Secret Father: A Sweet Romance

I absolutely loved this book. It is a wonderfully sweet

romance. What are the odds that they would find each other

again? I love Mac he is such a sweet inquisitive kid. And

defiantly like his father, right down to being the spitting

image of him. I loved when they meet again in the beginning

of the book. Poor Linda is at a loss as what to do. You know

how a small town works, everyone knows your business

within minutes. And when rumors start flying poor Linda may

have to move. That is till Dave proposes a solution to the

problem. Man it was a weird one now they just have to see

how it all works out. I hope to read more books by Suz

DeMello her book was well written and flowed so

seamlessly. I finished it before I knew it. It was morning

and time to get up. I just could not put the book down.

Now before I ruin this for you I will leave off here. I hope you

enjoy this book as much as I did. If you do like this book,

please consider leaving a review. The Authors really like it

when you do; they value your opinions too.

Secret Father: A Sweet Romance

by renowned storyteller

Suz deMello.

When Linda Travers was fourteen, Dave

Madsen, then age seventeen, rescued her from a snowy

death. They later met at an end-of-term party at their college

and lost their virginities to each other before Dave left the country.

And now...Despite spending her teenage years mooning over
Dave, Linda Travers has moved on with her life. Being left

pregnant and alone will force that on a gal. Age twenty-five,

she lives in their hometown with their six-year-old, Mac.

Then Dr. Dave Madsen reappears. He's spent the last years

exploring in the Amazon, searching for new plants and

medications. A vicious snakebite has left him needing rehab

from the only physical therapist around—Linda.

Their college lovemaking was the first time for both, so
Linda and Dave remember each other. She’s amazed to feel

the same old anger, hurt, and need. Less emotional, Dave’s

curious about Linda, wondering why she didn't leave her

address and phone number for him when what they’d shared

had been so good. Neither totally believes the explanations

the other offers.

Since the rescue, Dave was always Linda’s hero,

but she doesn’t know him anymore.

Is he worthy of fathering their son? And what of their love?

Can they create a future…together as a family?

“C’mon, Mac, we’re late.” Linda Travers scurried out of the duplex, tugging her son with one hand while the other struggled to grip both his backpack and her satchel. She hurried him into the passenger side of their battered old Jeep Cherokee.

“Mommy, why are we in a hurry today?” A methodical child, Mac carefully clicked the halves of his seatbelt together and tucked his pack at his feet.

“I have a new patient, and Dr. Pettigrew wants me to meet him when he arrives.” Linda tossed her satchel and a light sweater into the back seat before sliding behind the wheel.

“I don’t like Dr. Petty-grew.” He studied her with serious blue eyes, the exact color of his denim overalls.

Linda sighed. She’d hoped Mac hadn’t noticed her feelings about her uptight, rigid supervisor. “Dr. Pettigrew is a nice person, and she deserves to be treated in a polite manner.” She started the car and, after looking both ways, pulled out of the duplex driveway onto Mayfield Street.

“She doesn’t like me, either.”

“Maybe not, honey, but your job in life isn’t to make sure everyone likes you. But you should be polite.”

“Huh.” He stuck out his lower lip.

At a red light, she applied rose-pink lipstick and hastily ran a brush through her hair. She turned onto Fourth and stopped the car outside Renegade Ridge Elementary. “You’re right on time, honey. Do you have your milk money?”

He shoved a hand into his pocket. “Yep.”

She brushed his forelock of red hair out of his eyes. “Have a good day, darling.” She kissed Mac good-bye and drove along Fourth before turning onto Highland Avenue.

Renegade Ridge had remained the same for as long as Linda could remember. Set on a tributary of the Yuba, the Gold Rush era town was uneasily divided into two parts. In its center, many of its Victorian mansions had been converted to charming, prosperous bed and breakfast hotels. In the modern, less expensive part of Renegade where Linda lived, boxy duplexes and bungalows were interspersed with even more contemporary facilities, including the Wellness Clinic, where Linda worked.

She was lucky. Without the Wellness Clinic, she’d have to work in Grass Valley, Auburn, or even Sacramento, depriving Mac of the small-town lifestyle she’d enjoyed as a kid. Maybe Renegade Ridge was a little insular, but she loved the place and didn’t want to raise her child anywhere else.

