Thad lifted a brow. “Not much chance of us spending the night together tonight, I guess.”
Michelle shook her head. He knew what tomorrow would bring. “This is one time-honored tradition we’re keeping.” She stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips across his cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she promised.
BRIGHT AND EARLY the next day, she got up and put on her running clothes, just as she had one year before. At seven o’clock, the anniversary was upon them, and she went across the street.
As they had planned, Thad met her on the porch in the clothes he had been wearing the moment their lives became irrevocably intertwined.
William would no longer fit in the outfit he had been wearing that fateful morning, but he had on a similar white sleeper, with a blue sailboat embroidered on the front. “Dada! Mama!” William shrieked, waving his arms exuberantly as he played around the Moses basket he’d been left in. “Hi! Bye!”
Michelle and Thad chuckled. “Hi! Bye! William!” they echoed.
William grinned, happy his newfound powers of speech were being understood. Still babbling, nonsensically now, he lifted his arms high, letting them know he wanted to be picked up. And that, Michelle noted silently, wasn’t all he could do. He had just started taking a few steps on his own. He was attempting to feed himself. Insatiably curious, he had the sunniest, sweetest disposition they had ever seen. “Our little guy really is thriving, isn’t he?” Michelle murmured to Thad.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “We all are,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her hair.
Having had his snuggle with Thad, William reached for Michelle. “Mama!”
Grinning, Thad handed their baby over to her.
Right on schedule, four cars pulled up and stopped at the curb.
William snuggled contentedly in Michelle’s arms while Tamara Kelly, Dotty Pederson, Glenn York and Judge Barnes walked up the steps onto Thad’s front porch. All had been part of the process that had welcomed William into their lives. All were clad in casual, Saturday-morning clothes.
Judge Barnes looked at Thad and Michelle and shook his head. “Young people are crazy these days,” he complained in his usual crotchety tone, but there was an unmistakable twinkle in his eyes.
Michelle grinned. There had been a time when she was afraid of being more than co-parents to William, and family—in the loosest meaning of the word—to Thad. No more. The past year had shown them all just how strong love and commitment could make a family. Their baby boy had done more than just bring her and Thad together. Bringing up their son had shown her and Thad contentment unlike anything they had ever dreamed. And now, at long last, it was time for the next big step.
“Thanks for agreeing to marry us,” Michelle told Judge Barnes. “Especially in such an unorthodox way.”
“About time you two tied the knot!” the judge declared with a teasing smile.
“I couldn’t agree more, so let’s get started,” Thad said, the promise of a life to be lived happily ever after in his eyes.
Her heart brimming with joy, Michelle handed William to Dotty.
She turned back to Thad.
Lovingly, he took her hands in his. They said their vows in clear, strong voices, and at long last, their journey as husband and wife began.
Available in January 2010 from Mills & Boon® Special Moments™
Second-Chance Family
by Karina Bliss
&
The Other Sister
by Lynda Sandoval
I Still Do
by Christie Ridgway
&
Baby by Contract
by Debra Salonen
The Secret She Kept
by Amy Knupp
&
A Kiss To Remember
by Kimberly Van Meter
A Texan on Her Doorstep
by Stella Bagwell
Travis’s Appeal
by Marie Ferrarella
Found: One Baby
by Cathy Gillen Thacker
The Daddy Verdict
by Karen Rose Smith
Mills & Boon® Special Moments™
brings you a sneak preview.
In Valentine’s Fortune rescuing the pregnant damsel
in distress was all in a day’s work for firefighter Darr
Fortune. But when he was stranded with sexy,
mysterious “Barbara Burton” during a freak
Valentine’s Day snowstorm, he looked foward to
uncovering all of her secrets…
Turn the page for a peek at this fantastic new story
from Allison Leigh, available next month in
Mills & Boon® Special Moments™!
Don’t forget you can still find all your favourite
Superromance and Special Edition stories
every month in Special Momentents™!
Valentine’s Fortune by Allison Leigh
“Miss?” The deep voice seemed to come at Bethany from a long, hollow distance. “I’m with the Red Rock Fire Department. You’re safe now. Just open your eyes.”
Her throat hurt. Breathing in made her nose burn. She wanted to sleep. How long had it been since she’d had a decent night’s sleep? Since before…before what?
Her brain searched, but all it found was fog. Thick, choking fog.
“Come on now, darlin’. Open your eyes for me.”
She was floating in the fog. Was she flying? Someone had told her if she flew in her dreams that meant something good.
A dream. That was it. She was dreaming.
“Dammit, make a hole,” the deep voice barked. “She needs air.”
