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Montana Daddy
Charlotte Maclay
Dr. Rory "Swift Eagle" Oakes could track, tame and treat the orneriest of beasts. But his five-foot-five freckle-faced first love Kristi Kerrigan had inexplicably disappeared from his life six years before, only to return to Grass Valley, Montana, with a new love: a dark-eyed, bronze-skinned little boy the spitting image of his daddy.Rory couldn't deny the passion that blazed anew between him and the mother of his child. Nor could he deny the pain of being deprived of the miracle of his baby's first breath, and the five years of "firsts" that followed. But Kristi and their boy were within reach now, and this time Rory would stop at nothing to ensure these family ties lasted forever….
She would have to tell Rory the truth about what had happened after their summer together
Except she had tried. And he hadn’t cared enough about her to return her phone calls when she’d desperately needed to talk to him nearly six years ago. His silence had added an exclamation point to their argument about maintaining a long-distance relationship.
She’d lost that battle—in spades.
But she’d won something more precious.
Now the time had come when she had to face up to reality. But first she had to determine what kind of man Rory had become. There was more at stake than her own heart.
She tried to remember another time in her life when her emotions had been so volatile. Or when procrastination had seemed like a perfect solution to whatever dilemma she faced.
Soon—very soon—she would have to tell Rory he had a five-year-old son.…
Dear Reader,
This month Harlequin American Romance delivers favorite authors and irresistible stories of heart, home and happiness that are sure to leave you smiling.
COWBOYS BY THE DOZEN, Tina Leonard’s new family-connected miniseries, premieres this month with Frisco Joe’s Fiancée, in which a single mother and her daughter give a hard-riding, heartbreaking cowboy second thoughts about bachelorhood.
Next, in Prognosis: A Baby? Maybe, the latest book in Jacqueline Diamond’s THE BABIES OF DOCTORS CIRCLE miniseries, a playboy doctor’s paternal instincts and suspicions are aroused when he sees a baby girl with the woman who had shared a night of passion with him. Was this child his? THE HARTWELL HOPE CHESTS, Rita Herron’s delightful series, resumes with Have Cowboy, Need Cupid, in which a city girl suddenly starts dreaming about a cowboy groom after opening an heirloom hope chest. And rounding out the month is Montana Daddy, a reunion romance and secret baby story by Charlotte Maclay.
Enjoy this month’s offerings as Harlequin American Romance continues to celebrate its yearlong twentieth anniversary.
Melissa Jeglinski
Associate Senior Editor
Harlequin American Romance
Montana Daddy
Charlotte Maclay
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Charlotte Maclay can’t resist a happy ending. That’s why she’s had such fun writing more than twenty titles for Harlequin American Romance, Duets and Love & Laughter, plus several Silhouette Romance books, as well. Charlotte is particularly well-known for her volunteer efforts in her hometown of Torrance, California; her philosophy is that you should make a difference in your community. She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, whom they are occasionally allowed to baby-sit. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached at P.O. Box 505, Torrance, CA 90508.
Books by Charlotte Maclay
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
474—THE VILLAIN’S LADY
488—A GHOSTLY AFFAIR
503—ELUSIVE TREASURE
532—MICHAEL’S MAGIC
537—THE KIDNAPPED BRIDE
566—HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE
585—THE COWBOY & THE BELLY DANCER
620—THE BEWITCHING BACHELOR
643—WANTED: A DAD TO BRAG ABOUT
657—THE LITTLEST ANGEL
684—STEALING SAMANTHA
709—CATCHING A DADDY
728—A LITTLE BIT PREGNANT
743—THE HOG-TIED GROOM
766—DADDY’S LITTLE COWGIRL
788—DEPUTY DADDY
806—A DADDY FOR BECKY
821—THE RIGHT COWBOY’S BED* (#litres_trial_promo)
825—IN A COWBOY’S EMBRACE* (#litres_trial_promo)
886—BOLD AND BRAVE-HEARTED** (#litres_trial_promo)
890—WITH VALOR AND DEVOTION** (#litres_trial_promo)
894—BETWEEN HONOR AND DUTY** (#litres_trial_promo)
915—WITH COURAGE AND COMMITMENT** (#litres_trial_promo)
929—AT THE RANCHER’S BIDDING
943—COURTSHIP, MONTANA STYLE
980—MONTANA DADDY
Contents
Chapter One (#u5791d7ba-edbb-5652-bb48-fd3f34d78175)
Chapter Two (#u2fcdc707-81de-5396-84fb-f03bf1843a4a)
Chapter Three (#u93922d29-f698-5de9-8596-12a9f631a32d)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
“I’m going to break my fool neck if somebody doesn’t help me out of this truck!” The penetrating voice of Dr. Justine Beauchamp cut through the chilly afternoon quiet in Grass Valley, Montana.
