His Most Scandalous Secret

His Most Scandalous Secret
Susan Crosby

LONE WOLVES CHASE a.k.a. THE LONER No woman had ever gotten through his defenses, and no bright and bouncy do-gooder would ever make him open up. So why was lovely Tessa Rose hanging on Chase's every word, sending him sweet smiles and popping by his office every chance she got? How much more temptation could a lone wolf take?The gruff bachelor might once have craved his own happy ending, but his troubled past wouldn't let him dare to succumb to his ultimate desire. For to make this precious woman his would mean revealing his most scandalous secret. And Chase knew the truth would be something no woman - especially Tess - could ever forgive.THE LONE WOLVES: Meet the sexiest, most stubborn males a woman could ever hope to tame!

He Wanted Her Beside Him. (#u3ef40c06-4156-50dd-942c-2df2da68c81c)Letter to Reader (#ube7e6e31-40f0-516a-b799-f46e872bf35c)Title Page (#ucec98cda-6278-513d-95c9-6a48110ca63b)About the Author (#uaba88f54-02b7-5c73-b1ee-dc2f70f34e46)Chapter One (#uaeffc488-cdec-5c0b-9b34-c5a500791997)Chapter Two (#uf527d1c9-9383-52fb-aab5-bbfdef053b5b)Chapter Three (#u596d7b6a-2bc5-568e-a227-c1abb058dea1)Chapter Four (#u9f5b4f91-49db-5666-a31e-5e5e87356ee3)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)Teaser chapter (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

He Wanted Her Beside Him.

Needed to hold her. Yearned to touch her soft curls as they danced down her back. Craved to have her fragrance fill his head. Hungered to know if her skin felt as velvety as it looked. Ached for her breasts to press against him, for her legs to wrap around his as their bodies merged.

He opened his eyes, needing a distraction, but the starkly erotic image still hovered, not the least hazy.

Fast. It had all happened too fast. Which qualified what he felt as infatuation. Which meant, given time, he could control it.

They had no future together. He’d seen to that eighteen years ago. To forget for a minute that he was no ordinary man was foolish.

And Chase Ryan was no fool.

Dear Reader,

Silhouette Desire is proud to launch three brand-new, emotional and romantic miniseries this month! We’ve got twin sisters switching places, sexy men who rise above their pasts and a ranching family marrying off their Texas daughters.

Along with our spectacular new miniseries, we’re bringing you Anne McAllister’s latest novel in her bestselling CODE OF THE WEST series, July’s MAN OF THE MONTH selection, The Cowboy Crashes a Wedding. Next, a shy, no-frills librarian leads a fairy-tale life when she masquerades as her twin sister in Barbara McMahon’s Cinderella Twin, book one of her IDENTICAL TWINS! duet In Seducing the Proper Miss Miller by Anne Marie Winston, the town’s black sheep and the minister’s daughter cause a scandal with their sudden wedding.

Sexy Western author Peggy Moreland invites readers to get to know the McCloud sisters and the irresistible men who court them—don’t miss the first TEXAS BRIDES book, The Rancher’s Spittin’ Image. And a millionaire bachelor discovers his secret heir in The Tycoon’s Son by talented author Shawna Delacorte. A gorgeous loner is keeping quiet about His Most Scandalous Secret in the first book in Susan Crosby’s THE LONE WOLVES miniseries.

So get to know the friends and families in Silhouette Desire’s hottest new minisenes—and watch for more of their love stories in months to come!

Regards,

Melissa Senate

Senior Editor

Silhouette Books

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

Susan Crosby

His Most Scandalous Secret

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

SUSAN CROSBY

is fascinated by the special and complex communication of courtship, and so she burrows into her office to dream up warm, strong heroes and good-hearted, self-reliant heroines to satisfy her own love of happy endings.

She and her husband have two grown sons and live in the Central Valley of California. She spent a mere 7½ years getting through college and finally earned a B.A. in English a few years ago. She has worked as a synchronized swimming instructor, a personnel interviewer at a toy factory and a trucking company manager. Involved for many years behind the scenes in a local community theater, she has made only one stage appearance—as the rear end of a camel! Variety, she says, makes for more interesting novels.

Readers are welcome to write to her at P.O. Box 1836, Lodi, CA 95241.

One

She was asking for trouble.

Chase Ryan leaned both palms against his office window frame and watched the woman standing on the sidewalk about forty feet away, the bus she’d disembarked from rumbling off in a cloud of diesel smoke as she eyed his building, then the piece of paper she held.

Everything about her was soft, from the long, brunette curls to the swirling skirt that almost reached her ankles. Definitely not the type of woman usually found wandering the street in front of the Wilson Buckley Youth Center of San Francisco, of which Chase was administrator.

And he had the sneaking suspicion that the woman was none other than Tessa Rose, who, barring natural disaster, was the Center’s new preschool teacher. If that was the case, she should hop aboard the next bus and go back where she came from. No way was that woman equipped to handle the residents of this neighborhood.

His conscience weighing strong, he briefly considered withdrawing the job offer, although the Center was in dire need of another day care teacher. However, business was business. It wasn’t his job to warn people off, but to hire the most qualified applicants.

Not only was Tessa Rose the most qualified, she was the only applicant.

“Hey, Mr. Ryan? You through talkin’?”

Chase had forgotten he was in the middle of a discussion with the thirteen-year-old who came up beside him. He glanced at the boy. “I’m sorry, Luis. My mind wandered.”

His gaze returned involuntarily to look out the window as the woman made her way closer. His impression of softness deepened as the July afternoon breeze lifted her hair away from her face. A high-collared pink blouse hugged her breasts. Her floral-printed skirt molded born-to-carry-babies hips and endless legs.

Not one original thought crossed his mind. She was a fish out of water. A man could lose himself in her. She was the kind of woman you took home to meet your mother.

“Can I go now, Mr. Ryan?”

He didn’t look at the boy. “If you’re called in a second time for breaking the same rule, you forfeit your membership. I don’t want to see that happen, not after you were on the waiting list so long.”

“I didn’t know that damn was a swear word, Mr. Ryan. Honest.” Luis pressed his hands to the window. “Hey, isn’t that Stone Man?”

Chase spotted the teenager tracking the woman who had no business being in this neighborhood alone. She stopped in front of the youth center and rummaged through her purse, the oversize quilted bag an easy target for a kid who took what he wanted.

Chase twisted the window lock open. Before he could shove the sash up to alert her, the kid made his move—and the woman flattened him facedown across the hood of the nearest car, locking his arm behind his back. Her body jerked as she applied more pressure every so often. She spoke directly into his ear.

“Holy—” Luis gulped. “I mean, wow. Did you see that, Mr. Ryan? Shoot. Look at Stone Man go! Je—I mean, can you believe it? Is she one of those Amazons we studied in school?”

“Not tall enough,” Chase murmured, his awe less vocal than Luis’s but just as complete. He finished shoving open the window. “Need any help there, Miss?” he called.

“Thanks, but I’m fine.” She dusted off her hands as Stone Man rounded the corner and disappeared. “You wouldn’t happen to be Chase Ryan?”

He nodded, still amazed by what she’d done.

“I’m Tessa Rose. I have an appointment with you.” She glanced at her watch, then back at him. Her smile was brilliant, blinding. Lethal. “I seem to be a minute late.”