Dixie Browning - Cinderella's Midnight Kiss

Dear Reader,

Isn’t it amazing how swiftly the years have flown past? I marvel at all the changes, yet one thing has never changed: the satisfaction to be found in reading a good romance. Twenty years ago our romances were somewhat different. They mirrored the times, as popular fiction usually does. In many ways they were more naïve, as were we. It seems in retrospect as though the edges were softer, but then, maybe that’s only in my imagination.

I’ve written a Cinderella story. The old fairy tales, the legends and myths still persist, don’t they? Is there anyone among us who doesn’t long for a happy ending?

Here you have it. Always, in a traditional romance. It’s a given. And I give this one to you with my blessings and my hopes for all our happy endings.

My thanks to you, the readers, to the wonderful people at Silhouette, to the many friends I’ve made both there and among my fans—and the many more I hope to make in the future.

Sincerely,

Dear Reader,

From the enchantment of first loves to the wonder of second chances, Silhouette Romance demonstrates the power of genuine emotion. This month we continue our yearlong twentieth anniversary celebration with another stellar lineup, including the return of beloved author Dixie Browning with Cinderella’s Midnight Kiss.

Next, Raye Morgan delivers a charming marriage-of-convenience story about a secretary who is Promoted—To Wife! And Silhouette Romance begins a new theme-based promotion, AN OLDER MAN, which highlights stories featuring sophisticated older men who meet their matches in younger, inexperienced women. Our premiere title is Professor and the Nanny by reader favorite Phyllis Halldorson.

Bestselling author Judy Christenberry unveils her new miniseries, THE CIRCLE K SISTERS, in Never Let You Go. When a millionaire businessman wins an executive assistant at an auction, he discovers that he wants her to be Contractually His…forever. Don’t miss this conclusion of Myrna Mackenzie’s THE WEDDING AUCTION series. And in Karen Rose Smith’s Just the Husband She Chose, a powerful attorney is reunited in a marriage meant to satisfy a will.

In coming months, look for new miniseries by some of your favorite authors. It’s an exciting year for Silhouette Books, and we invite you to join the celebration!

Happy reading!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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This book is dedicated to Silhouette

and twenty wonderful, memorable years.

And to two tough guys who did their best

to keep me from finishing it.

Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd!

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celebrated her sixty-fifth book for Silhouette with the publication of Texas Millionaire in 1999. She has also written a number of historical romances with her sister under the name Bronwyn Williams. A charter member of Romance Writers of America, and a member of Novelists, Inc., Dixie has won numerous awards for her work. She lives on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

“This is my first diary, and I don’t know exactly where to start. Mama always kept one, but I never did. She told me to read hers after she was gone so I would understand, but her personal things were packed away and I couldn’t get to them for a long time.

“My name is Cynthia Danbury. I am fourteen and a half years old.”

Fourteen and a half. Ten years ago. How very young I was then, she mused now.

“I’m called Cindy, which probably should be spelled Sendy because people are always sending me on errands. In case anyone ever reads this, I want it on record that Daddy was an inventor. He died before he could invent anything important that people would pay money for, but that didn’t mean he never amounted to anything. Mama worked real hard at the truck stop to earn money for Daddy’s experiments. She was not a worthless shantytown tramp who ruined a perfectly decent boy, like Aunt Stephenson told Uncle Henry she was, which is one of the reasons I’m writing this. To set the record straight.”

Looking back, Cindy could remember as if it were yesterday the first time she’d met her aunt Stephenson, her father’s sister. Cindy had been about seven years old. They had just moved to Mocksville. Her father had taken her to a large white house, with a wide porch and stained glass panels beside the front door, to meet her aunt Lorna.