Suddenly a Family Read online

  Sbe’d been attracted to him from the first moment she saw him.

  Letter to Reader

  Title Page

  Books by Leann Harris

  About the Author

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Copyright

  Sbe’d been attracted to him from the first moment she saw him.

  But watching him struggle to be a father to the girls went straight to her heart, multiplying her desire.

  His hand came up and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “Thanks for your help.” He started to lower his head, then stopped himself and took a step away from her.

  After saying goodbye to the girls, Toni paused at the front door.

  “Try another housekeeper, Zach. Eventually the girls will realize that they can’t run everyone off.”

  “I’ll do it. And, Toni...” He paused, then whispered, “Good night.”

  As she drove home, Toni wondered what Zach had wanted to say. She wished she could as easily turn off the feelings that Zachary Knight ignited in her.

  Dear Reader,

  Once again, we’ve rounded up the best romantic reading for you right here in Silhouette Intimate Moments. Start off with Maggie Shayne’s The Baddest Bride in Texas, part of her top-selling miniseries THE TEXAS BRAND, and you’ll see what I mean. Secrets, steam and romance...this book has everything.

  And how many of you have been following that baby? A lot, I’ll bet And this month our FOLLOW THAT BABY cross-line miniseries concludes with The Mercenary and the New Mom, by Merline Lovelace. At last the baby’s found—and there’s romance in the air, as well.

  If Western loving’s your thing, we’ve got a trio of books to keep you happy. Home Is Where the Cowboy Is, by Doreen Roberts, launches a terrific new miniseries called RODEO MEN THE SULLIVAN BROTHERS continue their wickedly sexy ways in Heartbreak Ranch, by Kylie Brant. And Cheryl Biggs’s The Cowboy She Never Forgot—a book you’ll find totally memorable—sports our WAY OUT WEST flash. Then complete your month’s reading with Suddenly a Family, by Leann Harris. This FAMILIES ARE FOREVER title features an adorable set of twins, their delicious dad and the woman who captures all three of their hearts.

  Enjoy them all—then come back next month for six more wonderful Intimate Moments novels, the most exciting romantic reading around.

  Yours,

  Leslie J. Wainger

  Executive Senior Editor

  Please address questions and book requests to:

  Silhouette Reader Service

  U S.: 3010 walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

  Canadian. P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

  SUDDENLY A FAMILY

  LEANN HARRIS

  Books by Leann Harris

  Silhouette Intimate Moments

  Bride on the Run #516

  Angel at Risk #618

  Trouble in Texas #664

  Undercover Husband #719

  Temporary Marriage #821

  Trusting a Texan #868

  Suddenly a Family #912

  LEANN HARRIS

  When Leann Harris first met her husband in college, she never dreamed she would marry him. After all, he was getting a Ph.D. in the one science she’d managed to avoid—physics! So much for first impressions. They have been happily married for over twenty years. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Leann taught math and science to deaf high school students until the birth of her first child. It wasn’t until her youngest child started school that Leann decided to fulfill a lifelong dream, and began writing. She presently lives in Plano, Texas, with her husband and two children.

  I would like to thank the following people

  for their help on this book:

  Theresa McKinley Zumwalt, for her help on oil wells

  and how things work in the oil fields

  Eileen Wilks, for her knowledge of Midland

  Jennifer Harrison, for her keen insight

  Prologue

  Zachary Knight looked up from the theft report he was studying, pinched the bridge of his nose, then ran his hand through his thick black hair.

  “Damn,” he growled. This was the third “incident” that had occurred over the last six months. As head of security for Anderson Oil, it was his responsibility to guard against this very thing. At the moment, he was doing a rotten job. Standing, he walked to the window and looked out at the flat, treeless horizon.

  The phone rang, shaking him out of his dark thoughts. He walked back to his desk.

  “Hello.” The greeting sounded more like a curse; there was nothing cordial about it.

  “Is this Zachary Knight?” the woman at the other end of the connection asked.

  “Yes.”

  “My name is Charlotte Myers. I’m a social worker for the city of Phoenix. I have bad news for you. Your ex-wife was killed in a car accident. But I want to assure you your twin daughters survived the accident. Although Lori does have a broken leg, that was the only injury either child sustained. You will need to fly to Phoenix immediately and pick up the children.”

  “Ms. Myers, are you sure you have the right man?” Zach asked, stunned by the woman’s speech.

  “You are Zachary Knight from Rio, Texas?”

  “Yes,” he replied. “But I’ve been divorced for close to five years.”

  “Your ex-wife was Sylvia Burton?”

  His green eyes narrowed. “Yes.”

  “And you were married in Long Beach on February 5, seven years ago?”

  “That’s when the deed was done. But I don’t know anything about children. When Sylvia and I separated, there weren’t any children.” That was the reason he left when he had. There had been no love left in the marriage, and Zach had vowed he wouldn’t raise any kids in the same manner as he had been.

