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If You Don't Know By Now
Teresa Southwick
A decade ago, good-girl Maggie Benson took a walk on the wild side with brooding bad boy Jack Riley. They'd generated enough chemistry to blow Destiny, Texas, to kingdom come. But an army-bound Jack had disappeared after a night of passion, leaving Maggie with more than just memories….Then Jack blew back into town. But he was the one left shell-shocked. Not only did the spirited single mom still make him ache in all the right places, but she also revealed a life-altering secret.Would a fearless Jack take on the most daunting mission of all–claiming his family? A small town chock-full of shocking secrets, budding dreams…and long, lost loves!
Courteous, courageous and commanding—these heroes lay it all on the line for the people they love in more than fifty stories about loyalty, bravery and romance. Don’t miss a single one!
AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 2010
A Vow to Love by Sherryl Woods
Serious Risks by Rachel Lee
Who Do You Love? by Maggie Shayne and Marilyn Pappano
Dear Maggie by Brenda Novak
A Randall Returns by Judy Christenberry
Informed Risk by Robyn Carr
Five-Alarm Affair by Marie Ferrarella
AVAILABLE MARCH 2010
The Man from Texas by Rebecca York
Mistaken Identity by Merline Lovelace
Bad Moon Rising by Kathleen Eagle
Moriah’s Mutiny by Elizabeth Bevarly
Have Gown, Need Groom by Rita Herron
Heart of the Tiger by Lindsay McKenna
AVAILABLE APRIL 2010
Landry’s Law by Kelsey Roberts
Love at First Sight by B.J. Daniels
The Sheriff of Shelter Valley by Tara Taylor Quinn
A Match for Celia by Gina Wilkins
That’s Our Baby! by Pamela Browning
Baby, Our Baby! by Patricia Thayer
AVAILABLE MAY 2010
Special Assignment: Baby by Debra Webb
My Baby, My Love by Dani Sinclair
The Sheriff’s Proposal by Karen Rose Smith
The Marriage Conspiracy by Christine Rimmer
The Woman for Dusty Conrad by Tori Carrington
The White Night by Stella Bagwell
Code Name: Prince by Valerie Parv
AVAILABLE JUNE 2010
Same Place, Same Time by C.J. Carmichael
One Last Chance by Justine Davis
By Leaps and Bounds by Jacqueline Diamond
Too Many Brothers by Roz Denny Fox
Secretly Married by Allison Leigh
Strangers When We Meet by Rebecca Winters
AVAILABLE JULY 2010
Babe in the Woods by Caroline Burnes
Serving Up Trouble by Jill Shalvis
Deputy Daddy by Carla Cassidy
The Major and the Librarian by Nikki Benjamin
A Family Man by Mindy Neff
The President’s Daughter by Annette Broadrick
Return to Tomorrow by Marisa Carroll
AVAILABLE AUGUST 2010
Remember My Touch by Gayle Wilson
Return of the Lawman by Lisa Childs
If You Don’t Know by Now by Teresa Southwick
Surprise Inheritance by Charlotte Douglas
Snowbound Bride by Cathy Gillen Thacker
The Good Daughter by Jean Brashear
AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 2010
The Hero’s Son by Amanda Stevens
Secret Witness by Jessica Andersen
On Pins and Needles by Victoria Pade
Daddy in Dress Blues by Cathie Linz
AKA: Marriage by Jule McBride
Pregnant and Protected by Lilian Darcy
If You Don’t Know By Now
Teresa Southwick
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
TERESA SOUTHWICK
lives with her husband in Las Vegas, the city that reinvents itself every day. An avid fan of romance novels, she is delighted to be living out her dream of writing for Silhouette Books.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 1
Maggie Benson’s jaw dropped.
She stared at the man standing five feet away and wanted to pinch herself—or him. Was she dreaming or hallucinating? Any second she expected to hear a rousing rendition of the Twilight Zone theme. The guy standing just outside her rodeo booth was the spitting image of Jack Riley. But that couldn’t be. They said everyone had a double, this must be his. Jack was a love-’em-and-leave-’em rogue she’d never expected to see again.
“Hello.”
Now she was hearing things. One word, and she knew his deep, gravel-roughened voice.
“Jack?”
“Yeah, Maggie.”
It was him. God help her—Jack Riley had returned. And she didn’t know whether to hug him or hit him.
Trembling started in her hands and spread to her legs, turning them the consistency of crème brûlée, the soft part just below the crunchy, crystallized top. As if that wasn’t bad enough, her heart pounded almost pain fully. Then her palms began to sweat, making a friendly handshake out of the question. But then, considering what they’d done ten years ago, shaking hands with sweaty palms was small potatoes.
The man standing close enough to reach out and touch had been her first time, something a girl never, ever, forgot. But she couldn’t say the same for him. He’d walked away and never looked back.
And, damn him, he was still so bad-boy handsome he trapped the breath in her lungs until her chest was near to bursting. Eyes as deep and blue as a field of Texas blue bon nets and fringed by in credibly thick, sooty lashes looked her up and down. He had the same black hair cut conservatively short—military short, she noted with a catch in her heart.
She hadn’t seen him since he’d left Destiny hardly more than a boy. It was ten years later and he was back—bigger, broader, built.
Jack Riley was a man.
“It’s good to see you, Maggie,” he said as she continued to stare.
How could he just disappear for ten years, then show up without warning at the North Texas High School Rodeo Championships? What was she supposed to say?
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked as if he could read her thoughts.
She shrugged, shook her head and extended her hands palms up in a completely helpless gesture. After all that, the best she could come up with was, “Wow.”
“That’s a start.”
He studied her with eyes that looked as if they had seen too much, as if they could laser all the way to her soul. If there was a God in heaven or any justice in the world, he wouldn’t be able to see her secret. Not now. Not yet.
“How’ve you been?” she asked.
