His Child Or Hers?

His Child Or Hers?
Dawn Stewardson

“Would you like to come in?” Hank said

The woman standing on his front porch was downright gorgeous. And gorgeous women did not routinely come calling. Not to his door, at least.

“Hank Ballantyne,” she said.

He nodded. She was looking for him.

“I’m Natalie Lawson,” she went on. “There’s something I need to discuss with you. I just…where’s your little boy?”

She knew he had a son. Okay, then, she’d done some homework. “My housekeeper took him shopping.…But you aren’t here to talk about my son.”

“Actually, I am.”

“Oh?” He glanced at her briefcase, an uneasy feeling creeping up his spine. “Because…?”

Instead of replying, she opened her briefcase, pulled out a spiral-bound document and handed it to him. The title page read, “Final Report on Benjamin Lawson-Garcia.”

She bit on her lower lip for a moment before saying, “I’ve spent days trying to think of some way to lessen the shock. There isn’t one, though.…My Benjamin is your Robbie.”

Hank could feel the panic growing inside him. There was only one reason Natalie Lawson had come here. To get Robbie back!

Dear Reader,

Hank Ballantyne first appeared in my October 2000 Superromance novel, The Man Behind the Badge. He was the partner and best friend of that book’s hero, Travis Quinn, and long before I’d finished writing about Travis and Celeste, I’d grown to like Hank so much that I wanted to tell his story.

Initially, I had no idea what it was. All I really knew about him was that he was a single father with an adopted three-year-old son, Robbie, whom he adored. But what if…?

This is the magic phrase for writers. We take the little bit we know about our unwritten story and play “what if” in our heads.

In this case, it wasn’t long before an absolutely gut-wrenching “what if” occurred to me. What if Robbie’s “dead” birth mother suddenly appeared—very much alive and wanting her child back?

That’s what happens at the beginning of His Child or Hers? And it sets up a conflict that tears at all three characters’ emotions throughout the book.

I hope you enjoy reading about how they come to terms with an extremely difficult situation.

Warmest regards,

Dawn Stewardson

His Child or Hers?

Dawn Stewardson

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

To John, always

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With special thanks to two fellow Harlequin authors for answering numerous questions during the writing of this book:

Marisa Carroll provided the medical information I needed. Illona Haus, who writes as Morgan Hayes, was (as always) my expert on homicide detectives.

They made my research considerably easier, and I sincerely appreciate their generosity.

I also want to thank Michele Billung-Meyer, for being so in tune with the psychosocial development of children—and for sharing her sense of how Robbie and Emma would react as the story unfolded.

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE (#uf3f083ff-3d6f-5e48-915c-d20a1081fe68)

CHAPTER ONE (#ucc6adbf0-153a-5861-860d-3889b0bf4959)

CHAPTER TWO (#u0861bf65-71b1-5ab9-b606-a19b1136f8ce)

CHAPTER THREE (#u9170d65d-a340-5acd-83f9-cb5b84921563)

CHAPTER FOUR (#u95d463da-73f1-5a78-978d-ae9f99cc824b)

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)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)

PROLOGUE