Lisa Childs - Colton's Cinderella Bride

Happily-ever-after...or dead on time?

A Coltons of Red Ridge thriller

For one magical night, they were Cinderella and the prince. Reunited four years later, billionaire Blake Colton and K9 cop Juliette Walsh are worlds apart, and he is furious to learn that Juliette’s secret daughter is his. But with danger closing in, Blake and Juliette must risk more than their rekindling passion to have a future with their child.

Ever since LISA CHILDS read her first romance novel (a Mills & Boon story, of course) at age eleven, all she wanted was to be a romance writer. With over forty novels published with Mills & Boon, Lisa is living her dream. She is an award-winning, bestselling romance author. Lisa loves to hear from readers, who can contact her on Facebook, through her website, www.lisachilds.com, or her snail-mail address, PO Box 139, Marne, MI 49435, USA.

Also by Lisa Childs

The Bounty Hunter’s Baby Surprise

His Christmas Assignment

Bodyguard Daddy

Bodyguard’s Baby Surprise

Beauty and the Bodyguard

Nanny Bodyguard

Single Mom’s Bodyguard

In the Bodyguard’s Arms

The Colton Marine

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Colton’s Cinderella Bride

Lisa Childs

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07910-5

COLTON’S CINDERELLA BRIDE

© 2018 Harlequin Books S.A.

Published in Great Britain 2018

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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With great appreciation for my amazing family—my

immediate family and to all my aunts, uncles and

cousins who support me, too! I am so fortunate to have

you all in my life!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter 1

E verything happens for a reason...

Mama had told Juliette that so many times over the years and so often during the long months of her terminal illness. Not wanting to argue with or upset an invalid, Juliette had just nodded as if she’d agreed with her. But she hadn’t really. She had seen no reason for Mama getting sick and dying, no reason to work two jobs to pay off Mama’s medical bills and her own community college tuition.

But as she stared up at the little blond-haired angel sitting atop the playground slide, her heart swelled with love, and she knew Mama had been right. Everything happens for a reason, and Pandora was that reason.

Her daughter was Juliette’s reason for everything that had happened in the past and for everything that she did in the present.

“Is it too high?” she called up to the little girl who’d convinced Juliette that since turning four, she was old enough to go down the big kid slide. She was small for her age, though, and looked so tiny sitting up so high that a twinge of panic struck Juliette’s heart.

Maybe she was just uneasy because it looked as though it might start storming at any moment. The afternoon sky had turned dark, making it look more like dusk than five thirty. Since July in Red Ridge, South Dakota, was usually hot and dry, rain would be a welcome relief—as long as it came without lightning and thunder, which always scared Pandora.

Juliette probably shouldn’t have stopped at the park that apparently everyone else had deserted for fear of the impending storm. But when she’d finished her shift as a Red Ridge K9 officer, and had picked up her daughter from day care, the little girl had been so excited to try the slide that she hadn’t been able to refuse.

“Come on, honey,” she encouraged Pandora as she pushed back a strand of her own blond hair that had slipped free of her ponytail. “I’m right here. I’ll catch you when you reach the bottom.” She wouldn’t let her fall onto the wood chips at the foot of the slide.

“I’m not scared, Mommy,” Pandora assured her. “It’s supercool up here. I can see all around...” She trailed off as she stared into the distance. Maybe she could see the storm moving in on them.

As if she sensed it, too, Sasha—Juliette’s K9 partner—leaped up from the grass on which she’d been snoozing. Her nose in the air, the beagle strained against her leash that Juliette had tethered around a light pole. Sniffing the air, she emitted a low growl.

Despite the heat, a chill passed through Juliette. Sasha had been trained for narcotics detection. But what was she detecting and from where? Nobody else was in the park right now. Maybe the scent of drugs had carried on the wind from someplace else, someplace nearby.

“Mommy!” Pandora called out, drawing Juliette’s attention back to where she was now half standing, precariously, at the top of the slide.

“Honey, sit down,” Juliette said, her heart thumping hard with fear.