Patricia Johns - Her Triplets' Mistletoe Dad

Can a marriage of convenience…

…really last a lifetime?

Single mom Gabby Rogers needs help raising her newborn triplets, so when her best friend, Seth, proposes a marriage of convenience, she cautiously agrees—on the condition it doesn’t ruin their friendship. As far as the town of Eagle’s Rest knows, Gabby and Seth are the perfect couple, but the imaginary romance soon feels surprisingly real. With the triplets’ first Christmas drawing closer, will Gabby risk showing Seth how she truly feels?

PATRICIA JOHNSwrites from Alberta, Canada. She has her Hon. BA in English literature and currently writes for Mills & Boon and Love Inspired lines. You can find her at patriciajohnsromance.com.

Also By Patricia Johns

Home to Eagle’s Rest

Her Lawman Protector

Falling for the Cowboy Dad

The Lawman’s Baby

A Baxter’s Redemption

The Runaway Bride

A Boy’s Christmas Wish

Montana Twins

Her Cowboy’s Twin Blessings

Her Twins’ Cowboy Dad

A Rancher to Remember

Comfort Creek Lawmen

Deputy Daddy

The Lawman’s Runaway Bride

The Deputy’s Unexpected Family

His Unexpected Family

The Rancher’s City Girl

A Firefighter’s Promise

The Lawman’s Surprise Family

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Her Triplets’ Mistletoe Dad

Patricia Johns

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90088-5

HER TRIPLETS’ MISTLETOE DAD

© 2019 Patricia Johns

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.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Text to speech

“What do we tell people?” Gabby asked.

What would they tell people? Everyone had a proposal story, and people loved to hear it. But their story wasn’t exactly romantic, and that wasn’t going to go over well, was it?

“Well, uh—” Seth swallowed. “Why don’t we move you into my place first, and then we can take some time to hammer out the details.”

“Something more palatable than we got married for health insurance?” she asked with a teasing smile. There she was—the old Gabby.

“Yeah, pretty much,” he agreed, and they exchanged mildly amused smiles. “We always did get ourselves into messes, didn’t we?”

And every single time, he’d been furious with her for dragging him along into trouble. A sparkle came into Gabby’s eyes, and he was gratified to see it.

“So we just…keep the secret for a bit?” she clarified.

“You okay with that?” he asked. “I mean, people will ask questions once you’ve moved in, but by then, I’m sure we’ll have something sorted out between us. United front, right?”

“United front.”

Dear Reader,

This is the last story in my Home to Eagle’s Rest miniseries, and I’ll be sad to leave this mountain town behind. If you haven’t read the other books in the series, I hope you’ll pick them up.

If you’d like to connect with me, you can find me on Facebook, Twitter and my website, patriciajohnsromance.com. I love meeting my readers, and you’ll find a few giveaways from time to time, too!

A very merry Christmas from my home to yours!

Patricia Johns

To my husband, my very own happily-ever-after.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Introduction

Dear Reader

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

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

GABBY ROGERS AND SETH STRAIGHT had driven out to Benton, Colorado, for the privacy—because if they’d done this in Eagle’s Rest, their secret would be impossible to keep. Gabby pulled her honey-blond hair away from her face, then rubbed her hands over her arms. Her cream knit dress wasn’t warm enough in the chill of the courthouse. She shivered. The old building was decorated for the holidays—Christmas was only two weeks off—but there were drafts coming from windows, and Gabby found herself wishing she’d left her thick winter coat on. Except that didn’t seem quite appropriate for her wedding—even this wedding. In all her fantasies, her wedding day had never been like this—so sterile and logical. She’d been positive that when she did marry, it would be for love—what other reason made it worth it? But this was smart; they’d agreed on that much.

Times were tough right now. She was a mother to triplet newborns, and that had changed her life in every possible way. The father wasn’t in the picture. Just about the time she discovered she was pregnant, he’d revealed that he was already married. She’d been stunned, heartbroken. She’d been thinking he might be the one, only to find out he’d been lying from the start. So though she’d delivered her babies with his financial assistance, their relationship was over. Now she was on her own, back in her hometown of Eagle’s Rest, Colorado, with a broken heart and trying to figure out where her ex’s lies had started and ended. Recovering after childbirth and now realizing she had no way to afford her baby boys’ expensive formula… This idea of marrying her best friend had made so much sense a few days ago, when she and Seth Straight were making their plans. They were getting married for mutual benefits, and love didn’t have to factor into their arrangement. Love never steered her right, anyway, and Seth was the best man she knew. This was sensible…wasn’t it?