A Gift For The Groom

A Gift For The Groom
Sally Carleen

ON THE WAY TO A WEDDING…BORROWED BRIDEDark and devastating P.I. Nick Claiborne's love 'em and leave 'em policy was suddenly in jeopardy. Because his new client, Analise Brewster, not only insisted on "helping" him uncover the mystery of her fiancé's past, her irrepressible spirit tempted Nick to forget his vows to stay single–and hers to wed another….Spending time with a lively, loving woman usually made Nick want to run–but this time he found himself taking Analise with him. Yet once they'd found Analise's gift for her groom, would Nick be the one walking down the aisle?Long-lost twins discover their perfect grooms!

Analise had always known what she’d wanted (#u7caebc92-26dc-534a-95f3-15fc784895e4)Letter to Reader (#ue15ef93a-1bbe-5873-8126-0fe2a05ef9e0)Title Page (#u11600cae-61fb-56bf-b48e-63906981c3dd)Dedication (#u1d1e6874-c6c8-5960-8c6b-c45cb1de5a05)About the Author (#ue97caffd-54e3-5b13-a89f-0448bf9d3eb3)Chapter One (#u1b50c22b-25c3-538d-b16d-c210553666e5)Chapter Two (#uf2809e54-a218-5f5d-a360-dc086fb51c7f)Chapter Three (#u99ef2549-82c9-5058-b301-736388f53ec8)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)Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Analise had always known what she’d wanted

Until this trip.

Until she met Nick.

Suddenly everything around her was confusing and complicated and her wants were contradictory. She wanted to make her parents happy, stop their worrying about her, and she could do that by marrying her fiancé, Lucas.

That would make her happy, too, of course.

All she had to do was stay away from Nick, not touch him, not look at him, not think about him, not dream about him at night.

She could do that.

She had to do that.

Dear Reader

The wonder of a Silhouette Romance is that it can touch every woman’s heart Check out this month’s offerings—and prepare to be swept away!

A woman wild about kids winds up tutoring a single dad in the art of parenthood in Babies, Rattles and Cribs... Oh, My! It’s this month’s BUNDLES OF JOY title from Leanna Wilson. When a Cinderella-esque waitress—complete with wicked stepfamily!—finds herself in danger, she hires a bodyguard whose idea of protection means making her his Glass Slipper Bride, another unforgettable tale from Arlene James. Pair one highly independent woman and one overly protective lawman and what do you have? The prelude to The Marriage Beat Doreen Roberts’s sparkling new Romance with a HE’S MY HERO cop.

WRANGLERS & LACE is a theme-based promotion highlighting classic Western stories. July’s offering, Cathleen Galitz’s Wyoming Born & Bred, features an ex-rodeo champion bent on reclaiming his family’s homestead who instead discovers that home is with the stubborn new owner...and her three charming children! A long-lost twin, a runaway bride...and A Gift for the Groom—don’t miss this conclusion to Sally Carleen’s delightful duo ON THE WAY TO A WEDDING.... And a man-shy single mom takes a chance and follows The Way to a Cowboy’s Heart in this emotional heart-tugger from rising star Teresa Southwick.

Enjoy this month’s selections, and make sure to drop me a line about why you keep coming back to Romance. We want to fulfill your dreams!

Happy reading,

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

300 East 42nd Street, 6th Floor

New York, NY 10017

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

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A Gift for the Groom

Sally Carleen

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

To Paula Stewart, my “blood sister”

and sister of the heart

SALLY CARLEEN,

the daughter of a cowboy and a mail-order bride, has romance in her genes. Factor in the grandfather in 1890s Louisiana who stole the crowd at political rallies by standing on a flatbed wagon and telling stories, and it’s no surprise she ended up writing romance novels.

Sally, a hard-core romantic who expects life and novels to have happy endings, is married to Max Steward, and they live in Missouri with their large cat, Leo, and their very small dog, Cricket. Her hobbies are drinking Coca-Cola and eating chocolate, especially Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream. Sally loves to hear from her readers. You can write to her c/o P.O. Box 6614, Lee’s Summit, MO 64064.

Chapter One

The bottom half of the scorching sun had disappeared behind the distant mountains when Nick Claiborne strode across the tarmac of the small airport in Rattlesnake Corners, Wyoming. His V-tail plane, N373GY, affectionately known as Ginny, sat waiting patiently for his return.

The June day had been long and hot. He’d left South Dakota early that morning, flown to Wyoming, spent the day looking for a woman who’d moved over twenty years ago, and now he had to fly to Nebraska tonight in search of that same woman.

Once he and Ginny got into the air, free of the earth, up there alone with the stars, he’d unwind and relax. It was always like that when he could find the time to fly. As a private investigator, he didn’t get to do a lot of flying. This case, frustrating in many ways, at least gave him the excuse to travel.

He completed his preflight walk-around check, unfastened Ginny’s tiedowns and climbed up the wing to the door...which stood slightly open. That was odd. He was always so careful to lock it.

He swung the door wide open, preparing to climb in, to settle in the seat that, after so many hours of use, molded to his body perfectly. Already he could feel the tension unknotting in his neck and shoulders as he caught the familiar scent of...no, something was wrong. His plane wasn’t supposed to smell like honeysuckle.

“Hi! I’m Analise Brewster! You must be Nick Claiborne.”

Nick blinked and dropped his foot back to the wing. He wasn’t given to hallucinations, hadn’t drunk anything all day except water and iced tea and he was pretty sure he wasn’t asleep and dreaming. Therefore, the redhead in his cockpit must be real.

“Analise Brewster?” he repeated. “My client Analise Brewster?” As if there could be more than one.

“That’s right! Am I glad to see you! It’s getting so late, I was starting to worry, afraid I’d been waiting in the wrong plane, except this is the only plane parked here.”

She swung out slender feet in turquoise sandals followed by long, golden legs stretching at least a mile from khaki shorts that should have been mundane and ordinary but somehow on this woman were incredibly sexy. She wore some kind of silky, turquoise blouse that draped oh so nicely over her rounded breasts.

He made himself lift his gaze to her face.

Standing in front of him, almost even with his height of six feet, due to the upward slope of the wing where she stood, she smiled tentatively, her lush, generous lips outlining white, perfect teeth.

Lush, generous lips? Where the hell had that come from?

Okay, maybe they were lush and generous, but he didn’t need to be thinking that about some woman who’d ambushed him from his own plane...some engaged woman.

She extended a slim hand, and he accepted automatically, too stunned to do otherwise, his fingers closing over the smooth skin.

“In your fax,” she said, “you mentioned that you thought you had a solid lead on Abbie Prather. Did you find her today? Is she in jail already?”