Christy Jeffries - A Proposal For The Officer

Affairs of the Heart

April 2021

Second Chance at Forever

May 2021

Breaking the Rules

June 2021

Daring to Win

July 2021

An Affair of Consequence

August 2021

One Magical Night

CHRISTY JEFFRIESgraduated from the University of California, Irvine and received her Juris Doctor from California Western School of Law. But drafting court documents and working in law enforcement was merely an apprenticeship for her current career in the relentless field of motherhood and romance writing. She lives in Southern California with her patient husband, two energetic sons, and one sassy grandmother. Follow her on Facebook or visit her website at www.christyjeffries.com

Also by Christy Jeffries

A Family Under the StarsThe Makeover PrescriptionThe Matchmaking TwinsFrom Dare to Due DateWaking Up WedA Marine for His Mom

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

A Proposal for the Officer

Christy Jeffries

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07741-5

A PROPOSAL FOR THE OFFICER

A Proposal for the Officer © 2018 Christy Jeffries

Published in Great Britain 2021

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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Cover

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Table of Contents

Back Cover Text

Dedication

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

Epilogue

About the Publisher

She was used to flying solo...

But that was before Kaleb came on board!

Temporarily grounded combat pilot Molly Markham didn’t come to Sugar Falls to get serious about a man she barely knows! But when Kaleb Chatterson becomes her unexpected hero, she agrees to date the billionaire software developer to keep their secret from getting out. Except the sexy brainiac—and her pretend boyfriend—is fast turning into the man of her dreams...

To Brooklyn Bender, one of my best friends and a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Boston, Top Gun , Hockey, New Kids On The Block, and Type 1 diabetes. Thank you for answering my endless questions. You’re never stingy when it comes to giving me feedback, constructive or otherwise. IAJS.

Chapter One

Leaning against a stack of cases of bottled water, Captain Molly Markham put a hand to her head as nausea overwhelmed her. Closing her eyes for a second, she debated whether or not she was at risk of passing out right there in the middle of Duncan’s Market. She grabbed a liter of water off the shelf, unscrewed the cap and took a big swig. Her mouth was dry and suddenly her body felt weighted down.

Oh, no. It was happening again.

She’d sworn to the Bureau of Personnel reviewing her medical board that she could keep these episodes under control, but apparently they’d been right to doubt her.

Molly heaved herself off the tower of water and put one foot in front of the other, needing to get as far away from the curious glances of the shoppers who were sure to know her sister, Maxine, and would be only too eager to ask Maxine about her little sister’s “incident” out in public.

She needed space and she needed to think. Maybe somewhere to lie down, too. Like her rental car. She grabbed another bottle and made it to the exit before she realized she’d left her purse back in the grocery basket. Damn. She also hadn’t paid for the water.

When she did a one-eighty, her hip banged into a giant bag of ice. Or was it a bag of limes? A man dropped both as he reached out a hand to steady her.

That was gonna leave a bruise. The ice, not the guy’s hand. His grip was actually gentle and balanced her. His black framed glasses made him look smart, serious. Maybe he was a doctor. Or a reporter.

He kind of had a Clark Kent vibe going for him. At least from the neck up. She took in his blue hooded sweatshirt and checkered canvas sneakers. Maybe The Daily Planet had sent him to do an undercover exposé of a nearby skate park.

“Are you okay?” He enunciated like a record player on a low speed. Or was it her hearing that was set to slow motion? It felt like someone had replaced her brain with hot, heavy sand. She licked her lips.

“Of course I’m okay. At least, I think I am.” Molly lowered her own voice when she noticed the cashier staring in their direction. “By any chance, do you know how many carbs are in a fruit smoothie?”

His straight white teeth were visible beneath his smirk. “Probably a lot more than the ones in that peach muffin you gobbled down back by the juice bar thirty minutes ago.”

“Oh, crap.” It was good thing he was holding on to her arm because trying to mentally calculate how much sugar she’d recently ingested made her want to sink to her knees. “The teenager behind the counter said they were organic.”

“You mean the kid who also told you the baked goods on display were half price since they’d been sitting out since this morning and it was now late afternoon?”