Ahead of her, the clinic’s teal-colored van turned into its driveway. Linda accelerated, hoping to arrive when the new patient did. Zipping into the parking lot, she found a space and parked.

The teal van stopped near the clinic’s entrance, where Dr. Pettigrew already stood, frowning, with her arms folded across her chest. As Linda sprang out of her car, the van’s driver opened the vehicle’s sliding side door.

With a mechanical whir, a platform lowered the patient, grasping crutches, toward the ground. Hitching her satchel over one shoulder, Linda strode confidently toward her new charge.

Despite his injury, her first impression was of a tall, physically vital male. Good. Injured but basically healthy patients healed fast. Her heart jumped, annoying her. With a lively six-year-old and a full-time job, even a superwoman didn’t have time for love. Besides, any attraction to a patient was inappropriate.

As she approached, he stepped out of the shadow of the van. The April sunshine struck sparks from a lock of red hair falling over his forehead. Gold-rimmed spectacles glinted as he turned his head to look at her. His glasses didn’t hide his unusually blue eyes, the precise color of his denim shorts.

She stopped and stared. Along with the shorts, he wore a “Save the Rain Forest” T-shirt, hiking boots, and an astounded expression as he gawked at her.

Oh, no. It was Dave Madsen. Dave Madsen, who’d found her entirely forgettable not once but twice.

“Hey there, wonder woman,” he said. Then he lost control of his crutches and fell hard on both knees with a cry of pain.

Dr. Pettigrew, Linda, and the driver all dashed to Dave’s aid. “I’m so sorry. This could set us back for days.” Dr. Pettigrew took Dave’s arm. “Let’s get you back into the van, and we’ll go to the hospital in Grass Valley for X-rays.”

“The fall wasn’t that bad—” Dave said, struggling to his feet

“Yes, it was,” Linda said. She needed time to think, to decide what to do. “You need to get those knees X-rayed, just in case.”

He set a hand on her shoulder for balance, and the shock of his touch sent tremors through her body. His fingers clenched, transmitting his tension, his questions, the uncertainty underlying his obvious strength.

She looked into his eyes, which regarded her with peculiar intensity. He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off, knowing that with a single wrong word from him to her boss, she could lose her job.

“We…we’ll start your, um, therapy tomorrow.” She helped bundle him back into the van, slamming the door on his protests. As the van left, she looked skyward and prayed that he wouldn’t say anything to Dr. Pettigrew. Had Miss Priss heard him call her wonder woman?

Sweat broke out beneath Linda’s armpits. Her thoughts whirled, bumping and banging like sneakers in a clothes dryer. Dave. Dave Madsen. Oh, dear God. Dave Madsen, the father of her child, was back, without a clue regarding his son.

At least this time he remembered her. Hey there, wonder woman. Those four words weakened her limbs and sent a quiver along her spine. He’d greeted her with those exact words the morning after they’d given each other their virginities in his narrow little bed in the dorm at Sierra Mountain College.

Remembering four words seven years later wasn’t good enough, though, not after he’d taken her innocence using cheap old condoms. He’d given her a baby and walked away without a single glance back and gone off to the Amazon to find new plant species. Or at least that was the bill of goods he’d sold her.

During the intervening years, she’d thought about this moment but had never figured out how to deal with this issue. Tension seized her shoulders and back, sending cramps into her belly. She breathed deeply in a vain attempt to ease the sudden, shocking burden fate had thrown her way.

Best-selling, award-winning author Suz deMello, a.k.a Sue
Swift, has written seventeen romance novels in several
subgenres, including erotica, comedy, historical, paranormal,
mystery and suspense, plus a number of short stories and
non-fiction articles on writing. A freelance editor, she’s held
the positions of managing editor and senior editor, working
for such firms as Totally Bound and Ai Press.

She also takes private clients. Her books have been favorably
reviewed in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and Booklist, won a contest
or two, attained the finals of the RITA and hit several bestseller
lists. A former trial attorney, her passion is world travel. She’s left
the US over a dozen times, including lengthy stints working
overseas. She’s now writing a vampire tale and planning her next trip.