How To Win

How To Win
Lass Small

MISSION: (RE)MARRIAGE He might be an ornery son of a gun, but never let it be said Tyler Fuller didn't love his wife. Well, ex-wife, since he'd presented her with an ultimatum she'd shockingly accepted. Now this hotheaded hubby was darned tired of spending the long, cold nights alone, so he vowed to win her back!His mission should have been as simple as the first time he'd convinced Kayla to say "I do." After all, they'd jumped right from the bedroom and marched straight down the wedding aisle. But Tyler was gonna have to learn a few things about his self-improved former bride. Like how Kayla wanted to take things slow… and just how good slow could be!

“Maybe We Ought To Have A Kid,” (#ub4313edb-6f7e-58df-9e13-cda6dd1f0913)Letter to Reader (#u0f76be7d-5bf5-5309-a117-fba279763883)Title Page (#u89d60bbf-fc78-54ea-b59d-2aee61377a34)About the Author (#u5f821460-075b-510e-abb8-e7c8068c9792)Chapter One (#u2032afb2-ff14-5854-9661-76fe1568d8e7)Chapter Two (#uf62091c8-cd22-5b0f-99fc-be4521373be8)Chapter Three (#uc4f650dd-bd5d-53c2-862c-c4cd59e047d9)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)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“Maybe We Ought To Have A Kid,”

Tyler suggested thoughtfully.

Kayla was startled. “We’re divorced. Children should have two parents.”

“I’d be around enough.”

Kayla scoffed. “Mostly gone.”

“Now, Kayla, you wouldn’t want me to quit working and hang around the house....”

Again she mentioned, “We are divorced.”

“You’re an old-fashioned girl.”

“I’m a current woman, and I am single. There is no way, at all, that I’d take on having a kid in this position. I’m not that careless.”

He sighed into the phone. “So. I suppose we ought to be married.”

“No thank you. We’ve tried that.” And she hung up.

Dear Reader,

The celebration of Silhouette Desire’s 15th anniversary continues this month! First, there’s a wonderful treat in store for you as Ann Major continues her fantastic CHILDREN OF DESTINY series with November’s MAN OF THE MONTH, Nobody’s Child. Not only is this the latest volume in this popular miniseries, but Ann will have a Silhouette Single Title, also part of CHILDREN OF DESTINY, in February 1998, called Secret Child. Don’t miss either one of these unforgettable love stories.

BJ James’s popular BLACK WATCH series also continues with Journey’s End, the latest installment in the stories of the men—and the women—of the secret agency.

This wonderful lineup is completed with delicious love stories by Lass Small, Susan Crosby, Eileen Wilks and Shawna Delacorte. And next month, look for six more Silhouette Desire books, including a MAN OF THE MONTH by Dixie Browning!

Desire...it’s the name you can trust for dramatic, sensuous, engrossing stories written by your bestselling favorites and terrific newcomers. We guarantee handsome heroes, likable heroines...and happily-ever-after endings. So read, and enjoy!

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

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How To Win (Back) A Wife

Lass Small

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

LASS SMALL finds living on this planet at this time a fascinating experience People are amazing. She thinks that to be a teller of tales of people, places and things is absolutely marvelous.

One

It is now over five hundred years since TEXAS was first occupied by Europeans. The city of San Antonio has been altered and fooled with and adjusted. The downtown river is so lovely that it’s been embellished and funneled into more loops.

The riverboat rides are especially nice. You get to see all the old trees, the clean water and the preserved buildings along the way.

One of those riverside buildings, by a handy iron curlicued bridge, harbors the law firm of Reardon, Miller and Rodriguez. The building was renovated inside, but the outside was preserved. The exterior was all painted subtly in a blue-tinted gray and the results are elegant.

Handily, the firm’s office isn’t far from the red granite Bexar County Courthouse. The red granite is the same granite that was used in Austin for the State Capitol. San Antonio has always been a little pushy.

The Bexar of Bexar County is pronounced “bear.” Of course, in a long-ago motion picture that can still be seen on cable TV, Errol Flynn called the county “Bex-ar.” Hearing that, the San Antonio people’s eyes flinched and still do.

One of the Reardon, Miller and Rodriguez firm was Tyler Fuller. As a twenty-eight-year-old lawyer, he was a new rooster. He couldn’t yet crow. He was again single.

The Fullers had been divorced for seven months, three weeks and two days. Tyler Fuller was not keeping track, he just happened to recall the time. After all, it had been he who had instigated the divorce.

It had stilled him with shock when the dark-haired, blue-eyed Kayla had discarded his name and gone back to her maiden name of Davie. She did that as if she’d wiped out everything about Tyler Fuller.

Kayla acted like there’d never been any good times—she hadn’t seemed at all grieved to part from him. She’d flipped away like he’d never meant anything to her, at all.

When she got snippy and cold, and then moved out, he’d countered with the divorce. She hadn’t turned a hair.

His parents, his siblings, his friends, even his kindergarten buddies all knew he was nuts.

Disgruntled, Tyler thought at least Kayla could have protested the divorce. She could have at least leaked a tear or two and looked at him with regret.

Tyler clearly remembered being in a group, not long after their divorce. He remembered having found her in the crowd and with casual élan he’d joined the segment which contained his ex-wife. With some assumed control, he’d used the excuse to be by her side by introducing Tom Keeper to her. Tom’s family owned a chunk of West TEXAS.

Tyler had named Kayla as Kayla Fuller, and she’d given Tyler a glance as she’d corrected, “My last name’s Davie.”

Of course, her saying that had made Tom Keeper smile. Tom had been a male TEXAS predator of females since he was six months old. Everybody knew that. And after the introduction, Kayla had treated Tom as if he was harmless.

That just proved to Tyler that she needed some sort of chaperone. At twenty-five, she was a babe in the woods.

No normal woman would treat Tom like he wasn’t dangerous. Any half-brained woman would have immediately known the real Tom Keeper’s knuckles dragged on the floor and his pointed teeth dripped hot saliva.

It was just a good thing Tyler never left her side that night. He’d even told Tom that Kayla was still his as soon as she recognized that simple fact. Tom was not to foul up the works. Did he understand?

Tom had laughed. But he had gone on off...that night.

Tyler had known Kayla now for over four years. They were married not quite two years. And of the two years, they’d been divorced for seven months, three weeks and two days...exactly.

Just because they were divorced, she hadn’t said anything about their second anniversary. No card. No call. Nothing.