Instant Husband

Instant Husband
Judith McWilliams

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#ud5c86298-39db-56ef-a703-391969dd9e6f)

Excerpt (#u32232a7c-318f-539a-ac7a-0e09e7413494)

Dear Reader (#u3f4e3005-9edb-588f-a3f2-1977c89f481f)

Title Page (#ue0e18c4e-a22c-5590-a884-d9bd82cd126c)

About the Author (#u23631867-c20f-5954-93b2-123b5fdfa68d)

Dear Reader (#uf2c67d70-939b-50b6-a370-df850e1c9df1)

One (#u87e4f678-03cd-5ac4-8294-6f539e904ef7)

Two (#uaba10661-6629-5eba-8ade-b8e2f10c04ad)

Three (#u143acdd5-de87-5df4-8fa4-385ee847e469)

Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“It Isn’t That I Don’t Want To…”

Ann refused to say “have sex” because it sounded so impersonal. But equally she didn’t want to say “make love” for fear that he might think she expected more from him than he had to give. “It’s just that I don’t know you very well,” she continued. “And…that’s so personal.”

“Not necessarily.” Nick’s bitter tone shocked her. “How about if we leave it for the time being, and when you feel you know me well enough, you can tell me and we’ll take it from there.”

“Okay,” Ann said weakly, trying to imagine herself walking up to Nick and telling him that she wanted to go to bed with him…

Dear Reader,

It’s the CELEBRATION 1000 moment you’ve all been waiting for, the publication of Silhouette Desire #1000! As promised, it’s a very special MAN OF THE MONTH by Diana Palmer called Man of Ice. Diana was one of the very first Silhouette Desire writers, and her many wonderful contributions to the line have made her one of our most beloved authors. This story is sure to make its way to your shelf of “keepers.”

But that’s not all! Don’t miss Baby Dreams, the first book in a wonderful new series, THE BABY SHOWER, by Raye Morgan. Award-winning author Jennifer Greene also starts a new miniseries, THE STANFORD SISTERS, with the delightful The Unwilling Bride. For something a little different, take a peek at Joan Elliott Pickart’s Apache Dream Bride. And the fun keeps on coming with Judith McWilliams’s Instant Husband, the latest in THE WEDDING NIGHT series. Our Debut Author promotion introduces you to Amanda Kramer, author of the charmingly sexy Baby Bonus.

And you’ll be excited to know that there’s more CELEBRATION 1000 next month, as the party continues with six more scintillating love stories, including The Accidental Bodyguard, a MAN OF THE MONTH from Ann Major.

Silhouette Desire—the passion continues! Enjoy!

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

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

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

Instant Husband

Judith McWilliams

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

JUDITH McWILLIAMS

began to enjoy romances while in search of the proverbial “happily ever afters.” But she always found herself rewriting the endings, and eventually the beginnings, of the books she read. Then her husband finally suggested that she write novels of her own, and she’s been doing so ever since. An ex-teacher with four children, Judith has traveled the country extensively with her husband and has been greatly influenced by those experiences. But when not tending the garden or caring for family, Judith does what she enjoys most—writing. She has also written under the name Charlotte Hines.

Dear Reader,

My love affair with Silhouette Desire started with the very first one I picked up at the bookstore. Three pages and I was hooked. The characters were real people with real problems. Even better, they were basically nice people. People who cared about something other than satisfying their own libido. I hurried back to the bookstore and bought the rest of the month’s offering.

Adding the role of writer of Desire novels to that of reader was a natural progression. And one that has brought me a great deal of personal satisfaction, as well as pleasure, because I deeply believe in the concepts that Desire has come to represent. Concepts such as love, family, loyalty, self-reliance, initiative and optimism about the future.

Thus, when I discovered that I was to be part of Celebration 1000 I was extremely pleased.

The idea for Nick and Ann’s story came as the result of a conversation I had with an elderly gentleman in a small museum in rural Wyoming, which was dedicated to the early settlement of the area. After viewing an exhibit on mail-order brides of a century ago, I commented on the scarcity of women in frontier times. He snorted and replied that marriageable women weren’t any too plentiful these days, either. That he knew several ranchers who would love to have a wife but couldn’t find one who was willing to put up with the isolation.

Like most writers, I immediately began to think in terms of what if, and the answers led to Instant Husband. A story I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.

One (#ulink_866829a4-cb1b-5a38-8d06-d7c89147abb1)

What if he didn’t come? Ann Lennon’s nervous gaze swept over the fast-emptying waiting area for the tenth time in as many minutes. Her flight had been on time. What could have kept him? Surely Cheyenne, Wyoming, wasn’t big enough to have traffic jams. Not at eight o’clock at night. Suppose he’d changed his mind? Suppose…

Stop it! Ann made a valiant attempt to stem her rising sense of panic. This was not the time to begin second-guessing her painful decision. Not two thousand miles from home. No, from her former home, she grimly reminded herself. The stately old brownstone where she’d grown up was gone. Gone along with everything else. Ann swallowed against the bitter taste of defeat that had dogged her for months.

Taking a deep breath, she focused on a dark stain on the gray tile near her left foot and slowly exhaled to the count of ten. New York City and Bill are the past. Wyoming and Nick St. Hilarion are the future.

At least he would be if he ever arrived. Ann watched with a growing sense of numbness as the last passenger off her flight was met, leaving her sitting alone. So alone. She shivered as the silence reached oppressive proportions. Everyone seemed to be elsewhere.

Which was where she wished she was. Elsewhere. Anywhere else than sitting on a hard, gray plastic chair waiting to see if the man she’d flown across the country to marry had decided to reject his mail-order bride sight unseen.