Elizabeth August - The Rancher's Hand-Picked Bride

But with her hair all sleep mussed and her curves in that old cotton robe that showed more leg than he guessed she was aware of, she looked sexier than any woman in the flimsiest negligee.

“You’re still here,” Gwen grumbled.

“I told you I’d see you through your recent loss.”

“Not necessary,” Gwen replied. But, suddenly light-headed, she slumped against the doorjamb.

Jess reached her and lifted her into his arms. Her robe opened more, and he realized she was wearing little or nothing under it. Arousal threatened again.

Gwen yanked her robe around her and rasped, “Put me down.”

He must be crazy to be attracted to her, Jess thought. He liked his women soft and sweet.

While tangling with Gwen…would be like tangling with a cougar!

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

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Silhouette Romance

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Silhouette Books

Jingle Bells, Wedding Bells 1994

“The Forever Gift”

36 Hours

Cinderella Story

lives in western North Carolina with her husband, Doug. They have three grown sons. She began writing romances soon after their youngest was born.

After a bout with cancer, she has learned to relax and enjoy life more. To this end, she has taken up golf. She says her game could use a great deal of improvement, but the beauty of the mountain courses takes her mind off of her bad shots.

Elizabeth has published under the pseudonym of Betsy Page for Harlequin.

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

Gwendolen Murphy, known to friends and foes alike as Gwen, grimaced distastefully as she turned onto Logan property. It had taken her nearly an hour to get here from Lubbock and the ranch house was another half a mile from the main road. The Texas heat was oppressive and halfway there her air-conditioning had decided not to work. Her short chestnut hair was damp with perspiration and beginning to curl into little ringlets, the back of her shirt where it rested against the seat was wet and her jeans were clinging with an uncomfortable heaviness. But the physical discomfort wasn’t what was gnawing at her.

Coming back to this small bit of Texas brought too many unhappy memories. The tiny frame house she and her mother had lived in was on property that abutted the Logan ranch. Just driving past the place where she’d spent her childhood had sent a cold chill down Gwen’s spine. Memories of her two stepfathers interspersed between her mother’s boyfriends, the smell of liquor in the house all of the time, her mother passed out on the couch, had assailed her. Her mother hadn’t been a bad woman, just a weak one. Something Gwen had vowed never to be.

And then there was Jess Logan. Since grade school, she and Jess had harbored a mutual dislike. It was, she knew, more her doing than his. Even at that young age, her reaction to him had been defensive. He’d stirred emotions within her that made her uneasy, and the distrust of men she’d learned from watching her mother had fed that uneasiness. As a result, she’d rejected his initial offer of friendship and from then on both had avoided each other whenever possible. Still, the uneasy effect he had on her had been constantly there, deep inside, a nagging something she’d worked hard to kill. When she’d moved to Lubbock following her mother’s death, she’d figured he was one thorn that was out of her life for good.

“I don’t know why I agreed to come,” she grumbled. But that wasn’t true. She’d come because Morning Hawk, Jess’s great-grandmother, had summoned her. There were those who thought the old woman was a few bales short of a full load. Others were intimidated by her. And they all had good reason. Morning Hawk could be enigmatic and cantankerous, but Gwen owed her. It was a debt that dated back to Gwen’s early teens…and was the only time, until today, that Gwen had ever had any contact with Morning Hawk.