“C’mon, Kyle, there’s no need for you to go.”
Molly’s chatty, no-one-could-doubt-that-we’re-just-buddies attitude was beginning to get on his nerves. Sure, it was the safest strategy—but she was starting to carry it too far.
“I doubt your brother or your parents would like us spending this much time together in a motel room.”
“Don’t be silly. Daddy and Shane wouldn’t care. After all, you’re—”
If she called him “like family” one more time, he was liable to do something incredibly stupid. Like shut her up with his own mouth….
Dear Reader,
Well, if there were ever a month that screamed for a good love story—make that six!—February would be it. So here are our Valentine’s Day gifts to you from Silhouette Special Edition. Let’s start with The Road to Reunion by Gina Wilkins, next up in her FAMILY FOUND series. When the beautiful daughter of the couple who raised him tries to get a taciturn cowboy to come home for a family reunion, Kyle Reeves is determined to turn her down. But try getting Molly Walker to take no for an answer! In Marie Ferrarella’s Husbands and Other Strangers, a woman in a boating accident finds her head injury left her with no permanent effects—except for the fact that she can’t seem to recall her husband. In the next installment of our FAMILY BUSINESS continuity, The Boss and Miss Baxter by Wendy Warren, an unemployed single mother is offered a job—not to mention a place to live for her and her children—with the grumpy, if gorgeous, man who fired her!
“Who’s Your Daddy?” is a question that takes on new meaning when a young woman learns that a rock star is her biological father, that her mother is really in love with his brother—and that she herself can’t resist her new father’s protégé. Read all about it in It Runs in the Family by Patricia Kay, the second in her CALLIE’S CORNER CAFÉ miniseries. Vermont Valentine, the conclusion to Kristin Hardy’s HOLIDAY HEARTS miniseries, tells the story of the last single Trask brother, Jacob—he’s been alone for thirty-six years. But that’s about to change, courtesy of the beautiful scientist now doing research on his property. And in Teresa Hill’s A Little Bit Engaged, a woman who’s been a bride-to-be for five years yet never saw fit to actually set a wedding date finds true love where she least expects it—with a pastor.
So keep warm, stay romantic, and we’ll see you next month….
Gail Chasan
Senior Editor
The Road to Reunion
Gina Wilkins
GINA WILKINS
is a bestselling and award-winning author who has written more than seventy books for Harlequin and Silhouette. Ms. Wilkins has appeared on the Waldenbooks, B. Dalton and USA TODAY bestseller lists. She is a three-time recipient of the Maggie Award for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers, and has won several awards from the reviewers of Romantic Times BOOKclub.
It’s Jared and Cassie Walker’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and you are cordially invited to the biggest bash in Texas!
After decades of caring and support for their friends and family, we want to honor these two lovebirds. So, come one, come all to celebrate on the Walker Ranch, Saturday, October 15!
RSVP with Molly and Shane Walker
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
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
Prologue
“Molly, give it up. Kyle isn’t coming.”
Molly Walker crossed her arms and glared at her half brother. “I want to try one more time to convince him.”
Shane swept his Stetson off his head and wiped his dripping forehead with a bandana he had pulled from the back pocket of his well-worn jeans. Even at the end of September, it was still blistering hot in central Texas, and he had been working all day on the ranch he owned with their father, Jared Walker. Molly had caught him just as he was putting away the last of his gear for the day. She knew he was eager to join his wife, Kelly, and their two young daughters for dinner, but he was patient, as always, with his younger sister.
“You’ve sent two representatives to talk to him since we located him in late July. He sent them both back to you with a very clear message that he wants to be left alone. I know taking hints isn’t one of your strong points, Molly, but even you can get that message.”
“I’m just not sure he understands exactly what I’m trying to do for Mom and Dad. Having all their former foster boys together for a surprise silver anniversary party would mean so much to them. I know there are a few who can’t make it, but we’ve got nearly everyone. Kyle’s presence would make the party almost perfect.”
“Not if he doesn’t want to be here.”
“Why wouldn’t he? I know he was wounded over seas, but all the reports are that he seems to be almost fully recovered now, so that shouldn’t be a problem. He was close to Mom and Dad, especially Mom. They were very fond of him. They went to his high school graduation. Mom sent cookies when he went to boot camp, for Pete’s sake. He was a member of our family.”
“No, honey. He just lived with us for a couple of years when he was a kid. Things change. Kyle changed. Maybe it was the war, or maybe just the passage of time, but he stopped calling, answering letters, making any attempt to stay in touch. Mom was disappointed, but she knew she had to let him go. Just as you have to do now.”
She felt her lower lip start to protrude, and she made a deliberate effort to draw it back in. She would be twenty-four in just over a month. It wasn’t particularly becoming for a twenty-four-year-old woman to pout. “I can’t believe Kyle never wants to see us again. I just want to ask him one more time.”
“So write him a letter.”
“I’m not sure a letter would work. But he admired you, Shane. Maybe if you—”
“I can’t go to East Tennessee to browbeat Kyle right now.” He spoke gently, but firmly, his tanned face set into implacable lines that made him look very much like their father. “Dad and Cassie are leaving Friday for that cruise, and they’ll be gone for three weeks. I’ve got more than I can handle here.”
She sighed and nodded reluctantly. Shane would be extremely busy with Jared and Cassie gone for that long. It had been hard enough to talk Jared into taking his first long vacation with his wife. Only the knowledge that Shane would be here to keep the ranch running had made him finally agree.
“Send Kyle a letter, Molly.” Shane squeezed her shoulder. “Tell him how much it would mean to you— and to Mom and Dad. But if he still chooses not to come, you’re going to have to accept his decision. Don’t let it ruin your pleasure in the party. You’ve already done so much. Dad and Cassie are going to be so surprised, and so pleased to see everyone you’ve found all together.”
Molly wished she could