Doorstep Twins / The Cowboy's Adopted Daughter: Doorstep Twins

Doorstep Twins / The Cowboy's Adopted Daughter: Doorstep Twins
Rebecca Winters

Patricia Thayer

DOORSTEP TWINS Rebecca WintersStrangers Gabi Turner and powerful Greek CEO Andreas Simonides are thrown together on the beautiful Greek island of Milos to care for their baby twin nephews. They start to feel like a family – but what will happen when the twins’ real father arrives?THE COWBOY’S ADOPTED DAUGHTER Patricia ThayerHired to run a quilting course at the A Bar A ranch, Allie is appalled when a brooding cowboy accuses her of trespassing. She wants nothing to do with arrogant Alex Casali. Until her little daughter utters her first words in months to him. And then she discovers his Bella Rosa story…

Doorstep Twins

by

Rebecca Winters

The Cowboy’s Adopted Daughter

by

Patricia Thayer

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

From brooding bachelors to doting dads!

Join in the tears and triumphs as these couples get a crash course in parenting adorable children

in…

DOORSTEP TWINS

by Rebecca Winters

And the next instalment of

The Brides of Bella Rosa:

THE COWBOY’S ADOPTED DAUGHTER

by Patricia Thayer

Enjoy our new 2-in-1 editions of stories by your favourite authors—for double the romance!

Doorstep Twins

by

Rebecca Winters

REBECCA WINTERS, whose family of four children has now swelled to include five beautiful grandchildren, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the land of the Rocky Mountains. With canyons and high Alpine meadows full of wildflowers, she never runs out of places to explore. They, plus her favourite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her Mills & Boon

Romance novels because writing is her passion, along with her family and church.

Rebecca loves to hear from her readers. If you wish to e-mail her, please visit her website at www.cleanromances.com

Dear Reader

Before I started writing Andreas and Vincenzo’s stories I had an experience that gave me the idea for it, and I’d like to share it with you.

When I was in high school my girlfriend and I had planned to go to Hawaii for the summer and work at jobs already promised to us. We’d saved our money and had bought our airline tickets. It was something we’d been planning for months. The night before we were supposed to fly out my girlfriend called, telling me she couldn’t go after all because she was getting married to a guy she’d fallen in love with on their first date! I don’t think they’d been on more than two dates when she phoned me. I’m happy to report that I recovered from my disappointment and that they’re still married after fifty-one years.

In my novel, love hits Andreas and Gabi exactly the same way. Two exceptional people are going down separate roads full tilt when they suddenly collide—and in seconds their worlds and those around them change for ever. This love story is set on the gorgeous Greek island of Crete.

Enjoy!

Rebecca Winters

Chapter One

“I’M SORRY, Ms. Turner, but Kyrie Simonides says he can’t fit you in today. If you’ll come next Tuesday at three o’clock?”

Gabi’s hand tightened around the leather strap of her taupe handbag. “I won’t be in Athens then.” The outcome of this visit would determine how soon she left Greece…that was if she were allowed to see him now.

She fought not to lose her composure in front of the retirement-age-looking receptionist who was probably paid a lot of money not to lose hers. “After waiting over three hours for him, surely he can take another five minutes to talk to me.”

The woman with heavy streaks of silver in her hair shook her head. “It’s the weekend. He should have left Athens an hour ago.”

At twenty after six on a hot Friday evening Gabi could believe it, but she hadn’t come this far to be put off. There was too much at stake. Taking a calming breath, she said, “I didn’t want to have to say this to you, but he’s left me no choice. Please tell him it’s a matter of life and death.”

Because it was the truth and her eyes didn’t blink, the receptionist’s expression underwent a subtle change. “If this is some kind of a joke, I’m afraid it will backfire on you.”

“This is no joke,” Gabi replied, standing her ground at five feet five in her comfortable two-piece cotton suit of pale lemon. She’d already undergone a thorough vetting and security check upon entering the building, so the receptionist knew she didn’t pose a threat.

After a slight hesitation the taller woman, clearly in a dilemma, got up from her desk and walked with a decided limp back to her boss’s office. That was progress.

While businessmen came and went from his private domain on top of the building complex in downtown Athens, she’d been continually ignored until now. If Gabi had just come out with it in the first place, it might not have taken her most of the day to get results, but she’d wanted to protect him.

Gabi only knew three facts about the thirty-three-year-old Andreas Simonides: First, he was the reputed new force majeure at the internationally renowned Simonides Corporation whose holdings were tied up in all areas of metallurgy, including aluminum, copper and plastics.

Her source confided that their vast fortune, accumulated over many decades, included the ownership of eighty companies. With a population of twelve thousand employees, the Simonides family ruled over a virtual empire extending beyond Greece.

Second, if the picture in the newspaper didn’t lie, he was an exceptionally attractive male.

The third fact wasn’t public knowledge. In truth no one knew what Gabi knew…not even the man himself. But once they talked, his life would change forever whether he liked it or not.

While she stood there anticipating their first meeting, she heard the woman’s footsteps. “Kyrie Simonides will give you two minutes, no more.”

“I’ll take them!”

“You go down the hall and through the double doors.”

“Thank you very much,” she said with heartfelt sincerity, then rushed around the reception desk, her golden jaw-length curls bouncing. At first she didn’t see anyone as she entered his elegant inner sanctum.