A TEXAS-SIZED SECRET – Maureen Child
Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail , Book 6
Harlequin Desire #2522
ISBN: 978-0-373-83849-3
June 2017
Contemporary Series Romance

Royal, Texas – Present Day

Naomi Price has known for a couple of months that she's pregnant as a result of a one-night stand, but she hasn't told anyone yet. But the notorious blackmailer, Maverick, has contacted her and threatens to spill her secret unless she pays him some money. Rather than do this, Naomi decides to tell her uptight parents, and she's asked her best friend, Toby McKittrick, to come along as moral support. The meeting with her parents is turning difficult when Toby suddenly informs them that he's the father of the baby and is marrying Naomi. She is stunned by his proclamation, but afterwards, when he explains how simple it would be for them to marry and give her baby his name, she agrees.

Toby was badly hurt years ago by a woman he loved and is not looking for a repeat, and figures entering into a marriage of convenience is the right thing to do, especially since he and Naomi get along so well. Toby convinces her to move in with him until the wedding, where living together under close quarters suddenly turns their friendship into desire for each other. Toby thinks he can have sex with Naomi without involving the heart, but as the days—and nights—spent together continue, he's faced with the realization that he cares more than he thought. What will happen to their relationship if the baby's father comes back into Naomi's life?

As part of a well-respected family in Royal, Naomi has always tried to do the right thing for her parents' sake, and they'd be disappointed to learn she got pregnant via a one-night stand. In A TEXAS-SIZED SECRET, she's faced with telling them about the pregnancy when Maverick targets her. It's Toby to the rescue and Naomi isn't sure about living with or marrying him because so far, he's just been a good friend. Marriage to a man she doesn't love? But soon she's acutely aware of him as a desirable man, and the chemistry between them sizzles hotter than a Texas summer. Naomi tries to contact the baby's father to tell him that he's going to be a daddy, but he's avoiding her…until he makes a sudden reappearance.

After being dumped by his ex-fiancée years ago, Toby is turned off on romantic entanglements, so feels marrying Naomi, and raising her child as his, is a safe bet. But living with her has him seeing her in a new light. He wants to make love with her and have their marriage be real…but only in the sense that his heart isn't involved. Can Toby and Naomi turn their marriage without love into the real thing? While A TEXAS-SIZED SECRET is part of the Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail series, it can be easily read as a standalone even though other characters pop in and out. A TEXAS-SIZED SECRET is focused mostly on Naomi and Toby discovering their love for each other.

A sizzling and enjoyable tale I highly recommend, grab a copy of A TEXAS-SIZED SECRET on your next trip to the bookstore.

Patti Fischer