Surprise Partners

“I want you, Lydia.”

Knowing Scott felt that way had been disconcerting enough; hearing him actually say the words staggered Lydia. “Scott—”

“You need time,” he said.

She needed time. She needed distance. She needed perspective. God help her, she needed him.

Lydia nodded. “I have to think about this,” she whispered. “Before it goes any further—I have to think.”

“I know. You aren’t comfortable acting on impulse. You have to decide first if the benefits are worth the risks. I can wait until you’ve come up with the answer, but I hope you’ll decide to give it a try,” Scott said.

It shook her even more that he seemed to understand her so well. And that he seemed to be making no effort to change what he knew about her. She was more accustomed to impatience and frustration from men who had wanted her before. Which made Scott all the more difficult to resist….

Dear Reader,

With spring in the air, there’s no better way to herald the season and continue to celebrate Silhouette’s 20th Anniversary year than with an exhilarating month of romance from Special Edition!

Kicking off a great lineup is Beginning with Baby, a heartwarming THAT’S MY BABY! story by rising star Christie Ridgway. Longtime Special Edition favorite Susan Mallery turns up the heat in The Sheik’s Kidnapped Bride, the first book in her new DESERT ROGUES series. And popular author Laurie Paige wraps up the SO MANY BABIES miniseries with Make Way for Babies!, a poignant reunion romance in which a set of newborn twins unwittingly plays Cupid!

Beloved author Gina Wilkins weaves a sensuous modern love story about two career-minded people who are unexpectedly swept away by desire in Surprise Partners. In Her Wildest Wedding Dreams from veteran author Celeste Hamilton, a sheltered woman finds the passion of a lifetime in a rugged rancher’s arms. And finally, Carol Finch brings every woman’s fantasy to life with an irresistible millionaire hero in her compelling novel Soul Mates.

It’s a gripping month of reading in Special Edition. Enjoy!

All the best,

Karen Taylor Richman

Senior Editor

MILLS & BOON

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For Courtney, my own microbiologist. Thanks for the help. And for Kerry and David, who help out in their own ways.

Books by Gina Wilkins

Silhouette Special Edition

The Father Next Door #1082

* It Could Happen To You #1119

Valentine Baby #1153

† Her Very Own Family #1243

† That First Special Kiss #1269

Surprise Partners #1318

Previously published as Gina Ferris

Silhouette Special Edition

Healing Sympathy #496

Lady Beware #549

In from the Rain #677

Prodigal Father #711

§ Full of Grace #793

§ Hardworking Man #806

§ Fair and Wise #819

§ Far To Go #862

§ Loving and Giving #879

Babies on Board #913

Previously published as Gina Ferris Wilkins

Silhouette Special Edition

‡ A Man for Mom #955

‡ A Match for Celia #967

‡ A Home for Adam #980

‡ Cody’s Fiancée #1006

Silhouette Books

Mother’s Day Collection 1995

Three Mothers and a Cradle

“Beginnings”

GINA WILKINS

is a bestselling and award-winning author who has written more than fifty books for Harlequin and Silhouette Books. She credits her successful career in romance to her long, happy marriage and her three “extraordinary” children.

A lifelong resident of central Arkansas, Ms. Wilkins sold her first book to Harlequin in 1987 and has been writing full-time since. She has appeared on the Waldenbooks, B. Dalton and USA Today bestseller lists. She is a three-time recipient of the Maggie Award for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers, and has won several awards from the reviewers of Romantic Times Magazine.

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 One

“And so, by using PCR and RFLP DNA methodology, the probability of paternity can be established to greater than 99.9 percent. It’s virtually fail proof.”

Realizing that Lydia McKinley had paused expectantly after an almost fifteen-minute mini lecture, Scott Pearson nodded somberly, hoping he looked as if he’d been paying close attention to her words. “Fascinating.”

