His Long-Lost Family. Brenda Harlen

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       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      This second book in my series about brothers is dedicated to my brother, Jim, who was part of my inspiration for Jackson Garrett—and who will no doubt experience much of the same angst as this story’s hero when his beautiful daughters get to be Ava’s age…

      With special thanks to Emily Baker for proofreading Ava’s scenes to ensure that I wasn’t completely out of touch with the current teen generation. Someday you will find a romantic hero worthy of you—in the meantime, enjoy the journey, YOLO

       Prologue

      Kelly Cooper glanced at her watch as she slipped her feet into a pair of navy blue pumps and bit back an exasperated sigh. Every day, it was the same. No matter what time she woke her daughter, it seemed they were always running behind schedule.

      “Come on, Ava. We’re going to be late.”

      The twelve-year-old raced down the hall, her backpack in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.

      “Sorry, Mom. I forgot that I need you to sign something.”

      Kelly dug into her bag for a pen. Her daughter was famous for holding on to trip permission and lunch order forms until the morning that they were due, usually when they were already late getting out the door.

      Ava flattened the page out on the table by the door so that Kelly could scrawl her signature on the dotted line. But something about the way her daughter’s hand was splayed over the top of the page triggered Kelly’s maternal radar. She tugged the page out of Ava’s grasp, caught the headline at the top—CONSENT FOR BODY PIERCING OF A MINOR.

      When she was sure that she could speak calmly, she turned to her daughter and said, “Nice try, Ava.”

      “Come on, Mom. Please.”

      “No.” She tore the paper in half, then in quarters, and opened the door. “Let’s go.”

      Ava’s deep green eyes, the mirror image of her father’s, filled with tears. “It’s just my belly button.”

      “It’s not just anything,” Kelly argued. “Which I told you last week when you came home raving about Rachel’s sister’s hips being pierced. I am not letting you permanently disfigure any part of your body with holes or ink.”

      “Why not?”

      “Because you’re twelve years old.” She locked the door and headed down the hall to the elevator.

      “I’m almost thirteen,” Ava said.

      Actually, she’d only celebrated her twelfth birthday a few months earlier, but that wasn’t the issue. “Still nowhere close to eighteen,” she pointed out. “If you want a belly button ring when you’re eighteen, I won’t be able to say no. But until then, that is the answer.”

      “You’re so mean.”

      “You’ve mentioned that once or twice before,” she acknowledged as they exited on the ground floor.

      “Miranda and Corinne have belly button rings, and Rachel’s getting hers pierced on her birthday.” Ava climbed into the passenger side and latched her belt. “Because her mother’s cool, and because she believes it’s a way for Rachel to express her individuality.”

      “How can it be an expression of her individuality if she’s having it done to be like everyone else?” Kelly countered.

      Ava huffed out a breath. “Why do you always have to treat me like a baby?”

      “Because you are my baby,” she reminded her.

      Her daughter was silent for a long minute, but Kelly knew better than to think that she’d given up. It wasn’t in Ava’s nature to back down on anything. As she proved when she said, “I bet if I had a dad, he’d let me get my belly button pierced.”

      It was a familiar argument. Whenever Kelly didn’t give her daughter what she wanted, Ava played the no-father card. And while Kelly didn’t let the arguments sway her, she couldn’t deny the guilt that inevitably swamped her. Because Ava did have a father, but she’d never met the man who had contributed to her DNA—and that man had no idea that he had a child.

      She tried not to think about him, but she’d never forgotten him. Not since the night of her sixteenth birthday, when he’d kissed her. In that first moment that his lips touched hers, he’d also taken hold of her heart. It was several years later before their relationship progressed beyond that single kiss, before the one weekend they spent together changed her whole life.

      He was the only man she’d ever really loved, and when he’d chosen to be with someone else, Kelly had taken her shattered heart and her unborn child and moved as far away as possible. But it turned out that halfway across the country still wasn’t far enough to outrun the memories, guilt and regrets.

      “This isn’t negotiable,” she said firmly.

      Ava fell silent again, pouting.

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