Nobody's Baby But Mine

A book in the Chicago Stars / Bonner Brothers series, 1997


Dear Reader,

The night before our youngest son went off to college, I sat at the bottom of the stairs looking at his pile of belongings, and I cried my eyes out. I wasn’t ready for this part of my life to be over. The years slipped away, and I remembered how I’d yearned to have a baby. In that moment, the seeds for NOBODY’S BABY BUT MINE were planted.

Find a cozy corner, a comfortable chair, and come with me on a very special journey filled with love and passion. You’ll meet an endearing woman who’s smart about some things and confused about others, along with a strong, sexy heartthrob of a man who’ll take your breath away. You’ll also meet a married couple who’ve lost sight of what they mean to each other.

NOBODY’S BABY BUT MINE delivers lots of sizzle, but you’ll find tenderness too, along with laughter, and maybe even a tear here and there. Curl up in your favorite chair and lose yourself in the adventures of these maddening, mismatched, but ultimately endearing lovers.

Happy reading,

To my mother


Chapter One

“Let me get this straight,” Jodie Pulanski said. “You want to give Cal Bonner a woman for a birthday present.”

The three offensive linemen, who were spending the November evening sitting in the back booth at Zebras, the DuPage County sports bar favored by the Chicago Stars football players, all nodded at once.

Junior Duncan gestured toward the waitress for another round. “He’s going to be thirty-six, so we wanted to make this extra special.”

“Bull,”Jodie said. Everybody who knew anything about football knew that Cal Bonner, the Stars’ brilliant quarterback, had been demanding, temperamental, and generally impossible to get along with ever since the season started. Bonner, popularly known as the “Bomber” because of his fondness for throwing explosive passes, was the top-ranked quarterback in the AFC and a legend.