Baby, It's Christmas & Hold Me, Cowboy

by Susan Mallery

  ’TIS THE SEASON

  Dr. Kelly Hall had lost all hope of ever having a family—until single father Tanner Malone burst into her hospital and asked her how to raise his newborn daughter. What else could she do, so soon before Christmas, but lend her expertise to the gorgeous contractor? His charming smiles and come-hither glances draw her like a moth to a flame, but she’s in no position to get involved with anyone. After a devastating heartbreak, Kelly has given up on happiness.

  Nonetheless, Kelly can’t deny the attraction...or the hope she’ll get the husband and family she’s always longed for. As the days move closer to Christmas, it’s clear to Kelly that Tanner—and his daughter—is what’s missing from her life.

  First published as Their Little Princess by Silhouette Books in 2000.

  FREE BONUS STORY INCLUDED IN THIS VOLUME!

  Hold Me, Cowboy by New York Times bestselling author Maisey Yates

  The last thing Madison West expected was to be stranded for Christmas, let alone snowed in with a cowboy who drives her wild. His proposal: twelve days of hot sex before Christmas! But will it ever be enough?

  Praise for #1 New York Times bestselling author

  Susan Mallery

  “Susan Mallery is one of my favorites.”

  —#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

  “The wildly popular and prolific Mallery can always be counted on to tell an engaging story of modern romance.”

  —Booklist

  “Holidays and marriages can be a wonderful and crazy mix, as exemplified by mega-star Mallery’s newest tale!”

  —RT Book Reviews on Marry Me at Christmas

  Praise for New York Times bestselling author

  Maisey Yates

  “[F]ull of double entendres, sexy sarcasm and enough passion to melt the mountain snow!”

  —RT Book Reviews (Top Pick!) on Hold Me, Cowboy

  “Fans of Robyn Carr and RaeAnne Thayne will enjoy [Yates’s] small-town romance.”

  —Booklist on Part Time Cowboy

  #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery writes heartwarming and humorous novels about the relationships that define women’s lives—family, friendship and romance. She’s best known for putting nuanced characters into emotionally complex, real-life situations with twists that surprise and delight readers. Because Susan is passionate about animal welfare, pets play a big role in her books. Beloved by millions of readers worldwide, her books have been translated into twenty-eight languages. Susan lives in Washington State with her husband and two Ragdoll cats. Visit her online at susanmallery.com.

  Maisey Yates is a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty romance novels. She has a coffee habit she has no interest in kicking and a slight Pinterest addiction. She lives with her husband and children in the Pacific Northwest. When Maisey isn’t writing, she can be found singing in the grocery store, shopping for shoes online and probably not doing dishes. Check out her website, maiseyyates.com.

  #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

  SUSAN MALLERY

  Baby, It’s Christmas

  Table of Contents

  Baby, It’s Christmas by Susan Mallery

  Hold Me, Cowboy by Maisey Yates

  Baby, It’s Christmas

  Susan Mallery

  Also by Susan Mallery

  Secrets of the Tulip Sisters

  Daughters of the Bride

  Happily Inc

  Second Chance Girl

  You Say It First

  Fool’s Gold

  Best of My Love

  Marry Me at Christmas

  Thrill Me

  Kiss Me

  Hold Me

  Until We Touch

  Before We Kiss

  When We Met

  Christmas on 4th Street

  Three Little Words

  Two of a Kind

  Just One Kiss

  A Fool’s Gold Christmas

  All Summer Long

  Summer Nights

  Summer Days

  Only His

  Only Yours

  Only Mine

  Finding Perfect

  Almost Perfect

  Chasing Perfect

  Mischief Bay

  A Million Little Things

  The Friends We Keep

  The Girls of Mischief Bay

  For a complete list of titles available from Susan Mallery, please visit www.SusanMallery.com.

  To Christine Flynn and Christine Rimmer, for letting me “ride along” a second time. This was great fun and I hope we can do it again really soon. And to my editor, Karen Taylor Richman, who believed in this project from the beginning.

  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 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  “You’re going to tell me that I’m crazy,” Tanner Malone said as he paced the length of his brother’s office. “Maybe I am. Maybe I’ve been working too hard, or maybe it’s because I’m going to be forty in three years. I don’t know why I have to do this—I just know that I do.”

  He paused in the center of the office and stared at his brother, Ryan, who sat behind his large wooden desk. “You’re not saying anything,” Tanner told him. “Don’t you want to talk me out of this?”

  Ryan gave an easy, familiar smile. “I’ve got three kids already. Who am I to advise anyone against fatherhood? You might find that you like it.”

  Tanner nodded once, then collapsed into the leather chair opposite Ryan’s. “Fatherhood,” he muttered under his breath. “I am crazy. What do I know about being a father?”

  “You’re a really great uncle, if that helps. My kids adore you. All kids adore you. For that matter, women seem to find you irresistible. I’ll bet that puppies and kittens follow you around, too.”