She set her coffee cup on the restaurant table and wrinkled her nose, her pretty oval face softening with the expression. “I gave you too much information, didn’t I? I’m afraid I have a tendency to answer simple questions in far greater detail than necessary. My sister claims to be afraid to even ask passing questions about my work.”

Scott shook his head. “Actually, I’ve found your discussions of DNA testing both valuable and very interesting. You have a real knack for making a complex subject relatively easy to understand. I bet you’re popular with your students.”

“Not all of them. There are those who consider me a real terror.”

“Probably the ones who want a passing grade for very little effort.”

She laughed softly. “Exactly. How did you ever guess?”

He lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “You don’t strike me as the type to let anyone slide by without demonstrating knowledge of the material.”

“‘Hardnose McKinley.’” She sighed in rueful resignation. “I’ve heard it muttered in the hallways, along with a few variations.”

“I doubt you let a few whiners bother you that much. You probably concentrate more on the students who really want to learn.”

Her rare, full smile brightened her dark blue eyes and reminded Scott that Professor Lydia McKinley was as attractive as she was brilliant—a fact he’d noticed with increasing regularity during the ten months or so he’d known her. They’d met in the parking lot of the apartment complex in which they were neighbors. Lydia had spilled a box of student essays, and Scott had helped her gather them before a threatening rainstorm could ruin them. Upon learning that Lydia was a microbiologist who taught university classes that included discussions of forensic DNA, Scott, an ambitious young attorney in a prestigious Dallas law firm, had asked if she would answer some of his questions about DNA. She had graciously agreed.

Since that meeting, they had gotten together three or four times for impromptu DNA lessons whenever Scott called her with questions. He always insisted on treating her to dinner during their talks since she refused any other form of compensation for her time and expertise. Their relationship was friendly, comfortable and rather impersonal. Their conversations tended to be more scientific than social. The few times Scott had wandered into personal territory, Lydia had quickly guided him back to business.

Usually quite confident around women, Scott sometimes found himself feeling a bit awkward with Lydia. Having spent a lot of time with competent, intelligent women, he wasn’t intimidated by her exactly, but he sometimes found himself wondering what she was thinking. She was very good at hiding her feelings behind a pleasantly serene expression.

He really knew very little about her, he mused, studying her across the table as a server set their desserts in front of them. He’d always considered himself pretty good at drawing people out, but Lydia was a definite challenge. He liked her, but he simply didn’t know what made her tick. Yet.

She picked up her dessert fork and glanced at him, catching his eye. “Is something wrong, Scott? You’ve been a bit distracted this evening.”

Smiling apologetically, Scott shook his head. “Sorry. I’m afraid it’s been a long day. You mentioned that you have a sister?”

“Yes. Larissa.”

“Is she older or younger than you?”

“Two years older.” Lydia wrinkled her nose again in a manner that Scott found appealing. “And she never lets me forget it. She’s been bossing me around all my life.”

He grinned. “Then you should be able to understand why a half-hour telephone conversation with my sister was all I needed to top off an already stressful day. She’s decided my life needs changing and she’s the only one qualified to arrange it.”

“Oh, that does sound familiar,” Lydia agreed with a soft groan. “Larissa’s gotten so pushy lately that I’ve been ducking her calls—which I hate doing because I’m really extremely fond of her.”

“Same here. I’m crazy about Heather, but she’s fully earned her nickname of Heather the Hun.”

Lydia laughed softly at the nickname. “How much older is she?”

“Four minutes,” Scott answered glumly.

Her eyebrows rose. “Twins?”

He nodded.

“Interesting. I wouldn’t have thought a twin would consider herself an older sibling, even with a four-minute birth advantage.”

“‘Advantage’ is the right word. Although with Heather’s personality, it probably wouldn’t have mattered if I’d been the firstborn. She’d still want to tell me what to do.”

Lydia swallowed a bite of cheesecake and reached for her coffee cup. “Somehow I don’t see you as the type to let your sister give you orders.”

