Unlikely Lover. Diana Palmer

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      “The boss is fading fast. His last request is that a writer compose his memoirs” was Aunt Lillian’s plea. Helping the elderly oilman seemed natural to Mari. But Ward Jessup was anything but old and sickly….

      “Poor little Mari,” her aunt fretted. “I’m worried about her state of mind-deep emotional scars.” Ward’s sympathy went out to Lillian’s niece, and he invited Mari to the ranch. But the woman who arrived was hardly a helpless little girl….

      Though they knew they had been tricked, neither could fight the power of Cupid’s magic arrow.

       Also by Diana Palmer

       Man of the Hour

       Trilby

       Lawman

       Lacy

       Heart of Winter

       Outsider

       Night Fever

       Before Sunrise

       Lawless

       Diamond Spur

       Desperado

       The Texas Ranger

       Lord of the Desert

       The Cowboy and the Lady

       Most Wanted

       Fit for a King

       Paper Rose

       Rage of Passion

       Once in Paris

       After the Music

       Roomful of Roses

       Champagne Girl

       Passion Flower

       Diamond Girl

       Friends and Lovers

       Cattleman’s Choice

       Lady Love

       The Rawhide Man

       Her Kind of Hero

       Unlikely Lover

      Diana Palmer

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

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      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 One

      Ward Jessup went to the supper table rubbing his big hands together, his green eyes like dark emeralds in a face like a Roman’s, perfectly sculpted under hair as thick and black as crow feathers. He was enormously tall, big and rangy looking, with an inborn elegance and grace that came from his British ancestors. But Ward himself was all-American. All Oklahoman, with a trace of Cherokee and a sprinkling of Irish that gave him his taciturn stubbornness and his cutting temper, respectively.

      “You look mighty proud of yourself,” Lillian huffed, bringing in platters of beef and potatoes and yeast rolls.

      “Why shouldn’t I?” he asked. “Things are going pretty well. Grandmother’s leaving, did she tell you? She’s going to stay with my sister. Lucky, lucky Belinda!”

      Lillian lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “I must have pleased you, Lord, for all my prayers to be so suddenly answered,” she said.

      Ward chuckled as he reached for the platter of sliced roast beef. “I thought you two were great buddies.”

      “And we stay that way as long as I run fast, keep my mouth shut and pretend that I like cooking five meals at a time.”

      “She may come back.”

      “I’ll quit,” was the gruff reply. “She’s only been here four months, and I’m ready to apply for that cookhouse job over at Wade’s.”

      “You’d wind up in the house with Conchita, helping to look after the twins,” he returned.

      She grinned, just for an instant. Could have been a muscle spasm, he thought.

      “I like kids.” Lillian glared at him, brushing back wiry strands of gray hair that seemed to match her hatchet nose, long chin and beady little black eyes. “Why don’t you get married and have some?” she added.

      His thick eyebrows raised a little. They were perfect like his nose, even his mouth. He was handsome. He could have had a dozen women by crooking his finger, but he dated only occasionally, and he never brought women home. He never got serious, either. He hadn’t since that Caroline person had almost led him to the altar, only to turn around at the last minute and marry his cousin Bud, thinking that, because Bud’s last name was Jessup, he’d do as well as Ward. Besides, Bud was much easier to manage. The marriage had only lasted a few weeks, however, just until Bud had discovered that Caroline’s main interest was in how much of his small inheritance she could spend