Judy Duarte - His, Hers and...Theirs?

“I’m not surprised. You’re a natural mother.”

Her eyes brightened, and her cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink. “Thank you so much for saying that. I’ve been worried about the kind of mom I’ll be.”

“You’ll be the best. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

They stood just an arm’s length from each other.

A wave of desire washed over Dan, and he was sorely tempted to reach out and touch her, to run his knuckles along her cheek.

Her lips parted—half in surprise and half in arousal. But she wasn’t the only one whose thoughts had taken a sexual turn.

He wanted to kiss her again in the worst way. And in her eyes he could see that she wanted it, too.

Dear Reader,

It’s summer in Brighton Valley, Texas, the fictional town where His, Hers and…Theirs? takes place. The sun is warm, and the days are lazy.

It’s the perfect time for love, especially for a shy laboratory technologist who is pregnant—with twins!—and a rancher who has recently become the guardian to twins of his own.

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy books with medical professionals and hospital settings almost as much as I do books with cowboys and ranches. So writing the BRIGHTON VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER series has allowed me to create stories with all my favorite elements.

So whether your summer reading takes you to the front porch, the seashore or a faraway place, I hope you enjoy Dan and Eva’s romantic journey as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Happy reading!

Judy

P.S. If you want to know more about me and the books I write, please visit my Web site, www.JudyDuarte.com.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

always knew there was a book inside her, but since English was her least favorite subject in school, she never considered herself a writer. An avid reader who enjoys a happy ending, Judy couldn’t shake the dream of creating a book of her own.

Her dream became a reality in March of 2002, when Silhouette Special Edition released her first book, Cowboy Courage. Since then, she has published more than twenty novels.

Her stories have touched the hearts of readers around the world. And in July of 2005, Judy won the prestigious Readers’ Choice Award for The Rich Man’s Son.

Judy makes her home near the beach in Southern California. When she’s not cooped up in her writing cave, she’s spending time with her somewhat enormous but delightfully close family.

To Raema Pace, who not only gave me a personal tour of the lab at our local hospital, but also shares two grandchildren with me.

And to Emalee and Kaitlyn Colwell, who have brightened our lives and hearts.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

The playground at Twin Oaks Park was jam-packed with happy kids, and Dan Walker couldn’t feel any more out of place than if he’d walked into a Sunday service at the Brighton Valley Community Church wearing nothing but his boots and his Stetson.

Of course, the family-style event was just what the pediatrician had ordered, and his five-year-old niece and nephew were having the time of their lives.

The grounds were hopping with mommies who wiped noses and kissed boo-boos and with daddies who played catch and flew kites. But it had been a real shot in the dark for him to think that he would somehow pick up everything he needed to know about fatherhood by attending a Parents of Multiples outing.

When Dr. Tomlinson had suggested Dan bring Kevin and Kaylee to play at the park, he’d been desperate and had thought he would give it a try. He figured it might be a good way to check things out without actually becoming a card-carrying member of the group. But being there had only made him feel less confident about doing right by the kids.

As his niece and nephew dashed around the playground, fitting right in with the sandbox crowd, Dan stood along the sidelines and watched. Too bad he hadn’t decided to go the library instead. He could have checked out a copy of Parenting For Dummies or some other Daddy how-to book. Surely he would have picked up more information by reading than by osmosis at a family outing.

He supposed he ought to mosey on up to one of the real parents and ask, “How in the world do you do it? What’s the trick?”

But he’d learned never to admit his shortcomings. In fact, if he ever thought he had a better than average chance of failing at something, he preferred to hit the high road rather than face the risk.

He chuffed at the irony, since here he was, the least capable adult in the bunch. But apparently Fate hadn’t gotten that memo.

Last winter, on an icy Manhattan street, his sister, Jenny, who’d been struggling to make her mark on Broadway, had been struck by a car and killed.

When Dan had gotten the call, he’d been crushed. But it hadn’t been the tragic loss of his twin sister that had torn him up. That had been tough enough. But what had made matters worse was that the two of them had been estranged for years, and her death meant they’d never be able to patch things up.

And then there were the kids. Jenny had been a single mom, and even though Dan had only been around Kaylee and Kevin once since they’d been born, there’d been a will, and his sister had named him their guardian.

The fact that she’d done that had been comforting in a sense. It meant that she hadn’t completely shut him out of her life, that she’d known somewhere along the line that they’d eventually mend their rift.

Of course, who else was she supposed to leave them with? Their father had been a married man, which was one of several reasons Dan and Jenny had butted heads. So, he supposed, her options had been limited.

