Carmen Green - Valentine's Dream

Valentine’s Day can be a time of wonderful surprises, even for those who aren’t looking for love. Delight in these charming classic stories of unexpected romance, passion and desire.

Love Changes Everything by Sandra Kitt

Carter Morrison is a changed man. Grace Haley never imagined that her late husband’s best friend would turn into the improved man she now sees. And when he asks her for a little Valentine’s Day advice, she’ll discover a longing deep in her heart.…

Sweet Sensation by Carmen Green

Nessie Claiborne only wants to make her firm’s annual Valentine’s Day charity extravaganza a success. But the moment she tries to work with handsome, sensible executive Craig DuPont, she finds her impractical ideas and his hidden longings are producing a love affair neither expected.

Made in Heaven by Felicia Mason

Val Sanders doesn’t believe in romance or love at first sight. Then she receives a gift certificate for a dating service and meets Eric Fitzgerald, the sexy bachelor owner. Has Eros loosed an arrow…one headed straight for Val’s heart?

Valentine’s Dream

Sandra Kitt

Carmen Green

Felicia Mason

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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CONTENTS

LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING Love Changes Everything Sandra Kitt

SWEET SENSATION

MADE IN HEAVEN

Love Changes Everything

Sandra Kitt

To my late father, Archie Benjamin Kitt,

who gave me my first box of Valentine candy,

taught me to dance as I stood on his feet,

and nicknamed me Lady.

Thanks and gratitude to my agent, Lisa Erbach Vance,

for her amazing support and guidance.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Prologue

“We’re taking off, bro.”

Carter Morrison, who’d been quietly observing the poised woman in conversation on the other side of the room, turned at the announcement to find two men and a woman waiting to say goodbye. He’d met them before, years earlier, and knew them by name. They were colleagues of his best friend, Benson Haley.

“Gotta get back to work,” the second man said apologetically.

“Hey, glad you could make it. Sorry we had to meet up again under these circumstances,” Carter said, shaking the hands offered to him by the two men.

“This is rough, but Grace seems to be holding up,” the first man observed.

“She’ll be fine,” Carter said confidently.

“Benson was a great guy,” the second man added. “I didn’t know what to say. Wish her well. You know.”

“I still can’t believe he’s gone,” said the woman, shaking her head in disbelief. “One minute he’s making all kinds of plans for the mayor this fall, and then he just—”

“It’s a tough thing to say, but the mayor is going to fill Benson’s spot and move right on,” Carter cut in quietly, not wanting to hear again the blunt way in which his friend’s sudden death was being described.

Benson Haley had dropped dead at the feet of three reporters while making a statement on behalf of his boss, the mayor.

“I know you’re right, my man, but it’s not going to be so easy for Grace. She’s got two young kids, a house, a mother-in-law. Damn,” the first man muttered and then looked shame-faced at his blasphemy. “They hadn’t been married all that long, right?”

“Five years,” Carter replied.

“Well, at least they had that. Hardly anyone stays together that long anymore,” the woman commented. She then caught the gaze of one of her companions, who silently signaled her not to go there.

Carter didn’t have to watch the exchange to know where the remark was coming from. The innuendo was not unreasonable, but it was off base. He’d heard some of the rumors that the deceased had stepped out once or twice on his wife but didn’t know if they were true or not. Nonetheless, the thought caused Carter to shift his attention and covertly scan the room. He spotted the object of their discussion, Benson’s widow, Grace, standing near an occasional table that was top heavy with an extravagant floral arrangement from the mayor himself. Appearing serene, if a bit tired, she was listening and smiling benignly at the emotional testimony of her late husband’s assistant.

“Benson said something recently about you moving back to New York from...”

“Chicago,” Carter responded, bringing his gaze around to the trio, watching as they searched for and found the tickets to retrieve their coats on their way out of the midtown club. “Not just yet. I’m doing some important work there, for the moment.”

The first man chortled. “Chicago? Too damn cold,” he said, once again catching his irreverence too late.

“Maybe he has family there,” the woman suggested to her companion.

“I don’t,” Carter corrected. “I just can’t make a move right now.”

“Give me a call when you come back,” said the woman, smiling at Carter coyly. “Let’s get together.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” one of the men added.

Carter watched until all three had left the salon before turning to look for Grace once more, Benson’s former coworkers immediately forgotten.

She was shaking the hand of a relative from Benson’s side of the family and kissing another, who was also preparing to leave. Then a couple, neighbors from the Westchester enclave where Grace and Benson lived, approached, waiting for Grace’s attention. Carter silently monitored the interaction and her response. While Grace appeared sad and pensive—even numb with grief, which was perfectly understandable—it was hard for him to tell how she was really doing under the strain of the past week.

He tried to imagine what it must have been like getting the call that notified Grace of her husband’s collapse while at work and then rushing to the hospital an hour later, only to be told he was already gone. Carter wondered how she’d felt learning that Benson had died almost instantly, felled by an aneurysm, even before the call to her had been placed. Afterward, she would have had the terrible task of calling her mother-in-law, Marjorie, to tell her that her only child, her beloved, handsome and brilliant son, was dead. And there was Grace herself. How was she doing?

Carter looked at the time and checked out the remaining guests. He saw Grace’s father, Ward Mathison, chatting and laughing with several former classmates of both Benson and Grace from NYU, where they’d gotten their undergraduate degrees, and where they’d met. Ward caught his gaze and nodded briefly, continuing with his conversation. Carter paced along the side of the room, thinking that he should leave as well. He guessed that after a week of ceremony, testimony, tears and the prevailing shock that hovered over everyone, Grace probably just wanted to be alone.

Grace’s simple two-piece black ensemble made her look elegant and slender, and offset her tan complexion. Her only makeup, lipstick, had worn off during the past few hours. Her hair, which was as long as when he’d first met her five years earlier, was brushed back from her face and rolled into a neat twisted knot at the back of her head. She wore no other jewelry besides her engagement and wedding rings, and both sparkled on her left hand, an ever-present reminder. She had been appropriately named, Carter thought, as she gracefully handled everyone else’s surprise, grief and memories. What would she do with her own?