The Dare by Rachael Treasure
Dyed-in-the-wool country girl Kate Webster seems not to have a care in the world: playing hard, drinking even harder, she tells herself that she will worry about the consequences later. But there is one consequence she cannot escape: the result of a wild dare she undertook when she was nineteen, her little daughter, Nell.
Now she seems hell-bent on self-destruction: fighting with her father over the future of their farm after the death of her mother and his remarriage, refusing to reveal the identity of Nell's father, while remaining in love with him, and all too often neglecting Nell herself, while she parties the night away.
But destiny is about to take a hand and stop Kate dead in her tracks. As in all Rachael Treasure's novels, tragedy and violence are only ever a heartbeat away. And back into her life, too, is about to walk the father of her child. How can she ever admit the truth to him?