Tina Leonard - Her Secret Sons

Pacing the room, Pepper stopped to look out a window, then faced him again. Her eyes were so big in her face that she seemed startled.

“Go on,” he said, “tell me what’s on your mind. You’re starting to worry me.”

Tears jumped into her eyes, and her hands frantically wiped at her face. He didn’t know what else to do, so he put an arm around her, surprised by how quickly she collapsed and put her head against his chest.

The moment was too brief. Pulling away from him, she squared her shoulders and stuck out her chin. “Luke, years ago, you and I—”

“Wait. I think I know where you’re going with this. I don’t even think about it much. What happened, happened. We were just kids.”

Pepper swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “Well, we kids made kids.”

He stared at her, perplexed. “You were pregnant?”

Dear Reader,

I loved writing THE TULIPS SALOON series, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the Forrester family. Pepper Forrester struck me as the kind of woman who held strongly to family and friends and community, and therefore she reminds me of the best of what many of my readers have shown me in their own lives. I’ve enjoyed the notes and letters you’ve sent me over the years, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything I’ve learned from you. Pepper is her own woman, but like many of you, she’s strong and giving, and charms her bad boy on her terms. That, for me, is the essence of a happy ending for a heroine—my own personal happy ending is the great honor you’ve given me by letting me tell you my stories.

Best wishes,

Tina Leonard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Cream 1½ cups granulated sugar and 2 eggs. Sift 2½ cups self-rising flour with ½ tsp salt. Add 1 cup buttermilk and 1½ cups vegetable oil to sugar and eggs. Slowly add flour to mixture. Mix 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp vinegar together and quickly pour into batter. Add 2 oz red food coloring and mix well. Makes three 8-inch cake layers.

Grease and flour cake pans. Bake at 350°F for twenty to twenty-five minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the frosting, mix:

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

1 stick margarine

1 box powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Add:

1 cup chopped nuts

Frost layers and enjoy!

—Many thanks to Julie Goode for sharing this recipe with me twenty years ago.

Tina Leonard loves to laugh, which is one of the many reasons she loves writing Harlequin American Romance books. In another lifetime, Tina thought she would be single and an East Coast fashion buyer forever. The unexpected happened when Tina met Tim again after many years—she hadn’t seen him since they’d attended school together from first through eighth grade. They married, and now Tina keeps a close eye on her school-age children’s friends! Lisa and Dean keep their mother busy with soccer, gymnastics and horseback riding. They are proud of their mom’s “kissy books” and eagerly help her any way they can. Tina hopes that readers will enjoy the love of family she writes about in her books. A reviewer once wrote, “Leonard had a wonderful sense of the ridiculous,” which Tina loved so much she wants it for her epitaph. Right now, however, she’s focusing on her wonderful life and writing a lot more romance! You can visit her at www.tinaleonard.com.

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

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

“I’ll be wasting my time and your breath if I let myself care what anybody thinks about me.”

—Pepper Forrester, on a warm June day to everyone within earshot in Tulips, Texas

Men were Pepper Forrester’s downfall—and her salvation.

For the past thirteen years Pepper had lived in the north with her aunt Jerry, bringing up her twin sons. They were thirteen now, and they were her salvation.

She had two brothers, Zach and Duke, who were both happy to disrupt her life, although mostly with charm and well-meaning opinions. Her brothers were also her salvation.

The twins’ father—the man responsible for seducing Pepper out of her good sense and virginity—was Luke McGarrett, the only man she’d ever loved. As to why Pepper loved him, there was an obvious, yet painful answer: he’d been glib, sexy, hot. She’d said yes—and therefore he’d been her downfall.

But that was the past. It was time to bring closure to her life, so she’d chosen to return to Tulips, Texas, to confess the secret she’d kept all these years: she had done her own bit to increase the tiny town’s population on the sly.

But while she would be proud to introduce her sons to friends and family alike, Pepper hoped that no one would suspect Luke was the father.

She comforted herself by thinking about how he had taken off after high school to find his way in the world, never to be seen again, and only heard from infrequently.

Pepper packed the last box, looking around at the place where she and the twins had lived for the past thirteen years. They’d been happy here, and yet to her, Tulips and the Triple F ranch were home, sweet home. She looked forward to the move home even though she knew her brothers were going to be mad and hurt that she’d kept their nephews from them. Duke and Zach had been adamantly opposed to their own women having a baby without them—no child of theirs would be unaware of who their father was! Unbeknownst to them, Pepper had done just that—deprived her sons of their father. She wasn’t proud of it.

This would be a shock for everyone. The citizens of Tulips considered her to be an intelligent and responsible person.

