Kidnapping His Bride. Hayley Gardner

      

      For a few long seconds, as Griff kissed her and she kissed him back, Tessa forgot everything.

      She felt what she’d always felt around Griff, right down through her body—delightful, sensual desire. And she basked in the feeling of being close to a man she had once loved more than anyone else in the whole world.

      Loved. Past tense.

      The thought brought her back to reality, and she jerked away from him, stiffening.

      “You shouldn’t have done that,” she said, staring at him.

      “Why?” he asked quietly. “Because you liked it so much it’s giving you second thoughts about what you’re getting into? Because you’re worried that the yearning you just felt is the way you’re supposed to feel about the man you’re marrying—plus a whole lot more?”

      Dear Reader,

      Summer’s finally here! Whether you’ll be lounging poolside, at the beach, or simply in your home this season, we have great reads packed with everything you enjoy from Silhouette Romance—tenderness, emotion, fun and, of course, heart-pounding romance—plus some very special surprises.

      First, don’t miss the exciting conclusion to the thrilling ROYALLY WED: THE MISSING HEIR miniseries with Cathie Linz’s A Prince at Last! Then be swept off your feet—just like the heroine herself!—in Hayley Gardner’s Kidnapping His Bride.

      Romance favorite Raye Morgan is back with A Little Moonlighting, about a tycoon set way off track by his beguiling associate who wants a family to call her own. And in Debrah Morris’s That Maddening Man, can a traffic-stopping smile convince a career woman—and single mom—to slow down…?

      Then laugh, cry and fall in love all over again with two incredibly tender love stories. Vivienne Wallington’s Kindergarten Cupids is a very different, highly emotional story about scandal, survival and second chances. Then dive right into Jackie Braun’s True Love, Inc., about a professional matchmaker who’s challenged to find her very sexy, very cynical client his perfect woman. Can she convince him that she already has?

      Here’s to a wonderful, relaxing summer filled with happiness and romance. See you next month with more fun-in-the-sun selections.

      Happy reading!

      Mary-Theresa Hussey

      Senior Editor

      Kidnapping His Bride

      Hayley Gardner

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

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      And to Tina, Mary-Theresa, Miss Jeri Buckner and Sheriff Kenneth Volentine: my heartfelt thanks for your help and/or expertise.

      To all the people in Claiborne Parish who have gone out of their way to accept us, help us and make us feel like family: because of you, living in Athens is like living in Paradise. Thank you.

      Books by Hayley Gardner

      Silhouette Romance

      A Baby in His Stocking #1341

      Kidnapping His Bride #1598

      Silhouette Yours Truly

      Holiday Husband

      The One-Week Wife

      The One-Week Baby

      HAYLEY GARDNER

      used to sit in high school history class while the teachers lectured and write romances in her notebook instead of notes. That turned out just fine, because she could always study the textbooks, and the teachers always thought she was their most conscientious student who took down every word they said!

      Now, years later, she is thrilled to be following her dream of full-time writing—when she isn’t homeschooling her son, that is. Any free time Hayley has is spent with her husband or researching methods of teaching children with autism or collecting dolls or knitting or taking long, deep breaths…and hoping her readers enjoy her efforts to make them smile and feel good about love.

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Epilogue

      Chapter One

      She was doing the right thing, Tessa Blake reassured herself as she paced in the foyer of one of Claiborne Landing’s only two churches. In her white satin, pearl-studded, wedding dress, she was the bride-to-be she’d dreamed of being for almost all of her twenty-seven years—so what if she was marrying the wrong groom? There was nothing wrong with Clay Ledoux. Nothing at all. Had she been anyone but who she was, with any other past than the one she had, and had he been anyone else but who he was, she might have fallen hard for Clay. Even though she hadn’t, this marriage was what she wanted, and nothing was going to stand in her way.

      Through the closed door to the sanctuary, she could hear her grandmother, Sadie, who had taken her in when she’d been more or less orphaned at age twelve, playing the opening notes of the next to the last song before the “Wedding March.” Focus. She needed to focus. So she concentrated on the music, and how happy she would be—

      “Was leaving me off the invitation list my brother’s idea—or yours?”

      Not having heard the front door to the church brush