Another Man's Baby. Judith McWilliams
“This Conversation Is Getting Us Nowhere. My Business Is With Damon’s Grandfather. Please Take Me To Him.” Letter to Reader Title Page About the Author Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Copyright
“This Conversation Is Getting Us Nowhere. My Business Is With Damon’s Grandfather. Please Take Me To Him.”
“Not until you agree to my proposal,” Philip said.
“What proposal?” Ginny snapped. “So far, all I’ve heard is you pontificating about things you know nothing about.”
“Damon’s grandfather Jason and I have discussed this, and we’ve agreed that we will say that you’ve brought the boy to see me.”
“You!” Ginny’s eyes widened as a powerful flood of tangled emotions twisted through her. Pretend that she had been Philip Lysander’s lover? That she had lain against his naked body? That he had kissed her and... Ginny swallowed against the sudden dryness in her mouth.
“That way, people will assume that the boy—”
“Damon,” Ginny corrected. “His name is Damon.”
“—is mine.”
Dear Reader,
This month: strong and sexy heroes!
First, the Tallchiefs—that intriguing, legendary family—are back, and this time it’s Birk Tallchief who meets his match in Cait London’s MAN OF THE MONTH, The Groom Candidate. Birk’s been pining for Lacey MacCandliss for years, but once he gets her, there’s nothing but trouble of the most romantic kind. Don’t miss this delightful story from one of Desire’s most beloved writers.
Next, nobody creates a strong, sexy hero quite like Sara Orwig, and in her latest, Babes in Arms, she brings us Colin Whitefeather, a tough and tender man you’ll never forget. And in Judith McWilliams’s Another Man’s Baby we meet Philip Lysander, a Greek tycoon who will do anything to save his family...even pretend to be a child’s father.
Peggy Moreland’s delightful miniseries, TROUBLE IN TEXAS, continues with Lone Star Kind of Man. The man in question is rugged rogue cowboy Cody Fipes. In Big Sky Drifter, by Doreen Owens Malek, a wild Wyoming man named Cal Winston tames a lonely woman. And in Cathie Linz’s Husband Needed, bachelor Jack Elliott surprises himself when he offers to trade his single days for married nights.
In Silhouette Desire you’ll always find the most irresistible men around! So enjoy!
Senior Editor
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
Another Man’s Baby
Judith McWilliams
JUDITH MCWILLIAMS
began to enjoy romances while in search of the proverbial “happily ever afters.” But she always found herself rewriting the endings, and eventually the beginnings, of the books she read. Then her husband finally suggested that she write novels of her own, and she’s been doing so ever since. An ex-teacher with four children, Judith has traveled the country extensively with her husband and has been greatly influenced by those experiences. But while not tending the garden or caring for family, Judith does what she enjoys most—writing. She has also written under the name Charlotte Hines.
Prologue
“What happened? Why aren’t you at work? It’s two o’clock.”
Reluctantly, Ginny Alton turned as the whiny sound of her next-door neighbor’s voice accosted her.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Rolle,” Ginny said, shifting her heavy bag of groceries from one slim hip to the other.
“Not so far it hasn’t been.” Mrs. Rolle’s voice took on a peevish note that Ginny very much feared was a prelude to a recital of her problems, real and imaginary. Normally, Ginny listened patiently to the elderly woman’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of complaints because she felt sorry for her, but today she simply didn’t have the time.
“That’s too bad,” Ginny murmured as she inched closer to her apartment door. “But I really can’t stop to talk. My cousin is waiting for the baby’s formula.” She knocked softly on the door, not wanting to wake up Damon if he were sleeping.
“Has Beth given you cancer, too? Is that why you’re not at work?” Mrs. Rolle’s face took on an avid expression that chilled Ginny.
“Leukemia is not contagious.” Ginny knocked again, a little harder this time, mentally urging Beth to hurry before she said something very rude.
“Ha! What do doctors know? Why, when they took out my gall bladder—”
Ginny ignored the oft-repeated story as she fished her key out of the pocket of her well-worn jeans. Why hadn’t Beth answered? she wondered uneasily. She wasn’t strong enough to leave the apartment by herself. Could she have had a delayed reaction to yesterday’s chemotherapy treatment? Could she have fainted?
An escalating sense of urgency filled Ginny as she unlocked the door and shoved it open. Dropping the groceries just inside, she closed the door behind her, not even hearing Mrs. Rolle’s outraged gasp.
Fearfully, Ginny glanced around her spacious living room, but it was empty. As was the small kitchen with its minuscule dining area. Ginny was about to check the bedroom Beth shared with her son when the muffled sound of sobbing raised the hair on the back of her neck.
Ginny hurried down the hall toward the heartbroken sound. It was coming from her own bedroom. Ginny silently pushed the door open and found Beth sitting in the middle of her bed crying in a hopeless fashion that tore at Ginny’s heart.
“Hey, it’s not that bad, kiddo.” Ginny made a determined effort to sound positive. “You know