Seduction Of The Reluctant Bride

Seduction Of The Reluctant Bride
Barbara McCauley

WIFE-WRANGLIN' BRIDE-SEDUCIN' COWBOY Sam McCants was a steer-ropin', dust-on-his-britches kind of cowboy. So what in tarnation was this purebred Texan thinking, getting himself hitched to a citified bride - even if the arrangement was just for two months? Why, Faith Courtland had barely uttered "I do" before she took off for Lonesome Rock Mountain, muttering about some family inheritance.And if she hadn't been so surefire sexy, Sam might just have let the little spitfire head for the hills. But this husband wanted his wedding night . So he saddled up his stallion, and with a mighty "Giddy up!" and a yank on the reins, he set off through the mountain mist to rustle up one wily wife in need of proper seducing.

Wife. The Word Hit Jared Like A Fist In The Chest. (#ub319a406-0825-5294-ba3e-0a9338b8ef3b)Letter to Reader (#u7de75076-0a61-5f31-83b3-f22b957e07fc)Title Page (#u42ebb29a-6910-5418-960d-711853ec50b8)About the Author (#u3500854a-beea-5ff3-9a9b-3fb46eada291)Dedication (#u1a2c276b-8e50-5409-82d7-fbd2e1d15550)Chapter One (#ua3339cf0-1bb5-5565-8396-4a7af5b91932)Chapter Two (#u06e3478d-36f9-5b03-a347-7f2eb85a6649)Chapter Three (#u75c139f2-6a0f-5c96-b85c-b5c8a9c51b8e)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Wife. The Word Hit Jared Like A Fist In The Chest.

His throat had gone dry when Faith had walked into the judge’s chambers a few minutes ago, wearing traditional white. He assumed her color choice was to convince everyone she truly was happy to be a bride. And whether their wedding guests believed this was a real marriage or not, they seemed determined to treat it as one.

Too bad Faith didn’t feel the same way about the wedding night, Sam thought. The fact that he’d be sleeping alone tonight only increased his frustration. He had images of slipping that pretty dress off his bride’s soft shoulders and making that slender, curvy body of hers lose control, wanting him as badly as he wanted her.

The cad in him wouldn’t mind if she had a little too much to drink and fell into his arms, Sam thought, but his pride—and his honor—wanted her willing.

Dear Reader,

MEN! This month Silhouette Desire goes man-crazy with six of the sexiest, heart-stopping hunks ever to come alive on the pages of a romance novel.

Meet May’s MAN OF THE MONTH, love-wary secret agent Daniel Lawless, in The Passionate G-Man, the first book in Dixie Browning’s fabulous new minisenes, THE LAWLESS HEIRS Metsy Hingle’s gallant hero protects an independent lady in danger in the last book of the RIGHT BRIDE, WRONG GROOM senes, The Bodyguard and the Bridesmaid. Little bitty Joeville, Montana, has more tall, dark and rugged ranchers than any other town west of the Mississippi And Josh Malone has more sex appeal than all of ’em put together in Last of the Joeville Lovers, the third book in Anne Eames’s MONTANA MALONES series.

In The Notorious Groom, Caroline Cross pairs the baddest boy ever to roam the streets of Kisscount with the town virgin in a steamy marriage of convenience. The hero of Barbara McCauley’s Seduchon of the Reluctant Bride is one purebred Texas cowboy fixin’ to do some wife-wranglin’—this new groom isn’t about to miss a sultry second of his very own wedding night. Yeehaw! Next, when a suddenly wealthy beauty meets the owner of the ranch next door, he’s wearing nothing but a Stetson and a smile in Carol Grace’s The Heiress Inherits a Cowboy.

Silhouette Desire brings you the kind of irresistible men who make your knees buckle, your stomach flutter, your heart melt...and your fingers turn the page. So enjoy our lineup of spectacular May men! Regards,

Senior Editor

Silhouette Books

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave, PO. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian. P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Seduction of the Reluctant Bride

Barbara McCauley

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

BARBARA McCAULEY was born and raised in California and has spent a good portion of her life exploring the mountains, beaches and deserts so abundant there. The youngest of five children, she grew up in a small house, and her only chance for a moment alone was to sneak into the backyard with a book and quietly hide away

With two children of her own now and a busy household, she still finds herself slipping away to enjoy a good novel. A daydreamer and incurable romantic, she says writing has fulfilled her most incredible dream of all—breathing life into the people in her mind and making them real. She has one loud and demanding Amazon parrot named Fred and a German shepherd named Max. When she can manage the time, she loves to sink her hands into freshly turned soil and make things grow.

To women everywhere

who’ve learned to listen with their hearts.

One

Digger Jones was dead.

