A Dad for Her Twins

A Dad for Her Twins
Tanya Michaels

When Kenzie Green relocates to Atlanta, she isn't looking for a man to complete her family.Then she meets her enigmatic new neighbor across the hall. Jonathan Trelauney seems to know just how to handle Kenzie's domestic handful. And her kids are already falling in love with the widowed artist. Kenzie's twin son and daughter are shattering his peace…and JT loves every minute of it!They're slowly but surely bringing him out of his reclusive shell. Now he'd like to do the same for their independent single mom. Can JT make Kenzie see that he's a man she can count on? That he can be the husband and father her family needs?

“So it’s a date?”

“If by ‘date’ you mean a mutually agreed upon and strictly platonic social outing intended to cheer up my daughter, then yes.”

JT didn’t seem offended. In fact, his lips actually twitched as if he might…

Yowza. In teir few exchanges, she’d never seen him truly smile. Now a grin transformed his whole face, making his memorable gray eyes bright with humor.

“It’s a date,” he repeated, giving her one last unreadable look before walking past to tell the kids that he’d see them next weekend.

Kenzie, her legs feeling unsteady, stood listening to her daughter’s exultant whoop of delight and the door closing as JT left.

Had she just received a glimpse of the man he’d once been? Because, despite what she’d said about not forming attachments at Peachy Acres, she suspected she could very much enjoy getting to know that man.

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to THE STATE OF PARENTHOOD miniseries, Harlequin American Romance’s celebration of parenthood and place. In this, our 25

year of publishing great books, we’re delighted to bring you these heartwarming stories that sing the praises of the home state of six different authors, and share the many trials and delights of being a parent.

In A Dad for Her Twins by Tanya Michaels, Kenzie Green is not looking for a new man in her life—and her neighbor JT most certainly isn’t looking for instant fatherhood. Despite their outlooks, they find themselves thrown together at the end of one steamy Atlanta summer—thanks to a bit of matchmaking by her well-meaning twins!

There are five other books in the series. We hope you didn’t miss Tina Leonard’s Texas Lullaby (June ’08), Smoky Mountain Reunion by Lynnette Kent (July ’08) or Cowboy Dad by Cathy McDavid (August ’08). Next month watch for Margot Early’s Holding the Baby, a story about a woman who is carrying a child for her sister…a sister who suddenly decides she no longer wants the baby. Watch for our final book in the series, A Daddy for Christmas by Laura Marie Altom, when we head west to Oklahoma for a family holiday story you’ll never forget.

We hope these romantic stories inspire you to celebrate where you live—because any place you raise a child is home.

Wishing you happy reading,

Kathleen Scheibling

Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance

A Dad for Her Twins

Tanya Michaels

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tanya Michaels started telling stories almost as soon as she could talk…and started stealing her mom’s Harlequin romances less than a decade later. In 2003, Tanya was thrilled to have her first book, a romantic comedy, published by Harlequin Books. Since then, Tanya has sold nearly twenty books and is a two-time recipient of a Booksellers’ Best Award, as well as a finalist for the Holt Medallion, National Readers’ Choice Award and Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award. Tanya lives in Georgia with her husband, two preschoolers and an unpredictable cat, but you can visit Tanya online at www.tanyamichaels.com.

My heartfelt thanks to Kathleen Scheibling for including me in the State of Parenthood series, and all my love to Ryan and Hailey, even if you do keep my life in a perpetual State of Chaos.

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

“Peachy Acres is a stupid name,” Drew complained from the backseat.

Thank you, Mr. Optimism. Mackenzie Green, intrepid single mom and owner of a minivan that was older than her nine-year-old twins, sighed inwardly.

Kenzie empathized with her son’s unhappiness over moving, but his negative commentary was making the four-hour trip from Raindrop, North Carolina, to Atlanta, Georgia, feel like an interminable cross-country trek. Or a voyage in space, she thought, vaguely recalling some old movie promo about no one being able to hear you scream. Too often Kenzie felt as if she were screaming on the inside.

Behind her, Leslie had adopted the prim, emphatic tone that made her sound like a cranky schoolteacher. “I’m sure it’s called Peachy Acres because Georgia is the Peach State,” she informed her brother.

Drew was unimpressed. “Know-it-all. I hate when you talk like you’re older than me. We’re the same age!”

“A person doesn’t have to be older to be smarter.”

“All right!” Kenzie took a breath, reminding herself that deep feelings of maternal love prevented her from strapping the kids to the roof for the duration of the trip. Well, maternal love and state laws. “You two be nice.”