The Wish. Diane Pershing

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      All day, Gerri found her fingers touching her mouth, which she could swear still continued to vibrate from Des’s kiss.

      Had the morning been as magical as it had seemed? Had she and Des really confided in each other, let each other in on early hurts? Had there been a kind of communion between them, real intimacy, for the first time?

      Had he really kissed her as though she were an attractive and desirable woman? Had he promised more, if she wanted it?

      And had she really told him she wanted it?

      Dear Reader,

      Spring cleaning wearing you out? Perk up with a heart-thumping romance from Silhouette Romance. This month, your favorite authors return to the line, and a new one makes her debut!

      Take a much-deserved break with bestselling author Judy Christenberry’s secret-baby story, Daddy on the Doorstep (#1654). Then plunge into Elizabeth August’s latest, The Rancher’s Hand-Picked Bride (#1656), about a celibate heroine forced to find her rugged neighbor a bride!

      You won’t want to miss the first in Raye Morgan’s CATCHING THE CROWN miniseries about three royal siblings raised in America who must return to their kingdom and marry. In Jack and the Princess (#1655), Princess Karina falls for her bodyguard, but what will it take for this gruff commoner to win a place in the royal family? And in Diane Pershing’s The Wish (#1657), the next SOULMATES installment, a pair of magic eyeglasses gives Gerri Conklin the chance to do over the most disastrous week of her life…and find the man of her dreams!

      And be sure to keep your eye on these two Romance authors. Roxann Delaney delivers her third fabulous Silhouette Romance novel, A Whole New Man (#1658), about a live-for-the-moment hero transformed into a family man, but will it last? And Cheryl Kushner makes her debut with He’s Still the One (#1659), a fresh, funny, heartwarming tale about a TV show host who returns to her hometown and the man she never stopped loving.

      Happy reading!

      Mary-Theresa Hussey

      Senior Editor

      The Wish

      Diane Pershing

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

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      To Morgan Rose, an excellent daughter, and George and

      Ashley’s real mother. Thanks for letting me borrow them.

      Books by Diane Pershing

      Silhouette Romance

      Cassie’s Cowboy #1584

      The Wish #1657

      Silhouette Intimate Moments

      While She Was Sleeping #863

      The Tough Guy and the Toddler #928

      Silhouette Yours Truly

      First Date: Honeymoon

      Third Date’s the Charm

      DIANE PERSHING

      cannot remember a time when she didn’t have her nose buried in a book. As a child, she would cheat the bedtime curfew by snuggling under the covers with her teddy bear, a flashlight and a forbidden (read “grown-up”) novel. Her mother warned her that she would ruin her eyes, but so far, they still work. Diane has had many careers—singer, actress, film critic, disc jockey, TV writer, to name a few. Currently she divides her time between writing romances and doing voice-overs. (You can hear her as “Poison Ivy” on the Batman cartoon.) She lives in Los Angeles, and promises she is only slightly affected. Her two children, Morgan Rose and Ben, have completed college. Diane looks forward to writing and acting until she expires, or people stop hiring her, whichever comes first. She loves to hear from readers, so please write to her at P.O. Box 67424, Los Angeles, CA 90067.

      Dear Reader,

      As planned, I concluded Cassie’s Cowboy (released in April 2002) with the standard boy-gets-girl-and-kisses-her-a-lot, followed by those magic words The End. Which meant the book was done, right? Not quite.

      Without any input from my brain, my fingers continued to type away on an epilogue, and I realized that, although I had supplied the reader with the happy ending required in romance fiction, I wasn’t quite ready to let go of a key ingredient in that book—the outlandish magic eyeglasses that granted one wish to the wearer. It’s not every day you get a shot at making dreams come true, so why not keep the magic alive? And so Cassie handed off the glasses to a tall, skinny, brainy young woman who owned a bookstore.

      Her name is Gerri, and The Wish is her story. She’s a bit of a klutz and socially awkward; she’s also funny and good-hearted, and I’d be honored to call her my friend.

      Gerri has an unrequited crush on the town’s most popular playboy; needless to say, her wish involves making him notice and appreciate her.

      However, as the old saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for….”

      Enjoy!

      Diane Pershing

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Epilogue

      Chapter One

      Sobbing, Gerri ran out of the casino ballroom and into the night as though running for her life, the skirts of her gown flying in the dry evening