A Bride by Summer Read online

  Baby, oh, baby!

  Talk about being broadsided! When Reed Sullivan is almost run off the road by a reckless driver, it’s town newcomer Ruby O’Toole to the rescue. But the last thing Reed needs is a sexy distraction like Ruby, especially with the paternity of the infant left on the Sullivan brothers’ doorstep still a mystery. For now, all he can offer Ruby is friendship…and maybe a kiss here or there.

  Quirky, independent Ruby is making a fresh start. Men are strictly off-limits—so maybe she and Reed should just be friends, despite their instant, combustible chemistry. But when a new wrinkle in the baby drama develops, will their “just friends” status stand? Or is happily-ever-after on the table?

  “As tempting as it is to take a little detour here with you, I’m not going to.”

  “You’re not?”

  “Here’s the thing,” Reed declared, using her exact terminology.

  It occurred to Ruby that he was not a man of almosts. He wasn’t almost tall or almost handsome or almost proud. He was all those things and more. He’d drawn a line in the sand, and apparently he intended to make certain she knew exactly how far, how deep and how wide the line ran.

  “The baby you saw my brother carrying before lunch?” he said. “You assumed Marsh is his father.”

  She stood mute, waiting for him to continue.

  “Are you telling me Marsh isn’t Joey’s father?”

  “It’s possible he is.” Reed’s voice was deep, reverent almost, and extraordinarily serious. “But it’s also possible I am.”

  Surely Ruby’s dismay was written all over her face. But she didn’t have it in her to care how she looked.

  The baby she’d seen before lunch was possibly Reed’s? Had she heard him correctly?

  * * *

  ROUND-THE-CLOCK BRIDES:

  Minute by minute…hour by hour…

  they’ll find true love.

  Dear Reader,

  When I was fifteen, my brother said, “There’s a guy I want you to meet.” He was tall and older—sixteen. Three years later I married him, and I’ve loved him, and a good wedding, ever since. It’s not the walk down the aisle or even what happens after that walk is over, because let’s face it, a lot of hard things can happen later. What I love is the moment when two people promise to love one another forever. In that instant forever is possible; all good things are.

  When I began writing my first book set in Orchard Hill, I didn’t know it would launch a series called Round-the-Clock Brides. I only knew it would begin with a gift and end with a wedding. Halfway through The Wedding Gift I knew minor character Ruby O’Toole would star in her own book one day.

  A Bride by Summer is Ruby’s story. It begins with a chance encounter and ends with a promise: good things are going to happen.

  Let’s all believe…

  Sandra

  A BRIDE BY SUMMER

  Sandra Steffen

  Books by Sandra Steffen

  Harlequin Special Edition

  ‡A Bride Until Midnight #2111

  ‡A Bride Before Dawn #2153

  ‡A Bride by Summer #2345

  Silhouette Special Edition

  Not Before Marriage! #1061

  The Wedding Gift #2050

  Silhouette Romance

  Child of Her Dreams #1005

  *Bachelor Daddy #1028

  *Bachelor at the Wedding #1045

  *Expectant Bachelor #1056

  Lullaby and Goodnight #1074

  A Father for Always #1138

  For Better, For Baby #1163

  **Luke’s Would-Be Bride #1230

  **Wyatt’s Most Wanted Wife #1241

  **Clayton’s Made-Over Mrs. #1253

  **Nick’s Long-Awaited Honeymoon #1290

  The Bounty Hunter’s Bride #1306

  **Burke’s Christmas Surprise #1337

  **Wes Stryker’s Wrangled Wife #1362

  **McKenna’s Bartered Bride #1398

  **Sky’s Pride and Joy #1486

  **Quinn’s Complete Seduction #1517

  The Wolf’s Surrender #1630

  *Wedding Wager

  **Bachelor Gulch

  ‡Round-the-Clock Brides

  Silhouette Desire

  Gift Wrapped Dad #972

  Silhouette Books

  36 Hours

  Marriage by Contract

  Fortunes of Texas

  Lone Star Wedding

  The Coltons

  The Trophy Wife

  Delivered by Christmas “A Christmas to Treasure”

  Harlequin Next

  Life Happens #10

  Ex’s and Oh’s #29

  Slightly Psychic #72

  Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

  SANDRA STEFFEN

  has always been a storyteller. She began nurturing this hidden talent by concocting adventures for her brothers and sisters, even though the boys were more interested in her ability to hit a baseball over the barn—an automatic home run. She didn’t begin her pursuit of publication until she was a young wife and mother of four sons. Since her thrilling debut as a published author in 1992, more than thirty-five of her novels have graced bookshelves across the country.

  This winner of a RITA® Award, a Wish Award and a National Readers’ Choice Award enjoys traveling with her husband. Usually their destinations are settings for her upcoming books. They are empty nesters these days. Who knew it could be so much fun? Please visit her at www.sandrasteffen.com.

  For my beloved brothers, Ron and Dave.

  Every girl should have a big brother. I was

  lucky enough, and so blessed, to have two.

