The Secret Son

The Secret Son
Tara Taylor Quinn

Erica has a little boy–and a big secret.Her son, Kevin, is not her ex-husband's child. In fact, Kevin's real father doesn't even know he exists. She's carried the guilt of this for more than five years.Now, to her complete shock, the man she fell in love with, hostage negotiator Jack Shaw–the man she expected never to see again–is back in her world. Her world and Kevin's…

Jack was there with her son. Their son. His son.

Kevin was trying not to stare at the brown bag Jack had sitting on his lap.

“Don’t you want to know who the surprise is for?” Jack asked, his attention on Kevin.

He’d make a wonderful father. The unexpected thought caught Erica completely off guard. In another time, another life, Jack would’ve been able to give so much. On the few occasions she’d seen him with Kevin, she’d noticed the natural affinity he seemed to have with children.

Or was it just his son?

Was she robbing them both of something vital by keeping her secret? In trying to protect them was she hurting them instead? Inflicting more pain where she tried so hard to bring happiness?

Or would telling her secret cause the greater pain?

And what about Jefferson, the man Kevin called Daddy? He might be her ex-husband but he considered Kevin his son.

“So who’s the surprise for?” Kevin’s voice rose on the last word as he stared at the bag.

“I think it’s for you,” Jack said.

Dear Reader,

The book you’re holding is very special to me. This is a story about love—in its purest form—in the hands and hearts of human beings who are not perfect. It probably isn’t the type of love story you find very often in a romance novel, yet it epitomizes everything that reading Harlequin books while I was growing up taught me about love and life. About the possibilities awaiting me. About the things I could hope for. Things I’d find only if I lived my life heroically. If I strove always to be a good person and make the right choices.

I grew up believing in the love I now write about. And then, clinging diligently to those beliefs, I flung myself out into the world where good and bad weren’t so clearly delineated, where the right choices weren’t always obvious. Where the heart could be confused.

I discovered something miraculous. The love we read about and come back to time and time again, the hope, the assurance that, in the end, right wins—it’s all true. It’s not as easy as it looked in the books I grew up reading, though. Finding that happy ending takes the ability to endure, to forgive oneself for not being perfect, to strive—especially in the face of mistakes—to do what’s right. To never stop believing you can be a good person.

So this story is for all the people like me who have the courage to live in this world full of bumps and bruises and still believe.

Please approach Erica, Jack, Jefferson, Pamela and Kevin with an open heart. I’m confident they’ll do the rest….

Sincerely,

Tara Taylor Quinn

P.S. I love hearing from readers. Write me at P.O. Box 15065, Scottsdale, AZ 85267 or visit me at www.tarataylorquinn.com.

The Secret Son

Tara Taylor Quinn

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

DEDICATION

For Kevin. This is the great thing about being a writer. What you can’t have, you can create. Since the first day we met—and I fell in love—I’ve had a great yearning in my heart to have known you as a little boy….

And

For Jake Bodell. I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t read this book in a million years, or like it if you did (except for the setting and the political parts). But it was you and your ability to act upon promptings that provided me with the strength to get it written. You are an amazing young man.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

All the dog jokes contained herein are the property of scatty.com (www.scatty.com), whom the author wishes to thank for their generosity in allowing her to use them.

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

CHAPTER ONE