“I feel like a teenager who’s about to be caught necking,”
Nathan whispered, chuckling softly as he helped Gwen straighten her blouse.
Gwen just smiled. He actually looked discomfited, and she thought that was too alluring for words.
At that moment she felt something happen inside her. A funny, heated hitch in her heart. Gwen had never been in love before. She’d never experienced the feeling of falling for a man. Of feeling as if she wouldn’t mind spending the rest of the night with him…or maybe even the rest of her life with him. But if she had to hazard a guess…she’d have to say that the emotion humming through her was just that.
Love.
The Sheriff’s 6-Year-Old Secret
Donna Clayton
To the Delaware Moms
Thank you for your friendship and support
Books by Donna Clayton
Silhouette Romance
Mountain Laurel #720
Taking Love in Stride #781
Return of the Runaway Bride #999
Wife for a While #1039
Nanny and the Professor #1066
Fortune’s Bride #1118
Daddy Down the Aisle #1162
*Miss Maxwell Becomes a Mom #1211
*Nanny in the Nick of Time #1217
*Beauty and the Bachelor Dad #1223
†The Stand-By Significant Other #1284
†Who’s the Father of Jenny’s Baby? #1302
The Boss and the Beauty #1342
His Ten-Year-Old Secret #1373
Her Dream Come True #1399
Adopted Dad #1417
His Wild Young Bride #1441
**The Nanny Proposal #1477
**The Doctor’s Medicine Woman #1483
**Rachel and the M.D. #1489
Who Will Father My Baby? #1507
In Pursuit of a Princess #1582
††The Sheriff’s 6-Year-Old Secret #1623
Silhouette Books
The Coltons
Close Proximity
DONNA CLAYTON
is the recipient of the Diamond Author Award for Literary Achievement 2000, as well as two Holt Medallions. She became a writer through her love of reading. As a child, she marveled at her ability to travel the world, experience swashbuckling adventures and meet amazingly bold and daring people without ever leaving the shade of the huge oak in her very own backyard. She takes great pride in knowing that, through her work, she provides her readers the chance to indulge in some purely selfish romantic entertainment.
One of her favorite pastimes is traveling. Her other interests include walking, reading, visiting with friends, teaching Sunday school, cooking and baking, and she still collects cookbooks, too. In fact, her house is overrun with them.
Please write to Donna care of Silhouette Books. She’d love to hear from you!
Contents
Chapter One
The last thing Nathan Thunder needed was more trouble.
“Looks like more trouble is just what you’re in for, though.” His murmur held a distinct quality of resigned despair as he dropped the phone receiver into its cradle. He scrubbed at the back of his neck and then let his fingers worry back and forth across his jaw.
Having just stepped into the job of sheriff of Smoke Valley Reservation a few short weeks ago, he was doing all he could to unite his small staff into a team. He’d returned to the reservation after a long absence and now needed to spend loads of time allowing the residents to get to know him again. A law officer who didn’t have the respect and trust of the community couldn’t carry out his duties effectively.
Not that Nathan was an outsider, by any means. Yes, he’d left Smoke Valley more than ten years ago to attend the New York City Police Academy. He’d joined the NYPD and was proud of his distinguished career. But he’d been back to visit his friends and family on the rez many times. And he was back for good now. If truth be known, he was happy about the move, as well as relieved; this job seemed to have put his haunting fear to rest.
Oh, he was confident he could do a good job as sheriff—he’d unify his officers and garner the community’s trust. He was certain of it. He only wished that confidence extended itself to his personal life. Now that was where the real trouble lay: in his personal life. Namely, his daughter, Charity.
His daughter. He still couldn’t get over the astounding turn of events that had brought this child into his life just five short weeks ago.
When Nathan thought of little girls, he imagined sugar and spice and everything nice. Sweet smiles. Frilly dresses. Ballet lessons. Butterfly kisses. Now the Great Spirit above knew Nathan had no understanding whatsoever of children, but six-year-old Charity seemed to break every single label ever slapped on the female of the species. She had a rough-and-tumble attitude, an aversion to any clothing with even a hint of a ruffle and a speak-your-mind tongue that often had him at a loss for words.
Her wildness needed taming. And the short phone conversation he’d just had with the principal of the local elementary school only cemented the notion into his brain. It seemed his bruiser of a daughter had socked a fellow student during