Truly Daddy

Truly Daddy
Cara Colter

TRULY A FAMILY?What was it that made rugged mountain man Garret Boyd so irresistible to Toni Carlton? Could it be the tenderness she'd glimpsed in his blue eyes whenever he swept his orphaned niece into his strong, sheltering arms? Or was it the heat Toni saw simmering in his gaze from the moment she'd come to his cozy home?In no time Toni had put a smile in Garret's heart–and a burning need in his wounded soul. And suddenly the brooding loner knew the only way to give little Angie a family was to believe that a strong, silent daddy and his vivacious new nanny were truly meant to be….

“I don’t suppose you’re a nanny, are you?” Garret asked (#u4c22abae-d00a-52ea-bdd6-666772a9250c)Letter to Reader (#u5fd13353-efdb-54a4-9dd1-f073be1b960a)Title Page (#ub79280c8-3a3a-5125-bdeb-984af38d1984)Dedication (#u82134c97-a068-559b-9caa-7610f130440e)CARA COLTER (#u6302f088-291d-534e-a7e9-fb2360a31aac)Chapter One (#u2a3cd13c-a2b1-5274-9bc4-a9ef44feb9b0)Chapter Two (#uccc6c297-0399-5cdb-bafc-3fca3ce94449)Chapter Three (#u2f209706-476f-5d2e-a046-6763dff2bb4b)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)

“I don’t suppose you’re a nanny, are you?” Garret asked

A nanny? Toni thought. He must have a child—though it was difficult to imagine Garret with a baby.

He looked like the kind of man who walked alone. Like the cowboy who rode off into the sunset. Rugged. Independent.

Which was exactly the kind of woman she was. Well, maybe not the rugged part, but certainly independent. A husband wasn’t part of her immediate plans. And babies...babies were a far-off someday on her list.

Toni had just never been in love. She was beginning to suspect it was the fabric of fairy tales, that some women more imaginative than she were able to convince themselves that that ordinary guy in the suit and spectacles was really Prince Charming.

This was no Prince Charming glowering at her.

And yet she had the strangest feeling.

She was about to learn a good deal about love.

Dear Reader,

This April, Silhouette Romance showers you with six spectacular stories from six splendid authors! First, our exciting LOVING THE BOSS miniseries continues as rising star Robin Wells tells the tale of a demure accountant who turns daring to land her boss—and become mommy to The Executive’s Baby.

Prince Charming’s Return signals Myrna Mackenzie’s return to Silhouette Romance. In this modern-day fairy-tale romance. wealthy FABULOUS FATHER Gray Alexander discovers he has a son, but the proud mother of his child refuses marriage—unless love enters the equation.... Sandra Steffen’s BACHELOR GULCH miniseries is back with Wes Stryker’s Wrangled Wife! In this spirited story, a pretty stranger just passing through town can’t resist a sexy cowboy struggling to raise two orphaned tykes.

Cara Colter revisits the lineup with Truly Daddy, an emotional, heartwarming novel about a man who learns what it takes to be a father—and a husband—through the transforming love of a younger woman. When A Cowboy Comes a Courting in Christine Scott’s contribution to HE’S MY HERO!, the virginal heroine who’d sworn off sexy, stubborn, Stetson-wearing rodeo stars suddenly finds herself falling hopelessly in love. And FAMILY MATTERS showcases Patti Standard’s newest novel in which a man with a knack for fixing things sets out to make a struggling single mom and her teenage daughter His Perfect Family.

As always. I hope you enjoy this month’s offerings, and the wonderful ones still to come!

Happy reading!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

Please address questions and book requests 10:

Silhouette Reader Service

US.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325. Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Truly Daddy

Cara Colter

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

To Mary, Louise and Dorothy,

teachers, real-life heroines

CARA COLTER

shares ten acres in the wild Kootenay region of British Columbia with the man of her dreams, three children, two horses, a cat with no tail and a golden retriever who answers best to “bad dog.” She loves reading, writing and the woods in winter (no bears). She says life’s delights include an automatic garage door opener and the skylight over the bed that allows her to see the stars at night.

She also says, “I have not lived a neat and tidy life, and used to envy those who did. Now I see my struggles as having given me a deep appreciation of life, and of love, that I hope I succeed in passing on through the stories that I tell.”

Chapter One

“This is the greatest coup of my career,” Toni Carlton said out loud, uncaring of the busy sidewalk she moved down. It was everything she could do not to hug herself and spin around in delight, Mary Tyler Moore-style.

“Lady, I’ll coo in your ear anytime.”

She flung a mass of red curly hair over her slender shoulder and narrowed her green eyes at the speaker, a complete stranger in an expensive three-piece suit.

Tall, dark and a jerk. Weren’t weirdos supposed to wear fatigue jackets and grotesque purple toques?

He must have gotten the message because he ducked his head, tucked his expensive leather briefcase under his arm and scurried hurriedly down the sidewalk.

She decided she loved Vancouver anyway. Loved Chinatown. And especially loved Martin Ying, who had just agreed to design an exclusive line of clothing for Madame Yeltsy’s, the quality clothing chain store that she was buyer for. This was her first solo trip, but Madame Yeltsy expected great things every time. The ordinary was not good enough.

Toni stopped in her tracks and turned slowly to the display window that had caught the corner of her eye. The humble storefront gave lie to the exotic Oriental pieces in jade decorating the front window.

They were absolutely original and took her breath away. What an incredible complement they could make to the Ying line!

She burst in the door. Her eyes had to adjust to the light.

A tiny Oriental man, who looked slightly older than her, perhaps in his late twenties, stood behind the counter, so focused on what he was seeing through the jeweler’s loupe he held to his right eye that he didn’t see her at first.

He glanced up at her in surprise, then tried to put the piece away. “Closed,” he said. “Forgot sign. Closed. Out. Out.”

With Madame Yeltsy’s expectations of greatness, Tom simply could not afford to be a woman easily intimidated. Besides, she stood five foot ten in her stocking feet and could woo a man with a blink of her thick, tangled lashes if she needed to.

Closed or not closed, she wanted some of that jewelry, and especially the piece he was trying to hide. She strode across the small tiled floor, took his hand firmly and pulled it back above the counter.

“Closed,” he said weakly, but he smiled, just a trifle hopefully as his dark eyes met her green ones.

A ring clattered from his clasp, and she scooped it up before he did.

She could not help but notice he was shaking slightly. She was used to a stir of male interest following in her wake, but she’d never made anyone shake before.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, rolling the ring over in her hand. She stated down at the ring. Exquisitely worked in silver and jade was a dragon pattern that matched that of the necklace in the window. She could look for another hundred years and not find accessories so completely compatible with Ying’s work.

“The ring means good luck, great happiness.” the little man offered, she could not help but notice, unhappily. His eyes slid to her bare ring finger. “Husband. Babies.”