The Sergeant's Baby

The Sergeant's Baby
Bonnie Gardner

His Baby…Her WaySergeant Danny Murphey thought he'd found the love of his life, except when he woke up the next morning she was gone. He'd almost resigned himself to losing her when he found the raven-haired beauty again six months later, teaching at an air force base–and very pregnant with his child.Ally Carter thought she'd found the man of her dreams, until she discovered his idea of marriage meant that she'd stay home with the kids while he flew off into danger. Independent Ally would have none of it. Drat her feelings for the man, which refused to wane.Now she has one heck of a fight on her hands–teaching him that being a father to their child doesn't include being her lord and master!Can the old-fashioned sergeant learn new tricks?

“ I think I’ll have a filet mignon. And a really, really big baked potato with all the trimmings,” Ally said.

“ Only a filet mignon?” Danny asked. “I thought you were hungry enough to eat a horse.”

Ally made a shocked face. “I could never eat Black Beauty.”

Danny had to laugh. “I was speaking figuratively, and you know it. Of course, you’re making up for it with the loaded potato.”

The dining room was crowded and Ally lowered her voice, looking at him conspiratorially. “Humor me. I’m pregnant. I get strange cravings, and I can’t tell from one day to the next what they will be for.”

Danny just smiled and signaled for the waiter. He knew all about cravings. In his case, though, they were not for food.

Dear Reader,

Sometimes military life leads a man or a woman in a direction he or she hadn’t originally intended. Both air force TSGT Danny Murphey and Ally Carter thought they knew exactly where they were going. Then life intruded.

Danny was baseball, apple pie, mom and family. He wanted a home and a family, and he fully expected to be responsible for taking care of them. When he met independent Ally Carter, he thought he’d found the perfect woman. Ally Carter had a mind of her own. She’d come from a less traditional family. Her father had been a cultural anthropologist studying in the Middle East when he met her mother, a native of Tamalya. In Ally’s rebellion against her mother’s traditional upbringing, she almost lost her own happiness.

How do you make two diametrically opposed personalities come together in a meeting of minds (and bodies)? You throw in an unexpected pregnancy, assignment to a Middle Eastern war zone, and mix well. The result is lasting love.

Though there are military special operations schools that prepare servicemen and women for their assignments, I have left the details purposely vague, and I have invented the foreign country in question. However, the reactions and emotions of our characters are real.

I hope you come to know and understand Danny and Ally as I do. And I hope you enjoy reading their story.

Fondly,

Bonnie Gardner

The Sergeant’s Baby

Bonnie Gardner

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

In loving memory of my dad, George W. Purcell, Major, U.S. Army Ret. (March 19, 1925–February 17, 2004). He was my first military hero.

To Mud, as always.

As always, I thank, for their hard work and dedication, the military men and women who sacrifice so much to keep our world safe, and the families they must leave behind to keep the home fires burning.

Books by Bonnie Gardner

HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

911—SGT. BILLY’S BRIDE

958—THE SERGEANT’S SECRET SON

970—PRICELESS MARRIAGE

1019—SERGEANT DARLING

1067—THE SERGEANT’S BABY

Contents

Prologue (#uc86b379a-bc62-51cd-851b-3cde727902de)

Chapter One (#ud6c81ba4-97c4-5b4e-a337-00ede6dd1cfb)

Chapter Two (#uc8ea8410-c85f-5b8d-bb63-041fd428717b)

Chapter Three (#ucb4d5bb3-442e-5798-835a-52475ed25e45)

Chapter Four (#ue221a02b-8e84-5c46-8b33-d5ef66285b23)

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)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue

Two Years Ago

Fort Walton Beach, Florida