Family By The Bunch

Family By The Bunch
Amy Frazier

FAMILYMATTERSONE+ONE+FIVE?He wanted a family of his own. But rancher Hank Whittake figured he'd do it the old-fashioned way: find a woman to share his country life, then conceive their own bundle of joy in a most enjoyable manner. Yet somehow sweet-talking Neesa Little snuck under his guard and he found himself taking in five rambunctious orphans desperately in need of a family….Despite his self-imposed cantankerous manner, Hank's heart soon opened to the children–and pretty Neesa. Something in the mysterious woman's eyes whispered of forgotten dreams and made Hank long to uncover all of Neesa's secrets…so they could forge a family from five most unexpected deliveries."Kisses, kids, cuddles and kin. The best things in life are found in families!"

“I’m right,” Neesa persisted. “You do want a big family.” (#u58033cdb-7a00-5de6-93e7-451d41e215ed)Letter to Reader (#u68b54920-221f-5338-9d7e-4e583fea1171)Title Page (#u8f8e8d00-0394-56e5-a5af-02fa67cda13e)Dedication (#ua2cda8ec-82db-5983-abf4-232c4e341784)About the Author (#u8303ad00-6a4f-575e-a63a-0cbc15447882)Letter to Reader (#u80580981-94b5-582a-a863-729cf9647baa)Chapter One (#ud91cc140-c708-518f-a08d-704cebd551ef)Chapter Two (#uedd52274-00f5-5d71-8d68-e9a083988d05)Chapter Three (#uc202be76-57b2-5612-8adf-43c97e9007bd)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)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“I’m right,” Neesa persisted. “You do want a big family.”

“Yes, I want a big family,” Hank replied. “Kin—blood ties—have always meant everything to me.”

“Blood ties,” she repeated softly. “You must wonder at me spending so much time and energy on other people’s children.”

“I admire you for it. It’s not easy for many folk to step outside the pull of biological ties.” He shook his head. “Especially hard for men somehow.”

“I think it’s an ego thing. Heirs. Dynasty. Immortality.” She’d developed an edge to her words.

Hank puzzled over the new underlying anger in her tone of voice. Up until now, anger wasn’t an emotion he would have associated with the indefatigable Miss Little. He wondered what experience had pushed her to it.

And what else could get her blood heated...?

Dear Reader,

Silhouette Romance is proud to usher in the year with two exciting new promotions! LOVING THE BOSS is a six-book series, launching this month and ending in June, about office romances leading to happily-ever-afters. In the premiere title, The Boss and the Beauty, by award-winning author Donna Clayton, a prim personal assistant wows her jaded, workaholic boss when she has a Cinderella makeover....

You’ve asked for more family-centered stories, so we created FAMILY MATTERS, an ongoing promotion with a special flash. The launch title, Family by the Bunch from popular Special Edition author Amy Frazier, pairs a rancher in want of a family with a spirited social worker...and five adorable orphans.

Also available are more of the authors you love, and the miniseries you’ve come to cherish. Kia Cochrane’s emotional Romance debut, A Rugged Ranchin’ Dad, beautifully captures the essence of FABULOUS FATHERS. Star author Judy Christenberry unveils her sibling-connected miniseries LUCKY CHARM SISTERS with Marry Me, Kate, an unforgettable marriage-of -convenience tale. Granted: A Family for Baby is the latest of Carol Grace’s BEST-KEPT WISHES miniseries. And COWBOYS TO THE RESCUE, the heartwarming Western saga by rising star Martha Shields, continues with The Million-Dollar Cowboy.

Enjoy this month’s offerings, and look forward to more spectacular stories coming each month from Silhouette Romance!

Happy New Year!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

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

Family by the Bunch

Amy Frazier

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

To my daughter, Sarah,

whose generosity of spirit

belies her age.

AMY FRAZIER has loved to read, listen to and tell stories from the time she was a very young child. With the support of a loving family, she grew up believing she could accomplish anything she set her mind to. It was with this attitude that she tackled various careers as teacher, librarian, freelance artist, professional storyteller, wife and mother. Above all else, the stories always beckoned. It is with a contented sigh that she settles into the romance field, where she can weave stories in which love conquers all.

Amy now lives with her husband, son and daughter in northwest Georgia, where the kudzu grows high as an elephant’s eye. When not writing, she loves reading, music, painting, gardening, bird-watching and the Atlanta Braves.

Dear Reader,

I have been blessed with family.

Surrounded by my parents, my brother and a host of aunts, uncles and cousins, I grew up to develop a strong sense of identity and of roots.

When I married, my husband’s diverse clan reinforced the concept that family is the framework within which we learn communication and acceptance.

My husband, my two children and I eventually moved far away from our families, forcing us to create new traditions, to establish a new safe harbor, and to learn that family really is a state of mind.

I am not so naive as to believe that everyone’s experience with family has been as traditional or as positive as mine. But I do believe that, regardless of one’s past or present circumstances, one can create a sense of family—and I mean family in any of its many nurturing forms—if one keeps an open and a loving heart.

In Family by the Bunch, Neesa, who cannot have children, and Hank, who dearly wants children “of his own,” learn that biology does not necessarily make a family. They ultimately learn to love, respect and accept “other people’s children” as their own. And isn’t this a lesson—to see family in the eyes of a stranger—from which all humankind could benefit?

With love,

Chapter One

Surrounded by designer-clothed kids and tennis-skirted moms, the cowboy at the elementary school bus stop stood out like a sharply chiseled hunk of granite nestled in a crystal bowl of whipped cream.

Rubbing her eyes as much in reaction to the incongruous sight as against the early-morning glare, Neesa Little reached into her convertible sports coupe’s compartment for sun glasses as she waited for the neighborhood children to board the big yellow bus. Remembering she’d left the sun glasses on her kitchen counter, she muttered sharply under her breath while squinting in the direction of the newcomer at the bus stop.

The man wearing the Stetson most certainly didn’t blend into the pruned, tamed and manicured landscaping of Holly Mount subdivision. Not a bit. In fact, with his faded chambray work shirt, tight jeans and scuffed cowboy boots, he didn’t appear to come from anywhere near Ellis Springs, Georgia. He rather looked as if he’d ridden right out of the wild West. The only things missing were a lariat, a faithful cow pony and a herding dog.

He bent to receive an exuberant farewell hug from the last little girl to board the bus. It was the final day of the school year, and joy showed on the child’s face. Witnessing the simple parent-child scene set off an old familiar pain. Neesa winced, mentally chiding herself to quit dwelling on her own biological deficiencies.

As he straightened, the cowboy looked directly at Neesa, whose open convertible idled in the opposite lane facing the bus.

Her breath caught sharply in her throat. Within the few seconds that he held her gaze, she felt vulnerable, wished she hadn’t put the ragtop down this morning. Wished too that she had, at least, the scant protection of sun glasses, for his dark eyes seemed to knowingly plumb the depths of her very soul.

Plumb the depths of her very soul.

How silly. The June sun was beginning to addle her brains.

It was just an accidental glance, for goodness sakes. And he was a stranger. An ordinary suburban dad. Probably happily married. With two point five kids, a hefty mortgage and golf clubs in the back of a minivan. The cowboy duds would be purely for macho show.

What special powers could he have to know her deepest vulnerabilities? What interest at all could he have in her? She swallowed hard.

“You’re drooling on the steering wheel!” The lilting voice of Claire English, her best friend, neighbor and carpool companion, startled Neesa back into the here and now. “And besides, the bus driver’s turned off the blinking red lights. Git, girl.”