Did You Say...Wife?. Judith McWilliams

      “This doesn’t seem familiar,”

      Lucas muttered, and Jocelyn froze in sudden fear.

      “What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.

      “I mean shaking your hand just doesn’t feel right. Not like when I talk to you. That feels natural, but shaking your hand doesn’t.”

      “Probably because we haven’t shaken hands all that often, whereas, we talk all the time,” she said truthfully.

      Lucas gave her a blinding smile equally mixed with devilment and relief. “Of course, I should have thought of that myself. Married couples don’t go around shaking hands, do they?”

      Jocelyn blinked, trying to pull her attention away from the intoxicating effect of his smile long enough to focus on what he was saying.

      “Kissing would be familiar,” he said softly, gently pulling her close.…

      Dear Reader,

      The summer after my thirteenth birthday, I read my older sister’s dog-eared copy of Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss and I was hooked. Thousands of romance novels later—I won’t say how many years—I’ll gladly confess that I’m a romance freak! That’s why I am so delighted to become the associate senior editor for the Silhouette Romance line. My goal, as the new manager of Silhouette’s longest-running line, is to bring you brand-new, heartwarming love stories every month. As you read each one, I hope you’ll share the magic and experience love as it was meant to be.

      For instance, if you love reading about rugged cowboys and the feisty heroines who melt their hearts, be sure not to miss Judy Christenberry’s Beauty & the Beastly Rancher (#1678), the latest title in her FROM THE CIRCLE K series. And share a laugh with the always-entertaining Terry Essig in Distracting Dad (#1679).

      In the next THE TEXAS BROTHERHOOD title by Patricia Thayer, Jared’s Texas Homecoming (#1680), a drifter’s life changes for good when he offers to marry his nephew’s mother. And a secretary’s dream comes true when her boss, who has amnesia, thinks they’re married, in Judith McWilliams’s Did You Say…Wife? (#1681).

      Don’t miss the savvy nanny who moves in on a single dad, in Married in a Month (#1682) by Linda Goodnight, or the doctor who learns his ex’s little secret, in Dad Today, Groom Tomorrow (#1683) by Holly Jacobs. Groom Tomorrow (#1683) by Holly Jacobs.

      Enjoy!

      Mavis C. Allen

      Associate Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

      Did You Say…Wife?

      Judith McWilliams

      

www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Books by Judith McWilliams

      Silhouette Romance

      Gift of the Gods #479

      The Summer Proposal #1562

      Her Secret Children #1648

      Did You Say…Wife? #1681

      Silhouette Desire

      Reluctant Partners #441

      A Perfect Season #545

      That’s My Baby #597

      Anything’s Possible! #911

      The Man from Atlantis #954

      Instant Husband #1001

      Practice Husband #1062

      Another Man’s Baby #1095

      The Boss, the Beauty and the Bargain #1122

      The Sheik’s Secret #1228

      JUDITH MCWILLIAMS

      began to enjoy romances while in search of the proverbial “happily-ever-after.” But she always found herself rewriting the endings, and eventually the beginnings, of the books she read. Then her husband finally suggested that she write novels of her own, and she’s been doing so ever since. An ex-teacher with four children, Judith has traveled the country extensively with her husband and has been greatly influenced by those experiences. But while not tending the garden or caring for family, Judith does what she enjoys most—writing. She has also written under the name Charlotte Hines.

      Memorandum—ROUGH DRAFT

To:	Lucas Tarrington, CEO of Tarrington Enterprises
From:	Jocelyn Stemic
Re:	My Resignation

      Dear Mr. Tarrington,

      Please let this memo serve as my official resignation. I imagine you may be shocked, but I must move on to face new challenges in my life. I did enjoy being your assistant. The only explanation I can offer for my leaving is that, well, I’m in love with you.

      Sincerely,

      J. Stemic

      Contents

       Prologue

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

      Prologue

      Tomorrow Lucas would be back! The knowledge warmed Jocelyn far more than the camel hair coat she was wearing. In—she checked the time on her delicate gold watch—precisely fourteen hours and twenty minutes she would see his beloved face again.

      The elevator she was riding in came to a smooth stop on the ground floor, and the doors silently slid open. Automatically she headed across the broad expanse of black marble that covered the ground floor of Forester Enterprises.

      “Good night, Harry.” Jocelyn smiled happily at the elderly guard sitting behind the reception desk.

      “Night, Miss Stemic.” Harry smiled back. “You sure look chipper. Got a heavy date tonight?”

      For a brief moment an image of Lucas’s leanly chiseled features filled her mind. His dark eyes glittered with emotion. His lips were curved in a sensual smile that sent her heartbeat into overdrive. What would it be like to have a date with Lucas? she wondered. To have him look at her with love and longing, instead of with his normal impersonal friendliness? It would be mind-boggling, she thought, answering her own question. World changing. Her world,