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“I want to see you again,” Sawyer said
Sophie expelled a little sigh that seemed to be one of relief. “So you’re not finding it hard to be around me?” she asked.
Sawyer had to repeat that to himself. “Hard?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “If I were any other woman, you could kiss me now and not worry about whether I’d scream or tremble or push you away.”
Her candor made him grin. “Actually, I get a lot of that anyway.”
She elbowed him in the arm. He loved the way she did that. “You do not. I hear that women love you. So do children.”
He pushed at the car door, thinking he couldn’t take too much more of this. She was studying him with a sweet look that was still mildly wary, for all her speculation on how she’d react if he kissed her.
“I have to go,” he said quickly. He got out of her car and walked around to his, only to find her standing in front of his door.
Her mind was replaying bright images of Sawyer holding her in the office, memories of how it felt when a man’s muscles were used to comfort rather than hurt.
“Sophie…” he warned.
Dear Reader,
When I began this book I thought I didn’t understand daredevils, but I created one in Sawyer Abbott anyway because I know readers love them. Life is such a gift that it seems criminal to me to risk it for anything less than saving another life.
And then it occurred to me that’s what we do when we love each other. We save each other. Love is the biggest risk a man or woman can take, and there’s no fire suit, no safety net, no 911 responder to protect you from disaster. Love is an openhearted, pull-out-all-the-stops gamble that whatever draws you to someone will grow into the stuff that lasts a lifetime.
As all writers do, I shape a character and send him or her in a certain direction, but what he or she decides to do is really up to that character. When Sawyer decided to love Sophie despite a dark secret, and to love her three creative children, I realized I knew him pretty well. And I fell in love with him myself. I hope you will, too.
Sincerely,
Muriel Jensen
P.O. Box 1168
Astoria, Oregon 97103
Books by Muriel Jensen
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
866—FATHER FOUND
882—DADDY TO BE DETERMINED
953—JACKPOT BABY*
965—THAT SUMMER IN MAINE
1020—HIS BABY**
His Wife
Muriel Jensen
MILLS & BOON
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THE ABBOTTS—A GENEALOGY
Thomas and Abigail Abbott: arrived on the Mayflower; raised sheep outside Plymouth
William and Deborah Abbott: built a woolen mill in the early nineteenth century
Jacob and Beatrice Abbott: ran the mill and fell behind the competition when they failed to modernize
James and Eliza Abbott: Jacob’s eldest son and grandfather of Killian, Sawyer and Campbell Abbott; married a cotton heiress from Virginia
Nathan Abbott and Susannah Stewart Abbott: parents of Killian and Sawyer; Nathan diversified to boost the business and married Susannah, the daughter of a Texas oilman who owned Bluebonnet Knoll
Nathan Abbott and Chloe Marceau: parents of Campbell and Abigail; renamed Bluebonnet Knoll and made it Shepherd’s Knoll
Killian Abbott: now the CEO of Abbott Mills; married to Cordelia Magnolia Hyatt
Sawyer Abbott: Killian’s brother by blood; a daredevil
Campbell Abbott: half brother to Killian and Sawyer; brother to Abigail; manages the Abbott estate on Long Island
China Grant: thinks she might be the missing Abigail
Sophie Foster: mother of Gracie, Eddie and Emma Foster; the woman with whom Sawyer Abbott falls in love
Brian Girard: half brother to Killian and Sawyer
Contents
Prologue
Sawyer Abbott stared into the eyes of the beautiful young woman he’d found peering in the French doors to the library of his home, as he struggled to process what she’d just told him. “I think…” she’d said, “I mean…I believe I could be…your sister, Abigail.”
Sister. For so long the word had signified grief and regret and terrible guilt. But connecting any of those to this vibrant young woman with long dark hair and lively dark eyes was difficult. Although those physical characteristics would qualify her.