Pansy Trifle and Helen Granger, town elders, members of the Tulips Saloon Gang and two of her dearest friends while she was growing up, would be stunned. Bug Carmine and Hiram Parsons, two of the local men who kept Tulips running, would have plenty of thoughts on the matter.

Pepper dreaded the confession. Thirteen years wasn’t long enough for people’s memories to fade. Back then Pepper had been a bright-eyed girl who’d recently lost her parents, and Luke had been her hero. She’d fallen so deeply in love that still, after all these years, she wished their relationship had been more than a high school dream.

Too bad he’d turned out to be such a rat.

Pepper had been an excellent student, determined to get into college and then medical school. Immediately following her high school graduation, after Luke had made his own departure from town—and before she really began to show—Pepper had fled to the North. Her aunt Jerry loved her in spite of everything, and helped her out with the twins while Pepper attended classes. She felt guilty for keeping the boys from their father, but knew from her brothers that Luke had never returned to Tulips, not even for a holiday. That salved her conscience somewhat.

She’d recently purchased a house in Tulips, as well as a building she’d converted into a medical clinic to service the small town. It was her way of giving back to the people who had taken such good care of her over the years; it was her way of returning with grace and honor and hope for belonging.

“Come on, boys,” she said, “it’s time to go home.”

“I guess you’re sure this is the right thing to do,” Toby said.

“No. I’m not.” She locked the door behind them. “But now I have my own clinic and so we’re moving to where my job and your family are.”

“They don’t feel like family. Aunt Jerry is family,” Josh said.

Duke and Zach might never forgive her for this. “Aunt Jerry may come live in Tulips next year.”

“Really?” Both boys perked up.

They all piled in the car, and Pepper nodded. “I think so. After I have some time to get us settled.”

“So…will our father be there?” Toby, who sat beside her in the front seat, asked.

Pepper swallowed hard. “No. He never returned to Tulips. I don’t know where he is. I’m sorry.”

Toby shrugged and took a last look out the window; in the backseat, Josh had his face pressed up against the glass—two sad boys saying their goodbyes to the only home they’d ever known.

“I love you both so much,” she said.

“People are going to make fun of us. The kids are going to know we don’t have a father,” Josh stated.

“I don’t think that will happen. I believe you’ll be embraced with open arms. It’s me everyone is going to be a little surprised by, but…” She took a deep breath…“I never said I was perfect. And you guys are my saving graces. My life is good because of you.”

They accepted that in silence, and Pepper didn’t begrudge them their mood. At least she didn’t have to face the one thing she probably never could: Luke McGarrett. From him, she was safe.

Although after she jumped this hurdle, she really was going to have to think about introducing Luke to his sons. Somehow.

LUKE MCGARRETT HELPED three women onto the luxury yacht with his usual courteous smile. Then he assisted their father, the general, on board, as well, scanning the landscape to make certain they weren’t being followed by paparazzi, mischief-makers or beggars.

It was a tough life having to guard beautiful, leggy blondes every day of his life, but someone had to do it, he thought with a grin. Being a world traveler and in the employ of the general definitely had its rewards. Mainly the scenery.

The “scenery” was untouchable, of course, since protecting them was his job, but he had to admit he wasn’t attracted to the girls. If anything, he was attracted to the traveling and the money and the fact that he’d never have to return to Tulips, Texas.

He sat at the stern once everyone was seated and pulled a letter from his inside shirt pocket to reread.

Luke, you’ve been gone a long time. I’m getting older and need some help with the family real estate business. I’d like my only son to learn my profession and I’d like to spend some time getting to know you. I’ve missed that.

Love, Dad

Luke put the letter away, resisting the urge to toss it into the sea. There was nothing in Tulips for him. He didn’t care about the family business. The last thing he was ever going to do was find a wife and settle down and start having kids—and he knew very well that was on his father’s mind. Oh, no, sir, not me. I’m single and proud of it.

One of the blondes smiled at him, and he felt much better. The scenery was just so damn good it nearly hurt.

THERE WAS NO EASY WAY to do this. Pepper had thought long and hard for years about how to tell people her secret. Just imagining herself saying the words was difficult.

But it was time. So Pepper called a meeting at the Tulips Saloon, knowing it was best to tell her family and friends all at once.

Duke and Zach were seated in the antique chairs of the saloon with their wives, Liberty and Jessie, beside them, their children bouncing on their knees. Pepper turned her attention to their friends Helen Granger, Pansy Trifle, Hiram Parsons and Bug Carmine. This was her family, extended and otherwise, and the best thing to do when spilling a secret was to do it surrounded by people who loved her.