Barefoot and Pregnant?

Barefoot and Pregnant?
Colleen Faulkner

SHE HAD EVERYTHING A GIRL COULD WANT–EXCEPT A HUSBAND!So career-girl Elise Montgomery turned to The Husband Finder, a trendy guidebook, to locate one. Only, according to the manual, her choice–sexy farmer Zane Keaton–was definitely Mr. Wrong! Yet, after a few of Zane's knee-weakening kisses, Elise wondered if he might be marriage material after all….AVOID FEMALES WHO MISTAKEMARRIAGE FOR MERGER AND ACQUISITION!That had been Zane's motto…until he met Rise. Although sweet, sassy and seductive, Elise was too ambitious to be Zane's ideal wife, or was she? And what would it take to get Elise to say yes to a lifetime of domestic bliss?

Never rely on physical chemistry between yourself and a man. Sexual attraction is fleeting…

Tonight, Elise was going to put her plan into action and find a husband. But then she shifted her gaze.

Goodness!

It was a new face. And a nice one at that. He looked to be mid- to late thirties. He was a natural, sun-bleached blonde with one of those bad-boy haircuts. His face was suntanned, but she doubted it came from a bottle or a tanning bed. He had a good build, but she could tell he wasn’t a gym rat. And he was wearing a well-fitted tux.

He turned and made eye contact with Elise. She was surprised to feel the warmth of a blush on her cheeks. The Adonis was looking right at her, a twitch of amusement on his sensuous lips.

She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

Then, suddenly, he was coming her way.

Dear Reader,

April showers are bringing flowers—and a soul-stirring bouquet of dream-come-true stories from Silhouette Romance!

Red Rose needs men! And it’s up to Ellie Donahue to put the town-ladies’ plans into action—even if it means enticing her secret love to return to his former home. Inspired by classic legends, Myrna Mackenzie’s new miniseries, THE BRIDES OF RED ROSE, begins with Ellie’s tale, in The Pied Piper’s Bride (SR #1714).

Bestselling author Judy Christenberry brings you another Wild West story in her FROM THE CIRCLE K miniseries. In The Last Crawford Bachelor (SR #1715), lawyer Michael Crawford—the family’s last single son—meets his match…and is then forced to live with her on the Circle K!

And this lively bunch of spring stories wouldn’t be complete without Teresa Carpenter’s Daddy’s Little Memento (SR #1716). School nurse Samantha Dell reunites her infant nephew with his handsome father, only to learn that if she wants to retain custody then she’s got to say, “I do”! And then there’s Colleen Faulkner’s Barefoot and Pregnant? (SR #1717), in which career-woman Elise Montgomery has everything a girl could want—except the man of her dreams. Will she find a husband where she least expects him?

All the best,

Mavis C. Allen

Associate Senior Editor

Barefoot and Pregnant?

Colleen Faulkner

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

Books by Colleen Faulkner

Silhouette Romance

A Shocking Request #1573

Barefoot and Pregnant? #1717

COLLEEN FAULKNER

had romance writing encrypted in her genetic code. Her mother, Judith E. French, is also a bestselling historical romance author. Whether through genes or simply karma, Colleen began her writing career early. She published her first historical romance at the tender age of twenty-four. Since then she has sold twenty-three historical romance novels, five contemporary romances and six novellas.

Colleen resides in southern Delaware with her husband of twenty years, their four children, a Bernese Mountain dog named Duncan and a Siamese cat named Xena. When she’s not writing, Colleen enjoys playing racquetball and volleyball, coaching girls’ softball and coed soccer and, of course, reading.

Contents

Prologue (#u0b166777-0d80-5e11-b7be-6e5ad988bfaa)

Chapter One (#ua4214d54-9bb3-5e6a-ba2d-f2316ae646e1)

Chapter Two (#u6b01ca7d-137e-5f4a-81e2-7cab02ec39d4)

Chapter Three (#ucee8afc5-8291-5ac4-8cae-1b278b1562f5)

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)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue

Elise Montgomery hit the print button on the copy machine in the lounge of Waterfront Realty in Southern Delaware where she worked and perched one hand on her hip to wait. As the machine clicked and whirred, she caught a glimpse of her best friend walking down the hall. “Liz, got a sec?” she called.

Liz backed up, checking her wristwatch. They were dressed similarly in gabardine skirts and jackets with white silk shells beneath. Elise’s “power suit” was a soft salmon; Liz was wearing navy.

“I’ve got ten minutes,” Liz said. “New clients coming in to look at the condos at Mallory Bay.”

Elise grabbed one of the copies the machine had spit out. “Here we go. The checklist I was telling you about that I found in that book.”

“Not another self-help book.” Liz lifted a skeptical eyebrow as she picked up a book from beside the copier and read the spine. “The Husband Finder?”

Elise shrugged. “So it has a bad title, listen to this.” She opened it to the first chapter. “According to the author… ‘Women today spend more time researching the cars they purchase than the men they marry. When an educated, career-oriented woman of the new millennium buys a car, she makes a list of the qualities she is looking for such as good value for the money, gas mileage, aesthetics, etc. Then, she test drives various cars and rates them according to her list of requirements. She purchases the car that best suits her. A woman should seek a husband in the same logical manner.”’

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Liz muttered. “Like buying a car?”

Elise set down the book. “It’s a perfectly valid observation, when you think about it, Liz. Now, I’ve made a copy of the suggested checklist for each of us.” She leaned against the copier as she indicated the high points with a pen. “There are various headings and subheadings. You fill in the qualities you’re looking for—the author makes suggestions—and then you just total up the numbers!”

Liz stared at the photocopy.