Something about Lauren bothered Zach, set him on edge.
She was undeniably attractive. But the polished look about her screamed high maintenance. Pretty to look at, cold to hold.
Still, there’d been no mistaking the heat that jolted through him when he’d met her clear blue eyes or breathed in her fresh scent. Her skin had felt like soft, warm satin, and before he’d pulled back from their handshake, he could have sworn she was trembling. That she’d flinched.
He was accustomed to the reaction. Which was why it had been longer than he cared to remember since he’d held a woman. Why he devoted hours to rebuilding the old fighter plane that was as battered and scarred as he was.
He’d finally found a degree of contentment living in this wildly beautiful, isolate place.
And now Lauren Edwards was threatening that fragile peace….
Dear Reader,
International bestselling author Diana Palmer needs no introduction. Widely known for her sensual and emotional storytelling, and with more than forty million copies of her books in print, she is one of the genre’s most treasured authors. And this month, Special Edition is proud to bring you the exciting conclusion to her SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE series. The Last Mercenary is the thrilling tale of a mercenary hero risking it all for love. Between the covers is the passion and adventure you’ve come to expect from Diana Palmer!
Speaking of passion and adventure, don’t miss To Catch a Thief by Sherryl Woods in which trouble—in the form of attorney Rafe O’Donnell—follows Gina Petrillo home for her high school reunion and sparks fly…. Things are hotter than the Hatfields and McCoys in Laurie Paige’s When I Dream of You—when heat turns to passion between two families that have been feuding for three generations!
Is a heroine’s love strong enough to heal a hero scarred inside and out? Find out in Another Man’s Children by Christine Flynn. And when an interior designer pretends to be a millionaire’s lover, will Her Secret Affair lead to a public proposal? Don’t miss An Abundance of Babies by Marie Ferrarella—in which double the babies and double the love could be just what an estranged couple needs to bring them back together.
This is the last month to enter our Silhouette Makes You a Star contest, so be sure to look inside for details. And as always, enjoy these fantastic stories celebrating life, love and family.
Best,
Karen Taylor Richman
Senior Editor
Another Man’s Children
Christine Flynn
CHRISTINE FLYNN
admits to being interested in just about everything, which is why she considers herself fortunate to have turned her interest in writing into a career. She feels that a writer gets to explore it all and, to her, exploring relationships—especially the intense, bittersweet or even lighthearted relationships between men and women—is fascinating.
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 One
Lauren Edwards stood in the living room of her brother’s rambling log cabin, feeling completely out of place in her panty hose and business suit, and scanned the list her mother had left her.
She didn’t know if she should simply be concerned, or go straight for panic.
For the next week, she would be responsible for her niece and nephew while Sam, her brother, was at work. She adored Jenny and Jason. And she wanted very much to help her brother. She just hadn’t been around the toddlers that much. She hadn’t been around many children at all, for that matter, which was why she’d asked her mom to leave a checklist.
Dubiously eyeing item number two, “Keep out of reach anything that can be stuffed into a facial orifice,” she had to admit she hadn’t considered that their daily routine and the list of dos and don’ts would take up three full sheets of a legal-size pad.
Drawing a breath that brought the scent of burning pine from the stone fireplace behind her, she reached for the handle of her travel bag so she could change into something more comfortable. She was sure it was only because she was still in the process of shifting mental gears that the task ahead of her suddenly seemed so daunting. Only hours ago, she’d been in a meeting in Seattle trying to maintain polite professionalism when what she’d really wanted to do was grin like an idiot because she’d finally made the shortlist for a store of her own.
It was hardly a sure thing, and managing a Brenman’s department store wasn’t going to save a rain forest or cure the common cold, but she’d worked desperately for this promotion. For the past two years, she’d sacrificed evenings, weekends and her social life to prove that she could handle the responsibility—which was why now had not been a good time to tell Andrew Nye, her boss, that she needed to take time off. Andy, who happened to be in line for promotion to the new store Brenman’s was opening himself, lived, ate and breathed retailing. Anyone under him who expected to get anywhere in the company had to regard it as their sole reason for existence, too.
That was undoubtedly the other reason she was feeling less than certain at the moment. Abandoning ship an hour after being told she was in the running hardly made her look like a team player to those monitoring her performance. She could only hope that Andy would be up front with the rest of upper management and make it clear that she’d made arrangements last week to be gone, should anyone ask for her. A person couldn’t schedule family emergencies the way she could a vacation. And her family was in the middle of a crisis that had struck like the proverbial bolt from the blue.
Sam, her older, and only, sibling, had lost his wife in a car accident two weeks ago. It still seemed impossible to comprehend that Tina was gone. But there was no getting past the numbing fact that she was, and that she’d left behind a son, a daughter and a grieving husband. Until yesterday, Lauren and Sam’s mom had been taking care of the children, but Beth Edwards had a job of her own she’d had to return to. Since there was no one on Tina’s side who could help, it was now Lauren’s turn.
That was why she’d spent the last seventy-two hours doing a week’s worth of work before promising Andy and her floor managers that she would be available by telephone day or night and driving in the miserable January drizzle to the dock in Anacortes. From there, she and her car had taken the ferry to Harbor Island, Washington, two hours and a world away from nearly everything she knew as civilization, then driven the five miles from the charming seaport village of Harbor Cove to her brother’s secluded home on one of the island’s isolated inlets.
Her brother had once told her he couldn’t imagine ever living anywhere else, which proved just how different they were. They were both city-born and bred. But Sam had apparently inherited the genes of their pioneer ancestors, while her genetic makeup allowed complete adaptation to freeways and cell phones. Different or not, she loved Sam. He’d been her protector when they were growing up, her friend when they’d grown older, and the source of endless encouragement when her own world had fallen apart two years ago. Now, Sam was hurting in ways she could only imagine, and she would do whatever