Wedding Willies. Victoria Pade

       Kit suddenly found her thoughts split between what Ad was saying and the scenario forming in her head.

      A scenario in which they were at the end of a date. A date she’d thoroughly enjoyed. And that they were about to kiss good-night.

      But they weren’t about to kiss good-night. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” she forced herself to say, attempting to escape her daydream. “Thanks for all your help tonight,” she said, prolonging this moment.

      “Don’t mention it. I’d be your kitchen assistant anytime,” he joked with a lascivious note in his voice, tossing her a sexy half smile to go with it.

      And that was when it struck her that Ad Walker absolutely was not like any other guy. And spending the last couple of hours with him hadn’t cured whatever it was she’d been infected by the moment she’d met him.

      No, if anything she thought that she really had been bitten by the Ad bug. Bitten but good.

      And there was only one thing that would cure her.

      Dear Reader,

      Well, the lazy days of summer are winding to an end, so what better way to celebrate those last long beach afternoons than with a good book? We here at Silhouette Special Edition are always happy to oblige! We begin with Diamonds and Deceptions by Marie Ferrarella, the next in our continuity series, THE PARKS EMPIRE. When a mesmerizing man walks into her father’s bookstore, sheltered Brooke Moss believes he’s her dream come true. But he’s about to challenge everything she thought she knew about her own family.

      Victoria Pade continues her NORTHBRIDGE NUPTIALS with Wedding Willies, in which a runaway bride with an aversion to both small towns and matrimony finds herself falling for both, along with Northbridge’s most eligible bachelor! In Patricia Kay’s Man of the Hour, a woman finds her gratitude to the detective who found her missing child turning quickly to…love. In Charlie’s Angels by Cheryl St. John, a single father is stymied when his little girl is convinced that finding a new mommy is as simple as having an angel sprinkle him with her “miracle dust”—until he meets the beautiful blonde who drives a rig called “Silver Angel.” In It Takes Three by Teresa Southwick, a pregnant caterer sets her sights on the handsome single dad who swears his fatherhood days are behind him. Sure they are! And the MEN OF THE CHEROKEE ROSE series by Janis Reams Hudson concludes with The Cowboy on Her Trail, in which one night of passion with the man she’s always wanted results in a baby on the way. Can marriage be far behind?

      Enjoy all six of these wonderful novels, and please do come back next month for six more new selections, only from Silhouette Special Edition.

      Gail Chasan

      Senior Editor

      Wedding Willies

      Victoria Pade

      

www.millsandboon.co.uk

       VICTORIA PADE

      is a bestselling author of both historical and contemporary romance fiction, and mother of two energetic daughters, Cori and Erin. Although she enjoys her chosen career as a novelist, she occasionally laments that she has never traveled farther from her Colorado home than Disneyland, instead spending all her spare time plugging away at her computer. She takes breaks from writing by indulging in her favorite hobby—eating chocolate.

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Epilogue

       Chapter One

       I t was nearly nine-thirty on Saturday night when Kit MacIntyre’s bus pulled in to Northbridge, Montana. She was the last passenger and the driver unloaded her luggage and carried it all the way into the station for her.

      “I spend the night here and then do the return trip in the morning,” he explained along the way.

      Inside, the station was about the size of a grade-school classroom. There was no one on the pewlike benches or using the vending machines, and the elderly woman who was manning the place had already closed the ticket counter.

      She greeted the driver by name, nodded to Kit, and then locked the rear door they’d come in through.

      “Somebody meetin’ you, sweetie?” the woman asked Kit after the driver had left through the front door.

      “My friend was supposed to be here,” Kit answered, scanning the space even though it was obvious there wasn’t anyone else there.

      “Who’s your friend?” the woman inquired.

      Anywhere else that question might have seemed odd, but Kit’s friend had warned her that in a small town everyone knew everyone.

      “Kira Wentworth,” Kit informed her.

      “You must be here for the wedding next Saturday,” the older woman said reverently, as if the wedding were the social event of the year.

      “I’m the maid of honor,” Kit confirmed. “I’m also making the wedding cake.”

      Light seemed to dawn for the elderly woman whose blue eyes widened into saucers. “Oh, I’ve heard about you. My niece got married in Colorado and she wouldn’t have any cake but yours—Kit’s Cakes. The minute Kira told me who was making hers I recognized the name.”

      “That’s me.”

      “Well, I can’t wait to have that cake again. My mouth has been watering for it ever since.”

      “I’m glad you liked it,” Kit said.

      That apparently ended the cake conversation then because the woman said, “I haven’t seen Kira tonight. Did she know what time the bus was getting in?”

      Kit assured her that Kira did.

      The woman checked the big round clock on the wall behind the ticket counter and said, “I need to close up and get home to my Henry to give him his pills. But it’s a nice night. Maybe you could wait on the bench out front.”

      It wasn’t like Kira to be unreliable so Kit felt certain her friend would be there any minute. “Would it be all right if I used the rest room first?” she asked. “I’ll hurry.”

      “Sure thing. I’ll just give my Henry a buzz and let him know I’m on my way.”

      Kit thanked her and followed the arrow on the aged sign that said Lavatories.

      The ladies’ room contained two stalls and a sink, and smelled of pine cleaner. Kit quickly entered the first stall that she came to so she could have a few minutes after she’d washed and dried her hands for a fast assessment of how she looked. She was about to meet Kira’s fiancé for the first time, and she didn’t want to do that all wilted and haggard.

      She’d had a long day. She’d needed to put the final touches on four wedding cakes before she was able to rush home to do last-minute packing and then get to the airport. But glancing in the mirror above the sink, she decided that she wasn’t too much the worse for wear.

      Her pale skin needed a swipe of the blush brush from the makeup bag she took from her purse, but the mascara she’d applied that morning was still helping to darken her eyelashes.