  Tanner didn’t have to glance at his older brother’s face to know that Ryan was kidding him. “This is serious,” he said. “I have to make a decision.”

  “I know you do, and I’ll give you whatever information you want. It’s just...” Ryan shrugged. “I can’t help it, Tanner. For years you made fun of my boring married life, all the while being the carefree bachelor. You’ve gone through girlfriends like most guys go through a six pack of beer over Super Bowl weekend. You gave it a good race, but someone finally caught you.”

  “So what you’re saying is I’m due.” Tanner didn’t like the sound of that, but he wasn’t sure his brother was wrong. He’d avoided paying for his lifestyle for a long time. But in the next twenty-four hours, that was all going to change.

  “I’m pointing out that it’s taken you a long time to come to the place where you have to make some difficult choices,” Ryan said. “Most men have already gone through this by the time they’re your age.”

  Tanner leaned back in his chair. He knew Ryan was right—about a lot of things. What his older brother wasn’t saying was that Tanner had occasionally needed to fall on his butt before life or circumstances or whatever got his attention. Well, he was paying attention now. The problem w
as what to do.

  “I don’t know how to be a good father,” Tanner said as the knot in his stomach went from the size of a baseball to that of a basketball. He felt as if he’d taken a tumble from one of his high-rises, and, while the fall hadn’t killed him, it had sure shaken him up some.

  “No one knows anything at the beginning,” Ryan said. “You learn by doing.”

  “What if I mess him up? I don’t want my son suffering just because his old man couldn’t get the hang of parenting.”

  “He or she needs you to love them and be there. Everything else is negotiable.”

  Ryan continued talking, but Tanner wasn’t listening. His brain had frozen at the sound of a single word. She. Dear God, the baby could be a girl! That would be worse. As a result of his messed-up personal life, the amount he knew about women wouldn’t fill a teaspoon.

  “She can’t have a girl,” Tanner said, interrupting Ryan. “I can’t have a daughter.”

  Ryan chuckled. “There’s logic. I hate to remind you about this, Tanner, but that decision was made a long time ago. About nine months, to be exact, and the decision was made by you.”

  Tanner swore under his breath. He glanced at the clock. Lucy had called him two hours before to say she was on her way to the hospital. The mother of his unborn child had long since signed the papers giving the baby up for adoption. Lucy expected him to do the same. It was what they’d agreed to do. It was the smart thing to do. It was what nearly everyone had told him to do. But he hadn’t been able to do it. All the logic in the world couldn’t make Tanner sign away a life that was a part of him.

  He pushed to his feet and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Ryan asked.

  “To the hospital.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Tanner gripped the door handle and glanced back at the only family he’d ever known. His big brother had always been there for him. This time, Tanner was on his own.

  “Hell if I know,” he said and slammed the door shut behind him.

  * * *

  “Pretty girl,” Kelly Hall murmured as she stared down at the squirming newborn she held. “You look so worried, but I promise that we grown-ups know how to take care of you.”

  Sandy, one of the obstetrics nurses, stroked the infant’s cheek. “You tell her, Dr. Hall. But I don’t think it’s going to help. I’ve been watching babies being born for over twenty years, and every one of them has had that same worried look.”

  “It’s our job to reassure them.” Kelly gave Baby Ames a last smile, then reluctantly handed her over to Sandy. The competent nurse would take her to the nursery, where, for the next couple of days, she would receive excellent care. As for what would happen after that, who could say? The child was being given up for adoption.

  Kelly had long since learned that it wasn’t her place to judge her patients or question their nonmedical decisions. Even so she couldn’t help glancing at the weary woman about to be wheeled to her room.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to see your daughter?” she asked one last time.

  Lucy Ames, a platinum blonde who managed to look stunning, even after giving birth, rolled her eyes. “Get over it, Doc. I know you were hoping that I would get bitten by the maternal bug when the kid popped out, but it’s not gonna happen. I signed the papers a long time ago, and I haven’t changed my mind. I’m heading to LA, and I’m not coming back. With luck, I’ll be there by Thanksgiving. I plan to live in the land of sun and movie stars. The last thing I want in my life is some kid messing everything up.”

  “I understand,” Kelly said politely, even though she didn’t. Lucy was a grown woman with options. How could she turn her back on her own child?

  “I appreciate everything you did,” Lucy told her. “You’re good at this.”

  “It’s my job,” Kelly said lightly, then slipped off her gloves. “I’ll be in to check on you in a few hours. Just to make sure everything is fine. But based on the delivery, you’re going to heal quickly.”

