Elizabeth Harbison - How To Get Your Man

In fact, as she spent an hour getting ready, she found herself thinking more about concocting a reason to stop at Dalton’s on her way out—once she was all dressed up. Which was how she finally settled on a red sleeveless cocktail dress that fit like a dream….

“You are smoking in that dress….” Dalton said. “This is your chance, right…? With Mark.”

“Yes. That is what I was thinking,” Bonnie said.

“Sweetheart, if you’re dressed like that…” He gave a shake of his head. “This is your big night.”

If she’d imagined, even for a moment, that Dalton wanted her for himself, this clinched it. He didn’t. “You think so? For me and Mark?”

Three heartbeats passed between them….

Dear Reader,

We’re deep into spring, and the season and romance always seem synonymous to me. So why not let your reading reflect that? Start with Sherryl Woods’s next book in THE ROSE COTTAGE SISTERS miniseries, The Laws of Attraction. This time it’s Ashley’s turn to find love at the cottage—which the hotshot attorney promptly does, with a man who appears totally different from the cutthroat lawyers she usually associates with. But you know what they say about appearances….

Karen Rose Smith’s Cabin Fever is the next book in our MONTANA MAVERICKS: GOLD RUSH GROOMS continuity, in which a handsome playboy and his beautiful secretary are hired to investigate the mine ownership issue. But they’re snowbound in a cabin…and work can only kill so much time! And in Lori’s Little Secret by Christine Rimmer, the next of her BRAVO FAMILY TIES stories, a young woman who was always the shy twin has a big secret (two, actually): seven years ago she pretended to be her more outgoing sister—which resulted in a night of passion and a baby, now child. And said child’s father is back in town… Judy Duarte offers another of her BAYSIDE BACHELORS, in Worth Fighting For, in which a single adoptive mother—with the help of her handsome neighbor, who’s dealing with a loss of his own—grapples with the possibility of losing her child. In Elizabeth Harbison’s hilarious new novel, a young woman who wonders how to get her man finds help in a book entitled, well, How To Get Your Man. But she’s a bit confused about which man she really wants to get! And in His Baby to Love by Karen Sandler, a long-recovered alcoholic needs to deal with her unexpected pregnancy, so she gratefully accepts her friend’s offer of her chalet for the weekend. But she gets an unexpected roommate—the one man who’d pointed her toward recovery…and now has some recovering of his own to do.

So enjoy, and we’ll see you next month, when things once again start to heat up, in Silhouette Special Edition!

Sincerely yours,

Gail Chasan

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Nancy Nesbit Preston

Cool Chick Extraordinaire

has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember. After devouring the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden series in grade school, she moved on to the suspense of Mary Stewart, Dorothy Eden and Daphne du Maurier, just to name a few. From there it was a natural progression to writing, although early efforts have been securely hidden away in the back of a closet.

After authoring three cookbooks, Elizabeth turned her hand to writing romances and hasn’t looked back. Her second book for Silhouette Romance, Wife Without a Past, was a 1998 finalist for the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA ®Award in the Best Traditional Romance category.

Elizabeth lives in Maryland with her husband, John, daughter Mary Paige, and son, Jack, as well as two dogs, Bailey and Zuzu. She loves to hear from readers and you can write to her c/o Box 1636, Germantown, MD 20875.

Fall 1980

INTERIM REPORT for Bonnie Jane Vaness

Tappen Elementary School—

Teacher: Dinah Perry—Grade 2

Bonnie is doing wonderfully academically. Her handwriting is coming along beautifully and she seems quite gifted in both English and science. She is very organized.

Unfortunately, Bonnie does need to exercise control socially. She sometimes talks in class with her friend Paul Czarny, and often bickers with classmate Dalton Price. I have separated the two of them on numerous occasions but they always end up together, arguing.

INTERIM REPORT for Dalton James Price

Tappen Elementary School—

Teacher: Dinah Perry—Grade 2

Dalton is a spirited child. He is very capable, but seems to have trouble applying himself. He’d rather pick on his classmate, Bonnie Vaness, than pay attention to the lessons. Though I separate the two of them, they somehow seem to manage to find each other again….

Prologue

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

Epilogue

“…Our guest today is Leticia Bancroft, author of the controversial book, How To Seduce Your Dream Man. Leticia, tell me about the reception your book has gotten.”

“It’s setting women back fifty years,” Bonnie Vaness said to the television, dabbing her sore, red nose with a tissue. “Of course it’s getting a great reception.” She threw the covers back to look for the television remote, but only found more tissues. It seemed like every November she got a raging cold just before Thanksgiving, and this year was no exception. She must have been through at least four boxes of tissue in the past three days.

“As far as I’m concerned,” Leticia said, “the reaction to the book has been fantastic. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s talk to some of the women in the audience.”

The audience erupted into applause.

Bonnie cursed and moved the pillows aside searching for the remote.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was going to work,” a woman who actually looked normal was saying. In fact, she even looked a little embarrassed to be talking into the microphone.

Bonnie stopped her search and looked at the TV.

“When I first heard about the book, I was a little offended. I figured it would set women back fifty years—”

“Exactly!” Bonnie cried, pointing at the screen.

“—but, then again, laying it all on the line wasn’t getting me very far either. So I decided to read Leticia’s book. I put on a disguise and went to a bookstore in another town and bought it.” The audience chuckled.

Bonnie sneezed.

“I had a really bad romantic history. Lots of boyfriends, lots of breakups. I sometimes felt like I couldn’t find the kind of guy I really wanted, so I’d have to settle for less. But then I found the guy. And he didn’t even know I existed.”

Bonnie sat up and listened. This woman could be her. String of lousy boyfriends, equally long string of lousy breakups, fear that she’d have to lower her standards or end up alone, and then—this was the kicker—finding the man of her dreams only to have him be completely oblivious to her.

“But this book…” The woman paused, her voice filled with emotion. “This book gave me ideas for getting his attention that I could use immediately. Actual, you know, techniques. Not a lot of academic philosophizing. Before I knew it, the man who hadn’t known I was alive for six months was asking me out.”