Cinderella For A Night

Cinderella For A Night
Susan Mallery

A masquerade ball is plunged into darkness… A woman is poisoned… A millionaire bachelor becomes a father… As a blackout gripped Grand Springs, Colorado, CEO Jonathan Steele was having quite a night. First, Cynthia Morgan–aka "Cinderella"–drank poison meant for him. Then his blackmailing half brother and sister-in-law were murdered, leaving Jonathan with his newborn baby nephew.In thirty-six hours, Jonathan's life had changed forever. Then grateful-to-be-alive Cynthia offered to move into his home as a temporary nanny, a serious challenge to Jonathan's bachelorhood…

STEELE ENTERPRISES, INC.

MEMO

TO: Note to self

FROM: Jonathan Steele, CEO

• Check on Cynthia Morgan’s progress at Vanderbilt Hospital—looks quite hopeful!

• Follow up with police—must find out who would poison such a sweet, beautiful woman.

• Set up nursery at home for baby nephew.

• Consider Cynthia’s offer as temporary nanny—though must beware of those sparks flying between us…

Dear Reader,

As the Intimate Moments quarter of our year long 20

anniversary promotion draws to a close, we offer you a month so full of reading excitement, you’ll hardly know where to start. How about with Night Shield, the newest NIGHT TALES title from New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts? As always, Nora delivers characters you’ll never forget and a plot guaranteed to keep you turning the pages. And don’t miss our special NIGHT TALES reissue, also available this month wherever you buy books.

What next? How about Night of No Return, rising star Eileen Wilks’s contribution to our in-line continuity, A YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY? This emotional and suspenseful tale will have you on the edge of your seat—and longing for the next book in the series. As an additional treat this month, we offer you an in-line continuation of our extremely popular out-of-series continuity, 36 HOURS. Bestselling author Susan Mallery kicks things off with Cinderella for a Night. You’ll love this book, along with the three Intimate Moments novels—and one stand-alone Christmas anthology—that follow it.

Rounding out the month, we have a new book from Beverly Bird, one of the authors who helped define Intimate Moments in its very first month of publication. She’s joined by Mary McBride and Virginia Kantra, each of whom contributes a top-notch novel to the month.

Next month, look for a special two-in-one volume by Maggie Shayne and Marilyn Pappano, called Who Do You Love? And in November, watch for the debut of our stunning new cover design.

Leslie J. Wainger

Executive Senior Editor

Cinderella for A Night

Susan Mallery

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

Special thanks and acknowledgment

are given to Susan Mallery for her contribution

to the 36 Hours series.

SUSAN MALLERY

is the bestselling author of over thirty books for Silhouette. Always a fan of romance novels, Susan finds herself in the unique position of living out her own personal romantic fantasy with the new man in her life. Susan lives in sunny Southern California with her handsome hero husband and her two adorable-but-not-bright cats.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 1

“You look like Cinderella,” thirteen-year-old Jenny Morgan breathed as she stared at her older sister in the mirror.

“You’re right,” Cynthia Morgan said with a laugh. “All I need now are the mice!” She spread out the full skirt of the rented aqua-colored ball gown and gently swayed back and forth. “A handsome prince would be nice, too.”

“You’ll find him,” Jenny said confidently. “He’ll take one look at you and fall madly in love.”

“A girl can hope.”

But Cynthia wasn’t expecting much in the way of handsome princes at the Grand Springs Charity Masquerade Halloween Ball. For one thing, Grand Springs, Colorado, wasn’t a hangout for the handsome prince set. For another thing, she wasn’t princess material. Tonight, in her rented ball gown, with her hair pulled up and wearing more makeup than usual, highlighting her pleasant if not spectacular features, she looked pretty good. But the charity event attracted Grand Springs social elite and “pretty good” was not going to put her in the running for anyone very special. Certainly not for Jonathan Steele, a living breathing Prince Charming if there ever was one.

“Let me look.”

Cynthia turned at the sound of her mother’s voice and smiled as Betsy Morgan’s face softened into an expression of maternal pride.