  Lucy gave a little wave as the nurse wheeled her out of the delivery room. Kelly followed more slowly. She thought about the patients she still had to see that day and about those who would soon be giving birth. Most of her patients were thrilled to be pregnant and anxiously awaited the births of their new babies. The holidays added their own special magic to the moment in a family’s life. With Thanksgiving next week and Christmas soon after, new moms, dads and grandparents had even more of a tendency than normal to go overboard on gifts for the baby. But occasionally she had one like Lucy—a woman to whom giving birth was an inconvenience.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t understand Lucy. In some ways she understood too well. Maybe that was what got to her. Maybe Lucy’s situation reminded her too much of her own shortcomings.

  Knowing that she should head back to her office, Kelly walked toward the elevator. Hospital volunteers had decorated the hallways in an autumn theme that would soon give way to Christmas. Instead of pushing the button for the ground floor, she found herself heading over to the nursery. She told herself she just wanted to quickly check on Baby Ames. A complete lie because the pediatrician on duty wouldn’t have finished examining her yet.

  Regardless of her reasons, twenty minutes later Kelly stood in front of the glass-enclosed nursery. Nearly a dozen babies slept or squirmed in their soft blankets. Pink and blue caps clearly defined gender.

  She could see through to the opposite wall, where a man stood with his arm around a young woman in a bathrobe. They were both pointing and smiling at a tiny child. The woman wasn’t Kelly’s patient, but she recognized the slightly stunned glow. Their child had been the couple’s first, she thought. As new parents, they were equal parts thrilled and terrified. She knew that over time, love and joy would replace the terror, right up until their baby became a teenager, at which point they would want to pull their hair out.

  The thought made her smile. She pressed her hand against the glass and studied the tiny infants. She found three that she’d delivered in the past twenty-four hours, then watched as one of the nurses put Baby Ames into her isolette.

  “Let it go,” she murmured to herself, knowing there was no point in getting upset or attached. Lucy Ames had made her decision, as was her right. The beautiful baby girl would be given up for adoption. It wasn’t as if she, Kelly, had done any better.

  But I was only seventeen, a voice in her head whispered. Didn’t that make a difference? Kelly wasn’t sure anymore. Maybe she’d never be sure.

  “Dr. Hall?”

  The low male voice broke through her musings, and she turned to face the man who came up to stand beside her.

  The overhead lights were bright in the hallway. Even so Kelly blinked several times to make sure she was really seeing who she thought she saw. Tanner Malone.

  She thought about cursing him, or simply walking away. She thought about giving him a piece of her mind, then reminded herself it wasn’t her business. She was Lucy’s doctor, nothing else. Still, for once, she was grateful for her five feet ten inches and the fact that she’d changed out of scrubs and back into a skirt, blouse and heels. With them she could look Mr. Malone in the eye...or almost. His work boots gave him an inch or so on her.

  She wondered how he knew her name, then figured it wouldn’t have been difficult to track her down. From what Lucy had told her, she and Tanner weren’t an item anymore, but that didn’t mean the couple didn’t talk. After all, they’d just brought a child into the world.

  Kelly fought against the anger rising inside her. So what if Tanner Malone was an irresponsible bastard? She could be courteous for a few minutes.

  “I’m Dr. Hall,” she said.

  “Tanner Malone.”

  She was afraid he was going to hold out his hand for her to shake, but he didn’t. Instead he shoved them both in
to his jeans pockets and blew out a deep breath.

  “I’ve been looking all over for you,” he admitted. “Now that you’re here, I don’t know what to say.”

  “I see.” She glanced at her watch. It was nearly noon. Her morning patients would have been rescheduled, but she still had afternoon appointments. “Perhaps when you think of it you can call my office and we’ll—”

  “No.” He grabbed her arm before she could step away. Even through her temper she felt a quick jolt of...something...as his fingers closed around her. Was it heat? Was it—

  Don’t even think about that, she told herself angrily. How dare her body react in a favorable way toward this man? He was slime. He was lower than slime. He was the single-cell creature fifteen million years away from evolving into slime.

  “I need to talk to you about the baby.” He gestured to the nursery behind them. “I...” He released her. “I want to know what Lucy had. I asked at the desk, but because she already signed the adoption papers they’re not giving out information.”

  He looked tired, Kelly thought irrelevantly. Shadows pooled under impossibly blue eyes. Malone blue, she’d heard a couple of nurses saying a while back. Yeah, he was good-looking. So what? He was still slime.

  “I don’t understand why anything about the baby is important to you, Mr. Malone,” Kelly said crisply. “Once you sign the release forms, the child ceases to be your responsibility.”

  “That’s the thing,” he said. “I haven’t signed them. I’m not sure I can.”

  Kelly didn’t know if she would have been more surprised if he’d started yapping like a poodle. She felt her mouth drop open, and she couldn’t seem to pull her jaw back into place. “What?”

  Tanner glanced over his shoulder, then waved toward the corridor. “Is there somewhere we can go to talk for a minute? I’m sorry if I seem out of it, but I haven’t had much sleep in the past few weeks. Between the hours I’ve been working and thinking about the baby, I’ve been pacing more than I’ve been sleeping.”