Let's Have A Baby! - Christy Lockhart

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      “Let’s Get This Straight, Jessica Stephens, Right Here, Right Now,” Letter to Reader Title Page CHRISTY LOCKHART Acknowledgments Dedication Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Epilogue Copyright

      “Let’s Get This Straight, Jessica Stephens, Right Here, Right Now,”

      Kurt said. “If I ever become a father, I’ll do it the old-fashioned way. Skin to naked skin. There won’t be any contracts, or doctors, or agreements.” His voice dropped a hostile octave. “If I ever have a baby, it will be the result of lovemaking, soft and sweet, hard and fast, but lovemaking, by every definition of the word.”

      

      She paled.

      

      “I’d be married, Jessie, and my wife would have my complete and total commitment. There would be no payment, except an emotional one. And that cost would be high. I’d demand everything she had to offer.”

      Dear Reader,

      

      April brings showers, and this month Silhouette Desire wants to shower you with six new, passionate love stories!

      

      Cait London’s popular Blaylock family returns in our April MAN OF THE MONTH title, Blaylock’s Bride. Honorable Roman Blaylock grapples with a secret that puts him in a conflict between confiding in the woman he loves and fulfilling a last wish.

      

      The provocative series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES continues with Leanne Banks’s The Secretary and the Millionaire, when a wealthy CEO turns to his assistant for help in caring for his little girl.

      

      Beverly Barton’s next tale in her 3 BABIES FOR 3 BROTHERS miniseries, His Woman, His Child, shows a rugged heartbreaker transformed by the heroine’s pregnancy. Powerful sheikhs abound in Sheikh’s Ransom, the Desire debut title of Alexandra Sellers’s dramatic new series, SONS OF THE DESSERT. A marine gets a second chance at love in Colonel Daddy, continuing

      Maureen Child’s popular series BACHELOR BATTALION. And in Christy Lockhart’s Let’s Have a Baby!, our BACHELORS AND BABIES selection, the hero must dissuade the heroine from going to a sperm bank and convince her to let him father her child—the old-fashioned way!

      

      Allow Silhouette Desire to give you the ultimate indulgence—all six of these fabulous April romance books!

      

      Enjoy!

      

      Joan Marlow Golan

      Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

      Please address questions and book requests to:

      Silhouette Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

      Let’s Have a Baby!

      Christy Lockhart

      

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      CHRISTY LOCKHART

      married her real-life hero, Jared, who proved to her that dreams really do come true. They live in Colorado with their two children, Raymond and Whitney.

      Christy remembers always wanting to be a writer. She even talked her elementary school librarian into “publishing” her books. She notes always preferring romances because they’re about that special moment when dreams are possible and the future is a gift to unfold.

      You can write to Christy at P.O. Box 448, Eastlake, CO 80614.

      With thanks, as always,

       to Pamela Johnson and Lisa Craig for invaluable input and insight.

      Also dedicated to Ray and Alice Pacheco, the best

       in-laws a woman could be blessed with. Thanks for helping me figure out what love is all about....

      Prologue

      Columbine Crossing Courier

      “Around the Town” by Miss Starr

      Could our very own bookkeeper, Jessica Stephens, be knitting baby booties after work hours?

      Rumor has it that Jessica was seen at the general store purchasing pink and blue yarn, knitting needles and several patterns for baby clothing. To Miss Starr’s knowledge, Jessica has no nieces or nephews, and that can only mean one thing....

      I wonder who’s the lucky father? This may be Columbine Crossing’s best kept secret, besides Miss Star’s identity!

      I’ll be back next week, faithful readers. Your intrepid reporter promises to bring you the name of the baby’s father.

      For now, this is all the news you can use.

      

      Miss Starr surreptitiously glanced around the post office, making sure she was alone before clipping her article from the Courier. She never kept the originals, so no one would discover who was Miss Starr’s real-life counterpart.

      After patting the neat bun at her nape, she slid the newsprint into a folder, then locked it in the filing cabinet.

      Mercy. Jessica Stephens? Possibly pregnant? Who would have believed it? It amazed Miss Starr that Jessica had been able to keep the bloom of true love hidden for this long.

      Miss Starr frowned, wondering who the father might be. It certainly was a mystery! Her frown faded, replaced by a grin. There was little that gave her more pleasure than solving a good mystery...especially where love was concerned.

      After all, having been born on Valentine’s Day some sixty years ago—she never said just how many years—she was the small mountain town’s self-appointed Cupid. Not only that, but now that Miss Starr had a newspaper column, she had an obligation to keep the town’s residents informed.

      And she took her responsibilities seriously, indeed.

      Moving in front of the post office’s large window,

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