The Bride Means Business. Anne Marie Winston

      “You Know What I Missed All These Years I Was Away From You?” Letter to Reader Title Page About the Author Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue Copyright

      “You Know What I Missed All These Years I Was Away From You?”

      Dax asked Jillian, his expression strangely intense.

      

      She looked at him sharply. “What?”

      

      “Memories and someone to share them with.”

      

      Her eyes, wide and blue as a summer sky, were luminous as she nodded.

      

      “I feel alone, too,” Jillian said with an odd tone in her voice. Abruptly she turned away. “Let’s just forget it, Dax.”

      

      He stepped closer, standing directly behind her without touching her. “I’ve discovered that I like remembering.”

      

      “I don’t. It’s better just to forget things.” There was such sadness in her voice that he turned her to face him. Slowly he drew her to him. She didn’t resist, and gently Dax pressed her head against his shoulder.

      

      And for the first time since he’d set foot in town again, Dax felt as if he had truly come home....

      Dear Reader,

      

      Spring is in the air—and all thoughts turn toward love. With six provocative romances from Silhouette Desire, you too can enjoy a season of new beginnings...and happy endings!

      

      Our March MAN OF THE MONTH is Lass Small’s The Best Husband in Texas. This sexy rancher is determined to win over the beautiful widow he’s loved for years! Next, Joan Elliott Pickart returns with a wonderful love story—Just My Joe. Watch sparks fly between handsome, wealthy Joe Dillon and the woman he loves.

      

      Don’t miss Beverly Barton’s new miniseries, 3 BABIES FOR 3 BROTHERS, which begins with His Secret Child. The town golden boy is reunited with a former flame—and their child. Popular Anne Marie Winston offers the third title in her BUTLER COUNTY BRIDES series, as a sexy heroine forms a partnership with her lost love in The Bride Means Business. Then an expectant mom matches wits with a brooding rancher in Carol Grace’s Expecting.... And Virginia Dove debuts explosively with The Bridal Promise, when star-crossed lovers marry for convenience.

      

      This spring, please write and tell us why you read Silhouette Desire books. As part of our 20^th anniversary celebration in the year 2000, we’d like to publish some of this fan mail in the books—so drop us a line, tell us how long you’ve been reading Desire books and what you love about the series. And enjoy our March titles!

      

      Regards,

      

      Joan Marlow Golan

      Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

      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

      The Bride Means Business

      Anne Marie Winston

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ANNE MARIE WINSTON has believed in happy endings all her life. Having the opportunity to share them with her readers gives her great joy. Anne Marie enjoys figure skating and working in the gardens of her south-central Pennsylvania home.

      For Foxy

      1979-1998

      

      It still seems as if you just left me yesterday.

      Purr in peace, my Old Girl.

      One

      A drop of sweat slipped between her shoulder blades, caught for a moment on the barrier of her bra, and then slithered on down the very middle of her back. As Jillian Kerr negotiated the uneven ground in her very high heels, her black summer suit felt as if it had turned to heavy wool. The sun was bright, and beneath her fingertips, the dark jacket of her escort felt hot.

      After a week of rain, Baltimore had enjoyed three gorgeous days of nice weather, the wonderful Indian-summer weather for which mid-Atlantic Septembers were famous. The ground had dried, the grass was thick and green, summer birds still spread their song on the air.

      Jillian didn’t notice any of it.

      The twin graves were a freshly slashed scar in the expanse of mown lawn as she walked around them to the canopy where the graveside service would be conducted. She released the arm of the friend at her side, and he dropped back to stand behind her with other friends from the stores near hers as she took a seat, alone, on the folding chairs reserved for family.

      Only there was no family. Other than her, and she didn’t really count. She and Charles had grown up together, were practically sister and brother, but in the most accurate sense of the word, they hadn’t been related. And Alma, Charles’s wife, was an only child of deceased parents, so there was no one there to represent her, either. Jillian was the only family there was left to mourn either of her two dear friends.

      Well, that wasn’t strictly true; there was other family. She had sent a very correct and courteous facsimile to share the sad news. But in her heart she was sure that she was the only one who would care enough to show up here today.

      Carefully, she sidestepped the land mines in that train of thought and came out on the other side of sorrow as the minister began the service and the hushed voices in the crowd quieted. Her eyes stung, and she blinked once, shaking back her mane of blond hair and staring fixedly past the identical white caskets at the trees on the far side of the hill. She didn’t cry. Ever. She repeated the words over and over as the clergyman eulogized Alma Bender Piersall and Charles Edward Piersall, local businessman, tireless community volunteer, active church member, generous contributor to many charities and her dearest childhood friend.

      Charles Edward Piersall also had been responsible for the devastating