Doreen Roberts - A Very...Pregnant New Year's

GRAND SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT

All officers on call to search for the following:

Anne throughout her school years. She plagued her mother with endless questions until shed learned all about the feud between the Irvings and the Parkers. Years ago, Annie May Wilson had left her husband-to-be, Henry Irving, at the altar and had run away to marry John Parker.

Henry Irving had been so angry hed secretly bought up Parker land and built a spa on it, which made him a wealthy man. The Parkers claimed hed used a crooked lawyer and had stolen their land. The two families had been fighting over the land ever since.

Anne thought the whole thing terribly romantic, but when shed said as much to her mother she was forbidden to ever talk about it again. The mere mention of the Irving name, Carol Parker had told her daughter, was enough to give Annes father a stroke.

During the long, hot summer Anne prepared to attend Burke Senior High, she kept wondering if shed bump into Brad Irving. The very first week of her freshman year, she saw Brad in the cafeteria, and her heart did a handspring, though she did her best to ignore him. For some silly reason, she kept imagining him in a Viking helmet and carrying a spear. It didnt help matters at all when Emily, her best friend, sighed and called him dreamy.

When Brad scored the winning touchdown at the Homecoming Game, Anne cheered along with everyone else, though she felt guilty doing it, knowing how her parents would disapprove.

The week before Brads graduation, Anne missed the bus and had to ride her bike to school. Late for her class, she flew down the hall and around the corner, and crashed straight into a tall, firm body coming the other way. She went down on her knees with her books scattered around her, and knew in that instant that shed run into more trouble than she could handle.

Nice block, Brad drawled in his deep voice, but I should warn you, youre a little late to make the team this year.

Mortified at looking stupid in front of him, she took refuge in anger. She glared up at him and muttered, Its not my fault if youre dumb enough to get in my way.

The gleam in his dark blue eyes unnerved her. Well, Miss High-and-Mighty, for that you can pick up your own books.

Thanks for nothing. She scrambled to her feet and collected her books, praying he would just disappear. This was the closest shed been to him since grade school, and even a fourteen-year-old recognized a heartbreaker when she saw one. With that sexy smile, awesome body and those dreamy bedroom eyes, it was no wonder the girls hung around him all the time. Not that shed waste her time on him, of course. He was an Irving, after all, and everyone knew what the Irvings were.

So wheres the fire, anyway?

She lifted her chin. None of your business.

I guess youre still a stuck-up brat, Annie Parker.

I guess youre still a delinquent.

He folded his arms across his broad chest, reminding her again of the childhood Viking image. Yeah, and all the Parkers are saints.

We may not be saints, but at least were not thieves. We dont go around stealing land away from its rightful owners.

No, you steal wives, instead.

She flipped her hair back over her shoulder with a careless hand. You cant steal people. Annie Wilson married my great-grandfather because she loved him. It was the Irvings who turned it into a feud when they stole our land.

We didnt steal the land. That land was bought legally, and it wasnt worth much anyway until my family built the spa on it. Up until then it was just sitting there going to waste.

It was land that belonged to us, and the Irvings had no right to it. Henry Irving only bought it to get back at John Parker for marrying Annie.

And you Parkers have been trying to steal it back ever since. His soft, mocking laugh set her teeth on edge. So what can you do about it, Annie? Youre just a stuck-up kid with delusions of grandeur.

Id rather be stuck-up than a low-down thief.

Sparks danced in his eyes, but his voice was deceptively quiet when he answered. Is that right? Well, one day Ill make you and your precious family eat those words, Annie Parker. One by one. See if I dont.

She snorted. When hell freezes over.

Watch me.

She watched him disappear around the corner before yelling after him, And my names not Annie. Its Anne.

Thank goodness she wouldnt have to worry about him after next week, she told herself, as she stomped down the corridor to her class. Somehow he brought out the worst in her, though she had no idea why she let him get to her like that. Shed heard he was going to college somewhere in the east. With any luck, shed never see him again.

The years passed swiftly while she followed her fascination

white sweater emphasized his broad shoulders, and how closely his black wool slacks skimmed his hips in a perfect fit. Brad Irving had grown up. And he was still drop-dead gorgeous. No wonder the women were falling all over him. If shed known he was going to be at the lodge, she told herself fiercely, she definitely would have stayed at home.