“Don’t presume to think you know me so well,” Nikki said stiffly.

      “Oh, I know you.” Alex stopped pacing. Stared at her in the firelight. “And I know that out of all the women in my life you’re the only one I ever counted on. And you walked out without one single reason that I can accept. Was I really that impossible to work with, Nik?”

      “You didn’t do anything.” Nikki’s voice was husky.

      “But someone did. Was it the father of your baby?”

      “Just…leave it alone, please.”

      “You’re just letting this yahoo walk. Without taking any responsibility at all for the baby.”

      “It doesn’t concern you!”

      He inhaled. Exhaled more slowly. “Then why does it feel as if it does?”

      Nikki didn’t answer.

      And Alex knew he was right. If he weren’t, she would have said so. But knowing it with more certainty than ever didn’t make him feel any better.

      Dear Reader,

      Well, it’s September, which always sounds like a fresh start to me, no matter how old I get. And evidently we have six women this month who agree. In Home Again by Joan Elliott Pickart, a woman who can’t have children has decided to work with them in a professional capacity—but when she is assigned an orphaned little boy, she fears she’s in over her head. Then she meets his gorgeous guardian—and she’s sure of it!

      In the next installment of MOST LIKELY TO…, The Measure of a Man by Marie Ferrarella, a single mother attempting to help her beloved former professor joins forces with a former campus golden boy, now the college…custodian. What could have happened? Allison Leigh’s The Tycoon’s Marriage Bid pits a pregnant secretary against her ex-boss who, unbeknownst to him, has a real connection to her baby’s father. In The Other Side of Paradise by Laurie Paige, next up in her SEVEN DEVILS miniseries, a mysterious woman seeking refuge as a ranch hand learns that she may have more ties to the community than she could have ever suspected. When a beautiful nurse is assigned to care for a devastatingly handsome, if cantankerous, cowboy, the results are…well, you get the picture—but you can have it spelled out for you in Stella Bagwell’s next MEN OF THE WEST book, Taming a Dark Horse. And in Undercover Nanny by Wendy Warren, a domestically challenged female detective decides it’s necessary to penetrate the lair of single father and heir to a grocery fortune by pretending to be…his nanny. Hmm. It could work.…

      So enjoy, and snuggle up. Fall weather is just around the corner.…

      Happy reading!

      Gail Chasan

      Senior Editor

      The Tycoon’s Marriage Bid

      Allison Leigh

      For my family.

      Always.

      ALLISON LEIGH

      started early by writing a Halloween play that her grade-school class performed. Since then, though her tastes have changed, her love for reading has not. And her writing appetite simply grows more voracious by the day.

      She has been a finalist in the RITA^® Award and the Holt Medallion contests. But the true highlights of her day as a writer are when she receives word from a reader that they laughed, cried or lost a night of sleep while reading one of her books.

      Born in Southern California, Allison has lived in several different cities in four different states. She has been, at one time or another, a cosmetologist, a computer programmer and a secretary. She has recently begun writing full-time after spending nearly a decade as an administrative assistant for a busy neighborhood church, and currently makes her home in Arizona with her family. She loves to hear from her readers, who can write to her at P.O. Box 40772, Mesa, AZ 85274-0772.

      GRANDMA’S 20-MINUTE BROWNIE RECIPE

      2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate

      ½ cup butter

      3 eggs

      1 cup sugar

      ¾ cup flour

      ½ tsp baking powder

      ¼ tsp salt

      ½ tsp vanilla

      1 cup chopped nuts

      Preheat oven to 350° F.

      Melt chocolate and butter. Cool. Beat eggs 5 minutes. Add sugar and beat again. Sift dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Add melted chocolate mixture. Add vanilla and nuts. Spread in a greased 9"x13" pan and bake at 350° F for 20 minutes. Can dust top lightly with powered sugar. Cut and remove from pan while hot.

      Contents

      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

      Epilogue

       Chapter One

      Nikki Day didn’t want to open her eyes. Not when doing so would confirm that yes, she was very much in a hospital bed, and now she was losing her mind, to boot. Because there was no way on earth that he would really be sitting there in the recliner next to the bed as if he belonged there.

      Which meant she was seeing things.

      Hallucinating.

      As if she didn’t have enough worries already.

      Her arm curled protectively over her abdomen as she felt another hard kick. At least that movement assured her that whatever was happening and why ever she was here, the baby was now gunning for kicker of the year. Nikki was in her sixth month. She figured by the time she made it to nine, the baby would be leaving behind permanent footprints—her own personal Hollywood Walk of Fame.

      She gingerly shifted to her side, pushing a pillow against her abdomen, trying to find a more comfortable position, and regrettably opened her eyes as she did so.

      He was still there.

      Dismay shot through her and she hurriedly closed them again.

      Tightly.

      “Nice to see you, too,” the apparition said in a low voice.

      It appeared that when Nikki hallucinated, she could do it with as much accuracy and precision as she’d done most things in her life.

      The realization made her want to laugh. Was she hysterical?

      She shifted again, wishing she could escape the ache in her back as much as she wished she could escape the rabbit hole she’d fallen down.

      “Careful. You don’t want to yank out that IV line.”

      She nearly came out of her skin when those long, capable…warm fingers settled over her hand.