“I don’t,” he concurred. “But sometimes I get kind of tired of the battle.”

Again, Lydia’s sigh sounded empathetic. “It does get tiresome, doesn’t it?”

Dipping into his rich chocolate dessert, he nodded, pleased to find someone who understood what he’d been going through lately. “What sort of things does your sister nag you about?”

“Larissa and I are very different. She’s artistic and creative and flamboyant. Very social. She would like for me to be more like her, I think.”

Scott found it hard to imagine quiet, reserved Lydia McKinley having a flamboyant sister. It made him wonder about the rest of her family, if she had any—something else they had never discussed in their business-only conversations. Maybe talking about his own sister would draw her out more about her life.

“Heather is a dynamo,” he began. “She sets her sights on something and doesn’t give up until she accomplishes whatever she wants to do. It’s made her very successful in her advertising career, but sometimes she doesn’t know when to stop. My friend Cameron calls her harmlessly terrifying.”

“‘Harmlessly terrifying.’” Lydia repeated the phrase thoughtfully. “That describes my sister perfectly.”

“Heather’s getting married in June and she’s deliriously happy about it. She’s marrying a doctor she met last year—Steve Carter, a nice guy who seems crazy about her in return. Now she’s decided that I should be as happy as she is.”

“She’s trying to fix you up with someone?” Lydia put down her fork and lifted her hands to her temples. “That’s exactly what Larissa’s been up to lately! Every time I hear from her she has someone new she wants me to meet.”

“So does Heather. I think she’s paraded every unattached woman she’s ever met in front of me during the past few months. And she can’t stand the women I’ve dated. I can’t seem to convince her that I’m not ready to get seriously involved with anyone right now. I’m working toward a partnership in the law firm, and that means long hours at the office. It doesn’t leave me time to do justice to a relationship. I’ve tried to tell her I have plenty of time to start a family once I’ve got my career on track, but she thinks just because she’s ready to settle down, I should be, too. She’s really carrying the twin thing a bit too far.”

“My sister’s doing the same thing to me. Larissa set up housekeeping a few months ago with a really great guy she says is her ‘soul mate.’ Now she’s looking for mine. I’m half-afraid to even meet her for lunch lately. Two of her invitations have turned out to be ambush blind dates, and the men she’s chosen for me have been—well, not what I would have chosen.”

“You, too?” Scott rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. “Heather asked me to fix her clogged sink a couple of weeks ago. She ‘just happened’ to have a friend there when I showed up. I barely made it out still single. I’m surprised they didn’t have a minister there to dispense with the formality of courtship.”

Lydia laughed. She had a very pretty laugh, Scott noted absently. She didn’t use it often enough.

“I think it’s all this Valentine’s Day foolishness,” she murmured, glancing expressively around the restaurant at all the hearts-lace-and-cupids decorations. “I’m hoping Larissa will ease up when this sappy, greeting-card event is behind us.”

Struck by the comment, he agreed. “That’s probably what’s making Heather so determined right now. Everywhere you look, all you see is hearts and flowers and stuff, and it’s been that way for weeks. It’s no wonder she thinks everyone else should be as obsessed by romance as she is.”

Lydia nodded in agreement, making her brown, smoothly bobbed hair sway around her chin. She sipped her coffee, apparently deciding she’d made her point about the contagious pervasiveness of the Valentine’s Day fever.

Since the personal conversation had been going so well to that point, fueled by their mutual frustration with their sisters’ matchmaking efforts, Scott risked carrying it further. Now was his chance to get to know more about Lydia—just to satisfy his natural curiosity about her, of course, he assured himself. “So you aren’t interested in hooking up at the moment, either?”

“If by ‘hooking up,’ you mean getting seriously involved with someone, the answer is no, not now. I’m working toward my doctorate degree, which I should receive in May. I’m looking for a full professorship for the fall, and I have résumés at universities in several other states. There are several research projects I want to complete during the next few years to keep my career on target. The last couple of men I dated grew very impatient with my focus on my work, but I’m just not interested in changing anything for now.”