Across the road from the medical clinic, Rory Swift Eagle Oakes smiled to himself, tugged his black Stetson down more firmly and ambled toward the unfamiliar SUV that had pulled up in front of the old three-story Victorian house. As a kid he’d thought the dormer windows were like eyes and the occupants were watching him.
Now he and the often cantankerous doctor were colleagues of sorts. She took care of the two-legged patients in this northern part of the state, and he handled those with four. Plus a few two-legged birds of prey who fell victim to hunters or tangled with power lines. Doc Justine, for all of her years in this part of the world, didn’t have much interest in rehabilitating injured hawks and eagles. Or wolves and elks, for that matter.
For Rory, that was the best part of his job as a veterinarian.
“You think you could hurry a little?” Doc complained. “I’m tired of being a prisoner in this tin can.”
“I’ll be right there,” came a muted reply from the SUV’s driver.
A couple of days ago, the doctor had slipped on some ice and gone down hard. She’d broken her ankle, which required a trip to Great Falls for surgery. Obviously, someone had brought her back home—a friend from Washington, according to the license plates.
Rory grinned again. He could imagine what a fun two-hour trip from the hospital to Grass Valley that must have been with Doc and her sharp tongue.
“I’ll get her,” he called to the driver of the truck, who was exiting the vehicle on the far side. He opened the passenger door.
“About time,” the doc muttered. Her leg was propped at an awkward angle, a cast on her foot up to her calf.
“Quit your complaining, Doc,” he said. “You’ll give Grass Valley a bad name.”
“I never complain. Patients are the ones who complain.”
He swallowed a grin. “Whatever you say, Doc.” She wasn’t a big woman, probably weighed less than a calf, so he slipped one arm beneath her thighs, the other around her back and hefted her out of the truck.
Turning, he almost collided with a younger woman who was standing there. Her features were so familiar, so unexpected, her appearance drove the breath from his lungs. She had the same clear-blue eyes he vividly remembered. The same vibrant, strawberry-blond hair.
His muscles went weak from the collision of memories, and Doc Justine nearly slipped from his arms.
She grabbed him around the neck. “Young man, you drop me and I’ll have you up on charges of assault and battery on an old lady. What would your brother, our venerable sheriff, think of that?”
Rory adjusted his grip on the doctor but he didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Kristi Kerrigan’s eyes had him ensnared like a jackrabbit in a steel trap. How many years had it been? Could it be more than five? It felt like a hundred. Or maybe it had only been yesterday. She hadn’t changed a bit. If anything she was more beautiful now than she had been when she’d visited her grandma Beauchamp that long-ago summer.
The summer before he’d entered veterinary medicine school.
Kristi was the first to break eye contact, jerking her gaze away from Rory.
“I’ll get the front door, Grandma.”
“You do that, honey, before our resident Indian chief dumps me on my rear end.”
Ignoring the doc’s comment about him being a chief, Rory followed Kristi up the short walkway to the structure that served as both clinic and home for Justine. The sway of Kristi’s hips in snug-fitting jeans mesmerized him, the swing of her hair at the collar of her heavy jacket tantalized.
She held the door open for him, and he brushed past her, catching the scent of apples, fresh and simple. Still her signature scent. And the memories of that all-too-brief summer came rushing back to him again.
“Where to, Doc?” he asked, eyeing the stairway to the second floor. Display cases filled with antique medical equipment that looked more like torture devices than life-saving equipment lined the entry. The entrance to the clinic was on the left, the family living room on the right, and the bedrooms were upstairs.
“First thing, I need to use the facilities at the end of the hallway. And stop ogling my granddaughter. She’s too good for you.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He wouldn’t argue with Justine’s assessment of their relative merits, but he was going to have trouble not ogling. Kristi was like the first breath of spring coming on the heels of a long, hard winter.
A winter that had lasted for more than five years.
“If you can get her into the bathroom,” Kristi said, “I can take it from there.”
“Young lady, I’ve been taking care of myself for better than seventy years. I think I can manage one more time, bad ankle or not, thank you very much.”
Setting Justine on her feet—or at least on one foot—Rory backed out of the small bathroom.
“Call if you need me,” Kristi said as the door swung shut.
The hallway was narrow. Barely enough room for them to stand opposite each other, Kristi hugging a pair a crutches in her arms like a favorite pillow to ward off bad dreams.
Taking off his hat, Rory fiddled with the brim, shaping the felt into a smooth, curving line.
“The doc’s getting crustier every year.” His tongue felt as if it was glued to the roof of his mouth, and his voice was husky with the effort to speak past the raw ache of emotion in his throat. She was so darn beautiful. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her.
