Lisa Bingham - Twins Times Two!

“I think I’ve come up with a better solution,” Ross told her. “It’s a little unconventional, but…”

“You can’t take my children away from me. I won’t let you.”

“No. I’m not staking a claim on your children, but ideally the children should be allowed to grow up together.”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t try to take them away.”

“What I’m suggesting is more of a…merger.” He hesitated.

“A merger?” Cara’s brow furrowed.

“Of families. Yours and mine.”

She blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“I think we should get married.”

Dear Reader,

Welcome to another month of wonderful books from Harlequin American Romance. We’ve rounded up the best stories by your favorite authors for you to enjoy.

Bestselling author Judy Christenberry brings readers a new generation of her popular Randall family as she returns to her BRIDES FOR BROTHERS series. Sweet Elizabeth is about to marry another man, and rodeo star Toby Randall will let nothing stand in the way of him stopping her wedding. Don’t miss Randall Pride.

An injured firefighter and the woman he rescued in an earthquake learn about the healing power of love in Charlotte Maclay’s latest novel, Bold and Brave-Hearted. This is the first book of her exciting new miniseries MEN OF STATION SIX. In Twins Times Two! by Lisa Bingham, a single mom agrees to a marriage in name only to a handsome single dad in order to keep together their two sets of twins, who were separated at birth. And enemies are forced to become Mr. and Mrs. in Court-Appointed Marriage by Dianne Castell, part of Harlequin American Romance’s theme promotion THE WAY WE MET…AND MARRIED.

Enjoy this month’s offerings, and make sure to return each and every month to Harlequin American Romance!

Wishing you happy reading,

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance

Twins Times Two!

Lisa Bingham

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To all parents of “multiples.” Especially Will and Erin. Congratulations on the adoption of the triplets! How your family has grown!

Lisa Bingham is a resident of Tremonton, Utah—a rural farming community where the sounds of birds and the rustle of wheat can still be heard on hot summer evenings. She has written both historical and contemporary romances and loves spending time watching her characters grow. When she isn’t writing, she spends time with her husband on his three-hundred-acre farm and teaches English at a local middle school.

HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

602—NANNY JAKE

635—THE BUTLER & THE BACHELORETTE

651—THE DADDY HUNT

662—DANA AND THE CALENDAR MAN

692—THE PRINCESS & THE FROG

784—AND BABIES MAKE TEN

835—MAN BEHIND THE VOICE

887—TWINS TIMES TWO!

HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

540—WHEN NIGHT DRAWS NEAR

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

Epilogue

Cara Wells paused in the doorway to the kitchen and suppressed a grin. Mere feet away her twin girls were trying to scale a makeshift ladder made of their potty stool, a package of disposable training pants, and the brass handles of the drawers. Zoe, the smaller of the two, had evidently been drafted into being “top man” in the escapade, while below her, Heidi pushed at her sister’s rear end in an attempt to help her crawl onto the kitchen counter.

It wasn’t hard to figure out their intended goal. Only an hour ago the twins had helped Cara make a chocolate cake. Knowing the girls would be tempted to drag their fingers through the frosting, Cara had pushed it as far back into the corner as she could. But even keeping the sweet treat out of sight hadn’t been enough to dissuade them from trying to get another sampling.

“Get off the counter,” Cara said, softly enough to keep from startling the girls but with enough firmness to help them realize she meant business.

Immediately three-year-old Zoe twisted to look at Cara. The little girl’s cornflower-blue eyes radiated an angelic innocence that belied her proximity to the cake.

“C’mon Zoe. Get the cake,” Heidi urged, obviously not dissuaded by Cara’s appearance.

“Down,” Cara said again.

“We needa piece a cake,” Heidi announced.

“That’s for when we go on a picnic with Polly tomorrow afternoon.” Cara’s reminder had little effect so she added, “Tomorrow.”

“No!” Heidi insisted, still pushing Zoe’s rear and causing her sister to scrabble for a handhold on the slippery Formica. “We needa piece a cake now!”

Cara had to fight to keep from laughing. A part of her wanted to cave in and let them have the cake. In the six months since the state had given her legal guardianship of the children, it had been such a joy to watch them experiencing so many firsts. Each day was a conquest for them in some small way—from potty training to riding a tricycle. They took such joy from the simple things, and they’d taught Cara to look more closely at the simple beauties of the world around them. Cara liked the way they turned their faces toward the morning sun and ate ice cream with the exuberance of a gourmand.

But she also knew that it was important to set limits. Despite everything the children had been through, she couldn’t spoil them rotten. After all, there was Harvard to look forward to—or perhaps a seat on the Supreme Court. If either venue proved to be part of their futures, it wouldn’t do for Cara to ruin their manners in their first few months under her care.

“Can we p’ease hav’a piece?” Heidi asked, but the stamp of her foot belied the civility of her request.

“No. Now help Zoe get down.”

“But, we wanna—”

Cara held up a finger in warning, and Heidi stopped her tirade in midsentence knowing already that to argue would mean a stint of “time-out” in the bedroom.

Fortunately, before Heidi could decide it might be worth the risk to press her luck, Cara was distracted by the sharp bleep of the phone. A quick glance at the ID box informed her that Polly Townsend was calling from one of the business’s cell phones. Polly was a fellow partner of the Mom Squad—a mother-for-hire service that Cara and three other friends had organized less than three years earlier.

“No cake,” she said again firmly, then grasped the receiver. If Polly was calling this late, there was a snag in the schedule for the evening.

It never ceased to amaze her how busy the Mom Squad was kept—especially in the evenings. Originally each of the founding partners had been searching for a way to earn a little extra money. They had never dreamed that the enterprise would bloom into a full-scale business with more requests for service than any of them could handle on their own.