www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Thanks to Peter Mounce, brother-in-law and font of knowledge on the thoroughbred horse-breeding industry; to Kelli Lowe, a friend who conveniently participated in the same phase of pregnancy as the heroine of this book and shared her “bump” stories with me (Hello to beautiful baby boy Alex!) and to Debbie and Paul Thistoll of the Emerald Lodge Stud near Christchurch, who gave up their precious time to show me around their busy and successful stud farm.

      Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Jan Colley

       for her contribution to the DAKOTA FORTUNES miniseries.

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Coming Next Month

      One

      Skylar pressed Send and waited for the personalized world clock to do its thing.

      “Sioux Falls, South Dakota, U.S.A,” she read off the screen. “Friday, 9:06 p.m. Christchurch, New Zealand, Saturday, 4:06 p.m.”

      Would he be working?

      Scraping her fingernails along damp palms, she drew in a ragged breath and hopefully a bucket of courage. Too long had passed, about three months too long, but she could hide it no longer.

      Phone, address book…her fingers raced around the desk, tidying the jar of pens, straightening papers. Should she make a drink or go to the bathroom first? If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it. Who said that? she wondered, then a knock at the door cranked up her heartbeat. A welcome relief? A stay of execution? But the butterflies stayed with her as she rose, tugging her long shirt down over her sweats.

      It was easy to avoid people, living in the cottage by the stables, away from the prying eyes of the main house on the estate. No one had noticed a thing, but that wasn’t surprising. After all, who ever noticed Skylar? But the concern in her brother’s eyes on a rare visit from Deadwood last week came back to her now.

      “Coming.” Skylar yanked the door open and nearly passed out on the spot.

      Zack Manning opened his mouth then closed it again with an audible snap, or that might have been the sound of her knees buckling.

      He stared at her, the beginnings of a smile on his handsome face fading fast.

      Her worst nightmare. Adrenaline flooded her system and she could not look away. She felt her lips move in a soundless prayer, felt the tension in her fingers, balled into fists by her sides.

      After an age, he lowered his gaze, straight to her midriff. Released momentarily, she sagged against the doorjamb, but her relief was short-lived. Incredulous gray eyes shot back to her face, pinning her again, and she watched his tanned face leach slowly of color.

      Skylar swallowed. “Zack,” she said, her tone just above a whisper. Deny everything. He couldn’t see what she had hidden under her long checked flannel shirt.

      “When did you think you might put me in the picture?”

      Skylar’s head dropped and she stared at her feet. “I was just—I just got off the Net. The world clock…” Her voice trailed off. Did she expect him to believe that when she was four months pregnant and hadn’t bothered before now?

      The crown of her downcast head prickled under his glare. Sighing, she moved to the side so he could enter. Skylar closed the door as he brushed past but did not turn immediately. Instead she leaned her forehead on the door, gathering her jumbled thoughts, but the truth of it was, she had no idea what to say.

      Slowly she turned. Zack prowled the lounge of her cozy little cottage and he looked furious. Tightly controlled, but furious. His tall rangy form bristled with tension, his mouth was set in a harsh line.

      She hovered by the door, hoping she didn’t look as tragic as she felt.

      Zack suddenly came to a halt and leaned forward with his large hands spread on the battered leather of her old sofa. “We used protection.” His voice was flat.

      Skylar’s first thought was surprise that he did not question the baby’s paternity, that he automatically assumed this was his child. Then she bit her lip to stop a rogue smile. Who would want her? After all, she’d been a virgin that night back at the beginning of February.

      “The…it broke, I guess.” She kept her face down, unable to even say the word. Her face felt hot enough to fry an egg on. How excruciating, to be discussing this with him. “I thought—” her breath hitched “—it might have, when Maya was here.”

      Her best friend had burst into the unlocked cottage almost the moment they’d finished. Skylar had panicked, vaulting from her bed, pushing at him while throwing a robe on. Maya had a habit of just walking up the stairs and into her bedroom.

      “I think I would know!” His voice was low with an icy undertone.

      Her shoulders jerked as she recalled the desperate whispers, how she had pushed him into her bathroom and closed the door. There was just enough time to kick his clothes under the bed and straighten the covers before a tearful Maya walked into the room.

      Aside from the fantastic sex, it was a pretty lousy end to her first time.

      “I would have known!” he insisted.

      “The light was out,” Skylar whispered. Images of herding him into her bathroom played through her mind like a film clip. His hand reaching for the light switch. Her hand slapping it away. “You probably couldn’t see.”

      “And you didn’t think to mention it at the time?”

      “I wasn’t sure.” She rubbed her forehead, sighing wearily. It was her first time, how was she supposed to know? And even if she did, there was no way she could have broached such an intimate subject. Not with him. “I didn’t—didn’t think I knew you well enough.”

      “Didn’t know me well enough?” He made a harsh sound that might have been a laugh.

      “It wasn’t like we were in a relationship,” she mumbled. “It was just too embarrassing, talking about—stuff like that.”

      She flicked him a nervous glance and a ray of hope soothed her a little. His mouth was more relaxed. A wash of anger still mottled his cheeks but his brows creased more in confusion now. Maybe he believed her.

      “I couldn’t see a thing,” he said, as if to himself. “I just disposed of it and waited for you to get Maya out of the bedroom.” He glanced at her sharply. “You were pretty keen to get rid of me then.”

      Skylar walked over to the dining table and sat. “I thought I’d be spared—” she clasped her hands, prayer-like, on the table “—since it was my first time.”

      His tone was incredulous. “Skylar, you breed horses. Virgin or not, surely you understood the implications of unprotected sex.”

      Squeezing her hands together, she nodded miserably.

      Zack leaned on the couch, his eyes boring into her. It was