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  Anguished hearts…

  “Any woman I married would rightfully expect to come first in my life, before my family. But that’s not possible, Mattie, not for me. I knew full well what I was promising my father.”

  “But Joe—”

  “So, rather than hurt someone else, or get hurt myself, I decided that it’s best that I never marry.” His gaze met hers, his eyes dark and very determined. “And it’s not something I ever expect to change my mind about.”

  Mattie merely stared at him in the darkness, her heart aching in a way that left her wanting to weep.

  She’d fallen hopelessly, helplessly in love with Joe.

  She’d fallen in love with yet another man who didn’t want a wife or a family. No matter what the reasons, the reality didn’t change. She’d made the same mistake once again….

  Dear Reader,

  It’s that time of year again…for decking the halls, trimming the tree…and sitting by the crackling fire with a good book. And we at Silhouette have just the one to start you off—Joan Elliott Pickart’s The Marrying MacAllister, the next offering in her series, THE BABY BET: MACALLISTER’S GIFTS. When a prospective single mother out to adopt one baby finds herself unable to choose between two orphaned sisters, she is distressed, until the perfect solution appears: marry handsome fellow traveler and renowned single guy Matt MacAllister! Your heart will melt along with his resolve.

  MONTANA MAVERICKS: THE KINGSLEYS concludes with Sweet Talk by Jackie Merritt. When the beloved town veterinarian—and trauma survivor—is captivated by the town’s fire chief, she tries to suppress her feelings. But the rugged hero is determined to make her his. Reader favorite Annette Broadrick continues her SECRET SISTERS series with Too Tough To Tame. A woman out to avenge the harm done to her family paints a portrait of her nemesis—which only serves to bring the two of them together. In His Defender, Stella Bagwell offers another MEN OF THE WEST book, in which a lawyer hired to defend a ranch owner winds up under his roof…and falling for her newest client! In Make-Believe Mistletoe by Gina Wilkins, a single female professor who has wished for an eligible bachelor for Christmas hardly thinks the grumpy but handsome man who’s reluctantly offered her shelter from a storm is the answer to her prayers—at least not at first. And speaking of Christmas wishes—five-year-old twin boys have made theirs—and it all revolves around a new daddy. The candidate they have in mind? The handsome town sheriff, in Daddy Patrol by Sharon DeVita.

  As you can see, no matter what romantic read you have in mind this holiday season, we have the book for you. Happy holidays, happy reading—and come back next month, for six new wonderful offerings from Silhouette Special Edition!

  Sincerely,

  Gail Chasan

  Senior Editor

  Daddy Patrol

  SHARON DE VITA

  To my mother-in-law, Frances Lillian Cushing. At eighty-four you continue to be a source of inspiration, courage and grace to me. You’ve taught me so very much in this year since we both lost our sons. And I am so very grateful, not just for your continued love and support, but also for your kindness, your unconditional acceptance and your graciousness—even in grief.

  And of course for my husband, the Colonel, without whom life would simply have no meaning.

  Books by Sharon De Vita

  Silhouette Special Edition

  Child of Midnight #1013

  * The Lone Ranger #1078

  * The Lady and the Sheriff #1103

  * All It Takes Is Family #1126

  † The Marriage Basket #1307

  † The Marriage Promise #1313

  †† With Family in Mind #1450

  †† A Family To Come

  Home To #1468

  Daddy Patrol #1584

  Silhouette Books

  The Coltons

  I Married a Sheik

  Silhouette Romance

  Heavenly Match #475

  Lady and the Legend #498

  Kane and Mabel #545

  Baby Makes Three #573

  Sherlock’s Home #593

  Italian Knights #610

  Sweet Adeline #693

  ** On Baby Patrol #1276

  ** Baby with a Badge #1298

  ** Baby and the Officer #1316

  † The Marriage Badge #1443

  †† Anything for Her Family #1580

  †† A Family To Be #1586

  SHARON DE VITA,

  a former adjunct professor of literature and communications, is a USA TODAY bestselling, award-winning author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction. Her first novel won a national writing competition for Best Unpublished Romance Novel of 1985. This award-winning book, Heavenly Match, was subsequently published by Silhouette in 1985. With over two million copies of her novels in print, Sharon’s professional credentials have earned her a place in Who’s Who in American Authors, Editors and Poets as well as the International Who’s Who of Authors. In 1987, Sharon was the proud recipient of the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Writing.

  A newlywed, Sharon met her husband while doing research for one of her books. The widowed, recently retired military officer was so wonderful, Sharon decided to marry him after she interviewed him! Sharon and her new husband have seven grown children, five grandchildren, and currently reside in Arizona.

  Deer Offisir Frendlee

  When you was at skool you said if we was ever in trubull or had a problum to tell a poleece man cuz you was our frend. Well we got a problum. A big one. Culd you help?

  Love,

  Cody and Connor Maguire

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  “Mom! Mom! We’re home.” The boys’ voices echoed through the house, nearly reaching the rafters as the back door slammed soundly.

  By the time Mattie Maguire got to the kitchen, Cody and Connor, her beloved five-year-old nearly identical twin sons were shedding their school clothes and their backpacks—in the middle of the kitchen floor.