  “Well, you are named on the girls’ birth certificates as the father. Since we have located you, we would prefer to place the girls with their biological parent rather than with a foster family. We’re swamped.”

  Zach’s mind groped with the problem. “How old did you say the girls were?”

  “About four and a half.”

  “What’s the date of birth?” Zach asked.

  “Let me see...they were born November 20, but it says here the girls were premature by eight weeks.”

  November 20. He had left on a Special Forces mission in mid-April. Seven months before the girls were born. It could be possible. When he and Sylvia had separated, their relationship—what relationship? That last week they had been together, they had either been yelling at each other or not speaking. But they had made love—no, that wasn’t it.

  They had had sex.

  “Mr. Knight, can you come and pick up Lisa and Lori?”

  It was a mistake. They couldn’t be his. But he couldn’t ignore them. His past made that impossible.

  “I’ll make arrangements to fly out this afternoon. Give me the address of where I can find you.”

  She did.

  “We’ll need for you to give a blood sample so we can check it against the children’s. Also, I’ll need some references from your current employer as to your character.”

  “I can supply that.”

  When he hung up, he stared at the phone. There had to be a mistake. He couldn’t be a father. Sylvia wouldn’t have done that to him, to keep his daughters a secret. Could she?
He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that she had. He’d go to Phoenix and straighten everything out. Then he would come back and catch the ring of thieves.

  Chapter 1

  Antonia “Toni” Anderson stepped off the elevator and froze. The sound of crying—children crying—floated down the hall. She glanced down at her father’s golden retriever, Sam, which she was bringing back to her dad after she’d taken him to the vet. She noticed that Sam was on alert.

  “I wonder who’s got their kids here,” she told the dog. His dark eyes met hers, and he whined.

  As she walked down the hall, Toni searched for the source of the unusual sound. Here at the headquarters of her father’s oil firm, in the hall that led to the executive offices, crying children weren’t often heard. As a matter of fact, never heard. She remembered when she was small, her mother had always emphasized that she was to be on her best behavior.

  The sound of distress drew her to the office midway down the hall. She didn’t need to glance at the sign beside the door. That office belonged to Zachary Knight, the head of security for the firm. Often, when she had walked to her dad’s office, Toni glanced inside this office, wanting to catch a glimpse of the handsome, enigmatic man.

  Zach’s dark hair and green eyes were like a magnet, attracting females by the dozens. But the coldness in his eyes put most of the women off.

  She peeked into the office. Zach’s secretary was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the sight that greeted Toni made her stop and stare in stunned amazement. Zachary Knight knelt on one knee, his arms corralling identical twin girls, who were definitely unhappy.

  “I don’t want to be here,” one little girl wailed. “I want my momma.”

  The other child didn’t say anything, but from the expression on her face, she echoed her sister’s sentiment.

  “A doggy,” one of the girls shouted. Zach released her and she ran to Sam. “Can I touch him?” Her eyes begged Toni for permission.

  “Sure. Sam would love the attention.” Toni showed the child how to stroke the dog’s head. When she glanced up, the other twin, whose leg was in a cast, looked longingly at the dog. “Would you like to pet him, too?”

  She nodded her head. Toni held out her hand and helped the child step close and guided her as she petted Sam.

  Zach stood. A light of desperation shone in his eyes, one that she’d never seen before. “Toni, I want you to meet my twin daughters, Lisa—” he touched one twin “—and Lori.” He moved his hand to rest on the injured girl’s head.

  Toni smiled at them.

  Zach stepped closer and whispered, “I have a small problem here that I could use your help with.” He looked at the girls.

  His deep, rich voice played over her skin like a caress. This man was trouble, and she wanted to stay away from him at all possible costs.

  “Isn’t your secretary here?” Toni answered, looking around, praying to find the woman.

  “I’ve just come back into town and found the office empty.”

  “Maybe Dad’s secretary knows where she is. I’ll go get her.”

  “No,” he said, reaching out and grasping her by the elbow. Sparks of awareness shot through her. Apparently, the electricity was strong enough that he felt it, too, and he let her go. He cleared his throat. “I don’t need help with anything connected with the company. I just need some advice.”

  Folding her arms under her breasts, Toni waited for his explanation.

  “I’m tired,” Lori said. The cherub had dark hair that had unraveled from her pigtails. The air of weariness about the child spoke of her distress. But what really touched Toni was the sight of a cast on the girl’s right leg from below the knee down to her ankle.

  Toni moved to the little girl’s side and squatted down. “Do you need to sit down, Lori?” Toni asked.

  Relief welled in her eyes. “Yes.”

  Without thinking, Toni scooped the girl into her arms and walked to the couch pushed against the far wall. She heard Zach pick up the crutches and follow. Sam, also, moved closer.

  “Are you girls thirsty?” she asked the twins.

  The question brought a light to their eyes and they nodded.

  “I think I know where I could get you both a soft drink. And maybe some popcorn. Would you like that?”

