEN DEVILS miniseries, The One and Only features a desirable medical assistant with a secret past who snags the attention of a very charming doctor. Judith Lyons brings us Alaskan Nights, which involves two opposites who find each other irritating, yet totally irresistible! Can these two survive a little engine trouble in the wilderness? In A Mother’s Secret, Pat Warren tells of a mother in search of her secret child and the discovery of the man of her dreams.

      This month is all about love against the odds and finding that special someone when you least expect it. As you lounge in your favorite chair, lose yourself in one of these gems!

      Sincerely,

      Karen Taylor Richman

      Senior Editor

      The One and Only

      Laurie Paige

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      For Russell, who, while not of the Dalton gang of Seven Devils Mountains, was a true hero when I needed one. Thanks for your help.

       Laurie

       LAURIE PAIGE

      Along with her writing adventures, Laurie has been a NASA engineer, a past president of the Romance Writers of America, a mother and a grandmother. She was twice a Romance Writers of America RITA^® Award finalist for Best Traditional Romance and has won awards from Romantic Times for Best Silhouette Special Edition and Best Silhouette. She has resettled in Northern California.

      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

       S helby Wheeling smiled with the youngster as the doctor made a funny face at him, told him to say, “Ah,” then checked his throat.

      Dr. Dalton tossed the tongue depressor in the trash can. “For an old guy, you look pretty good to me. Don’t forget to pick up a book on your way out,” he said.

      “To keep?” the boy asked.

      “To keep,” the doctor assured him.

      The free checkup for all children entering kindergarten was a new program for the school, sponsored by the state, to see if it could nip problems in the bud and result in fewer absences for the new students.

      “Tonsils,” Dr. Dalton said to her after the child left the room. “Make a note to keep an eye out for strep infections and sore throats.”

      Shelby quickly wrote the observations on the boy’s chart and filed the chart in the special box provided by the state of Idaho for the Lost Valley School District. As the school nurse, it would be her duty to follow up on the doctor’s orders.

      New to the area, Shelby was still enthralled by the “Wild West,” as her parents back in the Low Country of South Carolina called the area. The Seven Devils Mountains arched spiny peaks into the blue bowl of the sky to the west of the valley. The Lost Valley reservoir eventually drained into the Salmon River, which ran into the Hells Canyon of the Snake River dividing Idaho from Oregon.

      Rugged, mountainous land.

      She glanced at the doctor as he helped a little girl up on the stool. Dr. Nicholas Boudreaux Dalton was handsome as sin, a beguiling devil with nearly black hair and eyes the color of the western sky. He’d asked her to call him by his nickname, Beau.

      According to her landlady at the B and B, there were several other Daltons just as deadly gorgeous.

      This particular one was very good with children, kind and teasing with the little ones, but all serious business with her. That suited her just fine.

      She wasn’t in town for romance. Far from it. She wanted to find her birth parents and to discover if any genetic disorders ran in the family. Her adoptive mom and dad worried about her getting hurt. They urged her to put the past behind her and to make a new life, but she needed to know this one thing for her own peace of mind.

      “Say ‘ah,’” the doctor told the girl.

      “Ah,” she mimicked, then she stuck her tongue out at him and crossed her eyes.

      “Hold it,” Dr. Dalton said, and pretended to take a picture. “We need to run a photo on the front page of the paper. ‘Monster on the loose in Lost Valley. Can’t see well, but may be dangerous. Tickling makes it disappear,’” he said as if quoting headlines.

      The five-year-old giggled when he proceeded to give her a gentle tickle under her ear.

      The childish laughter caused an instant flash of pain along Shelby’s nerves, and with it, the regret and the terrible sense of loss.

      Like now, the memories came at odd moments. She’d be fine, then some little thing—the delighted gurgle of a baby, the happy squeal of a child in a park, the closeness of a family having dinner in a restaurant—would throw her into the tangled web of the past.

      The