Fairy-Tale Family. Pat Montana

      

      Barely able to breathe, Ellie rose on tiptoe. Just one kiss...just magic for one night. That was all Cinderella had asked. Letter to Reader Title Page Dedication About the Author Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Epilogue Copyright

      Barely able to breathe, Ellie rose on tiptoe. Just one kiss...just magic for one night. That was all Cinderella had asked.

      As if a spell were unwinding, Mitch kissed her, molding his mouth to hers, seeking entry to deepen the kiss. Like a sorcerer, he made her forget everything but him; like a wizard, he filled her with magic. But Mitch was a man, every hard, burning inch of him pressing against her.

      She trembled at the quaking she felt in him. She savored his taste. She felt the thunder of his heart against her own.

      Or was it the galloping race of time? For an instant she listened, knowing tonight the only things she and Cinderella had in common were a prince and a fatefully ticking clock....

      Dear Reader,

      As spring turns to summer, make Silhouette Romance the perfect companion for those lazy days and sultry nights! Fans of our LOVING THE BOSS series won’t want to miss The Marriage Merger by exciting author Vivian Leiber. A pretend engagement between friends goes awry when their white lies lead to a real white wedding!

      Take one biological-clock-ticking twin posing as a new mom and one daddy determined to gain custody of his newborn son, and you’ve got the unsuspecting partners in The Baby Arrangement, Moyra Tarling’s tender BUNDLES OF JOY title. You’ve asked for more TWINS ON THE DOORSTEP, Stella Bagwell’s charming author-led miniseries, so this month we give you Millionaire on Her Doorstep, an emotional story of two wounded souls who find love in the most unexpected way...and in the most unexpected place.

      Can a bachelor bent on never marrying and a single mom with a bustling brood of four become a Fairy-Tale Family? Find out in Pat Montana’s delightful new novel. Next, a handsome doctor’s case of mistaken identity leads to The Triplet’s Wedding Wish in this heartwarming tale by DeAnna Talcott. And a young widow finds the home—and family—she’s always wanted when she strikes a deal with a Nevada Cowboy Dad, this month’s FAMILY MATTERS offering from Dorsey Kelley.

      Enjoy this month’s fantastic selections, and make sure to return each and every month to Silhouette Romance!

      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, Ont. L2A 5X3

      Fairy-Tale Family

      Pat Montana

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      With love

       to Joe and his fast feet,

       and to Princess Maggie Rose

      PAT MONTANA

       grew up in Colorado, but now lives in the Midwest. So far, she’s been a wife, mother of four adopted daughters, and a grandmother. She’s also been a soda jerk, secretary, teacher, counselor, artist—and an author. She considers life an adventure and plans to live to be at least one hundred because she has so many things to do.

      Some of the goals Pat has set for herself include being a volunteer rocker for disadvantaged babies and teaching in the literacy program. She wants to learn to weave and to throw pots on a wheel, not to mention learn French, see a play at the Parthenon in Greece and sing in a quartet. Above all, she wants to write more romances.

      A FLAT FIT FOR A FAIRY-TALE FAMILY

      Prologue

      Someone was sleeping in her bed Ellie Sander hugged her daughter closer and backed carefully from the doorway of the moonlit room.

      What should she do? Call the police? She’d have to wake Rafe to find the portable phone. Wake all three boys and try to herd them quietly downstairs? “Quietly” was not part of her sons’ little-kid vocabularies. Stand there and scream bloody murder? That was what she felt like doing.

      She was so tired. Two minutes before midnight, and she’d just come upstairs from The Old King Kole Music Shoppe to find her four-year-old daughter sleeping with the dog—again. The day’s receipts from Kendall Kole’s store had refused to add up to the same total twice. She hadn’t even started studying for her final in her dental hygiene class at the community college. And since Kendall’s automobile accident four days ago, she and the kids hadn’t made it to the hospital to visit him—not even once.

      Now some jerk had decided to break into all this mess—and catch a few winks on the job? What were the standards of breaking and entering coming to these days?

      Ellie. tightened her hold around Seraphina’s sleepheavy little body and rested her cheek against her daughter’s head. Maybe, if she waited a second or two, some prince would come to their rescue.

      Right. Except that all he would find were countrymouse kids and a frazzled mom fresh out of glass slippers. Hardly the makings of a fairy tale.

      She let go a slow, silent sigh. Decision time again. Time to take some action. If she just weren’t so tired. Her gaze traveled to a jacket hung on the old desk chair. She squinted to make out the letters stitched across the back. Winterhaven, Colorado.

      Ellie froze. Omigod.

      The man in the bed mumbled through a snore.

      She leaned forward to stare at him, careful not to step on the squeaky board just inside the door.

      Darn, darn, darn. How could she have forgotten?

      The man lay tangled in her daughter’s sheets, one arm flung across his face as if to ward off the moonlight flooding through the flimsy white curtains. But his arm didn’t hide his dark, wavy hair, tousled like wind-tossed midnight on Seri’s pillow. The same dark hair dusted his arms and the planes