“Sounds a lot like my career agenda. We really do have a lot in common, don’t we?” he asked, reaching out to pat her hand companionably with his.

Looking suddenly flustered, Lydia pulled her hand away and picked up her fork again. “Matchmaking sisters and workaholic tendencies? It’s not exactly a lot.”

That probably was all they had in common, Scott silently conceded. But even those similarities made it easier to consider her a friend, if only on a casual basis.

Apparently deciding they’d shared enough personal information, Lydia turned the conversation back to their usual subject. “Did you have any more questions about the polymerase chain reaction technique?”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of several more questions eventually. I just can’t come up with any at the moment.”

“Feel free to ask any time. And I’ll get you a copy of that laboratory contamination article I told you about.”

“I’d appreciate it.” They had met at the restaurant after work, so Scott walked Lydia to her car when they finished. “Thanks again, Lydia. You answered a lot of questions for me tonight. And thank you for listening to me whine about my sister, as well.”

Smiling, she quipped, “For a meal I don’t have to cook myself, I’ll gladly talk about DNA and matchmaking sisters anytime.”

He chuckled and opened her car door for her. “Drive carefully on your way home. I’ll be stopping by my office, so I won’t be following you.”

Clucking her tongue in exaggerated disapproval, Lydia shook a finger at him. “You work too hard. You should listen to your sister and let her introduce you to a nice girl.”

Scott laughed and tapped her chin lightly with his knuckles. “With friends like you…”

Looking rather pleased with herself, Lydia climbed into her car. Scott was smiling when he watched her drive away. Interesting woman, he thought.

He was glad they had become friends.

Two days later, Lydia walked slowly into her apartment, her arms loaded with a huge stack of papers she had to read by the next day. It was already past 8:00 p.m., and she hadn’t eaten since lunchtime. Too tired to cook, she had stopped at a drive-through restaurant for a grilled chicken salad and a bread stick; the fast-food bag was balanced precariously on top of her pile of “homework.”

Kicking off her shoes, she deposited her load on the coffee table and decided to change before eating and working. It was going to be a long evening, she thought, moving toward the bedroom. Might as well get comfortable.

The message light blinked on the answering machine connected to her bedroom extension. She pushed the play button, then pulled off her jacket and skirt while the tape rewound.

“Professor McKinley, it’s Connie Redman,” a woman’s voice said from the machine. “I’m calling to remind you of the Women in Science meeting next Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. It should be a really good meeting, so we hope to see you there.”

“I’ll be there, Connie,” Lydia murmured in response to the perky admonition, her own voice muffled by the cotton T-shirt she pulled over her head.

The next message played as she climbed into a pair of comfortably loose drawstring pants. “Lydia, it’s George. I hope you haven’t forgotten that you agreed to fill in for me at the seminar next week. You’ll be speaking from one until three. Let me know if there’s anything you need.”

“Thank you, George,” she said, wrinkling her nose at his vaguely patronizing tone. “I’m sure I can handle it.”

After a pause and a hang-up beep, another voice came through the speaker. “Lyddie?”

Lydia groaned as she bent to pull on thick, fuzzy socks. This voice required no identification.

“You’re still not home?” Larissa’s tone was heavy with disapproval. “It’s after six. Honestly, sis, you have to stop working all the time. The reason I’m calling is that there’s going to be a great Valentine’s Day party next weekend. It’s a dance and silent auction, to raise money for the new neonatal wing at Metro General. I’ve donated a couple of my paintings, so of course I have to be there. And I would love it if you were there, too. I know this great guy, Gary—he’s a new friend of Charlie’s. He’s really sweet. I think you’d like him. Give me a call if you’re interested, okay? Better yet, let’s just assume you are interested. I’ll set everything up and call you back in a little while, okay? It’ll be great.”

