His Perfect Family. Patti Standard

      His gut twisted, Letter to Reader Title Page Dedication About the Author Letter to Reader Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue Copyright

      His gut twisted,

      a combination of admiration for her and envy of the man who’d had such a woman and turned his back on her. What he could have done with a woman like Adrianne at his side, back when he’d still thought he could make a difference, when he’d still tried to. Could he have leapt those tall buildings, after all?

      

      Cutter moved his hand from her shoulder to her face, cupping her cheek. He let his thumb stroke her lips, outlining their softness. She didn’t move. Bending his head, he replaced his thumb with his lips. A soft, gentle caress, meant to heal.

      

      Except the feel of her slammed into him, sucking the air from his lungs, and suddenly he was the one in need of healing. Because this feeling hurt, it squeezed his chest and blurred his thoughts.

      

      And her response brought him to his knees....

      Dear Reader.

      

      This April, Silhouette Romance showers you with six spectacular stories from six splendid authors! First, our exciting LOVING THE BOSS miniseries continues as rising star Robin Wells tells the tale of a demure accountant who turns daring to land her boss—and become mommy to The Executive’s Baby.

      

      Prince Charming’s Return signals Myrna Mackenzie’s return to Silhouette Romance. In this modern-day fairy-tale romance, wealthy FABULOUS FATHER Gray Alexander discovers he has a son, but the proud mother of his child refuses marriage—unless love enters the equation.... Sandra Steffen’s BACHELOR GULCH miniseries is back with Wes Stryker’s Wrangled Wife! In this spirited story, a pretty stranger just passing through town can’t resist a sexy cowboy struggling to raise two orphaned tykes.

      

      Cara Colter revisits the lineup with Truly Daddy an emotional, heartwarming novel about a man who learns what it takes to be a father—and a husband—through the transforming love of a younger woman. When A Cowboy Comes a Courting in Christine Scott’s contribution to HE’S MY HERO!, the virginal heroine who’d swom off sexy, stubborn. Stetson-wearing rodeo stars suddenly finds herself falling hopelessly in love. And FAMILY MATTERS showcases Patti Standard’s newest novel in which a man with a knack for fixing things sets out to make a struggling single mom and her teenage daughter His Perfect Family.

      

      As always, I hope you enjoy this month’s offerings, and the wonderful ones still to come!

      

      Happy reading!

      Mary-Theresa Hussey

      Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

      Please address questions and book requests to:

      Silhouette Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Oat. L2A 5X3

      His Perfect Family

      Patti Standard

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      To Tom.

      Thanks for getting us where we’re at.

      PATTI STANDARD reads romances as well as writes them because she’s hooked on happy endings. She knows that in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, the hero and heroine are just plain old meant to be together, and they will be on that final page. That’s the joy of the romance novel. Reality is a little less certain sometimes, but her husband and children are a constant reminder that bits of that same joy are found on every page in life.

      Dear Reader,

      

      I was raised in a “traditional” family, with a stay-at-home mom and a professor father, one sister, one brother and the requisite dog and cat. Yet in my family, my father did the cooking and my mother farmed our fifty acres of alfalfa. My father taught me that a good stock is the secret to perfect soup; my mother knew that baling hay in the predawn dew ensured the heaviest bales.

      

      So much for traditional.

      

      As we approach the millennium, it’s harder to find a definition of family that fits everyone. But one thing we all agree on is that family matters. It matters to me, and it always matters to my characters. In His Perfect Family, both Adrianne’s and Cutter’s worlds revolve around their families. Flawed, tense and occasionally chaotic—definitely not perfect—their families ground them, define them and comfort them.

      

      May your family, however traditional or non, however chaotic or calm, be the perfect family for you.

      

      Best wishes,

      Chapter One

      Cutter Matchett stopped sanding and blew away the layer of fine oak dust. He ran a callused hand over the satiny wood, sensitive to the slightest imperfection, and wished that Mr. Jonathon Round would move out of his light.

      “So, anyway,” the balding young man was saying, “barely an hour after our accountant friend has embezzled the twenty-five grand, he’s making his getaway, zipping down the highway...when guess what?”

      Without looking up, Cutter reached out and took the insurance adjuster by his pseudosilk tie and pulled him aside. That was better.

      “Cutter, are you even listening?”

      He inspected the piece of sandpaper critically, folded it into a smaller square and began to rub the wood again. “Cut to the chase, John.”

      “Jonathon.”

      “Whatever.”

      “The