Special Order Groom. Tina Leonard

      

      “So tell me what you’re looking for in a man,” Mitch said.

      “You must be picky to have remained unmarried in Lover’s Valley, where marriage is practically in the air everyone breathes and sung to babies in their cradles.”

      Crystal’s hands went to her hips. “I know what you’re hinting at—that I never got over you—and it’s simply not true.”

      “Do you want to know why I never married?” Mitch asked, his grin teasing.

      “No.” She turned her back as if to leave. Her curiosity was burning, but she’d have stuck a pin in her eye before admitting it.

      “I’ve thought about you a lot,” he said softly.

      Her heart froze. “You have not,” she said weakly.

      “I have. How could I forget you?”

      She couldn’t stand it any longer. “Why didn’t you show up that night?” she asked in an anguished whisper. “What was it?”

      “I can’t tell you,” he said. “The story isn’t mine to reveal….”

      Special Order Groom

      Tina Leonard

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Tina Leonard loves to laugh, which is one of the many reasons she loves writing Harlequin American Romance books. In another lifetime, Tina thought she would be single and an east coast fashion buyer forever. The unexpected happened when Tina met Tim again after many years—she hadn’t seen him since they’d attended school together from first through eighth grade. They married, and now Tina keeps a close eye on her school-age children’s friends! Lisa and Dean keep their mother busy with soccer, gymnastics and horseback riding. They are proud of their mom’s “kissy books” and eagerly help her any way they can. Tina hopes that readers will enjoy the love of family she writes about in her books. A reviewer once wrote, “Leonard has a wonderful sense of the ridiculous,” which Tina loved so much she wants it for her epitaph. Right now, however, she’s focusing on her wonderful life and writing a lot more romance!

      You are cordially invited to a surprise wedding!

      Bess, Martin and Elle Jennings are pleased to finally announce the marriage of Crystal Star Jennings to Mitch McStern Saturday at noon in the school gymnasium.

      Please keep the secret from the bride and groom.

      Fireworks to follow.

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Chapter Fifteen

      Chapter Sixteen

      Chapter Seventeen

      Chapter Eighteen

      Chapter One

      “All I’m saying is that you’d rather have people think you’re a lesbian than go out with a man in Lover’s Valley, Texas,” Bess Taylor declared to her daughter.

      “Probably,” Crystal sighed as she stuck another pin into the skirt of a bridal gown. “Mother, can you come up with some new lines, please? Just because I haven’t dated in a while is no reason anyone would wonder if I’ve changed my sexual preference.”

      “It’s not normal,” Aunt Elle mentioned in her soft voice. “It’s not normal that you don’t have someone in your life, Crystal.”

      “Why? Why is it not normal? I have a busy life. I run a bridal salon. I’m busy dressing brides every day of the week. Why is that not normal?” She glared at the contingent of two women and one uncle who were grouped around the dressmaker’s dummy, pleading with her to change her bachelorette ways.

      Every day in her salon, she saw how tense, how stressed brides were. If anything, she had less interest than ever in jumping into one of her own beautiful gowns. In fact, she’d pretty much lost interest in men as a subspecies when her high school sweetheart, Mitch McStern, dumped her the night of the prom to go with Kathryn “the Prom Queen” Vincent. If the right man came along, she would regain interest, she was positive. He just hadn’t arrived.

      She shook her head, perplexed. “Why?” she asked them again. “Why am I not normal?”

      “Because you’re dressing brides but you don’t get married yourself,” Uncle Martin stated.

      “Oh, and if I were a mortuary owner, I wouldn’t be normal unless I died. Then I would be experienced, right?”

      Aunt Elle touched her shoulder. “We want you to be happy. You can’t go on living other people’s dreams forever. We think you should go away for a while, Crystal. Let us run the business for you.”

      “Go find a man, honey,” her mother joined in. “He’s out there somewhere.”

      “I doubt it. And even if he was, I’m sure I wouldn’t run into him.” She hadn’t enjoyed the pain of being left for another woman. Or left at all. She’d learned fast from that one experience. “I’m happy. Why can’t you three see that?”

      She stared up at her family. They loved her, they really did. Why couldn’t they see that she didn’t need a man to feel complete?

      “I’m getting old, Crystal,” her mother began.

      “Please don’t start playing that harp. You’ve been playing it since I was twenty-five.”

      “And I’ve been more than patient! You’re going to be thirty tomorrow! What next? Forty?”

      Crystal tried not to smile at her mother’s horrified tone. “Look, Mom, if it was that easy, I’d get married just to make you happy. But it’s not. Great guys just don’t grow on trees, okay?”

      “They’re all happy.” Uncle Martin pointed out the window. “See all those couples walking along, enjoying a June summer day in Lover’s Valley, the closest thing to God’s country?”

      Crystal was slowly losing command of her serene posture. “I do. But they’re not me! If it was that simple, if I could just reach out the door and grab an eligible male, don’t you think I would?” She wouldn’t, but she wanted to win the argument and send her relatives home so she could finish the last-minute alterations on a dress for a bride who’d enjoyed marital relations a little too soon and now couldn’t be shoehorned into her gown.

      “You might not do it, but I would!” Aunt Elle cried, her normally soft voice growing loud with daring. “I’d reach out the door and grab the first man I could if you’d just agree to go out on a date with him, Crystal Star Jennings! I can’t bear the thought of you being a wallflower all your life.”

      “Well, then go ahead,” Crystal said through gritted teeth. “But don’t blame me if the guy you grab is connected to a furious wife. I’ll swear I had nothing to do with it. I have a weapon, and I’ll protect myself.” She brandished the pin cushion, which cuffed her wrist.

      “Go ahead,” Bess urged. “She said she’d go out with any single male you pulled in. It’s just like fishing, sister. Catch us a big one!”

      “All