Excerpt: 'The Cowboy's Little Surprise' by Barbara White Daille

Barbara White Daille shares an excerpt from her new release, The Cowboy's Little Surprise, the first book in The Hitching Post Hotel series.

Barbara: I'm very excited to be here today to chat about my new series, The Hitching Post Hotel, and to share an excerpt from the first book in the series, The Cowboy's Little Surprise.

This book combines two of my favorite plotlines in one. First, the reunion story, where two people in a relationship go their separate ways, then are brought together again by circumstances that are often out of their control. And second, the secret-baby story, where that previous relationship resulted in a child's birth but, for many different reasons, the hero only now learns he's a father.

In this book, Cole had been Tina's crush since grade school. By senior high, as she herself says, he had turned love-'em-and-leave-'em into an art form, changing girlfriends as often as she replaced guest towels at the Hitching Post. Now Cole has returned to town, she desperately needs to keep her distance from him — but her matchmaking grandpa is scheming to bring them together.

I hope you enjoy this excerpt from the story!

Here's the blurb about the book (courtesy of Harlequin):

A guy like Cole Slater is hard to forget. Tina Sanchez should know—for years since high school she's tried to bury the pain of Cole's cruel betrayal. But it's impossible to ignore the man she sees reflected in her young son's eyes now that Cole is back in her life—and about to meet the child he never knew he had.

Returning home to New Mexico, Cole is determined to put his playboy reputation to rest. Especially now that he knows there's a little boy looking up to him. And seeing Tina again reignites all the feelings Cole ran from as a teen. Despite his fear that he can't be the man Tina deserves, he's determined to try. For his son's sake—and his own.

EXCERPT

Tina looked up to see Cole stepping into her office.

"Got a minute?" he asked.

It didn't seem to matter whether she did or not. He took a seat in the leather chair beside her desk and stretched his long legs out in front of him. She would have to step over them to leave.

Speaking of which…

"I don't suppose you're here to check out?"

Now he frowned. "No. What gave you that idea?"

"Wishful thinking, maybe."

"Very funny." He shot a glance toward the empty doorway. "Did Jed say something?"

"No, nothing." Not meeting his eyes, she riffled through the pages of her notebook.

"What's wrong?"

He put his hand over hers. The spark of excitement she felt at his touch should have told her to pull away. But she didn't think of flashing red warning lights. She thought only of the many times she had imagined him here in the hotel, living with her and loving her and helping her create the family she'd always wanted.

"I know something's bothering you," he murmured. "Talk to me."

She struggled to remind herself she couldn't fall for this again, couldn't let him turn his charms on her and get away with it. "Why?" she demanded.

He frowned. "I don't know what I've done to get on your bad side. But I think we can change that."

"Why would we want to?"

He laughed. "Dang, woman, you ask more questions than all the kids put together. Come on, we've barely had a chance to talk at all in the past couple of days. Admit it, you've missed me, haven't you?"

"Don't flatter yourself."

"All right, then. How about I flatter you?"

His question sent a burst of pleasure through her. Somehow, she managed to say levelly, "How about you don't? I wouldn't want you wasting your breath."

"All right, then," he said again. "I won't." He leaned forward and touched his mouth to hers.

Now, warmth spread all through her, followed by a rush of desire. She had curled her fingers in the fabric of his shirt, ready to draw him closer, when he smiled.

Once, that same slow smile had held the power to break her heart. So had he.

Now, the warning lights flashed.

Find out more about Barbara and her books at barbarawhitedaille.com.