Excerpt Letter to Reader About the Author Title Page Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Copyright
“Woman, You Were Meant For Loving,” Josh Said In A Husky Voice.
Mattie’s heart thudded. His hand was on her throat and his dark eyes held a smoldering intensity that she hadn’t seen before. His voice was raw with desire. The few times they had been together before their wedding, she’d sometimes wondered whether he’d seen her at all—but not now. At this moment she had his undivided attention.
“You are absolutely the first and only man to think so,” she said.
He tilted her chin higher, running his index finger along her jaw in a slow, tantalizing trail that made her tingle. Her body was responding to him in ways she had never experienced. She felt as if she was wound tightly inside, an urgency gathering in her.
“It’s been a hell of a long time since I really kissed a woman....”
Dear Reader,
February, month of valentines, celebrates lovers—which is what Silhouette Desire does every month of the year. So this month, we have an extraspecial lineup of sensual and emotional page-turners. But how do you choose which exciting book to read first when all six stones are asking Be Mine?
Bestselling author Barbara Boswell delivers February’s MAN OF THE MONTH, a gorgeous doctor who insists on being a full-time father to his newly discovered child, in The Brennan Baby. Brute of the Bad Boy is the wonderful first book in Elizabeth Bevarly’s brand-new BLAME IT ON BOB trilogy. Don’t miss this fun story about a marriage of inconvenience!
Cupid slings an arrow at neighboring ranchers in Her Torrid Temporary Marriage by Sara Orwig. Next, a woman’s thirtieth-birthday wish brings her a supersexy cowboy—and an unexpected pregnancy—in The Texan, by Catherine Lanigan. Carole Buck brings red-hot chemistry to the pages of Three-Alarm Love. And Barbara McCauley’s Courtship in Granite Ridge reunites a single mother with the man she’d always loved.
Have a romantic holiday this month—and every month—with Silhouette Desire. Enjoy!
Melissa Senate
Senior Editor
Please address questions and book requests to:
Silhouette Reader Service U S.: 3010 Walden Ave., PO. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609. Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
About the Author
SARA ORWIG lives with her husband and children in Oklahoma. She has a patient husband who will take her on research trips anywhere from big cities to old forts. She is an avid collector of Western history books. With a master’s degree in English, Sara writes historical romance, mainstream fiction and contemporary romance. Books are beloved treasures that take Sara to magical worlds, and she loves both reading and writing them.
Her Torrid Temporary Marriage
Sara Orwig
To Debra Robertson with thanks
One
“I wouldn’t want to lose a wife—that’s really rough. But otherwise, I wouldn’t mind having your problem,” Bear Holcomb said as he leaned against the bar and looked at Josh Brand.
“No, in my circumstances you wouldn’t want it,” Josh said to the hulking man who fit his nickname. “I’m not ready for a woman in my life. I just want a nanny for my baby, not an affair. I’ve had three nannies in less than two months. I wanted a nanny, and they wanted a husband.”
“Stop advertising locally where they know who you are,” Tom Shellene drawled, leaning back in a chair with his booted feet propped on a table and a beer in his hand, his shaggy blond hair hanging over his eyes. “These women know you’re an eligible bachelor.”
“I tried that,” Josh replied, glancing around the barroom at the empty, scarred tables. Afternoon sunlight streamed through the one narrow window that gave a limited view of the main street of Latimer, Texas. “I got ten replies— only two were worth interviewing. One woman talked two hours straight. The other one had child-rearing ideas that weren’t compatible with what I want for my daughter.” He took a long drink of cold beer and placed the bottle on the bar. “What happened to the little rosy-cheeked, gray-haired grannies like the one I had?”
“They’ve got careers or their own families,” Bear drawled.
“So it seems.” Josh smoothed errant wisps of blond hair on the six-month-old baby sleeping in a carrier at his elbow on the bar. He picked up the carrier. “I better clear out before Brad sees us and raises a fuss about a baby in a bar in his jurisdiction. See you guys. C‘mon, Li’l Bit.”
They mumbled goodbyes, and Josh stepped into warm Texas sunshine. The sun blazed high above the quiet main street. Light reflected off the chrome trim on pickups parked around the town square. The two-story sandstone county courthouse was bathed in a rosy hue, and tall mulberry trees shed circles of dappled shade over the courthouse lawn. Usually Josh loved the town, his ranch and springtime, but this year had turned into one nightmare after another, and now he barely noticed his surroundings.
He fastened Elizabeth Mary Brand’s carrier onto the back seat of his black pickup and went around to climb behind the wheel.
“We’re going home, Li’l Bit. Maybe this week’s ad will find just the right nanny for you.” He drove along the wide main street of the small town in Clayton County, on the edge of the hill country. In minutes they were heading northwest along the highway on the way to his Triple B ranch.
His thoughts churned, and he glanced at the sleeping baby, feeling love wash through him. She was so tiny, so fragile, yet he loved her fiercely and didn’t want to give her up. His mother in Chicago would take Elizabeth, but he couldn’t bear to part with her. Frustrated, he struck the steering wheel with his fist.
An