  Her question brought smiles to the girls’ faces and they nodded.

  “Okay, you wait here with Sam, and I’ll be gone for a couple of minutes.”

  She headed down the hall to the small lunchroom beside her father’s office.

  “I’m going to help,” Toni heard Zach tell the girls. Instantly, he appeared beside her, opening the door to the small kitchen.

  Toni didn’t say anything. The man had followed her for a reason. He’d get around to telling her in his own sweet time. She put the bag of popcorn into the microwave, then pressed the time button.

  “I need your help, Toni.”

  Those were words that brought all sorts of images to mind. Thoughts of loving and wanting. But she knew that that wasn’t what Zach had in mind.

  “I need help with the girls. I’m lost here. If it was a fight, or terrorists or a kidnapping, I’d know how to handle things. But this—this—” He ran his hand through his short black hair. “I’m out of my element here.”

  He towered over her five-foot-five frame by a good six inches, and had the physique of a top-notch soldier, which he had been. There wasn’t an ounce of spare flesh on him.

  Think about the situation, Toni, and not about the man’s assets, she chided herself.

  “Can’t the girls’ mother help you?” Toni remembered Lisa asking about her mother.

  His green eyes hardened. “My ex-wife was killed in a car accident. That’s how Lori broke her leg.”

  That certainly answered several of her questions. He’d been married. But he’d left his wife to deal with twins alone.

  Her face must have reflected her thoughts, because he said, “I didn’t know about the girls until two days ago when I got a call from a social worker in Phoenix. Sylvia never told me she was pregnant. I guess she hated me enough to keep it a secret.”

  The timer on the microwave went off. Toni welcomed the distraction and pulled the bag from the interior. “Why don’t you get a couple of drinks from the machine there?” She nodded to the vending machine in the corner of the room.

  He pulled several coins from his pocket. “I need your help, Toni,” he said again. “Suddenly, I’ve found myself in a situation where I have no experience. I’m drowning.”

  “What exactly are you asking, Zach?”

  He put the coins into the machine and made his selection. After the cans rolled out, he turned and faced her. “Some temporary backup. On the flight, Lisa had to go to the rest room. I couldn’t fit in there with her and she didn’t want to go by herself. The stewardess saw the problem and helped. But—” he looked away “—all I need is help—”

  The enormity of his request hit her.

  “—for the evening. I need some frame of reference from which to operate.” He sounded as if he were going into combat and not likely to return.

  “C’mon, Zach. You can’t tell me you don’t remember how your father handled you.”

  “I was a bastard.” The harsh edge to his voice said more about the situation than his words. “My father knew I existed and ignored me. My mother wasn’t much better.”

  That cut the legs out from any argument she could think of. Still...

  He took a step toward her. “You owe, me, lady,” he said, his eyes narrowing, his voice hard.

  “How do you figure that?” she demanded, annoyed at his attempt to strong-arm her.

  “Carl Ormand.”

  The name hung in the air between them, evoking bitter memories of how Carl Ormand, an executive in her father’s firm, had cornered her at a party last Christmas, convinced that she wanted him. When Toni tried to talk herself out of the situation, Carl hadn’t listened and put his hands on her. She’d tried to get awa
y but hadn’t succeeded, and then Zach had stepped into the fray. He had dispatched Carl with a swift blow. Then Zach had followed her home and escorted her to the front door. When she had lifted her lips to his, he’d merely said good-night and walked away. Zach had never traded in on that incident until now.

  She gazed into his eyes. The attraction that had sparked between them back then was still there, but neither of them had acted on it. When she had come back to Midland to teach at the University of Texas, she made it a point to avoid Zach. And had up to this point. But she owed him.

  “All right. You get your wish. I’ll help tonight.”

  He nodded, seemingly satisfied with her capitulation. Grinding her teeth, she comforted herself with the fact that his manipulation wasn’t the reason she agreed to help. She knew that she couldn’t have walked away from Lori and her injury. Not when she’d experienced firsthand the horror and pain of being hurt in a car accident years ago. But she didn’t need to tell him that. Let him think what he will. She knew the real reason behind her actions.

  Liar, a voice in her head whispered.

  Zach breathed a sigh of relief at Toni’s surrender. He was at his wits’ end, feeling completely lost and woefully inadequate to handle this situation. How did one deal with four-year-old twin girls? He might have been able to cope with a single boy, but girls? What did he know about females? Hadn’t Sylvia shown him how pathetically ignorant he was about how to treat the opposite sex? If he couldn’t cope with a twenty-five-year-old woman, what made him think he could deal with four-year-olds? He ought to have his head examined.

  When he flew to Phoenix, he was sure that there had been some mistake. Maybe Sylvia had listed him as the father simply to get back at him. They had not parted under the best of circumstances. Hah! They had parted as intimate strangers. But the instant he’d seen the children, he knew they were his. They looked exactly like the picture he had of his mother when she had been that age.