Dad's E-mail Order Bride

Dad's E-mail Order Bride
Candy Halliday

The greatest birthday present Rachel Morrison could give her dad, Graham, would be a life. Then she could have one, too. Because running a lodge in Port Protection, Alaska, is totally his dream, not hers. She wants to move back to New York–the most awesome city in the world for a teenage girl.Well, she's about to make that happen.Posing as her dad online, Rachel connects with Courtney Woods–a gorgeous, smart Big Apple ad exec. Perfect! But when Courtney steps off the float plane with a super birthday greeting, Graham isn't feeling the perfection. Okay, so Rachel tricked them into this situation, but they're made for each other. She just has to prove it to them!

“Do you want to teach your daughter a lesson?”

Courtney cocked her head in Graham’s direction. “Because you know the best way to do that would be to beat Rachel at her own game.”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Graham admitted.

“I think we’ve both figured out the reason I’m here is because Rachel thought if we hit it off, you’d be willing to move back to New York City.”

He snorted. “Not likely to happen.”

“So what if we let Rachel think her idea worked when she gets home? Except instead of you going to New York, we’ll tell her I’ve decided to move to Alaska?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “To quote Rachel’s favorite expression, she would totally freak out.”

“Exactly,” Courtney said with a smile.

Dear Reader,

Like many authors, I also have a day job. One of the things I enjoy about being a dental hygienist is meeting interesting people.

Recently one of my patients married a man she’d met on an online dating site. The venue she used to meet her Mr. Right wasn’t what intrigued me. What intrigued me was that this man lived in a remote part of Alaska.

I thought of the drastic changes she and her teenage daughter would face living in such a secluded place, especially from her daughter’s point of view. Can you imagine telling a teenager she would be living with no shopping malls, no movie theaters, no fast-food and—gasp—no cell phone service?

That’s when my inspiration for Dad’s E-mail Order Bride was born. I decided to tell my story from a different angle. Fifteen-year-old Rachel Morrison isn’t going to Alaska—she’s there with her stubborn widower dad who has no interest in moving back to New York City. Rachel’s goal: pretend to be her dad on an online dating site and find him a wife from New York so he’ll have a reason to return to civilization.

Getting to know my characters in this book was great fun for me. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Cheers,

Candy Halliday

Dad’s E-mail Order Bride

Candy Halliday

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Multipublished romance author Candy Halliday lives in the Piedmont of North Carolina with her husband, a spastic schnauzer named Millie and an impossible attack cat named Flash. Candy’s daughter and son-in-law and her two teenage grandchildren live nearby. Candy loves to hear from readers. Drop her a line at www.candyhalliday.com.

This book is dedicated to the greatest group of dads I know: Tracy Cottingham, Eddie Clark, Chris Patrick, Steve Poe, Matt Miller, John Mathews, Mark Thomas, Mike Simmons and Jon Scott.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks always to my super agent Jenny Bent, and a huge congratulations to Jenny for launching her own literary agency: The Bent Agency.

Immense thanks to my amazing editor, Wanda Ottewell, who has incredible insight and demands the best from me.

All of my love forever to my wonderful family: Blue, Shelli, Tracy, Quint and Caroline.

CONTENTS

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

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE