The Durango Affair

The Durango Affair
Brenda Jackson

I'M HAVING YOUR BABY. Savannah Claiborne's simple statement set off an avalanche in Montana ranger Durango Westmoreland's carefully ordered life. Suddenly, an unforgettable night of passion with the hazel-eyed beauty had turned into a lifetime of obligation for the confirmed bachelor.But Westmoreland men always honored their responsibilities, and leaving Savannah to raise his baby on her own was not an option. So he proposed and she accepted…with one condition: Theirs would be an in-name-only marriage. Durango agreed. For now.

She Couldn’t Believe It.

In a couple of minutes she would be face-to-face with Durango Westmoreland…again. When she’d made the decision to meet him in person, she hadn’t thought that delivering her news would be this difficult. Now that she was here, Savannah was having second thoughts about telling the man with whom she’d had a one-night stand that he was soon to be a father.

She shook her head at her own stupidity, asking herself for the hundredth time how such a thing could have happened to her. She was a twenty-seven-year-old woman who knew the score on men and birth control. Too bad she’d been too busy celebrating her sister’s nuptials and taking pleasure in Durango’s seduction to take the proper precautions.

To make matters worse, she knew next to nothing about the man who was her baby’s daddy. The one thing she did know—judging from the memories that had haunted her since their passion-filled encounter—was that Durango Westmoreland was an expert lover….

Dear Reader,

Thanks for choosing Silhouette Desire this month. We have a delectable selection of reads for you to enjoy, beginning with our newest installment of THE ELLIOTTS. Mr. and Mistress by Heidi Betts is the story of millionaire Cullen Elliott and his mistress who is desperately trying to hide her unexpected pregnancy. Also out this month is the second book of Maureen Child’s SUMMER OF SECRETS. Strictly Lonergan’s Business is a boss/assistant book that will delight you all the way through to its wonderful conclusion.

We are launching a brand-new continuity series this month with SECRET LIVES OF SOCIETY WIVES. The debut title, The Rags-To-Riches Wife by Metsy Hingle, tells the story of a working-class woman who has a night of passion with a millionaire and then gets blackmailed into becoming his wife.

We have much more in store for you this month, including Merline Lovelace’s Devlin and the Deep Blue Sea, part of her cross-line series, CODE NAME: DANGER, in which a feisty female pilot becomes embroiled in a passionate, dangerous relationship. Brenda Jackson is back with a new unforgettable Westmoreland male, in The Durango Affair. And Kristi Gold launches a three-book thematic promotion about RICH AND RECLUSIVE men, with House of Midnight Fantasies.

Please enjoy all the wonderful books we have for you this month in Silhouette Desire.

Happy reading,

Melissa Jeglinski

Senior Editor

Silhouette Books

The Durango Affair

Brenda Jackson

BRENDA JACKSON

is a die “heart” romantic who married her childhood sweetheart and still proudly wears the “going steady” ring he gave her when she was fifteen. Because she’s always believed in the power of love, Brenda’s stories always have happy endings. In her real-life love story, Brenda and her husband of thirty-three years live in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two sons.

A USA TODAY bestselling author, Brenda divides her time between family, writing and working in management at a major insurance company. You may write Brenda at P.O. Box 28267, Jacksonville, Florida 32226; her e-mail address WriterBJackson@aol.com; or visit her Web site at www.brendajackson.net.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To Gerald Jackson, Sr., my husband and hero.

To my Heavenly Father who gave me the gift to write.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

—I Corinthians 13:6–7

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

One

Durango Westmoreland stood at the window and focused his gaze on the mountains as a dark frown marred his handsome face. He had awakened that morning with an ache in his right knee, which could only mean one thing. A snowstorm was coming. The forecasters were reporting that it wouldn’t hit Bozeman and would veer north toward Havre. But he knew differently. His knee didn’t lie.

There was definitely nothing scientific about his prediction but still, even with a clear blue Montana sky, he knew he was right. A man didn’t live in the mountains unless he was in sync with his environment. The mountains could hold you prisoner in the valley whenever a snowstorm hit, and their snowslides struck fear in the hearts of unsuspecting skiers.

These were the mountains that he loved and considered home even on their worst days.

Durango’s thoughts shifted to another place he considered home: the city where he was born, Atlanta. He often missed the closeness of the family he had left behind there, and although he would be the first to admit that he liked his privacy—and his space—it was times like this when he missed his family most.

He did have an uncle who lived near, although definitely not a skip and a hop by any means. Corey Westmoreland’s breathtaking monstrosity of a ranch was high in the mountains on a peak that everyone referred to as Corey’s Mountain. However, now that Corey had gotten married, he didn’t visit as often. So Durango had become somewhat of a loner who was satisfied with enjoying the memories of his occasional visits home.

One such visit was still vividly clear in his mind. It was the time he’d returned to Atlanta for his cousin Chase’s wedding and had met Savannah Claiborne, the sister of the bride.

From the moment their eyes had connected there had been a startling attraction. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d been so taken with a woman. In no time at all she had turned his world upside down. She had actually charmed her way past his tight guard and his common sense.

Later that evening, after seeing the bride and groom off, everyone, still in a festive mood, had remained in the hotel’s ballroom and continued to party, intent on celebrating the night away.

Both he and Savannah were more than a little tipsy and pretty wired up when he had walked her to her hotel room at midnight. And at the time, accepting her offer of a nightcap had seemed like the right thing to do. But once alone, one thing led to another and they had ended up making love.

That night his total concentration had been on her. Even now the memories of their one night together were tucked away and reserved for times like this when the claws of loneliness clutched at him, and made him think about things that a devout bachelor had no business thinking about—like a woman in his life who would always be within arm’s reach.