Beauty and The Beastly Rancher. Judy Christenberry

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      MEET THE CRAWFORD FAMILY

      Joe Crawford: Eldest son and reclusive bachelor. He believes no woman would have him, but he craves a family and will enter into a marriage of convenience if it means finally getting what he desires.

      Anna Pointer: With two children to raise, this widow couldn’t refuse Joe’s proposal of marriage. But her secret desire for her husband could lead to heartache like she never imagined.

      Pete Crawford: The happily married second son has plenty of advice to give his older brother…even if Joe doesn’t want to hear it.

      Carol Crawford: This family matriarch just wants all of her children to settle down and be happy. She believes Joe’s marriage to Anna will bring him all the joy he deserves and she’ll stop at nothing to bring the two together.

      Caleb Crawford: The head of the Crawford family is hiding some scandalous secrets from his own children. Find out what they are, in Hush, Judy Christenberry’s newest novel from Silhouette Books, available September 2003.

      Dear Reader,

      The summer after my thirteenth birthday, I read my older sister’s dog-eared copy of Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss and I was hooked. Thousands of romance novels later—I won’t say how many years—I’ll gladly confess that I’m a romance freak! That’s why I am so delighted to become the associate senior editor for the Silhouette Romance line. My goal, as the new manager of Silhouette’s longest-running line, is to bring you brand-new, heartwarming love stories every month. As you read each one, I hope you’ll share the magic and experience love as it was meant to be.

      For instance, if you love reading about rugged cowboys and the feisty heroines who melt their hearts, be sure not to miss Judy Christenberry’s Beauty & the Beastly Rancher (#1678), the latest title in her FROM THE CIRCLE K series. And share a laugh with the always-entertaining Terry Essig in Distracting Dad (#1679).

      In the next THE TEXAS BROTHERHOOD title by Patricia Thayer, Jared’s Texas Homecoming (#1680), a drifter’s life changes for good when he offers to marry his nephew’s mother. And a secretary’s dream comes true when her boss, who has amnesia, thinks they’re married, in Judith McWilliams’s Did You Say… Wife? (#1681).

      Don’t miss the savvy nanny who moves in on a single dad, in Married in a Month (#1682) by Linda Goodnight, or the doctor who learns his ex’s little secret, in Dad Today, Groom Tomorrow (#1683) by Holly Jacobs.

      Enjoy!

      Mavis C. Allen

      Associate Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

      Beauty & the Beastly Rancher

      Judy Christenberry

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

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      Books by Judy Christenberry

      Silhouette Romance

      The Nine-Month Bride #1324

      * Marry Me, Kate #1344

      * Baby in Her Arms #1350

      * A Ring for Cinderella #1356

      †Never Let You Go #1453

      †The Borrowed Groom #1457

      †Cherish the Boss #1463

      ** Snowbound Sweetheart #1476

      Newborn Daddy #1511

      When the Lights Went Out…#1547

      ** Least Likely To Wed #1570

      Daddy on the Doorstep # 1654

      **Beauty & the Beastly Rancher # 1678

      Silhouette Books

      The Coltons

      The Doctor Delivers

      A Colton Family Christmas

      “The Diplomat’s Daughter”

      Lone Star Country Club

      The Last Bachelor

      JUDY CHRISTENBERRY

      has been writing romances for fifteen years because she loves happy endings as much as her readers do. She’s also a bestselling author for Harlequin American Romance, but she has a long love of traditional romances and is delighted to tell a story that brings those elements to the reader. A former high school French teacher, Judy devotes her time to writing. She hopes readers have as much fun reading her stories as she does writing them. She spends her spare time reading, watching her favorite sports teams and keeping track of her two adult daughters.

      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

       Epilogue

      Chapter One

      Joe Crawford shoved back his straw cowboy hat and wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. He’d been on the tractor for more than an hour, plowing the small pasture to prepare it for the alfalfa he intended to plant there.

      The field wasn’t large, but he hated to let anything go to waste. He could make enough to feed the herd for a month by taking the time