No one in the town of Cactus Flat, Texas, could believe it, of course. Who ever would have thought a freak mountain storm would get the best of the crusty old café owner? He’d worked his mine in Lonesome Rock Canyon for more than forty years and survived broken bones, pneumonia, snake bite and weather that would have immobilized the city of New York. Digger Jones was too damn ornery to die.

But facts were facts. The storm had turned the canyon where Digger had camped into a raging river, washing out everything in its path. Search parties had turned up little more than half a tent and a few assorted articles of clothing. It might take months to find a body in the devastation the flood had left behind. More than likely, no body would be found.

With that thought in mind, Sam McCants frowned at the rose-covered coffin resting on the altar. There’d been no official declaration of death from the State, and Sam had argued with Holis Fitcher, the town mortician, at the absurdity of a coffin without a body. Still, Hollis had insisted piously that Digger had paid in advance, in full, for the deluxe package that included the top-of-the-line oak casket. Body or not, the mortician had sniffed, Digger would have what he paid for.

The organist, also part of the deluxe package, broke into a lively rendition of Amazing Grace, signaling that the service would begin in a few minutes. Except for the last two rows, every pew in the small church was nearly filled. Digger might have been a cranky, cantankerous coffee shop owner and silver miner, but the entire town of Cactus Flat would miss him terribly.

Sam slipped into the front pew beside Jake Stone. Savannah, Jake’s wife, looking beautifully slim after the birth of their second child, leaned over and kissed Sam’s cheek. Sam winked playfully at the honey blonde.

Never mind that Jake and Sam had been best friends most of their lives, instinct—and Sam’s notorious bachelor status—had Jake slipping an arm around Savannah anyway. “Find your own woman, McCants.”

“Sam doesn’t have to find women, dear. They find him.” Savannah pressed a reassuring hand into her husband’s and squeezed. “Matilda tells me that just last week when Sam came into the Hungry Bear her business practically doubled—all female. She said there was a near brawl at Sam’s booth when Pattie Wright tried to shove Marie Farrel out of her seat.”

“Pattie slipped,” Sam defended the pretty brunette. Small towns were a curse on a single man. Every move he made, every word he spoke to a female—any female—was like gasoline on the gossip fire. And definitely exaggerated. “We’re just friends, that’s all.”

“And a man can never have too many friends, right?” Jake wiggled his eyebrows. When Savannah frowned at him, he cleared his throat. “So, we heard you were giving the eulogy.”

Sam admired Jake’s wisdom to change the subject. “Since Digger left me executor of his estate, Reverend Winslow thought I might like to say a few words.”

“And what estate might that be?”

They all looked up as Jared, Jake’s brother, slid into the pew behind them. Jared brushed Savannah’s cheek with a brotherly kiss. “Other than a stuffed grizzly bear and a set of frying pans, Digger Jones didn’t even own a watch.”

“He loved that bear.” Sam grinned at Jared. “I’m thinking about buying it myself and passing it along to you and Annie for the entryway of that new house you built. And speaking of your lovely wife, tell me she finally dumped you and the path is clear for me.”

Had he been any other man but Sam McCants Jared would have had to hit him Instead, he smiled goodnaturedly. “The only clear path around Annie these days would be a 747 runway. Her due date is only two weeks away. Ah, here’s the little woman now.”

“I heard that crack.” Annie slowly eased herself down beside her husband, then coolly accepted his repentant kiss. “If I wouldn’t have to fight my way through the long line of women, I just might take Sam up on his offer. At least he knows how to treat a lady.”

The third Stone sibling, Jessica Stone Grant, slid into the pew beside Annie. “He knows how to treat a lady, all right. All the ladies. Don’t look now, Sam, but Carol Sue Gibson is sitting with Sarah Pearson and they’re both looking moon-eyed at you.”

Two delightful specimens of the female gender, Sam thought as he turned and grinned at the women. Carol Sue crossed her legs, hiking up her skirt and Sarah licked her glossy red lips.

Ah, it’s good to be alive.

“Friends, I’m telling you. We’re just friends,” he said casually and settled back in his seat.

Jessica, Annie and Savannah rolled their eyes, while Jared and Jake exchanged a knowing smirk.

Jessica leaned forward and whispered in Sam’s ear. “Watch out, sweetheart, one day one of your ‘friends’ is going to have you on your knees.”

Jared and Jake were shaking their heads as Dylan, Jessica’s husband, slid into the pew beside her. “You want to explain to me why you’re whispering in another man’s ear before, or after, I slug him?”

Jessica gave Dylan a peck on his lips, then wiped a smudge of baby food off his cheek. “It’s just Sam, darling. You get Daniel off all right at Josephine’s?”