McKenna's Bartered Bride

McKenna's Bartered Bride
Sandra Steffen

Bachelor GulchY'ALL COME TO THE WEDDING!In Jasper Gulch, where the main course at the local diner is gossip, everyone's talking about the diamond-and-emerald engagement ring that Josie Callahan is sporting. Word has it this shy bride has been bartered for by handsome, wealthy Jake McKenna. The reticent rancher needs a wife to inherit his family's land–or else it will go to his fiercest rival.Every busybody in town is wondering why Josie agreed to the convenient union. Does she believe she can turn her grumpy, silent groom into prime husband material? Or could she already know this sham of a marriage will lead to real passion…in their wedding bed?In this little town no bachelor is safe from marriage!

“You’ve changed your mind about marrying me,” (#u75c123a2-3275-52a0-8896-21539c9c1c18)Letter to Reader (#u80992e59-1cb6-5e62-970c-c827f03d7b8a)Title Page (#u8da1350e-3cb5-52ff-969e-98b526e0a8cb)Dedication (#uf5dff63f-6c38-57d2-80b5-6a44703ad340)About the Author (#u2bbe479f-d693-5174-a15b-fd2d9a39cc6e)Chapter One (#u9e3aabff-4492-5121-b00c-bd6bc863a67e)Chapter Two (#u08d3d224-132e-5b91-95ec-13a183b24599)Chapter Three (#u2a513c15-4138-5b96-a2ca-be978e1e5c22)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)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“You’ve changed your mind about marrying me,”

Jake said quietly.

Josie’s initial answer was a small shrug and an even smaller nod. “Uh-huh. I mean, yes. That is, you do still need a wife in order to keep your land, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do.”

Her hand fluttered to her throat. “Thank God.” The flush climbing up Josie’s neck looked red-hot. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” she whispered.

Jake studied the woman who had just agreed to marry him. Her hair was. windblown, her face clean-scrubbed and youthful. He sensed she wasn’t a woman who was accustomed to asking for help. He knew the feeling. Yearning washed over him. Since he knew better than to allow himself to be distracted by romantic notions, he concentrated on the way he was responding physically, and pretended he didn’t notice the inkling of hope that seemed to have found its way into his chest....

Dear Reader,

Silhouette Romance blends classic themes and the challenges of romance in today’s world into a reassuring, fulfilling novel. And this month’s offerings undeniably deliver on that promise!

In Baby, You’re Mine, part of BUNDLES OF JOY, RITA Award winning author Lindsay Longford tells of a pregnant penniless widow who finds sanctuary with a sought-after bachelor who’d never thought himself the marrying kind...until now. Duty and passion collide in Sally Carleen’s The Prince’s Heir, when the prince dispatched to claim his nephew falls for the heir’s beautiful adoptive mother. When a single mom desperate to keep her daughter weds an ornery rancher intent on saving his spread, she discovers that McKenna’s Bartered Bride is what she wants to be...forever. Don’t miss this next delightful installment of Sandra Steffen’s BACHELOR GULCH series.

Donna Clayton delivers an emotional story about the bond of sisterhood...and how a career-driven woman learns a valuable lesson about love from the man who’s Her Dream Come True. Carla Cassidy’s MUSTANG, MONTANA, Intimate Moments series crosses into Romance with a classic boss/secretary story that starts with the proposition Wife for a Week, but ends...well, you’ll have to read it to find out! And in Pamela Ingrahm’s debut Romance novel, a millionaire CEO realizes that his temporary assistant—and her adorable toddler—have him yearning to leave his Bachelor Boss days behind.

Enjoy this month’s titles—and keep coming back to Romance, a series guaranteed to touch every woman’s heart

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

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McKenna’s Bartered Bride

Sandra Steffen

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

For my agent, Robin Rue.

I love listening to your slant on writing and on life....

This one is especially for you, Robin....

You know why.

SANDRA STEFFEN

Her fans tell Sandra how much they enjoy her fictional characters, especially her male fictional characters. That’s not so surprising, because although this award-winning, bestselling author believes every character is a challenge, she has the most fun with the men she creates. Perhaps that’s because she’s surrounded by so many men—her husband, their four sons, her dad, brothers, in-laws. She feels blessed to be surrounded by just as many warm, intelligent and funny women.

Growing up the fourth child of ten, Sandra developed a keen appreciation for laughter and argument. Sandra lives in Michigan with her husband, three of their sons and a blue-eyed mutt who thinks her name is No-Molly-No. Sandra’s book Child of Her Dreams won the 1994 National Readers’ Choice Award. Several of her titles have appeared on national bestseller lists.

Chapter One

Jake McKenna felt a vibration beneath the soles of his worn cowboy boots. He lowered the tip of the pitchfork to the floor and held very still, his ears straining, his gaze trained on the patch of McKenna land visible through the wide barn door. The vibration increased. It was either a tornado, a stampede, or...

Aw, hell. He threw down the pitchfork and tore out of the barn. It was a storm, all right. A human cyclone. Sky Buchanan was racing up the lane on his horse, shoulders and head hunkered down, his hat whipping behind him, held to his body only by the cord around his neck.

Swearing under his breath, Jake rushed to the gate and swung it open five seconds before Sky rode through at breakneck speed. “Dammit all, Buchanan!” he growled as Sky pulled to a stop a few feet short of the broad side of the barn. “One of these days I’m not going to get here fast enough and I’ll end up scraping you off that wood with a chisel.”

Skyler Buchanan dismounted neatly, then turned on his heels in one fluid movement. Jake narrowed his eyes and sneered. “You ever decide to turn in your cowboy boots for ballet slippers, you got the turns down pat.”

Sky’s smile grated on Jake’s already frayed nerves. Leading his horse by the reins, Sky said, “You’re trying to pick a fight That means it’s either a day that ends in y, or the reading of your old man’s will didn’t go so well.”

Inside the barn Jake swiped his black Stetson off his head and kept the string of four-letter words running through his head to himself. Cramming his hat back on again, he retrieved the pitchfork and picked up where he’d left off.

“Jake?”

Jake’s reply had a lot in common with a snort.

“What did the will say?”

The barn was quiet except for the creak of leather, the scuffle of hooves and the scrape and rustle of straw.

“Well?” Sky prodded. “Did Isaac leave the ranch to you or didn’t he?”

Jake scooped up another forkful of straw and sent it sailing into one of the stalls. “More or less.”

A horse whinnied; a saddle creaked. Jake knew Sky was watching him, just as he knew his best friend wouldn’t ask any more questions until Jake was ready to answer. Where Sky had patiepce, Jake had purpose. Both would trust the other with his life.

When he’d worked the edge off his temper, Jake stuck the pitchfork into the pile of straw and looped his hands over the top of the handle. “It’s pretty much black-and-white.”

“Then why do you look as if you’re seeing red?”

Jake shrugged, scowled. “Got me. With the exception of the hundred acres that spans Sugar Creek, my father left everything to me.”

“What the hell do you—”

Finally Jake turned to face his friend. “The hundred acres that spans Sugar Creek will be mine. Providing I’m a married man by my next birthday.”

“And if you’re not a married man come July?”