  “Hi, guys,” she said with a smile, reaching out to shut the back door and scooping up both backpacks, setting them on the kitchen counter so no one would trip over them. “Did you have a good day?” Mattie bent and gave each twin a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek as she gathered up Cody’s school sweater off the floor.

  “I got a gold star on my art paper,” Connor said proudly, waving the red paper that was now wrinkled in his fist.

  “You did?” Mattie retrieved the paper, smoothed it out, then placed it on the refrigerator with one of the many magnets she kept there to display the boys’ schoolwork. “My hero.” She bent and kissed him again.

  “And I got an A on my vocabulary quiz,” Cody announced, toeing off his school shoes and wiggling his toes. “I can spell dog and car.”

  “You can? I’m very impressed.” She pretended to look behind him, next to him and in his hair, making him giggle. “So where’s your quiz?”

  “Backpack,” Cody said with a shrug.

  Mattie reached over and unzipped the blue backpack, knowing she’d find Cody’s quiz crumbled in a heap. Neatness was not high on the list of her sons’ strong suits. With a grin, she retrieved the crumpled paper, smoothed it out, then hung it up on the refrigerator. “Good job, boys.” She kissed Cody. “I’m very proud of both of you.”

  “Guess what Amy Bartlett did in school today?” Connor asked, blue eyes shining in excitement behind his oversize glasses as his gaze tra
veled from his mother to the snack waiting for him on the counter, obviously torn between his big news and his even bigger hunger.

  Connor was two minutes older and twice as serious as his younger, more mischievous brother. Although nearly identical from the tops of their strawberry-blond hair to the freckles on their small, upturned noses, only Connor’s glasses enabled others to tell the boys apart.

  “What did Amy Bartlett do, honey?” she asked, handing him a glass of milk and a peanut-butter-filled cracker she’d prepared and set out on the counter.

  “She barfed,” Cody announced with a giggle as he reached for his own glass of milk. He was bouncing from foot to foot, a clear indication he was really excited about something.

  Or had to go to the bathroom.

  His milk almost splashed over the rim of the glass until Mattie reached out and gave him a hand to steady it. He grinned, took a big gulp, then swiped his mouth on the sleeve of his school shirt, giving her a sheepish shrug at the look she shot him.

  “Yeah,” Connor confirmed, shoving his glasses up his freckled nose with one fist. “Amy barfed in music class. All over Miss Wilson’s—”

  “Singing carpet,” Cody finished with a delighted grin. “It was so gross.” Cody wrinkled his nose and continued bouncing up and down.

  Like most twins, her boys had a habit of finishing each other’s sentences. They’d been doing it since they’d learned to talk, so she was used to it, but it usually unnerved others who weren’t.

  “Was Amy sick?” Mattie asked, concerned, as she juggled Connor’s glass of milk in order to help him off with his school sweater.

  “Dunno,” Cody announced with a shrug of his slender shoulders.

  “Miss Wilson took Amy to the nurse’s office.” Connor scratched his head. “I think she went home.”

  “Sounds like you had an exciting day,” Mattie said, cocking her head. “Anything else happen I should know about?”

  “Nah,” Cody said. “It was a pretty boring day.”

  “’Cept Bobby Dawson’s a pooper head.” Connor interjected solemnly, a frown tugging his mouth down. Mattie didn’t miss the secretive look the boys exchanged. It immediately set off her mother’s early-warning alarm system.

  “That’s not a very nice thing to call someone, Connor,” she scolded gently, reaching out to ruffle his hair and push up his glasses. She knew when they’d moved here to Healing Harbor, Wisconsin, three months ago that the boys might have a hard time adjusting to a new school, and new kids.

  For the past couple of days she’d had a feeling something was going on, something they had yet to confide in her, and it was beginning to worry her.

  Since her husband had abandoned her when she found out she was expecting and then had been killed two months before the twins were born—and before she’d had a chance to finalize their divorce—she’d been mother and father to the boys their whole life, and they’d always been exceptionally close. The boys knew there wasn’t anything they couldn’t talk to her about.

  Mattie bent down so she was eye level with Connor. “Honey, did Bobby Dawson do or say something to make you mad or upset you?” She brushed a lock of hair off his forehead as the twins exchanged glances. Mattie sighed. “Okay, fess up, what’s going on?” She looked from one innocent freckled face to the other as she stood up. “Ever since you came back from your grandparents last weekend, you two munchkins have been acting pretty darn strange.”

  Mattie’s gaze shifted from one twin to the other again as another faint warning bell went off inside her. Her relationship with her former in-laws was fragile and fractious—and that was on the best of days.

  Her former in-laws had made no secret of the fact that they disapproved of her as both their son’s wife, and now, their grandchildren’s mother.

  “Are you guys in trouble?” she asked suspiciously, trying not to jump to conclusions. Just because the boys had been acting strange since their return from their grandparents’ didn’t mean there was anything wrong, she scolded herself. But whenever the boys began communicating with each other by looks and sighs, it usually meant something was up.

