Best-Kept Lies

Dear Reader,

Here it is. At last! Randi’s story, the final installment of THE M
C
CAFFERTYS series. Because of the tremendous amount of e-mail I’ve gotten from readers about THE M
C
CAFFERTYS series, I realize you’ve waited a long time for this story and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in this, my fiftieth book for Silhouette. That’s right,
Best-Kept Lies
is my fiftieth book and my first Silhouette Desire title. What a thrill!

Finally, the question as to the paternity of Randi’s child is answered and the villain who has been terrorizing the McCafferty family is unmasked. Of course hotheaded Randi has met her match in Kurt Striker. Remember him, the hunk of a private detective introduced in the earlier books? When Randi and Kurt get together, watch out! Kurt’s been hired by Randi’s half brothers to protect her, and she’s having none of it—even though she finds the sexy detective impossible to resist. And speaking of Randi’s siblings, Thorne, Matt and Slade and the women who tamed these wild, Montana hellions, show up in the story, as well. It’s a fast-paced, hot, McCafferty reunion, so enjoy!

I’ve loved writing this series and I think it shows in the books.
Best-Kept Lies
is my favorite and I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think of Randi’s story as well as the series. You can write to me through my Web sites www.lisajackson.com and www.themysterymansion.com where I’ve got new games, polls and contests to celebrate the publication of my fiftieth book for Silhouette!

Keep reading,

Lisa Jackson

Dear Reader,

Yes, we have what you’re looking for at Silhouette Desire. This month, we bring you some of the most anticipated stories…and some of the most exciting new tales we have ever offered.

Yes,
New York Times
bestselling author Lisa Jackson is back with Randi McCafferty’s story. You’ve been waiting to discover who fathered Randi’s baby and who was out to kill her, and the incomparable Lisa Jackson answers all your questions and more in
Best-Kept Lies
. Yes, we have the next installment of DYNASTIES: THE DANFORTHS with Cathleen Galitz’s
Cowboy Crescendo
. And you can be sure that wild Wyoming rancher Toby Danforth is just as hot as can be. Yes, there is finally another SECRETS! book from Barbara McCauley. She’s back with
Miss Pruitt’s Private Life
, a scandalous tale of passionate encounters and returning characters you’ve come to know and love.

Yes, Sara Orwig continues her compelling series STALLION PASS: TEXAS KNIGHTS with an outstanding tale of stranded strangers turned secret lovers, in
Standing Outside the Fire
. Yes, the fabulous Kathie DeNosky is back this month with a scintillating story about a woman desperate to have a
Baby at
His
Convenience
. And yes, Bronwyn Jameson is taking us down under as two passionate individuals square off in a battle that soon sweeps them
Beyond Control.

Here’s hoping you’ll be saying “Yes, yes, yes” to Silhouette Desire all month…all summer…all year long!

Melissa Jeglinski
Senior Editor
Silhouette Desire

Prologue

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

Epilogue

“I’
m dyin’, Randi-girl, and there ain’t no two ways about it.”

Randi McCafferty stopped short. She’d been hurrying down the stairs, her new boots pinching and ringing on the old wooden steps of the house she’d grown up in—a rambling old ranch house set on a slight rise in the middle of No-Damn-Where, Montana. She’d been thinking of her own situation, hadn’t realized her father was half lying in his recliner, staring at the blackened grate of the rock fireplace in the living room. John Randall McCafferty was still a big man, but time had taken its toll on his once commanding stature and had ravaged features that had been too handsome for his own good. “What’re you talkin’ about?” she asked. “You’re going to live forever.”

“No one does.” He glanced up at her and his eyes held hers. “I just want you to know that I’m leavin’ you half the place. The boys, they can fight over the rest of it. The Flying M is gonna be yours. Soon.”

“Don’t even talk that way,” she said, walking into the dark room where the afternoon heat had collected. She glanced through a dusty window, past the porch to the vast acres of the ranch that stretched beneath a wide Montana sky. Cattle and horses grazed in the fields past the stable and barn, moving as restlessly as the wind that made the grass undulate.

“You may as well face it. Come over here. Come on, come on, y’know my bark is worse’n my bite.”

“Of course I know it.” She’d never seen the bad side of her father’s temper, though her half brothers had brought it up time and time again.

“I just want to look at ya. My eyes ain’t what they used to be.” He chuckled, then coughed so violently his lungs rattled.

“Dad, I think I should call Matt. You should be in a hospital.”

“Hell, no.” As she crossed the room, he waved a bony hand as if he was swatting a fly. “No damn doctor is gonna do me any good now.”

“But—”

“Hush, would ya? For once you listen to me.” Incredibly clear eyes glared up at her. He placed a yellowed envelope in her palm. “This here is the deed. Thorne, Matt and Slade, they own the other half together and that should be interestin’,” he said with a morbid chuckle. “They’ll probably fight over it like cougars at a kill…but don’t you worry none. You own the lion’s share.” He smiled at his own little joke. “You and your baby.”

“My what?” She didn’t move a muscle.

“My grandson. You’re carryin’ him, ain’t ya?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

A hot blush burned up the back of her neck. She hadn’t told a soul about the baby. No one knew. Except, it seemed, her father.

“You know, I would have rather had you get married before you got pregnant, but that’s over and done with and I won’t be around long enough to see the boy. But you and he are taken care of. The ranch will see to that.”

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me.”

Her father’s smile disappeared. “Sure you do, Randi. Someone needs to look after you.”

“I can take care of myself and…and a baby. I’ve got a condo in Seattle, a good job and—”

“And no man. Leastwise none worth his salt. You gonna name the guy who knocked you up?”

“This conversation is archaic—”

“Every kid deserves to know his pa,” the old man said. “Even if the guy’s a miserable son of a bitch who left a woman carrying his child.”

“If you say so,” she replied, her fingers curling over the edge of the envelope. She felt more than paper inside.

As if he guessed her question, he said, “There’s a necklace in there, too. A locket. Belonged to your ma.”

Randi’s throat closed for a second. She remembered the locket, had played with it as a child, reaching for the shiny gold heart with its glittering diamonds as it had hung from her mother’s neck. “I remember. You gave it to her on your wedding day.”

“Yep.” He nodded curtly and his eyes grew soft. “The ring is in there, too. If ya want it.”

Her eyes were suddenly damp. “Thanks.”

“You can thank me by namin’ the son of a bitch who did this to you.”

She inched her chin up a notch and frowned.

“You’re not gonna tell me, are you?”

Randi looked her father steadily in the eye. McCafferty to McCafferty, she said, “Hell would have to freeze over first.”

“Damn it, girl, you’re a stubborn thing.”

“Guess I inherited it.”

“And it’ll be your undoin’, mark my words.”

Randi felt a shadow steal through her heart, a cold premonition that settled deep inside, but she didn’t budge. For her unborn child’s protection, she sealed her lips.

No one would ever know who fathered her child.

Not even her son.