  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

  Excerpt

  Chapter One

  Reed Sullivan wasn’t an easy man to read.

  Not that the two women waiting in line behind him at the drugstore in Orchard Hill weren’t trying. In the security camera on the wall he saw one nudge the other before motioning to the small carton he’d pushed across the counter. The pharmacy tech held any outward display of curiosity to a discreet lift of her eyebrows as she dropped his purchase into a white paper bag.

  Apparently men didn’t buy paternity test kits here every day.

  He didn’t begrudge any of them their curiosity. Most of the time he appreciated that particular trait inherent in most women almost as much as he enjoyed the way they could change the atmosphere in a room just by entering it. He had a deep respect for women, enjoyed spending time with them, was intrigued by them and appreciated them on so many levels. He did not leave birth control to chance. And yet here he was, making a purchase he’d never imagined he would need to make.

  He paid with cash, pocketed his change and left the store, by all outward appearances as cool, calm and confident as he’d been when he’d entered. Out in the parking lot, a bead of sweat trickled down his neck and under the collar of his shirt.

  Reed understood profit margins and the challenges of zoning issues. Those things always made sense in the end. This was different. Nothing about this situation made sense. Gnawing worry had jolted him awake at 4:00 a.m.
It didn’t require great insight to understand the cause. It all centered around the innocent baby he and his brothers had discovered on their doorstep ten days ago.

  The very idea that someone would abandon a baby in such a way in this day and age was ludicrous. And yet there the baby had been, unbelievably tiny and undeniably alone. Reed, Marsh and Noah were all confirmed bachelors and hadn’t known the first thing about caring for a baby, but they’d picked the crying infant up and discovered a note.

  Our precious son, Joseph Daniel Sullivan. I call him Joey. He’s my life. I beg you take good care of him until I can return for him.

  Our precious son? Whose precious son?

  The handwritten note hadn’t been addressed. Or signed.

  Reed wasn’t prone to self-doubt, but now he wondered if they should have performed a paternity test immediately. He should have insisted. What had he been thinking?

  He hadn’t been thinking. None of them had.

  They’d spent the first week fumbling with formula and feedings, diaper changes and sleep deprivation while doing everything in their power to determine what the infant in their charge needed and wanted.

  Joey had a lusty cry he wasn’t afraid to use, and yet before his first night with them was over, he’d looked with burgeoning trust at the three men suddenly thrust into this new and foreign role. He didn’t seem to mind their ineptitude.

  Until that night, Reed and his brothers hadn’t considered the possibility that one of them might have become a father without their knowledge. To make matters worse, they had no way of knowing which of the women from their respective pasts might have been desperate enough to leave Joey in such a manner. The million-dollar question remained.

  Which of them was Joey’s father?

  Reed placed the small paper bag containing the paternity test kit on the passenger seat and started his car. As he pulled out of his parking space, the impulse to squeal his tires was strong. He quelled it because he was the middle brother, the one who thought before he reacted, who kept his wits about him and his head out of the clouds, the one with nerves of steel and the willpower to match.

  Minutes later he was on Old Orchard Highway, a few miles from home. The sunroof was open, the morning breeze already fragrant and warm. The radio was off, the hum of his car’s engine little balm for the uncertainties plaguing him today.

  That first night, he, Marsh and Noah had put their heads together and had come up with a schedule for Joey’s care, as well as a plan to try to locate his mother. It hadn’t taken Noah long to find the woman from his past. A daredevil test pilot, he’d realized soon after coming face-to-face with Lacey Bell again that covert moves weren’t her style. Joey wasn’t Lacey’s baby, and therefore Noah had been certain he wasn’t his, either. That hadn’t kept him from pulling out all the stops to rekindle the love affair of his life. Noah and Lacey had eloped two nights ago.

  Paternity came down to Marsh or Reed.

  They’d hired a private investigator to follow clues and leads regarding the whereabouts of the women who seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Under ordinary circumstances, he and Marsh didn’t talk about their sex lives. If not for Joey’s arrival, Reed wouldn’t have known that Marsh had spent an idyllic week with a woman named Julia Monroe while on vacation last year or that she’d seemed to disappear into thin air as soon as the week was over.

  Like his brothers, Reed liked to keep his private life private. There was only one woman, and one night, he couldn’t account for. She was a waitress he’d met on a layover in Dallas during a business trip last year. She’d told him her name was Cookie—now he wished he’d asked a few questions. Could she have left Joey on his doorstep a year later?

  He and Marsh had hired a P.I. with an impressive success rate. But so far every lead Sam Lafferty had followed had turned into a dead end. At least, once Reed and Marsh determined which of them was the baby’s father, Sam could focus on finding one woman instead of two.

  The test kit slid to the edge of the seat as Reed approached a banked curve in the highway. Behind him a red car that had been a speck in his rearview mirror a few seconds ago was closing in on him fast. The sports car came so close to his bumper he braced for a rear-end collision. All at once, the car swerved across the double yellow line and began to pass.

