Karen Booth – Secret Twins For The Texan (страница 1)
Six years later, his ex is back. And she’s got twin secrets...
What will wealthy private investigator Cole Sullivan say when he discovers the woman he left years ago is the mother of his twins? Before Dani Moore can tell him to stay away, they share a searing kiss instead, confirming their explosive chemistry is far from over. But will Cole’s own life-or-death secret—the one that destroyed their relationship—continue to keep them apart?
KAREN BOOTH is a Midwestern girl transplanted to the South, raised on ’80s music, Judy Blume and the films of John Hughes. She writes sexy big-city love stories. When she takes a break from the art of romance, she teaches her kids about good music, hones her Southern cooking skills or sweet-talks her husband into whipping up a batch of cocktails. Find out more about Karen at www.karenbooth.net.
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Snowed in with a Billionaire Pregnant
by the Billionaire
Little Secrets: Holiday Baby Bombshell
Between Marriage and Merger
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk
Secret Twins for the Texan
Karen Booth
ISBN: 978-1-474-07656-2
SECRET TWINS FOR THE TEXAN
© 2018 Harlequin Books S.A.
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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For my Desire author sisters,
Joanne Rock and Cat Schield.
I couldn’t have written this book without you!
Contents
More than anything, Cole Sullivan wanted some dinner. It had been a long day of juggling his two jobs—running the Sullivan Cattle Co., his family’s longhorn ranch, and investigating the disappearance of Jason Phillips, which had recently become a murder case. There were not enough hours in the day to be good at one thing, so Cole felt as though he was half-assing everything, and that was not the way he liked to operate.
But before food, he needed a shower. Hours out on a horse had his back in knots, and just as much time on the phone and the computer doing investigative work had his shoulders feeling even worse. He left behind his filthy ranch clothes and walked across the cool Carrara marble floor in his luxurious master bath. This was one of his favorite places to unwind and enjoy the finer things in life. With a turn of the gleaming chrome handle, a dozen showerheads sprang to life in the generous glass enclosure. He ducked into the hot spray, adjusting a few nozzles to hit his back and shoulders in just the right spots. Drawing in a deep breath, he willed his muscles to do the unthinkable and relax. The stress he was under was not good for him. His doctors would be deeply disappointed to learn how much strain he was putting his body through every day. He was practically tempting death. But it didn’t matter. Worry about his physical state wasn’t going to keep the multimillion dollar family business running, and it wouldn’t avenge the death of an innocent man who’d left behind a seven-year-old daughter.
“Cole? You in there?” Cole’s younger brother, Sam, was yelling out in the hall. This was one of the downsides of having his two brothers living on the family ranch. Separate houses for both Sam and Kane, and even at opposite corners of the sprawling property, but still, very little privacy.
Cole shut off the water and grabbed a thick white towel from the heated chrome bar, another luxury he appreciated greatly on days like today. “Yeah. I’m in here. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just meant to talk to you about something today, but we haven’t had a spare minute.”
“Got it.”
Cole ruffled his hair with the towel, then wrapped it around his waist. Padding into his walk-in closet, he grabbed clean jeans and a plaid shirt, and joined his brother. Sam was out in the kitchen, sitting on one of the eight hand-tooled leather stools at the bar overlooking the center island topped with black Ashford marble. Much like the bathroom, no expense had been spared in the kitchen, with state-of-the-art stainless appliances and—something Cole considered a necessity for his coffee habit—a commercial grade espresso machine.
“What’s up?” Cole headed straight for the subzero refrigerator and pulled out the steak he’d been looking forward to all day. He set it on the counter to let it come to room temperature.
“Dani’s back in town.”
Cole froze for a moment, letting those words sink in. He turned around. “What did you say?”
“Danica? Your ex-girlfriend? She’s back in town. I thought you’d want to know.” Sam threaded his fingers through his thick brown hair, a shade or two darker than Cole’s. His blue eyes were plaintive, as if he expected Cole to accept the truth, regardless of the implications. Five years younger, Sam had a way of just coming out with things. There wasn’t much diplomacy.