HEATHER MACALLISTER - Hand-Picked Husband

Title Page Hand-Picked Husband Heather MacAllister www.millsandboon.co.uk CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN Copyright

Question: How do you find the perfect man?

Answer: Read on ..

Texas Grooms Wanted! is a brand-new miniseries in Harlequin Romance ®.

Meet three wonderful heroines who are all looking for very special Texas men—their future husbands!

Good men may be hard to find, but these women have experts on hand They’ve all signed up with the Yellow Rose Matchmakers. The oldest—and the best!—matchmaking service in San Antonio, Texas, the Yellow Rose guarantees to find any woman her perfect partner....

So, for the cutest cowboys in the whole state of Texas, read:

Strangest date: A friend was dating a policeman. He offered to take several of us for a ride in his patrol car. We piled in, drove around, and a call came through. He had to answer it, so he drove downtown to a really seedy area, then left us sitting in the car while he chased down the suspect. After catching him, the policeman had to call for another car, making up some story about why he already had a car full of college girls. I do not know—and do not wish to know—what he told the other policemen!

P.S. My mother does not know this!

What others have said of Heather MacAllister :

“Funny, tender, sassy. No matter what name she writes

under, Heather’s books are guaranteed smile-makers ”

—Day Leclaire

“Heather MacAllister makes me laugh, and that’s the

highest accolade can give to a fellow author Bet

she’ll make you laugh, too!”

—Ruth Jean Dale

“For a good time, read Heather MacAllister!”

—Christina Dodd

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

FACSIMILE

To: Nellie Barnett, Golden B Ranch

From: Debra Reese, Reese Ranch

Dear Nellie,

As far as I can tell, Autumn isn’t planning on going back to law school this semester. It wouldn’t hurt for you to give that boy of yours a nudge in her direction. You can’t expect her to wait forever.

We’re leaving for the Menger this afternoon.

Happy New Year!

FAX

To: Debra Reese, Reese Ranch

From: Nellie Barnett, Golden B Ranch

Dear Debra,

I have nudged. Clay is spending the night at the Menger with friends. Good

luck, and happy New Year!

AUTUMN Reese stifled a yawn and signaled the waiter for another cup of coffee. Why did the San Antonio Rodeo Swine Auction Program Committee always schedule their kickoff for New Year’s Day? At least she’d managed to convince them to change it to a brunch from the breakfast it had been in years past.

Autumn’s mother poked her in the ribs. “Perk up and smile, honey. There’s Clayton.”

“I’m not perking for anything but coffee.” She stared at the bottom of her cup. “And I sincerely hope there’s a pot perking for me.”

“People are watching,” Debra Reese said without moving her lips and still smiling herself. “You can’t continue to pretend that you haven’t seen Clay without there being talk.”

“There’s always talk.”

“And don’t you forget it.”

As her mother raised her hand to wave at Clayton Barnett, their ranching neighbor to the west, Autumn sent a dutiful smile of acknowledgment his way, saving her real smile for the waiter, who was now weaving his way around the tables in the Menger Hotel banquet room with a pot of coffee.

“Clay!” her mother called in a voice guaranteed to draw the attention of anyone who hadn’t noticed Clay’s tardy arrival. “We saved you a place.”

Autumn cringed. “What if he doesn’t want to sit here, Mom?”

Debra turned to her daughter in surprise. “Where else would he want to sit?”

And that pretty much summed up the attitude of their ranching community, Autumn thought. Somehow it had been determined that she and Clay were meant for each other, and that was that.

Autumn watched Clay succumb to the inevitable and begin making his way toward them. They’d grown up as next-door neighbors, or as close as next door got in rural Texas. It wasn’t as though she had anything against him. He’d become a good-looking man and was by all accounts a decent human being. She’d known him forever. She’d worked with him, fought with him, competed with him and had even gone to the same college with him.

But did that mean she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with him?

The waiter and Clay arrived about the same time. “Morning, Miz Reese. Autumn.”

“Clay!” her mother fluttered. “I haven’t seen you since Christmas

“And the week just flew by.” Autumn nudged her cup toward the waiter. Autumn’s mother nudged her.

“Go ahead and leave the pot,” Clay instructed the man, and folded his long legs under the table.

The waiter did so—before pouring Autumn’s coffee. With an irritated look at Clay, she lifted the heavy thermal pot and splashed coffee into her cup.

Grinning, Clay shoved his cup and saucer across the table. Because Autumn was under the watchful eye of her mother, she poured coffee for Clay, as well, instead of telling him to pour his own, which she would have done had they been alone.

The coffee was good and strong, and hot, Autumn knew from her prior cup. She added cream, partly for the taste and partly to cool off the liquid. She drank a good gulp, hoping Clayton would follow suit and burn his tongue since he took his coffee black.

He did.

“Mmm.” He winced and replaced the cup in the saucer.

Autumn smiled serenely, also noting his bloodshot eyes.

Apparently, her mother did, as well. “Did you have a party to go to last night, Clay?” she asked after a quick chastising look at a silent Autumn.

“Yes, ma’am, and I’m not real pleased with the person responsible for moving the meeting to brunch, which is some made-up meal, instead of an honest breakfast. Breakfast would have capped off the evening just right.” He downed a goblet of orange juice.

Autumn pointedly looked around the crowded room. “We have a lot better attendance because the meeting was moved to eleven o’clock,” she said without admitting that she was the one who’d been responsible for the moving. “It’s just plain silly to ignore the fact that New Year’s Eve is the night before. This way, people can actually get some sleep before the meeting, and it’ll be over in time for the football games.”

“As for sleep, I suppose it depends on how great your party was.” He grinned.

Autumn drank her coffee. She hadn’t had a date for New Year’s Eve. Any single men of her acquaintance no doubt assumed she would be with Clay. “Mom and I heard your party last night.”

“But we were awake anyway,” Debra inserted quickly.

Heaven forbid Clay might think Autumn was criticizing him. She poured herself more coffee.

Since she was on the brunch committee and in charge of decorations, she and her mother had spent the night at the Menger. Most of that night had been spent filling the pink, white and black helium balloons that were tied to the ceramic pig centerpieces.