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A Father For Her Baby
B.J. Daniels
The perfect guy for her and her baby girl…?Kind-hearted nurse Sasha Wilson can’t wait to be a mother! And with her unborn little girl almost here, the last thing she needs is to meet handsome doctor Grady O’Neil…again! The former love of her life walked out on her eleven years ago, taking her heart with him.Working alongside Grady in Golden Bay’s medical centre, it’s clear their chemistry never died. And something about Grady has changed. But can Sasha risk her heart on her again? And could he reallly be the father that her baby girl deserves…?Doctors to DaddiesThe biggest role of their lives…
She needed protection for herself—and her baby…
Kit Bannack had witnessed a murder and set a killer on her trail. Fortunately, the sexiest cowboy she’s ever seen has kidnapped her for safekeeping. And while her handsome bodyguard has kept her and her child out of harm’s way, Luke St. John has surely stolen her heart…forever.
By night, Luke showers her with tender caresses. By day, he is consumed by his need to right a wrong. And Kit knows he is everything she could want…need…in a husband and father. But before they can be a family, they’ll have to catch a killer….
Previously Published.
Dear Reader (#ulink_e315bb76-dafe-5c0f-aa97-8d4c28ca688b),
Three of your favorite Intrigue writers have joined together to bring you this special, brand-new LOST & FOUND trilogy.
Three women go into labor in the same Texas hospital, and shortly after the babies are born, fire erupts. Though each mother and baby make it to safety, there’s more than the mystery of birth to solve now…
Last month Amanda Stevens led off with Somebody’s Baby; this month it’s B. J. Daniels with A Father for Her Baby. B.J. loved going back to Texas, even if it was only for the book. She says, “I loved the smell of the Gulf sea air, eating some gumbo and sitting under an oak in the shade. I’ve never forgotten my Texas roots or lost all my Southern accent. I have relatives in Texas who make the greatest gumbo and brag that Texas is bigger than Montana. But, like my characters, my home is Montana, not far from Big Sky, where I can snowboard in the winters and boat in the summers. I do miss the gumbo, though.”
Don’t miss the exciting conclusion to LOST & FOUND next month in Carla Cassidy’s A Father’s Love.
Happy reading!
Debra Matteucci
Senior Editor & Editorial Coordinator
Mills and Boon
300 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017
A Father for Her Baby
B. J. Daniels
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
This is for my brother, Charles Allen Johnson.
Here’s wishing all your dreams come true. A woman you
can love. A life that makes you happy. And above all the
freedom to enjoy what you love most. Good luck, little
brother. I’m rooting for you.
CAST OF CHARACTERS (#ulink_ea842df6-6c83-5f2f-b8b9-493acf13e4ba)
Kit Bannack Killhorn—She’s running for her life with only one thought in mind—protecting her baby.
Luke St. John—He has sworn to avenge his brother’s death, and Kit Bannack Killhorn is going to help him one way or another.
Derrick Killhorn—He will stop at nothing to find Kit and the baby and bring them back to Montana.
Jason St. John—What kind of trouble did he stumble into that he just couldn’t walk away from?
Lucille Johnson—She’s the best cook in Texas and is cooking up something for Kit and her baby.
Belinda Killhorn—Is Derrick’s ex-wife telling the truth or does she have her own ax to grind?
Sanders Killhorn—He’s always been his brother’s keeper. But could even he save his brother this time?
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#uf7ba1f10-04ea-5a87-8ad4-4e28e4606401)
Back Cover Text (#u868cea8f-9ab1-515d-823f-9eb3a72687d9)
Dear Reader (#ulink_306c4318-a2d3-5c4f-bffd-4629fa98d766)
Title Page (#ud2e7aacd-b545-50c9-851d-ada425276212)
Dedication (#u4294c68d-b8e7-582b-a2d8-3e597f536e38)
CAST OF CHARACTERS (#ulink_fabf3d8d-d496-5aa6-aac2-8fb01be0780b)
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
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#ulink_3d10f8d8-718c-5913-8ab5-b6b4f07d0f15)
“Don’t tell me you haven’t found her,” the angry voice bellowed on the other end of the phone line.
That was the last thing Sanders Killhorn wanted to tell his brother, Derrick.
“A woman that pregnant can’t have just disappeared into thin air,” Derrick snapped.
But Derrick’s wife had done exactly that. Disappeared. Seven months of searching, and Sanders had found no trace of Kit. He crossed the room to the motel window, dragging the phone with him, and peered out. The sun hung on the Dallas skyline, fiery red. As red as Kit’s hair.
“What about the guy who said he’d seen her in Texas City?” Derrick demanded.
