Hart's Baby

Hart's Baby
Christine Pacheco

A FAMILY TO CALL HIS OWN When Cassie Morrison arrived on Zach Hart's doorstep, claiming her swaddled bundle was a Hart, he knew she was another gold digger out to lasso the Wind Song Ranch fortune - and destroy his family. Yet somehow this sultry spitfire's fierce protectiveness stirred his emotions-and his passions… .Fighting her undeniable and searing attraction to the virile cowboy was the most difficult act of Cassie's life - but she'd do anything to ensure that baby Billy received the love he deserved. She longed to yield to tantalizing temptation and throw caution to the Wyoming wind, but too much was at stake. Namely, her heart…

“You Think This Is About Money?” (#uf8ff7e32-5f09-5a67-a616-70213326a994)Letter to Reader (#uecbdc664-4002-5e47-9735-ccab22d70ea3)Title Page (#u7839a80a-cd74-5aeb-9169-f6ce4768df4e)CHRISTY LOCKHART (#u2bbb8c5b-fbad-5450-bac6-0ebccd494157)Acknowledgments (#u06a9dcae-d639-5c9e-8cf5-f972d2c40352)Chapter One (#uc28aeaa9-2cf4-57f5-b815-8a7fb61808a5)Chapter Two (#ua4ef1e84-e3e6-5966-a877-c4c848f1fa3c)Chapter Three (#u6bd2099c-cd8f-5c87-ac19-599afd52805b)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)Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“You Think This Is About Money?”

“Isn’t that what all women want?” Zach scrawled her name on the blue check.

“Put that away,” Cassie said. “This is about...love and belonging. Have you ever known what it’s like not to belong?”

The darkness of his past descended on Zach. Time thundered with expectancy.

“I’m sorry.... It’s just that you’ve got a family, so much. You can’t possibly know—”

“I can and I do,” he corrected. “I’ve been poor enough not to know what it’s like to have a fire in the hearth. And now we’re comfortable enough that some people will do anything to get a piece of the action.”

Her mouth dropped. “You think I’m the kind of woman who’s only here for a piece of your fortune?” she whispered. “You don’t know anything about me...don’t know what kind of woman I am.”

“So tell me,” he challenged. “What kind of woman are you?”

Dear Reader,

Welcome to a new year with Silhouette Desire! We begin the year in celebration—it’s the 10th Anniversary of MAN OF THE MONTH! And kicking off the festivities is the incomparable Diana Palmer, with January’s irresistible hero, Simon Hart, in Beloved.

Also launching this month is Desire’s series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES. So many of you wrote to us that you loved Silhouette’s series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN—now here’s a whole new branch of the family! Awardwinning author Jennifer Greene inaugurates this series with The Honor Bound Groom.

Popular Anne Marie Winston begins BUTLER COUNTY BRIDES, a new miniseries about three small-town friends who find true love, with The Baby Consultant. Sara Orwig offers us a marriage of convenience in The Cowboy’s Seductive Proposal. Next, experience love on a ranch in Hart’s Baby by Christy Lockhart. And opposites attract in The Scandalous Heiress by Kathryn Taylor.

So, indulge yourself in 1999 with Silhouette Desire—powerful, provocative and passionate love stories that speak to today’s multifaceted woman. Each month we offer you six compelling romances to meet your many moods, with heroines you’ll care about and heroes to die for. Silhouette Desire is everything you desire in a romance novel.

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

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

Hart’s Baby

Christine Pacheco

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

CHRISTY LOCKHART

was born in England and spent her early childhood traipsing through castles and dreaming of princes. She moved to Colorado when she was eight and fell in love with the rugged mountains and wide-open spaces.

She always wanted to be a writer, and Silhouette made that dream come true. She also married her own prince, Jared, and together they have two children, two cats and two dogs.

Christy loves hearing from her readers. You can write to her at P.O. Box 448, Eastlake, CO 80614.

With thanks to my wonderful critique group: Lisa, Merrie, Althea and Debbie. And to Pam, Robin, Debbi, Cathy and Kathy.

A special thanks to my editor, Karen Taylor Richman, who always believed. Karen, you’re the best!

One

Under any other circumstances, Zach Hart would have allowed his gaze to travel down the length of her, noticing her as a woman. As it was, her eyes lassoed his attention.

Green as the summer grass, honest as a first snow, but shaded by a hint of weariness that showed past hurt. For a second Zach wondered what...or who...had put that expression there.

He had an urge to reach out and stroke it away. Just as quickly though, he dismissed the ridiculous thought. The Wind Song Ranch wouldn’t run itself. Zach didn’t have time for women, no matter how tempting.

Standing, she folded her hands in front of her. Was it to keep from showing more of the nerves she’d already betrayed by licking her lower lip?

“Your mother said it was okay for me to wait in here.”

Zach nodded. It wasn’t the woman’s fault he’d arrived home exhausted after spending a long and lonely night on the road. The only things he wanted were a cold beer, a cool shower and crisp sheets. Specifically, he wanted them in that order. Maybe if she managed to get straight to the point, he’d be up the stairs in less than fifteen minutes, asleep in thirty. “I’m Zach Hart.”

“Your mother told me.”

He arched a brow when she didn’t immediately supply her own name. “And you are?”

She offered a tentative smile, one that cracked and fell before fully forming. “Cassandra Morrison.”

Cassandra. Nice name. Soft, feminine, dignified. More than likely Cassandra Morrison was another of his mother’s causes. Widows and orphans were her latest. The car seat with a baby sleeping in it lent credibility to that thought.

Zach had always possessed a weak spot for his mother’s charities—after all, Margaret didn’t want any of her boys to forget where they had come from and how fortunate they were now. The fact that Cassandra was a beautiful woman would only entice him to open his wallet a little wider.

Because it was the polite thing to do, he offered his hand. Cassandra accepted, slipping her much smaller, delicate palm against his hardened, callused one. Smooth, he mused, imagining the slide of her hand against the knots of tension bunched in his shoulders.

Slowly he released her. The road must have been longer and lonelier than he realized. He’d been without a woman for months, but that wasn’t long enough to make him fantasize about a woman who was likely a widow with her own orphan. Carving a living from Wyoming’s reluctant land provided trouble enough. “What can I do for you, Cassandra Morrison?”

She stalled a couple of seconds before saying, “I am...was...Jeanie Morrison’s sister.”

She’d supplied the information breathlessly, a husk of hurt in her words. Her brows drew together when she looked at him with those powerfully green eyes, as if she expected him to recognize the name. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.”

Cassandra moved back a couple of steps. When she looked at him squarely again, her arms were folded across her chest, a self-protective gesture if ever he’d seen one.

“You’ve never heard my sister’s name?”