Stella Bagwell: Falling For Grace

She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “By asking them who they’ve slept with? I’m sorry, but that’s getting a bit personal for me.” Her gaze deliberately swept up and down his body. “Maybe you should remember the old saying about those without sin throwing the first stone, because I doubt you’ve been living like a monk.”

Her words angered him, but the hot blaze in her green eyes excited him like nothing he could remember. He wanted to jerk her into his arms, smother her lips with his. It was crazy! She was a stranger, and a pregnant one at that….

Yet the feeling was there. And it felt glorious to a man who’d been emotionally dead for a long, long time.

Dear Reader,

Looking for sensational summer reads? All year we’ve been celebrating Silhouette’s 20th Anniversary with special titles, and this month’s selections are just the warm, romantic tales you’ve been seeking!

Bestselling author Stella Bagwell continues the newest Romance promotion, AN OLDER MAN. Falling for Grace hadn’t been his intention, particularly when his younger, pregnant neighbor was carrying his nephew’s baby! Judy Christenberry’s THE CIRCLE K SISTERS miniseries comes back to Romance this month, when sister Melissa enlists the temporary services of The Borrowed Groom. Moyra Tarling’s Denim & Diamond pairs a rough-hewn single dad with the expectant woman he’d once desired beyond reason…but let get away.

Valerie Parv unveils her romantic royalty series THE CARRAMER CROWN. When a woman literally washes ashore at the feet of the prince, she becomes companion to The Monarch’s Son…but will she ever become the monarch’s wife? Julianna Morris’s BRIDAL FEVER! persists when Jodie’s Mail-Order Man discovers her heart’s desire: the brother of her mail-order groom! And Martha Shields’s Lassoed! is the perfect Opposites Attract story this summer. The sparks between a rough-and-tumble rodeo champ and the refined beauty sent to photograph him jump off every page!

In future months, look for STORKVILLE, USA, our newest continuity series. And don’t miss the charming miniseries THE CHANDLERS REQUEST…from New York Times bestselling author Kasey Michaels.

Happy reading!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To my musician buddies,

The Lutie Outlaws.

Silhouette Romance

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*Their First Thanksgiving #903

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Wanted: Wife #1140

†The Sheriff’s Son #1218

†The Rancher’s Bride #1224

†The Tycoon’s Tots #1228

†The Rancher’s Blessed Event #1296

†The Ranger and the Widow Woman #1314

†The Cowboy and the Debutante #1334

†Millionaire on Her Doorstep #1368

The Bridal Bargain #1414

Falling for Grace #1456

Silhouette Special Edition

Found: One Runaway Bride #1049

†Penny Parker’s Pregnant! #1258

Silhouette Books

A Bouquet of Babies

†“Baby on Her Doorstep”

sold her first book to Silhouette in November 1985. Now, nearly forty novels later, she is still thrilled to see her books in print and can’t imagine having any other job than that of writing about two people falling in love.

She lives in a small town in southeastern Oklahoma with her husband of nearly thirty years. She has one son.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

He was back! Her prayers had been answered!

Heedless of the late hour, Grace Holliday whirled away from the living room window and hurriedly searched the floor for her sandals.

Since they were nowhere in sight, she quickly decided she didn’t need shoes and flew out the door to scurry across the dark lawn toward the bungalow next door. Part of the structure was hidden by pines and magnolia trees, but she hadn’t dreamed the light shining in the kitchen. She could see it plainly now.

The yellow shafts filtering through the pine boughs were like a beacon to her weary heart and in spite of her growing girth, she felt as light as air as she skimmed up the wooden steps and across the planked porch.

The solid wooden door was open to the ocean breeze, and through the screen she could see the small living room was dark. No sound stirred from within the house, making her wonder if he’d fallen asleep.

Rapping her knuckles on the jamb, she called out, “Trent! Trent, it’s me, Grace. Are you in there?”

Seconds dragged into a minute as she stood in the muggy darkness, anxiously awaiting his answer.

To her left, parked beneath the small carport next to the porch was a late-model sedan of an indistinguishable dark color. It wasn’t the vehicle Trent drove while he’d stayed here in the bungalow, but he could have easily changed cars since she’d last seen him.

“Trent! Answer the door!”

Another long minute passed without any sort of response and she decided to enter the house and make herself known to him. Surely he hadn’t heard her knock. He wouldn’t just ignore her. After all, he’d come back to Biloxi. That had to mean something.

Inside the shadow-filled living room, she called again, “Trent! Where are you?”

Moving toward the light in the kitchen, she entered a short hallway. Suddenly the floor creaked behind her, and then a male voice lifted the hair on the back of her neck.

“Who the hell are you?”

Her heart hammering, she whirled around, then unconsciously inched backward toward the light and away from the dark bulky image of a man looming in front of her.

“I—I’m Grace Holliday. Who—are you?”

“Obviously not who you were looking for.”

His deep voice was full of sarcasm and just a hint of warning. Unwittingly she moved several more steps behind her, until she was completely illuminated by the dim overhead light in the kitchen.

“I thought—I was looking for Trent,” she said haltingly.