Boot Scootin' Secret Baby

Boot Scootin' Secret Baby
Natalie Patrick

Bundles of JoyBULL-RIDING EX?-HUSBAND…Alyssa Cartwright was still married to the sexiest cowboy on the rodeo circuit, though Jacob "Cub" Goodacre thought she'd had their marriage annulled. But while Cub assumed she was ending their marriage, Alyssa was giving birth to his child!MEETS THE SWEETEST LITTLE COWGIRL IN TOWN.Cub didn't know anything about being a daddy, especially not to the two-year-old beauty who'd laid claim to his oversize cowboy boots. But one smile from his newly discovered daughter was all he needed to become an instant family man. Now all he had to do was convince Alyssa that he was husband material!A dimpled, diaper-clad darling proves to be just what this couple needed!

“My boots!” (#u416317cc-a495-5767-b5a2-de1a8d09e891)Letter to Reader (#u1f89c6b7-b270-53c7-a55d-de17d80dfaf3)Title Page (#ua6d73481-41ce-51bd-af69-6e7abd316ea1)Letter to Reader (#u38f2a9a5-50e3-56da-bdb4-168acd08dd22)Prologue (#u78c565d1-df6f-5176-aee8-ec4c23ed19dd)Chapter One (#uf8754db3-d502-5255-825b-73710169a004)Chapter Two (#u01da41b0-f759-5db3-ab56-e6a40517b426)Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)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)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“My boots!”

Jaycie burst through the doorway, thundering to the rescue of her prized cowboy boots.

Cub gaped at the small girl. He looked as stunned as if he’d been kicked in the head by a bull.

Alyssa met his gaze. “Congratulations, Cub Goodacre, you’re a father.”

All but one corner of his mind went numb. He didn’t know the first thing about children. He was a cowboy, damn it. No way could he be a—

“A what?”

“A father,” she repeated.

“My boots!” The toddler strained pudgy fingers toward the boots in his white-knuckled grasp.

“You mean this is—”

“Mine!” the child demanded.

“Yours,” Alyssa declared.

Joy rose to mingle with a pain so fierce it registered as heat in Cub’s chest. Despite the sudden stirrings of parental emotion, something in him shuddered.

A life-scarred loner like him had no business being a father....

Dear Reader,

This month, Romance is chock-full of excitement. First, VIRGIN BRIDES continues with The Bride’s Second Thought, an emotionally compelling story by bestselling author Elizabeth August. When a virginal bride-to-be finds her fiancé with another woman, she flees to the mountains for refuge...only to be stranded with a gorgeous stranger who gives her second thoughts about a lot of things....

Next, Natalie Patrick offers up a delightful BUNDLES OF JOY with Boot Scootin‘Secret Baby. Bull rider Jacob “Cub” Goodacre returns to South Dakota for his rodeo hurrah, only to learn he’s still a married man...and father to a two-year-old heart tugger. BACHELOR GULCH, Sandra Steffen’s wonderful Western series, resumes with the story of an estranged couple who had wed for the sake of their child...but wonder if they can rekindle their love in Nick’s Long-Awaited Honeymoon.

Rising star Kristin Morgan delivers a tender, sexy tale about a woman whose biological clock is booming and the best friend who consents to being her Shotgun Groom. If you want a humorous—red-hot!—read, try Vivian Leiber’s The 6’2”, 200 lb. Challenge. The battle of the sexes doesn’t get any better! Finally, Lisa Kaye Laurel’s fairy-tale series, ROYAL WEDDINGS, draws to a close with The Irresistible Prince, where the woman hired to find the royal a wife realizes she is the perfect candidate!

In May, VIRGIN BRIDES resumes with Annette Broadrick, and future months feature titles by Suzanne Carey and Judy Christenberry, among others. So keep coming back to Romance, where you’re sure to find the classic tales you love, told in fresh, exciting ways.

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

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Boot Scootin’ Secret Baby

Natalie Patrick

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

NATALIE PATRICK believes in romance and has firsthand experience to back up that belief. She met her husband in January and married him in April of that same year—they would have eloped sooner, but friends persuaded them to have a real wedding. Ten years and two children later, she knows she’s found her real romantic hero.

Amid the clutter in her work space, she swears that her headstone will probably read: “She left this world a brighter place but not necessarily a cleaner one.” She certainly hopes her books brighten her readers’ days.

Dear Reader,

Ah, the terrible twos. I remember them well—from my children’s toddlerhood, not my own. Me? I’m sure I was every inch an angel, unlike little boot scootin’ Jaycie Goodacre. Cub and Alyssa really have their hands full with that one, and I wish, as an experienced mom, I could give them some sage advice.

But honestly, I don’t recall either of my children being any more “terrible” at two than at one or at three or what have you. Maybe I’m seeing things through a sentimental haze—or maybe by comparison to their current preteen years, I have come to appreciate the open curiosity, the unbridled enthusiasm, the strident quest for self-determination...and the long afternoon naps of my children’s toddler days.

So, I think in the end the only advice I would give Alyssa and Cub is to love their child and each other and to savor these times—because before they know it, Jaycie will be asking for the keys to Daddy’s brand-new pickup truck!

Prologue

To Jacob “Cub” Goodacre

Whereabouts: Unknown

Dear Cub,

Come home.

Didn’t you swear to me that when you’d won enough money bull riding to buy a ranch and settle down, you’d be back? Almost three years have passed since then, Cub. Your riding has made you darned near a legend. So, when will you come home?

I need to see you again. I need to look you in the eye and say the thousand and one things that I’ve stored in my heart since that horrible argument. A thousand things that can be distilled to only two—I love you, Cub Goodacre, and goodbye.

For so long I wanted you to come back so we could try to work things out. I can no longer hope for that. I’ve moved on with my life.

Though I realize I will always love you in that wild, intense way that so suits a reckless cowboy like you, I have to let go of the dream that we could ever become equal partners in a relationship. I want nothing less than that and you want—well, you want what you want.

You wanted someone to shelter and protect, someone to take care of. I wanted the chance to become my own person, a person respected for her hard work, intelligence and generous heart.

I am that person today. I’m a new woman about to begin a whole new life, to take another chance at making it on my own. And in a funny way—funny in that way that could almost break your heart—you. Cub, did help me to become this confident woman, ready to take on the world.

My one regret is that you don’t even know about the source of my inspiration, our two-year-old daughter, Jayne Cartwright Goodacre, or Jaycie as we all call her.

No. I take that back. I refuse to go into this new and exciting phase of my life with any regrets holding me back, tying me to you. That’s why I wish you would come back, for closure and so I can let you know about the precious life our brief love created.

Yes, I tried at first to contact you, to let you know about your child. I tried desperately. But you had taken to the rodeo circuit like fire through a dry patch. I had always just missed you and you just kept moving on. I knew when I did finally manage to get through to you and you returned my letters unopened that you were trying to pay me back. If you had just opened one of those letters you might have forgiven me and we might...