Either way, he wasn’t sure what his sister had been thinking when she’d chosen him as the guardian of her children. After all, what in the hell did he know about being a parent?

At thirty-eight he was set in his ways, to say the least, and with some luck and a good deal of determination, he’d managed to avoid marriage and family himself. Of course, even though wedding bells and a wife were still out, apparently single parenthood wasn’t.

After the funeral, he’d been prepared to take the kids back to the ranch with him in spite of all his insecurities. After all, he remembered how it felt to be young, homeless and unwanted. But it had been a stroke of luck for everyone involved when Catherine Loza, Jenny’s roommate, had asked to keep the kids with her in New York for a while.

Dan had been uneasy about leaving them behind, but they’d been so comfortable in a big city environment, in the fourth-floor apartment where they’d lived most of their lives. Besides, they knew Catherine much better than they knew him. So all things considered, it had seemed like the best solution for the kids.

On top of that, Catherine was a woman, and Lord knew that all kids needed a mother figure. Dan sure would have liked having one when he’d been five.

So he’d left Kevin and Kaylee with Catherine, called them regularly and sent monthly checks to cover their living expenses.

But several months later, Catherine got a big part in a Broadway musical and called Dan in a panic. She was looking at a grueling practice schedule followed by evening performances that would keep her out late at night. She could no longer take care of the kids, and Dan had flown back to New York and brought them home to Texas.

And now, two weeks into the whole family ordeal, he hadn’t gained much confidence, which didn’t sit easy with a man who was proud of the fact that he could out-rope, out-ride and out-cowboy just about anyone in Texas.

But parenting two five-year-olds? That was a whole different ball game.

Dan adjusted his Stetson, making sure the brim blocked the sun from his eyes. Then he hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans and shifted his weight to one hip.

Damn, he wished he were anywhere but here today. But this wasn’t about him; it was about the kids.

And right now, they were having a blast playing with the other twins and triplets, some of whom were dressed like mirror images of themselves.

But then again, why wouldn’t Kaylee and Kevin be having a good time at the park? Living on a cattle ranch with the uncle they scarcely remembered and a crotchety old cowboy-turned-nanny couldn’t possibly be any fun.

It was good to see them laughing and socializing, though.

Off to his right, he noticed a brunette who was also standing along the perimeter of the playground. She wore sunglasses, so he couldn’t see her entire face, but her cover-girl profile and shape were intriguing.

She didn’t appear to be a typical mom, although he couldn’t put his finger on why he’d come to that conclusion. Maybe because her purse was way too small to fit in all the things some of the other mothers packed, like little baggies filled with snacks, wet wipes and Band-Aids. Or maybe because earlier this morning she’d somehow found the time to weave her long dark hair into a fancy braid that hung down her back.

She was dressed differently than the others, too, with a pink scarf that was stylishly wrapped around her neck, a crisply pressed white cotton blouse and a pair of slim-fit black jeans.

Whether she was a mom or not, he decided she was nice to look at—and that she was an intriguing diversion from the hubbub and the energetic chatter that swarmed around him.

Dan had been so caught up in his perusal of the brunette that he hadn’t paid much attention to the activity on the playground—until a child let out a scream.

He watched the attractive woman dash across the sand toward the slide. As his gaze followed her, he realized that the screaming child was one of his.

Oh, God. His heart dropped to his gut, and his pulse kicked into overdrive as he hurried toward little Kaylee, who’d gotten hurt while Dan was supposed to be looking out for her.

The sight of blood running along the side of her face and her heart-wrenching screams shook him to the core.

Did he need any more proof of his shortcomings than that? He’d been gawking at an attractive woman, rather than watching the kids play, and he’d failed the kids, just as he’d known he would.

Hell, he wasn’t cut out to be a father, no matter what Fate seemed to think.

He dropped to his knees on the sand beside them and started to reach out to Kaylee with stiff arms, but as the brunette continued to tend to the child, he pulled back his hands and let someone more capable do the comforting.

“Oh, sweetie,” she said, lifting her sunglasses from her eyes and resting them atop her head. “What happened?”

“I…fell…down,” Kaylee sobbed. “And I got hurt. Really bad.” She lifted her little hand to her forehead to probe the gash, and as she lowered it, she spotted the blood on her fingers and let out another wail.

“It’s okay,” the brunette said. “It’s just a little blood. The owie isn’t very big.”

“Yes, it is,” her brother said. “And it’s bleeding a whole bunch. We better call the ambulance.”