Catherine Mann - Millionaire in Command / The Bride Hunter

If the little girl was his, he would move forward and take responsibility. Landises didn’t shirk their responsibilities. But for the child’s safety as well, he needed to investigate this claim and this woman further.

“I can’t just take home a child because you say –”

She laughed, her breath gusting a straggled strand of blonde hair. “No, you completely misunderstand. I don’t want you to take her. I want to be her mother. I want to adopt her, if at all possible.”

He should be relieved…but something was still off. His instincts from battling overseas bellowed loud and clear that there were more landmines ahead. “Then why are you here?”

“I’m here to keep her out of the foster care system,” she said, her words tumbling together as she blurted, “I’m here to ask you to marry me.”

“It’s not that simple. Other people are involved.”

“You can’t make me come back to you, Connor.”

“Oh, yes I can, sweetheart…Money buys a lot of what passes for justice in this country. I’ve got money – lots of it. You don’t. I can afford topnotch legal talent. You can’t.”

“I hate you. I’ll hate you forever.”

“But you’re a survivor, so that won’t stop you from coming home with me and living with me as my wife now that you see how it’s to your advantage, now will it?” He pushed back his stetson. “Because if you do that, sweetheart – and only if you do that – I’ll keep all your dirty little secrets.”

Millionaire in Command by Catherine Mann

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The Bride Hunter by Ann Major

Mini-series – Irresistible

Tall, Dark…Westmoreland! by Brenda Jackson

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The Moretti Seduction by Katherine Garbera

The Prodigal Prince’s Seduction by Olivia Gates

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The Heir’s Scandalous Affair by Jennifer Lewis

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Dear Reader,

I’m thrilled to bring you the next in my THE LANDIS BROTHERS series, Millionaire in Command.

Writing about a military man is a special treat for me since I’m married to my very own air force hero. We have certainly commemorated many homecomings over the years. Although I have to say my husband has never experienced quite the shock that’s in store for Kyle Landis when he returns from overseas to find a baby girl waiting for him. While Kyle quickly takes command of the situation to claim his daughter, he has his work cut out for him when it comes to conquering the heart of Phoebe Slater.

Thanks again for checking out the latest Landis brother. Happy reading!

Cheers,

Catherine Mann

www.CatherineMann.com

RITA® Award winner Catherine Mannresides on a sunny Florida beach with her military flyboy husband and their four children. Although after nine moves in twenty years, she hasn’t given away her winter gear! With over a million books in print in fifteen countries, she has also celebrated five RITA® Award finals, three Maggie Award of Excellence finals and a Booksellers’ Best win. A former theatre school director and university teacher, she graduated with a master’s degree in theatre from UNC-Greensboro and a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the College of Charleston. Catherine enjoys hearing from readers and chatting on her message board – thanks to the wonders of the wireless internet that allows her to cyber-network with her lap-top by the water! To learn more about her work, visit her website, www.CatherineMann.com, or reach her by snail mail at PO Box 6065, Navarre, FL 32566, USA.

All my love to my flyboy husband, Rob.

Even after many years and four children,

you still make my heart flutter!

Phoebe Slater brought a baby to the millionaire military hero’s seaside welcome-home gala.

Undoubtedly most of the guests plucking canapés and champagne from silver trays at this high-profile affair could afford nannies. Of course the Hilton Head Island wealthy could also afford tailored tuxedos and sequined high-end dresses as they mingled the evening away in the country club gardens by the shore. Her basic little black dress had been bought at a consignment store to wear to the few mandatory cocktail parties related to her position as a history professor at the University of South Carolina.

Of course she usually didn’t accessorize with baby drool dotting her shoulder.

Phoebe jostled the fractious five-month-old infant on her hip, smoothing down the pink smocked dress. “Hang on, sweetie. Just a few more minutes and I can feed you before bedtime.”

As waves crashed in the distance, a live band played oldies rock, enticing guests to the dance floor with a Billy Joel classic. Even South Carolina’s governor was dancing under the silver silk canopy with his wife. Darn near gawking, Phoebe stumbled on the edge of the flagstone walkway.

Definitely this was a party for the movers and shakers in the political world—as well as on the polished wood dance floor planked over the sandy lawn. She untangled her low heel from between two decorative rocks. She wasn’t here to socialize tonight. She’d come to find little Nina’s father.

If only she had a better idea of what he looked like.

Her longtime friend and old sorority sister—Nina’s biological mother—had told Phoebe that Kyle Landis was the baby’s daddy a couple of months ago when she’d asked for “just a little help” with Nina while she went on an audition for a dinner-theater production in Florida. Bianca had been so excited to get her prebaby body back, insisting this was her chance to provide a better life for her daughter.

Who could have known Bianca wouldn’t return?

Phoebe hugged Nina closer, all the more determined to make sure this precious baby had a stable life. Which meant finding Kyle Landis, a man she’d never met in the flesh. She’d hoped to ID him by his Air Force uniform, but the place was packed with tall, dark-haired guys decked out in formal military gear. Medals gleamed in the moonlight.

Cupping the back of Nina’s bonnet-covered head as the little one finally dozed off, Phoebe scanned the sea of faces, their profiles shadowy with only the illumination of moon, stars and pewter tiki torches. She only had an older photo to go by, a picture tucked deep in the bottom of the flowered diaper bag slung over her clean shoulder. No way was she going to disturb Nina by looking, not now that the baby was nearly out for the count.