“Don’t you dare!” Lydia snapped at the machine as if her sister could hear. “How many times must I tell you I’m not interested in—” The telephone rang before she could finish the exasperated question. Already certain whom she’d hear on the other end, she snatched up the receiver, hunger and weariness fraying her composure. “Larissa, do not set me up for a blind date, do you understand? I won’t go.”

“I don’t blame you,” a man’s voice said in response. “That’s exactly what I said to my sister.”

“Scott?” she said after a momentary hesitation in which she placed the voice.

“Yes. I hope you aren’t disappointed that it isn’t your sister.”

“Not at all. I’m not very happy with my sister just now.”

“Which brings me to the reason I called you—”

“My sister?”

“No. Mine.”

“I don’t understand,” Lydia said, sinking to sit on the side of her bed.

“I just had another frustrating conversation with Heather. I swear this Valentine’s Day fever is warping her mind. She’s determined to set me up with a date for a hospital fund-raiser she and her fiancé are attending next weekend.”

“Is it a dance and silent auction for the new neonatal wing, by any chance?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Are you going?”

“A couple of my sister’s paintings are being auctioned. She wants me to be there—and she just happens to know a great guy to escort me,” she added with a scowl.

“From what you said when you answered the phone, I assume you’re planning to decline?”

Forgetting for the moment that he couldn’t see her, she nodded. “I have no interest in going to a party with a man my sister has chosen for me.”

“And I’m not interested in spending an evening with one of Heather’s overeager friends.”

She thought that problem was easy enough to solve. “So tell her no.”

“I have. She’s determined. She knows I’m sort of committed to attending—I have a lot of friends in the medical community. She’s threatened to tell every unattached woman there that I’m available—and looking for a mate.”

Lydia smiled ruefully. “She really is terrifying, isn’t she?”

“She’s impossible.”

“So why don’t you take a date of your own choice to the event?” she asked simply.

“That’s exactly what I have in mind. How would you like to go to the charity thing with me, Lydia?”

She blinked, certain she must have misunderstood him. “I’m sorry, but did you just ask me to go with you?”

“Yes. It’s the perfect solution. We’re friends who aren’t interested in anything more at the moment. Going together will be pleasant, uncomplicated—and it will get our sisters off our backs.”

It didn’t sound at all like the perfect solution to her. She and Scott were hardly friends—more like friendly acquaintances. They didn’t actually know each other very well. “I don’t know, Scott….”

“Think about it. Is Larissa going to give up without a fight?”

Her mouth twisted. “I’m not actually expecting a fight. But she will argue.”

“And when she doesn’t get her way, will she sigh and pout and make you feel guilty for not appreciating her sincere concern for you?”

Lydia couldn’t help laughing a little at his uncannily accurate prediction. “Something like that.”

“So wouldn’t it be easier to go with me than to argue with her about the blind date she wants to arrange for you?”

“I wasn’t planning to go at all.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I’m really not very good at parties, Scott. Like most scientists, I’m more comfortable with a laboratory beaker than a champagne glass in my hand.”

“And I’d rather be addressing a jury than making small talk with strangers. But since I have to go anyway, I would enjoy spending the evening with you.”

It wasn’t the most flattering invitation she had ever received—but it was among the most honest. Lydia found that vaguely refreshing. “I’m not a very good dancer,” she warned him.

“We’ll try not to injure each other.”

“And you’ll cover for me if I get all awkward and tongue-tied in front of your friends?”

“Gladly—if you’ll protect me from your scary sister.”

She laughed again. “She isn’t really scary. Just…obstinate.”

“So you’ll go?”

She imagined the satisfaction she would feel upon telling Larissa that she already had an escort for the event. The image gave her the nerve to blurt out, “Yes. I believe I will.”

“Thanks, Lydia. For the first time, I can actually look forward to this thing.”