Karen Toller Whittenburg - The C.e.o.'S Unplanned Proposal

What was he doing here? And what would she say when he demanded to know why a waitress was climbing into his Rolls-Royce?

“Ms. Canton? I’m Adam Braddock,” he said, extending his hand over his laptop computer.

“Hello,” she said, realizing he hadn’t recognized her. Yet.

A phone rang—conveniently positioned in a door console—and Adam picked it up. Katie could feel the energy in his conversation. There was frustration beneath his incredibly perfect surface. She’d thought him attractive in the restaurant, but here in his natural habitat, he was quite extraordinarily handsome. Katie leaned back against the supple leather seat and watched him in profile. What would it be like, she wondered, to have Adam Braddock focus that same intensity on her?

When he realized she was the waitress he’d met at the Torrid Tomato restaurant, and not the fancy events coordinator he thought he’d hired, she just might find out.

Dear Reader,

Harlequin American Romance has rounded up the best romantic reading to help you celebrate Valentine’s Day. Start off with the final installment in the MAITLAND MATERNITY: TRIPLETS, QUADS & QUINTS series. The McCallum Quintuplets is a special three-in-one volume featuring New York Times bestselling author Kasey Michaels, Mindy Neff and Mary Anne Wilson.

BILLION-DOLLAR BRADDOCKS, Karen Toller Whittenburg’s new family-connected miniseries, premiers this month with The C. E. O.’s Unplanned Proposal. In this Cinderella story, a small-town waitress is swept into the Braddock world of wealth and power and puts eldest brother Adam Braddock’s bachelor status to the test. Next, in Bonnie Gardner’s Sgt. Billy’s Bride, an air force controller is in desperate need of a fiancée to appease his beloved, ailing mother, so he asks a beautiful stranger to become his wife. Can love bloom and turn their pretend engagement into wedded bliss? Finally, we welcome another new author to the Harlequin American family. Sharon Swan makes her irresistible debut with Cowboys and Cradles.

Enjoy this month’s offerings, and be sure to return next month when Harlequin American Romance launches a new cross-line continuity, THE CARRADIGNES: AMERICAN ROYALTY, with The Improperly Pregnant Princess by Jacqueline Diamond.

Wishing you happy reading,

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance

The C.E.O.’s Unplanned Proposal

Karen Toller Whittenburg

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To Paula and Genell, my companions on the journey.

And to Cathy Gillen Thacker, for encouragement above and beyond. Thanks, Cathy!

Karen Toller Whittenburg is a native Oklahoman who fell in love with books the moment she learned to read and has been addicted to the written word ever since. She wrote stories as a child, but it wasn’t until she discovered romance fiction that she felt compelled to write, fascinated by the chance to explore the positive power of love in people’s lives. She grew up in Sand Springs (an historic town on the Arkansas River), attended Oklahoma State University and now lives in Tulsa with her husband, a professional photographer.

HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

197—SUMMER CHARADE

249—MATCHED SET

294—PEPPERMINT KISSES

356—HAPPY MEDIUM

375—DAY DREAMER

400—A PERFECT PAIR

424—FOR THE FUN OF IT

475—BACHELOR FATHER

528—WEDDING OF HER DREAMS

552—THE PAUPER AND THE PRINCESS

572—NANNY ANGEL

621—MILLION-DOLLAR BRIDE*

630—THE FIFTY-CENT GROOM*

648—TWO-PENNY WEDDING*

698—PLEASE SAY “I DO”

708—THE SANTA SUIT

727—A BACHELOR FALLS

745—IF WISHES WERE…WEDDINGS

772—HOW TO CATCH A COWBOY

794—BABY BY MIDNIGHT?

822—LAST-MINUTE MARRIAGE

877—HIS SHOTGUN PROPOSAL

910—THE C. E. O.’S UNPLANNED PROPOSAL†

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Archer Braddock beat the rain to the top of the steps of Number 37 Lancashire and raised his cane to rap smartly on the front door. He liked the sound of wood on wood, found the cheerful chiming of a doorbell both annoying and intrusive, but a knock…ah, a knock was resonant discourse, an “I-have-business-within” announcement. Hadn’t he always told Janey he could tell as much about a man by his knock on the door as by his handshake? If she were here now, she’d remind him that using a cane instead of his knuckles was cheating somewhat on that theory, but arthritis had long since taken the strength from his hands, and death had stolen away his Janey. Still, she was the reason he was outside this particular door on this particular day, waiting to be admitted. “Ah, Janey, Janey,” he murmured softly. “Happy Anniversary, my dear.”

The door swung open just as the cold, January rain started in earnest and without waiting for a formal invitation, he stepped into the sheltered entryway. “Archer Braddock,” he announced himself to the crisp, somber-faced butler. “I have a two o’clock appointment with Mrs. Fairchild.”

“Yes, sir. We’ve been expecting you.” The butler closed the door and Archer doffed his hat, sending a fine splatter of raindrops across the marbled tile. “Did you have an umbrella, sir?” the man asked as he expertly assisted in the removal of Archer’s topcoat and gloves.

“No. No, I’m afraid not.” There was one in the car, of course. His own man, Abbott, would never have let him leave the house without being properly equipped for every conceivable shift in the weather—it was a matter of pride among butlers, it seemed—but Archer had forgotten the umbrella when he’d dismissed the car. He hadn’t wanted anyone, including his completely trustworthy driver, to know where his appointment was today or with whom.

“Your scarf, sir?” The butler stood ready to accept the gray cashmere muffler, and Archer allowed his hand to linger a moment in the soft folds before he pulled it from around his neck. It was a gift from Janey one long-ago winter and a present reminder that she was never far from his side…if only in warm memory. And today, more than ever, Archer needed to feel her near.

The butler carefully folded the scarf and set it beside Archer’s hat on a marble top credenza. “Mrs. Fairchild is in the study,” he said. “If you’ll follow me, please.”

Archer settled his balance over the cane and set off after the butler. Not so many years ago, he’d largely have ignored his surroundings, taken for granted the beauty of luxury, and already been focused on the meeting ahead. But seventy-eight summers had taught him life was in a big enough rush without him adding to it and so he walked slower now, by choice as much as necessity. He’d never been to Ilsa’s home before, never had occasion or reason to be there until now and he was—as silly as it seemed—a little nervous. But the quiet charm of her home put some of his more niggling doubts to rest. Touches of elegance such as an Aubusson rug in the foyer, a Picasso on the wall leading upstairs, vases of fresh-cut flowers on mahogany tables in the open foyer were interspersed with simple indications—an old woven basket holding garden shears and a pair of women’s flowery cotton gloves, a pair of half-glasses sitting atop an upended book—that the woman who lived in this house was not overly concerned with appearances.