  They were great kids, and rarely gave her a moment of real worry, thankfully, but they were boys, and she had to admit they had a tendency to be a bit…mischievous as well as a bit overzealous at times.

  And if she threw her late husband’s parents into the mix, well then, Mattie thought with a weary sigh, that alone could mean a whole lot of trouble. Especially for her since her former in-laws were so vocal and obvious in their dislike and disapproval of her.

  “We’re not in trouble,” Connor protested, eyes wide and blinking innocently behind his glasses. “Honest, Ma.” He poked his brother with his elbow for confirmation. “Are we?”

  “Nah,” Cody said, swiping his fist against his nose, then reaching for a peanut-butter-filled cracker. “And nuthin’ happened today ’cept all the girls started screeching when Amy puked.” Cody began mimicking a high-wailed screech, holding his stomach with one hand and his milk glass in the other as he did a mock reprise of Amy’s afternoon antics.

  “I get the picture,” Mattie said with a smile, covering her ears for protection. Whatever was going on, the boys weren’t ready to talk about it yet. In the years since she’d been a woefully naive new mother, terrified at being totally responsible for two helpless babies, she’d learned when to push and when not to. Generally, if something was bothering the boys, one or the other would come talk to her eventually. She’d learned long ago to be patient.

  “Cody, do you have to go to the bathroom?” she asked with a knowing lift of her eyebrow as she watched him bounce around the room.

  In answer, he slammed his milk glass onto the kitchen table and made a mad dash out of the kitchen. “Be right back,” he called over his shoulder, making her laugh.

  “Girls are stupid,” Connor said without heat, licking the peanut butter off his cracker.

  “I’m a girl,” Mattie pointed out with a smile.

  Connor’s face registered horror at the thought. “Nah,” he finally said in relief, shaking his head. “You’re a mom.”

  “True,” Mattie said, catching him around the waist and hauling him up in her arms to hug him, loving his little-boy smell. He started giggling as she tickled his belly, making him squirm and squeal with laughter. “But I was a girl before I was a mom,” she said. “And girls are not stupid. They’re just…different,” she said, grateful that she wouldn’t be required to have the boy-girl talk with her twins for at least a few more years.

  The doorbell rang, and still holding a squirming, giggling Connor in her arms, Mattie headed into the living room to answer the door.

  “I’ll get it,” Cody said, pounding down the stairs, still struggling with the zipper on his pants.

  “No, you won’t,” Mattie said calmly, setting Connor on his feet and turning to Cody. “You know the rules about answering the door, honey. You can finish zipping your pants while I get the door. And it might be easier if you stood still,” she added with a smile, pointing at his unzipped zipper.

  Admittedly a bit overprotective when it came to her boys, she’d lived in the caustic, concrete jungle of the city of Chicago far too long to ignore any dangers, including letting her five-year-old sons open the door to just anyone.

  Even though she’d fallen in love with this incredibly wonderful small town the moment she and the twins had moved here, she still felt it necessary to exercise caution, especially where her beloved boys where concerned.

  The bell pealed again just as Mattie pulled open the door. For a moment, she simply stared, too stunned to do anything else.

  Two things hit her at once.

  There was an armed cop at her door.

  And he was one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen.

  Tall, he towered over her five-foot-three frame, and she’d put him somewhere close to six-four or -five. He wore a beige uniform shirt and tight jeans. The shirt had to stretch far and wide to cover his e
normously broad shoulders. There was a metal badge right over his heart, and the long sleeves of his shirt had been rolled up, no doubt in deference to the warm spring day, revealing tanned, muscular forearms. His long legs were encased in brown jeans that seemed to hug his muscular legs and go on forever. The scuffed, scarred cowboy boots he had on gave him an additional height advantage he certainly didn’t need.

  His thick, black hair was swept back from a face that could have been carved by one of the Masters. Olive-skinned, he had rich brown eyes, an aquiline nose that clearly had been broken once or twice, and full lips that were, at the moment, curved into what could only be described as a surprised smile.

  “Ms. Maguire?” His voice was deep, smooth and resonated with authority. In spite of the spring-day heat, Mattie had the urge to shiver.

  “Y-yes,” Mattie said as soon as she managed to find her voice. Embarrassed by her own reaction to him, she shifted her weight, trying to garner some composure. She was a twenty-five-year old mother of two, far too old to be gaping like a guppy at a gorgeous man.

  “I’m Joe Marino, sheriff of Healing Harbor.” He held out his hand, and for a moment Mattie simply looked at it.

  Giving herself a mental shake, she reached for his hand and immediately had her own engulfed in the warmth and softness of his, sending her nerves into silent alarm.

  Her gaze shot to his, and she couldn’t seem to draw her gaze away from those big brown eyes. It frightened her that she was still capable of reacting and responding to a man this way.

  Her disastrous marriage to a selfish, irresponsible gorgeous man had taught her to guard her heart to all men, especially men who could set her pulse scrambling with just a look.

  She’d learned a lot in the years since she’d been a naive, young, college freshman, reeling from her parents’ deaths in a car accident on their way home from visiting her, when she’d fallen head over heels for Gary.