A Ring For Cinderella

A Ring For Cinderella
Judy Christenberry

LUCKY CHARM SISTERSKATEMAGGIESUSANDESPERATELY SEEKING CINDERELLA…Susan Greenwood had expected a tip, not an offer of marriage! But how could the down-on-her-luck beauty resist when rich-as-a-prince Zach Lowery proposed to her in the middle of the Lucky Charm Diner?Then she got her answer–it was just a role she had to play to soothe Zach's dying grandfather. But Zach never expected his pretend wife to tie him in knots with her selfless gestures and warm embraces. And soon this cynical rancher found himself trying to find a way to make a real future…a real family…with his Cinderella bride.The Lucky Charm Sisters: A boss, a brain and a beauty. Three sisters marry for convenience…but will they find love?

What a wedding night! (#u58fd102d-c037-5e28-84f3-e0abc0bc7ead)Letter to Reader (#uc78bd864-07d3-5120-ac76-b8e0273ee312)Title Page (#u52916cbd-d0f9-5b74-8df5-3b8a24c41216)About the Author (#u38434ca6-c4f9-5882-94d4-41e0147320b4)Chapter One (#ub14c10db-069d-5480-889d-092750dd516d)Chapter Two (#u4d764060-14ab-5ebe-836a-487f2dd5401f)Chapter Three (#u90111871-40b7-51f0-a3ea-bc21bc67b3ee)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)Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

What a wedding night!

Zach had promised Susan their marriage would be on her terms, but he hadn’t realized how difficult that promise was going to be to keep. Susan was a beautiful woman. But when she had confessed she’d never been in a hotel room before, he’d wanted to cuddle her against him and tell her he’d make her first experience one to remember.

He wanted to share a first with her.

What had started out as a simple scheme to please Gramp had become quite complicated.

Zach groaned and set up his bed on the couch.

It was going to be a long, lonely wedding night.

Dear Reader.

March roars in like a lion at Silhouette Romance, starting with popular author Susan Meier and Husband from 9 to 5. her exciting contribution to LOVING THE BOSS, a six-book series in which office romance leads to happily-ever-after. In this sparkling story, a bump on the head has a boss-loving woman believing she’s married to the man of her dreams....

In March 1998, beloved author Diana Palmer launched VIRGIN BRIDES. This month, Callaghan’s Bride not only marks the anniversary of this special Romance promotion, but it continues her wildly successful LONG, TALL TEXANS series! As a role, hard-edged, bard-bodied Callaghan Hart distrusted sweet, virginal, starry-eyed young ladies. But ranch cook Tess Brady had this cowboy hankerin’ to break all his rules.

Judy Christenberry’s LUCKY CHARM SISTERS miniseries resumes with a warm, emotional pretend engagement story that might just lead to A Ring for Cinderella. When a jaded attorney delivers a very pregnant stranger’s baby he starts a journey toward healing...and making this woman his Texas Bride, the heartwarming new novel by Kate Thomas. In Soldier and the Society Girl by Vivian Leiber, the month’s HE’S MY HERO selection, sparks fly when a true-blue, true-grit American hero requires the protocol services of a refined blue blood. A lone-wolf lawman meets his match in an indomitable schoolteacher—and her moonshining granny—in Gayle Kaye’s Sheriff “takes a Bride, part of FAMILY MATTERS.

Enjoy this month’s fantastic offerings, and make sure to return each and every month to Silhouette Romance!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

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

A Ring for Cinderella

Judy Christenberry

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

JUDY CHRISTENBERRY

has been writing romances for fifteen years because she loves happy endings as much as her readers do. She’s a bestselling author for Harlequin American Romance, but she has a long love of traditional romances and is delighted to tell a story that brings those elements to the reader. Judy quit teaching French recently and devotes her time to writing. She hopes readers have as much fun reading her stories as she does writing them. She spends her spare time reading, watching her favorite sports teams and keeping track of her two daughters. Judy’s a native Texan, living in Piano, a suburb of Dallas.

Chapter One

“More coffee?”

Without lifting his head, Zach Lowery moved his lips in a sham of a smile and nudged his cup toward the end of the table. He stared at the hand holding the glass pot. It was not the hand of the waitress who’d been serving him breakfast, which had been rather red and slightly wrinkled.

This hand was creamy smooth with rose polish adorning its trim nails. His gaze traveled up her arm and reached a face even more beautiful than his ex-wife’s. Soft blond curls framed a delicate face, blue eyes, dark lashes and soft pink cheeks that were growing rosier as he stared.

“Can I get you anything else?” she asked in a husky voice that sizzled through his veins.

Yeah, she could. She could get him some peace for his grandfather, some redemption for himself. All he had to do was find out who she was and get her to play along with his plan.

“Who are you?” he demanded, his voice sounding like he hadn’t used it in years.

She looked startled. Then, seeming to compose herself, she gave a half smile and said, “Susan.”

He let his gaze roam over her. She had a knockout body, wrapped in soft blue knit, the kind of body men dreamed of.

Gramp would believe him if he brought Susan along.

“Susan, you want to get engaged?”

Susan Greenwood was tired. Tired of the money problems that had been her mother’s legacy. Tired of being a single parent to her younger half siblings, Paul and Megan. Tired of putting up a brave front with her older half sisters, Kate and Maggie.

Since her older half sisters had discovered her existence a little over a year ago, the pair had offered her assistance with her problems. As much as she’d come to love Kate and Maggie, she was too proud to shift her burdens to their shoulders. They said she was too hardheaded.

And she was tired of men thinking she was hot to trot because she had a well-endowed figure and blond hair.

But she wasn’t going to be rude to a customer at the Lucky Charm Diner, even if he had just proposed to her. She wouldn’t do that to Kate.

“No, thanks.” She even added a smile as she turned away.

“Wait!”

“You need something else?” She kept her words and her gaze cool, daring him to come on to her again.

“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” He ran a large hand through his dark hair. “Look, I can explain.”

“Not necessary. Enjoy your meal.” Again she turned away and reached the safety of the counter. “You’ll have to serve that guy next time,” she told Brenda, the waitress. “He wants to marry me.”

“I should have such luck!” the middle-aged waitress exclaimed. “’Course, Jerry might object if I threw him over for some cowboy, even if he is handsome.”

Susan smiled and went through the swinging door, past the kitchen to the small office behind it. She helped Brenda when there was a rush at the diner, or when Susan wanted a cup of coffee herself, but her real job was public relations.

She settled into her office chair with a sigh. She’d just started this job a week ago. It certainly beat her old job. She’d received propositions there, too, but they hadn’t involved marriage. She gave a rueful smile and picked up the brochure she was designing.

Maybe she should ask that cowboy to pose for the front cover. They’d get a lot of female customers for the catering business if he did. With a sigh, she tried to dismiss his broad shoulders and hazel eyes. A man wasn’t part of her plans, business or otherwise.

“Susan?” Brenda called as she pushed open the door. “That cowboy’s insisting he talk to you. And I’ve got my hands full with customers. Want me to call the police?”