His Brother's Bride-To-Be

His Brother's Bride-To-Be
Patricia Kay

She thought she'd never see him again…But here he was, standing in front of her. Steve . The man Jill Emerson had never forgotten. And he was more than the lover who'd shown her such tenderness and passion. He was the father of her child. And she was going to marry his brother. Stephen Wells felt like he'd been sucker punched.His J.J.–the woman with whom he'd spent five passion-filled days over a decade ago–was engaged to his brother? And he'd just found out he had a son. He'd never known why she'd walked away, but now that he'd found her again, letting her go was going to be…difficult. If not impossible…

As he reached the open doorway, Stephen saw Jill approaching.

Backlit by sunlight, he couldn’t see the expression on her face. She stopped when she saw him. Before she could react, he reached out and grabbed her arm.

“Why?” he said through clenched teeth. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Her whole body trembled. “T-tell you what?”

“Don’t play innocent with me, Jill. I know Jordan is my son. And you had no right to keep that from me. No right at all.”

He thought she would continue to deny it, but she didn’t. She just looked at him. Tears glistened in her eyes. The sunlight pouring into the barn lit her hair from behind, giving the impression of a halo. But this was no angel standing there.

This was a warm-blooded, sexy woman—and the mother of his child.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

For a moment Stephen wasn’t sure what he wanted more: to kiss her or shake her. The desire to kiss her won out, and he yanked her into his arms and covered her mouth with his own.

Dear Reader,

This book was truly a labor of love. I got the idea several years ago and it simply would not let me go. Finally I decided to see if I couldn’t figure out a way to tell the story so that it could have a happy ending, for that was the problem. In my head, I could see the story going so far and then no farther. But eventually all fell into place, and His Brother’s Bride-To-Be was born.

There were other problems besides the elusive happy ending. For one, I was setting the story on a ranch and I know absolutely zero about ranches, even though I live in Texas. Second problem was my complete lack of knowledge about horses. But these two problems were easily solved since my two critique partners are both avid horsewomen and were able to supply the background information I was missing. So a hearty thank-you goes to Alaina Richardson and Colleen Thompson. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

I love to hear from readers. Please visit me at www.patriciakay.com and drop me a line. I promise to write back.

Happy reading!

Patricia Kay

His Brother’s Bride-To-Be

Patricia Kay

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

PATRICIA KAY

Formerly writing as Trisha Alexander, Patricia Kay is a USA TODAY-bestselling author of more than thirty contemporary romances. She lives in Houston, Texas. To learn more about her, visit her Web site at www.patriciakay.com.

This book is dedicated, with love,

to all the wonderful readers who have written to me over

the years. Your letters and e-mails have meant so much.

Knowing that my books have brightened your lives or

helped you through a bad time is a gift I will always

treasure. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

Stephen Wells winced when he heard the unmistakable ring of his cell phone. Dammit. He’d meant to turn the blasted thing off before entering Jake Burrow’s office because he knew how much the old man hated interruptions. He especially hated cell phones.

Sure enough, Jake glared.

“Sorry,” Stephen said, digging the phone out of his pocket. He was about to switch it off when he saw the number displayed. Caroline? Giving Jake an apologetic look and a murmured, “I’ll just be a minute,” Stephen rose and walked out of the office.