‘BOUND BY A BABY moved me to tears many times. It is a full-on emotional drama. Author Kate Hardy brought this tale shimmering with emotions. Highly recommended for all lovers of romance.’
—Contemporary Romance Reviews
BOUND BY A BABY
won the 2014 RoNA
(Romantic Novelists’ Association) Rose award!
‘When you pick up a romance novel by Kate Hardy you know that you’re going to be reading a spellbinding novel which you will want to devour in a single sitting, and A CHRISTMAS KNIGHT is certainly no exception.’
—CataRomance
‘Bailey, I really want to kiss you,’ he whispered.
‘I want you to kiss me, too,’ she whispered back.
That was all the encouragement he needed. He dipped his head again, and took his sweet time kissing her. Every brush of his mouth against hers, every nibble, made him more and more aware of her. And she was kissing him back, her arms wrapped as tightly round him as his were round her.
He wanted this to last for ever.
But then he became aware that the music had changed and become more up-tempo, and he and Bailey were still swaying together as if the band was playing a slow dance. He broke the kiss, and he could see the exact moment that she realised what was going on, too. Those gorgeous dark eyes were absolutely huge. And she looked as shocked as he felt. Panicked, almost.
This wasn’t supposed to be happening.
‘I … um …’ she said, and tailed off.
‘Yeah.’ He didn’t know what to say either. What he really wanted to do was kiss her again …
When I wrote IT STARTED WITH NO STRINGS … I was drawn to the heroine’s best friend, Bailey Randall—she’s one of these irrepressibly cheerful people (quite like me!) and, given that she loves the gym and dance-based classes (ahem … again, quite like me!), I really had to give in and write her story.
But Bailey’s irrepressible cheeriness hides a deep sadness. And when she meets seemingly dour Scot Jared Fraser she discovers that he’s hiding a few things, too. She doesn’t think she can give him what he wants out of life, he completely misreads her, and yet they discover that they can’t resist each other. When Bailey’s worst nightmare and Jared’s deepest dream come true, will they realise that they could end up healing each other’s hearts?
I hope you enjoy their story.
I’m always delighted to hear from readers, so do come and visit me at www.katehardy.com
With love
Kate Hardy
KATE HARDY lives in Norwich, in the east of England, with her husband, two young children, one bouncy spaniel and too many books to count! When she’s not busy writing romance or researching local history, she helps out at her children’s schools. She also loves cooking—spot the recipes sneaked into her books! (They’re also on her website, along with extracts and stories behind the books.)
Writing for Mills & Boon® has been a dream come true for Kate—something she wanted to do ever since she was twelve. She’s been writing Medical Romances™ for over ten years now. She says it’s the best of both worlds, because she gets to learn lots of new things when she’s researching the background to a book: add a touch of passion, drama and danger, a new gorgeous hero every time, and it’s the perfect job!
Kate’s always delighted to hear from readers, so do drop in to her website at www.katehardy.com
A Baby to Heal
Their Hearts
Kate Hardy
To C.C. Coburn and Cathleen Ross—hope you enjoy Herod!
Table of Contents
Dear Reader
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
EPILOGUE
‘SHE’S A BONNY LASS, our Bailey,’ Archie said.
Jared’s heart sank at the expression on the coach’s face. Clearly Archie had taken a fancy to the researcher. And Jared had a nasty feeling that this might be a case of the coach’s libido taking over from his common sense.
Allegedly, this ‘bonny lass’ researcher had a system that could reduce soft-tissue injuries among the players. So far, so good—but the figures being bandied about were crazy. In Jared’s experience, when something sounded too good to be true, it usually was. And he could really do without some pretty, flaky girl distracting the players and getting in the way when he needed to treat them. Especially when he’d only just started his new job as the doctor to the youth team of a premiership division football