“I talked to him.” Behind Sanders, only the flickering television screen lit the nondescript motel room as another day dissolved into darkness and defeat. “He was only interested in the reward. He didn’t know anything.”
Derrick swore loudly. “I won’t rest until I find my son.”
His son? Sanders felt a chill. Derrick had no way of knowing if Kit had given birth to a boy. His brother’s obsession with having a son scared him—just as it had Kit. Was that why she’d taken off?
“Someone has to have seen her,” Derrick said. “Maybe she’s cut her hair or dyed it.”
Sanders couldn’t imagine Kit doing either. But then, he couldn’t imagine her taking off like she’d done, at nine months’ pregnant. Hadn’t she known Derrick would never stop looking for her? Especially with her carrying his baby?
Sanders had tracked her from the Bozeman, Montana bus station, where she’d abandoned Derrick’s truck, as far as the Dallas, Texas bus station. After that, she had vanished.
He’d checked every bus, train and airplane. And all the hospitals within a two-hundred-mile radius. No Kit Bannack Killhorn had given birth. At least not under her real name. Nor had anyone matching her description.
He’d also checked birth certificates for a two-month period. No Bannack. No Killhorn. Even the private investigator his brother had hired had come up empty-handed.
Sanders had grown weary of looking for his sister-in-law and wanted more than anything to return home to Montana. Especially with Christmas just days away.
“Something has to have happened to her,” Derrick was saying. “Maybe she was in an accident and can’t remember—”
The rest of his brother’s words were lost as Sanders caught a familiar image out of the corner of his eye. He turned to stare at the television screen.
Kit’s face stared back.
* * *
IN A MOTEL ROOM across from Sanders’s room, Luke stared at the same newscast, the same face on the TV screen, the same woman he’d also been chasing for seven months.
Just moments before, Luke had been electronically eavesdropping on Sanders’s conversation with Derrick Killhorn and calling himself a fool. All this time, he’d been shadowing Sanders, hoping the man and his resources would lead him to Kit. But he was beginning to doubt even the great Killhorns could find the woman. And even if they did, Luke couldn’t be sure she had the answers he so desperately needed.
He was ready to give up, admit he’d been wrong. He was sick of motel rooms, rental cars and eating out of foam containers. He was sick of tailing Sanders, and he damned sure hadn’t done any good finding Kit on his own.
When her face flashed on the television screen, Luke gaped in disbelief, adrenaline singing through his veins. I was right. Dammit, I was right. He felt a jolt of satisfaction, followed quickly by fear and regret so strong that he could taste it. Dear God, I was right.
He kicked up the volume on the TV.
“…after an arsonist started a fire that destroyed the small private Galveston hospital last June.”
Kit sat wrapped in a hospital blanket, the blazing building behind her. Her eyes caught the camera; her hand went up to shield her face from view. The image lasted only a few seconds, then was gone.
Luke cursed as he realized the newscast wasn’t about Kit, but about a woman whose kidnapped baby had been returned to her.
What did any of that have to do with Kit?
A doctor came on the screen. Dr. Bernard explained that three women had given birth on June third at the Galveston hospital just before the fire broke out. The mothers and their babies had been evacuated separately. It wasn’t until later that authorities realized one of the babies had been kidnapped. The arson was still under investigation.
Luke felt his breath rush out of him. Kit. She had to be one of the mothers who’d given birth that night. That’s why her face had been on the old file tape about the hospital fire back in June.
Luke shook his head in amazement. No wonder he and Sanders hadn’t been able to find her. A hospital fire. That explained why no one at the area hospitals remembered Kit Killhorn.
Luke turned off the TV and stared at the empty screen, his heart pounding. He couldn’t get the image of Kit out of his head. The stark terror in her eyes. The way she’d tried to hide from the camera. This lady was running scared. But what was she fleeing from? What had sent her hightailing it out of Montana? He couldn’t wait to ask her.
* * *
ACROSS TOWN, Kit leaned over her son’s crib and lovingly pulled the soft blanket up to Andy’s dimpled chin. With warm fingers, she brushed his blond hair back from his angelic face and smiled down at him. She loved looking at him, and spent hours doing just that.
He’d had a big day today and she knew he must be exhausted. She was, after following him in all his explorations. It amazed her how quickly he learned, how quickly he changed. Over the last six and a half months she’d watched him grow, marveling at it all from his first smile and laugh to the first time he’d rolled over and crawled.
She’d named him Andrew, after her father. Unfortunately, she’d been unable to give him her father’s last name, Bannack. Nor had she used Killhorn. Either name would only have led Derrick to them. So she’d lied, providing fake names for the birth certificate to keep her baby safe.
Kit turned on the television in the room she shared with her son, hoping to catch the news and see if the predicted storm off the gulf had materialized.
