An Unlikely Father

An Unlikely Father
Cynthia Thomason

Helen Sweeney is driving Ethan insaneFirst she nearly runs him down with her truck, then she's taking potshots at a sailboat with empty beer cans and leading him on a wild-fish chase! She's the craziest–and most interesting–woman he's ever met.What Ethan doesn't know is that Helen has a reason for her behavior. She needs his business savvy to help save her fishing charter company so she can provide a secure future for herself, her father–and the little "Bean," her unborn child. Instead she finds herself falling for him–a definite complication, given her father's mysterious hatred for Ethan's father. And then there's the small matter of Ethan's desire never to have kids…

Helen pressed her foot to the accelerator

She hugged the side of the road and careened around a bend. Then she saw it—a pearl-gray automobile parked half on the asphalt and half against the roadside underbrush.

She jerked the truck to the left as a man holding a cell phone to his ear stepped onto the road. In the instant before she swerved on two wheels away from his vehicle, she noticed the man’s eyes—large, round and filled with terror.

A loud crash followed by the screech of rent metal and the squeal of her own brakes made Helen’s heart thud against her chest. She glanced in the rearview mirror. The man was nowhere to be seen. Had she struck him? She jumped out and ran toward the sedan.

“Hey, mister!” she called. “Where are you?”

“I’m in here.”

Helen walked hesitantly to the gaping hole that had been the driver’s door. She peered into the car’s interior at the tasseled tops of a pair of oxblood loafers and the twin peaks of bent knees encased in perfectly pressed tan chinos. “You okay?”

The knees parted and an ashen face rose from the passenger seat. “I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again in my life.”

Dear Reader,

To those of you who read Claire and Jack’s story in An Unlikely Match, I’d like to welcome you back to the island community of Heron Point, Florida. To those of you visiting Heron Point for the first time in this book, I hope you will enjoy this quirky little town as much as I enjoyed writing about it.

It’s autumn and change is in the air in Heron Point. The citizens are hopeful about the future, and some of them are falling in love. The leading lady of this story, Helen Sweeney, is not the typical heroine. She’s tough and strong and struggling to make her way in a male-dominated profession. And when faced with the most important decision of her life, whether or not to raise the child growing inside her without its father, she shows a vulnerable, humbling side of her character, as well. I hope you enjoy Helen and Ethan’s journey to a happy ending.

And for those readers who have asked me if Heron Point really exists, take Florida route 24 west until you hit the Gulf. There, among the cedar trees, you’ll find the closest thing to it.

I love to hear from readers. Please visit my Web site, www.cynthiathomason.com, or e-mail me at Cynthoma@aol.com. My address is P.O. Box 550068, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33355.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Thomason

An Unlikely Father

Cynthia Thomason

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

This book is dedicated to my favorite

hero/fisherman, my husband, Walter,

who was literally my “left-hand man” while

I recuperated from a broken wrist.

All is forgiven, honey, even though

I suffered this injury when you took me fishing.

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

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

AT EIGHT-THIRTY WEDNESDAY morning, Helen Sweeney waited for Maddie Harrison to raise the window shade on the door of Heron Point’s only medical office. As soon as Maddie changed the sign from Closed to Open, Helen got out of her scarred old Chevy Suburban, walked inside and strode to Maddie’s desk. The receptionist looked up and smiled. “Good morning, Helen. What brings you here? Is something wrong with Finn?”

“No, Pop’s all right. It’s me who needs to see Dr. Tucker.”

“Sorry, hon, but the doc’s out of town. Won’t be back for three days. I’m only here for a couple of hours to finish some paperwork.” She searched Helen’s face as if she could come up with a diagnosis by just looking closely. “It’s not like you to get sick, Helen.”