Melissa Senate - Rust Creek Falls Cinderella

IF THE SHOE FITS...

From her post in the kitchen at Maverick Manor, chef Lily Hunt feels like anything but a princess. But when lanky rancher Xander Crawford lopes into the restaurant, Lily suddenly finds herself wishing she had a magic wand. The wealthy cowboy loves her cooking but sees her as just a friend, until a makeover makes him appreciate her womanly side. Lily, however, wants a prince who loves her inside and out...

MELISSA SENATEhas written many novels for Mills & Boon and other publishers, including her debut, See Jane Date , which was made into a TV movie. She also wrote seven books for Mills & Boon’s True Love line under the pen name Meg Maxwell. Her novels have been published in over twenty-five countries. Melissa lives on the coast of Maine with her teenage son; their rescue shepherd mix, Flash; and a lap cat named Cleo. For more informa-tion, please visit her website, melissasenate.com

Also by Melissa Senate

The Baby Switch!Detective Barelli’s Legendary TripletsWyoming Christmas Surprise

A Cowboy in the KitchenThe Detective’s 8 lb, 10 oz Surprise TheCowboy’s Big Family TreeThe Cook’s Secret IngredientCharm School for CowboysSanta’s Seven-Day Baby Tutorial

Mummy and the Maverick

The Maverick’s Baby-in-Waiting

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Rust Creek Falls Cinderella

Melissa Senate

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09138-1

RUST CREEK FALLS CINDERELLA

© 2019 Harlequin Books S.A.

Published in Great Britain 2019

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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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Dedicated to

Marcia Book Adirim and Susan Litman.

Thank you for inviting me to Rust Creek Falls,

one of my favorite places to visit.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

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

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Any minute now, Lily Hunt’s first blind date ever—one of the six gorgeous Crawford brothers—was going to walk through the door of the Maverick Manor hotel. Lily waited in a club chair in the lobby’s bar area by a massive vase of wildflowers, her gaze going from the window to the door every five seconds. She crossed and uncrossed her legs. Folded and unfolded her hands. Slouched and sat up straight, then slouched again. Tried for a pleasant smile.

She also tried to get the better of her nerves, but she still worried that her date would take one look at her, pretend something suddenly came up, like a family emergency or a bad cough, and hightail it out of there.

Oh, stop it , she ordered herself. Even though she really did fear he might do exactly that. Lily, part-time cook, part-time student, twenty-three-year-old tomboy who lived in jeans and sneakers and had more hoodies than most teenage boys, was not the kind of woman who made a man think, Ooh, I want to meet her. That was more her good friend Sarah, who was gorgeous and so nice Lily didn’t think it was fair. A month ago, Sarah had been the single mother of an adorable baby girl until she’d found herself falling for one of the Crawfords, ranchers from Texas who’d moved to Rust Creek Falls in July. Now she and Logan were married . And happily raising little Sophia together.

The Crawford brother Lily was meeting tonight? Knox. Tall, dark and dreamy like his brothers. She’d met some of the Crawford clan last month when they’d come to the Maverick Manor for dinner. Sarah had introduced Lily, and one brother was so drop-dead gorgeous she couldn’t speak, which likely also contributed to why he hadn’t glanced twice at her.

Confidence, girl! she pep-talked herself. Sarah had insisted on it earlier when she’d phoned to tell Lily to have a wonderful time and to call her after the date with every detail. And Vivienne Dalton, a wedding planner who’d been the one to fix up Lily with Knox, had also called to make sure she hadn’t chickened out. (Yes, Lily had taken some serious convincing to accept the date in the first place.) Lily had assured Viv she was getting dressed and would be right on time at 7:00 p.m., classic date hour at the Maverick Manor. Viv had said, Honey, I will give you only one piece of advice . Lily had held her breath, waiting. Viv was gorgeous herself and married to Cole Dalton and ran her own successful business—a walking example of making things happen.

Be yourself , Viv had said.

That old yarn? Being herself hadn’t exactly gotten Lily very far. Granted, she had a great job as a cook at the Maverick Manor, the fanciest hotel in town. And people raved about her food, which had done more for her confidence than any appreciative glance from a guy ever could. Lily dreamed about having her own place—a small restaurant or a catering shop. Someday.