Millie Criswell: The Wedding Planner

Adam Morgan was every woman’s ultimate dream…every wedding planner’s financial fantasy!

Meredith reached into her portfolio and pulled out an assortment of wedding invitation samples and cake photos, spreading them out on the leather desktop. “These are just samples, of course. I have others, if none meet your needs.”

What would meet Adam’s needs, or rather who, was seated right in front of him. Meredith Baxter, with her bow-shaped, kissable mouth and figure that conjured up erotic thoughts, was an incredibly sexy woman.

“You’re frowning, Mr. Morgan. Is something the matter?”

Pushing the material back to her, he shook his head. “Just use your own judgment, Miss Baxter. The only requirement I have is that the date be set and the invitations printed immediately.”

“But you don’t have a bride—”

“No buts about it, Miss Baxter. Plan the wedding…as if it were your own.”

“Millie Criswell rules when it comes to humor and passion. Don’t miss The Wedding Planner!”

—Bestselling Silhouette Desire author

Leanne Banks

Dear Reader,

Welcome to another month of wonderful books from Harlequin American Romance! We’ve rounded up the best stories by your favorite authors, with the hope that you will enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.

Kick-start a relaxing weekend with the continuation of our fabulous miniseries, THE DADDY CLUB. The hero of Mindy Neff’s A Pregnancy and a Proposal is one romantic daddy who knows how to sweep a woman off her feet!

Beloved historical author Millie Criswell makes her contemporary romance debut with The Wedding Planner. We are thrilled to bring you this compelling story of a wealthy bachelor out to find himself a bride…with a little help from the wedding consultant who wishes she were his only choice!

We’ve also got the best surprises and secrets. Bailey Dixon has a double surprise for Michael Wade in Tina Leonard’s delightful new Western, Cowboy Be Mine. And in Bonnie K. Winn’s The Mommy Makeover, a dedicated career woman is suddenly longing for marriage—what is her handsome groom’s secret?

With best wishes for happy reading from Harlequin American Romance…

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

The Wedding Planner

Millie Criswell

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Millie Criswell is a national bestselling author and winner of the Romantic Times Magazine Career Achievement Award and the Reviewer’s Choice Award. She’s published more than a dozen historical romance novels, but is making her contemporary category romance debut with Harlequin American Romance. Millie lives in Virginia with her husband and her neurotic but loving Boston terrier. Her daughter is a practicing attorney in Florida and her son attends law school at West Virginia University.

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

Chapter Eighteen

Adam Morgan was certifiable, totally irrational and just plain-old nuts.

Money couldn’t buy happiness. Well, it obviously couldn’t buy sanity, either. For all his money, good looks and breeding, the man seated across the round mahogany table from Meredith, looking so earnest in his two-thousand-dollar Armani suit and three-hundred-dollar white shirt, while he tossed sunflower seed remains all over her new carpet, was a few slices short of a two-dollar loaf of white bread.

She continued to stare at him in disbelief, wondering if she’d heard him correctly. When he repeated himself, there was no doubt in her mind that a large vacuum existed between those well-shaped ears.

“I need a wife, Miss Baxter. I’d like you to find me one as soon as possible. I’m on a tight deadline, and I’m willing to pay handsomely for your effort.” He cracked another sunflower seed between his flashing white, oh-so-very-straight teeth. It was obvious he flossed regularly. Another reason to dislike him.

Gazing at the checkbook now being waved in her direction, her toe started tapping against the mauve carpeting. When nervous, some people chewed their nails, toyed with the ends of their hair or gnawed the inside of their cheek. Meredith tapped. In fact, she was tapping so fast at the moment she could probably qualify for a job at Radio City dancing with the Rockettes. Her right knee knocked against the underbelly of the table, and she pressed it with her palm to stop the motion.

She was an excellent wedding planner and took pride in making her customers’ special day the most perfect it could be. But she wasn’t a magician or a marriage broker.

Adam Morgan didn’t need a wife. He needed a shrink. And with his millions, he could afford the best psychiatrist Morgantown had to offer.

“Perhaps you don’t understand what it is I do, Mr. Morgan. I’m a wedding consultant, not a matchmaker. Best Laid Plans will be happy to arrange for a church, rent a banquet hall for the reception, take care of the flowers, music and catering. But we don’t enter into bridal selection—unless, of course, you’re talking about bridal gowns. Those we can find.”

Flicking an imaginary speck of dust off his expertly tailored navy-blue jacket, Adam Morgan drummed manicured fingers on the table. Everything about the man was manicured, from his perfectly coifed dark, wavy hair, to his highly polished cordovan wing tips. Meredith was pretty certain that if she were to take a peek at his boxers, there would be a crease in the silk material. He was definitely the silk-boxer type.

“Is there a problem with my attire, Miss Baxter? You keep staring at my lap.” Adam’s brow lifted, as if in challenge, though his expression remained bland. He suppressed the urge to laugh at the woman’s obvious embarrassment. With her red hair and milky complexion, he suspected the lovely Miss Baxter couldn’t hide much of what she was thinking. And what she was apparently thinking at the moment was quite intriguing. If his situation wasn’t quite so dire, he’d be tempted to investigate further.

“Ah, no. There’s no problem.” Hoping her face wasn’t the color of a cooked lobster—she hated her fair complexion—Meredith entwined her fingers and set them before her, trying to look businesslike, and doing her damnedest to keep her disappointment from showing.

When Morgan had strolled into her store thirty minutes before, she had recognized him immediately. His photo was constantly in the newspaper, either in the business pages or society section. When he’d announced that he wanted her to plan his wedding—a rather extravagant affair for a thousand people—she’d nearly passed out. The dollar signs flashing behind her eyelids had rendered her dizzy. But when he’d added the crazy stipulation about the bride…Well, she knew he was having a good laugh at her expense. Because if it wasn’t a joke, than it meant that Adam Morgan, heir to the Morgan Coal Mining and Manufacturing fortune, was a deranged lunatic. The pile of seeds on her carpet was growing, making that seem a likely possibility.