She winced. She wanted to shrink away from the harsh command in his voice. Didn’t he know she was sleeping?
“Breathe through my mask.” The voice was low again. Intimate. “It’ll help.”
Something covered her face. She pushed at it. Tried to protest. Sucked in oddly sweet air. She turned her head away. “No.” The word scraped her raw throat.
“That’s it, Miss. Come on back to us. You’re doing fine now.”
She could follow that voice anywhere. Even up and out of her dreaming fog.
“You’re safe now,” he coaxed softly. A lover’s whisper.
No. That wasn’t right. Her lover was…where?
She frowned at the pain inside her head. “No.”
“Yes, you are safe. I promise. Just open your eyes. You’ll see. Can you tell me your name?”
Bethany. The name sighed through her. My name is Bethany.
She jerked, her eyes flying open to stare into the face of the man speaking to her.
Voices. Shouting. Sirens. Smoke. Flashing lights.
It all accosted her in that instant and fear shot through her, making her stiffen. She tried to work her hand to her abdomen, but couldn’t seem to manage it. “What?”
“Can you tell me your name?”
Relief was swift, but fleeting. She hadn’t said her name. Or if she had, he hadn’t heard it. Not over the incredible clamoring confusion surrounding them.
She started to clear her throat. Coughed. What was the name she was using? “Barbara,” she finally supplied. Her voice wasn’t much more than a croak. Her brain just didn’t feel like cooperating. “Burr—” Not Burdett. Not Burdett. “Burton.” That was her borrowed name. “What happened?”
“Don’t worry about a thing now, Barbara. You’re safe,” was all he said. “I’ve got you now.”
He was carrying her, she realized, and just as quickly she felt consumed with dizziness. She closed her eyes, but that didn’t help. “I feel sick.”
The floating, rocking motion ceased. “I’ll bet. I’m going to put you on the stretcher now. Just relax.”
She opened her eyes again as he settled her on a firm, blessedly steady surface. “What happened?” she asked again. He had streaks on his face. Like war paint. And shoulders wider than a linebacker. He looked armed for battle.
She rea
lized vaguely that a large white van was next to them.
“I almost didn’t find you when we were clearing the restaurant.” He’d leaned down closer to her and his voice was softer. Impossibly gentle.
Comforting.
She blinked. Rubbed her eyes. Realized that they were watering.
“The smoke was thick in there. You were unconscious,” he said. “They’re going to take you to the hospital. Just as a precaution. Make sure you’re all right.”
She didn’t want to go to the hospital. She wanted, she wanted…she didn’t know what she wanted. “A fire,” she said, stupidly. Thickly. Even now, she could see the lick of hungry red lighting the sky beyond the van—an ambulance. And beyond that, a rise of thick, cloying smoke.
Oh, God.
She slid her hand over her abdomen. Please, please be all right. “I came for an enchilada.”
His teeth flashed. “Afraid you’ll have to wait a while for that. Inhaling smoke the way you did can make you pretty woozy,” he said.
It wasn’t war paint on his face. It was soot. And the armor he wore was a fireman’s uniform.
“You rescued me?”
“Yes, ma’am.” She realized his grin was slightly crooked. “And you’re gonna be just fine, Barbara. D’ya have someone you want us to call? Husband? Boyfriend? Who were you with at Red?”
Red. The restaurant. She’d been treating herself to the first meal out she’d had since she’d landed in Red Rock. A woman only turned twenty-five once in her life, right?
“Barbara?”
Her mind was wandering. She knew it. She just couldn’t seem to make herself stop. “I’m not married.” It seemed to be the only clear thought in her head. “There’s no one to call.”
“We’ve got her now, Darr.” A woman and another man appeared beside the stretcher and before Bethany could marshal another coherent sentence, they pushed the stretcher and she felt herself slide smoothly into the rear of the white ambulance. The woman followed her.
But Bethany wasn’t looking at her.
She was watching the fireman, still standing there.
And then the ambulance doors closed and she wanted to protest, but it was already too late, because she could feel the vehicle begin to move.
The ambulance attendant closed her cool fingers around Bethany’s wrist. “What’s your name, ma’am?”
Bethany closed her eyes again. In her mind, though, was the firefighter’s crooked grin. His deep, gentle voice.
“Barbara.” Again, the lie scraped along her raw throat. “Barbara Burton.”
© Harlequin Books S.A. 2009
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All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2009
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Cathy Gillen Thacker 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4089-2018-3
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Excerpt
About The Author
Title Page
Dedication
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
Epilogue
Other Books By
Preview
Copyright
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