  Up ahead an eighteen-wheeler was barreling around a curve straight toward them. An air horn blasted and tires screeched. The driver of the Corvette cranked the wheel to the right, thrusting his car back into Reed’s lane. With no other place to go, Reed took the shoulder of the highway. He braked, but it was too late. His tires broke loose. And he started to spin.

  Around and around he went, on the highway and off, from one shoulder to the other. Gravel churned and dust rose. He somehow missed an oncoming vehicle but clipped a highway sign with one of his mirrors. When he finally came to a complete stop, his engine was racing and so was his heart rate. He gripped the steering wheel, his foot pressed hard on the brake.

  The dust was settling when he noticed that another car had stopped a short distance ahead of him on the opposite side of the road. The door opened. The next thing he knew, a slender, sandal-ensconced foot touched the ground.

  * * *

  Ruby O’Toole hit the pavement running.

  She raced across the highway toward a silver Mustang sitting at an odd angle along the side of the road. The driver was looking at her through the windshield, his eyes narrowed and his jaw set. She stood back as he got out, and watched as he opened his fists and unclenched his fingers, straightened his arms and rotated his broad shoulders, as if checking to see if everything was still operational.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  He didn’t answer, making her wonder if he was in shock.

  “I’m calling 911. I’ve seen a lot of accidents and you could have whiplash.”

  “I don’t need an ambulance.” His voice was steady and deep, but the way he put a hand on the back of his neck made her wonder if he was more shaken than he was admitting.

  “It’s best to err on the side of caution,” she insisted. “Adrenaline and shock can mask an injury like whiplash or a spinal column misalignment.”

  With a grimace, he said, “My back is fine. And I don’t have whiplash.” In his early thirties, he had short, sandy-blond hair and wore a gray dress shirt, the sleeves rolled partway up his forearms.

  “You just never know,” she argued. “The stiffness wouldn’t necessarily set in until later.”

  He circled his car, his face impassive as he ran his hand over the Mustang’s hood.

  “Trust me. I’m fine.”

  “If you say so, but if I were you, I’d be stomping my feet and shaking my fist and swearing at that jerk who ran you off the road. You could have been killed! The creep had no right to drive like some bat out of hell. Jerks like him think they own the road and everything in their path.” Catching him looking at her, she said, “Some women cry at emergencies. I get mad. I have a temper. And don’t tell me it goes with my hair.”

  “I won’t.”

  She thought he might smile. When he didn’t, she heard herself say, “It’s what my boyfriend used to say. My ex-boyfriend. Peter. Cheater Peter.” She had to clamp her mouth shut to keep from continuing. What was wrong with her?

  “That explains the ex,” he said in a deep, smooth voice that gave little away. As he examined his loosened mirror, he asked, “Are you an EMT?”

  She’d been in the process of smoothing her hands down her shorts and straightening her tank top, and had to stop for a moment to wonder at his question. “Oh,” she said. “You mean because I said I’ve seen a lot of accidents. No, my most recent career jag was driving a tow truck for my dad’s wrecker service near Traverse City.”

  She didn’t bother telling him that prior to working for her dad she’d spent three years with a t
rendsetting marketing firm in L.A. This stranger didn’t need to hear how much trouble she’d had deciding what she wanted to do with her life. Reverting to small talk, she asked, “Do you live in Orchard Hill?”

  “A mile from here.” The breeze ruffled his blond hair and toyed with the collar of his shirt.

  “I just moved here two days ago,” she said. “In all likelihood, my mother is rearranging the furniture in my new apartment as I speak, while my father adds to his ever-growing list of all the reasons buying a tavern in this college town is a mistake. So, did your life pass before your eyes?”

  * * *

  Reed did a double take and looked at the talkative woman who’d stopped to make certain he wasn’t hurt. She wore shorts that fit her to perfection and a white tank top that made her arms and shoulders appear golden. A silver charm shaped like a feather hung from a delicate chain around her neck. Her hair, long and red and curly, fluttered freely in the wind. When he found himself looking into her green eyes, he wished he’d have started there.

  His gaze locked with hers, and the air went oddly still. In the ensuing silence, he wondered where the birds and the summer breeze and the traffic had gone.

  Her throat convulsed slightly, as if she was having trouble breathing, too. “You’re not much of a talker, are you?” she finally asked.

  “Normally,” he said, “I’m the one asking the questions.”

  She took a backward step and said, “Are you a lawyer?”

  “Why, do I look like a lawyer?”

  She shrugged one shoulder. “It’s just that lawyers tend to ask a lot of questions.”

  “I’m not a lawyer.”

  “A journalist, then?”

  “No.”

  “A Virgo?” she asked with a small smile.

  He had to think about that one because astrology was hardly something he put stock in. “My birthday’s November sixth.”

  “Ah, a Scorpio. You water signs are deep. And moody. Obviously.” She shook herself slightly and said, “If you’re sure you aren’t hurt, I’ll be going.”