Baby Dreams And Wedding Schemes

Baby Dreams And Wedding Schemes
C.J. Hill

TO HAVE A FAMILY OF HER OWN…Perpetually single Sasha Lambert would do anything to have a baby. But days before her trip to the sperm bank she met a lonely little boy…and his irresistible father. Despite widower Jacob Windsor's announcement that he was not interested in marriage, Sasha could see he desperately needed some help with his adorable son.What choice did a natural-born do-gooder have? Sasha would help father and son to reconnect, gaining some invaluable lessons on mommyhood. And hope that when the time came, one very determined single dad would agree to grant her baby wish…and maybe a trip to the altar, as well!

“There is nothing crazy about wanting a child,” she protested. (#u9d8a6aea-e2d5-5783-957c-d928fa8796ae)Letter to Reader (#uf56e4b31-d124-5de7-8f1a-c91a12bbbe5a)Title Page (#u0ec79e84-6b8b-5c4a-9f7c-34a95e12b20c)Acknowledgments (#ua576b580-7c33-5779-a8f7-90d1a7d34d91)About the Author (#u4288bcd7-4fb7-5303-8393-2750b97bfab9)Letter to Reader (#ubfed1fda-3532-5502-ba1d-5be0144391da)Chapter One (#u3c100ceb-af4b-5a60-8b6f-549d42dc570e)Chapter Two (#u5ce8bf8c-e0c0-5ccc-b3e5-0b81c46a2c51)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)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“There is nothing crazy about wanting a child,” she protested.

“Why shouldn’t I want to have a baby on my own?”

“Because you have no possible conception of what it will be like raising one by yourself,” Jacob replied. “And I should know,” he practically whispered.

“I know that you love Cody and want the best of everything for him. Can’t you understand that I want to feel those same feelings? That I want to have someone of my own to love?”

Her voice died away in the stillness as Sasha realized exactly what she had said. She’d admitted that she was lonely and alone in a world where love was the magic password to happiness. And she had admitted it to a single man who had told her many times that he had no desire for a wife.

Please, please don’t let Jacob know that I’d give anything to have Cody for a son...and him for a husband.

Dear Reader,

Unforgettable Bride, by bestselling author Annette Broadrick, is May’s VIRGIN BRIDES selection, and the much-requested spin-off to her DAUGHTERS OF TEXAS series. Rough, gruff rodeo star Bobby Metcalf agreed to a quickie marriage—sans honeymoon!—with virginal Casey Carmichael. But four years later, he’s still a married man—one intent on being a husband to Casey in every sense....

Fabulous author Arlene James offers the month’s FABULOUS FATHERS title, Falling for a Father of Four. Orren Ellis was a single dad to a brood of four, so hiring sweet Mattie Kincaid seemed the perfect solution. Until he found himself falling for this woman he could never have.... Stella Bagwell introduces the next generation of her bestselling TWINS ON THE DOORSTEP series. In The Rancher’s Blessed Event, an ornery bronc rider must open his heart both to the woman who’d betrayed him...and her child yet to be born.

Who can resist a sexy, stubborn cowboy—particularly when he’s your husband? Well, Taylor Cassidy tries in Anne Ha’s Long, Tall Temporary Husband But will she succeed? And Sharon De Vita’s irresistible trio, LULLABIES AND LOVE, continues with Baby with a Badge, where a bachelor cop finds a baby in his patrol car...and himself in desperate need of a woman’s touch! Finally, new author C.J. Hill makes her commanding debut with a title that sums it up best:

Baby Dreams and Wedding Schemes.

Romance has everything you need from new beginnings to tried-and-true favorites. Enjoy each and every novel this month, and every month!

Warm Regards!

Joan Marlow Golan

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

Baby Dreams And Wedding Schemes

C.J. Hill

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

My deepest thanks to three Fairy Godpeople:

Melissa Jeglinski: For a golden opportunity.

My sister Judy: The original Bednobs and Broomsticks.

Barry: For repeating three little words whenever

I needed them: “So, do it.”

I did!

C.J. HILL,

who also writes as Lois Richer for Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired line, was born and raised in a small town in western Canada and could hardly wait to get out in the big, wide world. Once there, she earned her bachelor’s degree, started a career and searched high and low to find fame and fortune. Eventually she returned “home.” It’s that same small town where she met her husband and today raises her two sons. The wonderful sense of community and closeness found in rural areas is what she loves to explore in her stories.

Her family has come to understand that books, the computer and Mom are invisibly linked. C.J. admits that her ideas often overtake her time and shelf space. And so, when all else fails, the family dog takes her for a walk in the woods, where they discuss her next project. They’d both be pleased to hear from you at: Box 639, Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Canada S0E lE0

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my very first book for Silhouette Romance. I’m thrilled to be part of this wonderful tradition of love stories that tug at the heart and remind us all of the most important things in life. If you’re like me, you enjoy reading novels that take you away from your daily problems and plunge you into the wonders of that “special” love. When you’re there, anything can happen, and frequently does! And that’s why I wrote Baby Dreams and Wedding Schemes. I hope you enjoy this book and that you find a refreshing new way to look at your own life.

May your days be filled with joy and much love.

P.S. I’d love to have you check out my titles in the new Love Inspired line, too. Look for the FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY series in a bookstore near you.

Chapter One

“You lied!”

“That squeaky little voice could penetrate steel,” Sasha Lambert muttered, gritting her teeth and trying to remain calm.

Warning—this is what cute, darling little babies grow into. Rethink your plan! There it was again; that ridiculously mocking voice inside her head issuing its gloomy admonition.

I am just as capable as the next woman when it comes to children. I merely need to apply the fine art of reason to this situation, she told herself.

“Look, little boy,” she coaxed quietly. “I can’t have a funeral for Henry in my store! I don’t do funerals.”

He stared up at her, his eyes wide and accusatory. One short, stubby finger pointed to the sign in her window. “My dad tol’ me that sign says you can do anything here.”

Sasha sighed once in resignation, the second time in capitulation as she spotted one fat tear suspended on the end of his incredibly long lashes. “Actually it says we cater to all occasions. But it’s wrong. Sorry. No funeral. No way.”

She hadn’t meant to say it quite so loudly, but the words rang through Bednobs and Broomsticks like a cowbell on the open prairie. The customers quietly browsing her craft store opened their eyes wide to frown at the tall, slim woman positioned near the half-finished train display in the main aisle.

Sasha ignored them all, examining the preschooler from her impressive height. He refused to budge. Instead he stood watching her, his big brown eyes now welling with tears.

“But we hafta,” he wailed as one glistening droplet finally plopped down onto the copper freckles covering his chubby cheeks. “My dad’s gonna kill me when he finds out and then I’ll get grounded. I just gotta have Henry’s funeral first.”

She tried to ignore the sympathy pangs that were mounting inside her mushy heart. The frosty looks of condemnation her customers were casting her way didn’t help stifle the gnawing sense of censure that yawned inside. Nor the pangs of regret. Her eyes fell on the bit of paper she had taped to the counter.