Arlene James - Desperately Seeking Daddy

Cover Page

Excerpt

Dear Reader Dear Reader, In Arlene James’s Desperately Seeking Daddy, a harried, single working mom of three feels like Cinderella at the ball when Jack Tyler comes into her life. He wins over her kids, charms her mother and sets straight her grumpy boss. He’s the FABULOUS FATHER of her kids’ dreams—and the husband of hers! Although the BUNDLE OF JOY in Amelia Varden’s arms is not her natural child, she’s loved the baby boy from birth. And now one man has come to claim her son—and her heart—in reader favorite Elizabeth August’s The Rancher and the Baby. Won’t You Be My Husband? begins Linda Varner’s trilogy HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, in which a woman ends up engaged to be married after a ten-minute reunion with a bad-boy hunk! What’s a smitten bookkeeper to do when her gorgeous boss asks her to be his bride—even for convenience? Run down the aisle!…in DeAnna Talcott’s The Bachelor and the Bassinet. In Pat Montana’s Storybook Bride, tight-lipped rancher Kody Sanville’s been called a half-breed his whole life and doesn’t believe in storybook anything. So why can’t he stop dreaming of being loved by Becca Covington? Suzanne McMinn makes her debut with Make Room for Mommy, in which a single woman with motherhood and marriage on her mind falls for a single dad who isn’t at all interested in saying “I do”…or so he thinks! From classic love stories, to romantic comedies to emotional heart tuggers, Silhouette Romance offers six wonderful new novels each month by six talented authors. I hope you enjoy all six books this month—and every month. Regards, Melissa Senate, Senior Editor Please address questions and book requests to: Silhouette Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Title Page Desperately Seeking Daddy Arlene James www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author ARLENE JAMES grew up in Oklahoma and has lived all over the South. In 1976 she married “the most romantic man in the world.” The author enjoys traveling with her husband, but writing has always been her chief pastime.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Copyright

she said, lifting tearful eyes.

To his surprise, he thought Heller Moore was utterly beguiling, beautiful and brave. “Uh, no. No, it’s obvious you’re doing the best you can.”

She smiled at Jack. “Working two jobs and being a mom to three kids is definitely all I can handle right now. Problem is, I have to try to be a dad, too.”

He said it before he thought. “Then maybe your son was right to advertise for a father. I—I mean, that’s one thing the boy does understand, that you can’t do it by yourself. Otherwise he wouldn’t be trying to find you a husband and we wouldn’t be here now, would we?”

Heller studied him pointedly for a few moments and said, “I know why I’m here, but I’m not quite certain why you are.”

And then he surprised them both by replying, “Maybe I mean to apply for the position.”

Dear Reader,

In Arlene James’s Desperately Seeking Daddy, a harried, single working mom of three feels like Cinderella at the ball when Jack Tyler comes into her life. He wins over her kids, charms her mother and sets straight her grumpy boss. He’s the FABULOUS FATHER of her kids’ dreams—and the husband of hers!

Although the BUNDLE OF JOY in Amelia Varden’s arms is not her natural child, she’s loved the baby boy from birth. And now one man has come to claim her son—and her heart—in reader favorite Elizabeth August’s The Rancher and the Baby.

Won’t You Be My Husband? begins Linda Varner’s trilogy HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, in which a woman ends up engaged to be married after a ten-minute reunion with a bad-boy hunk!

What’s a smitten bookkeeper to do when her gorgeous boss asks her to be his bride—even for convenience? Run down the aisle!…in DeAnna Talcott’s The Bachelor and the Bassinet.

In Pat Montana’s Storybook Bride, tight-lipped rancher Kody Sanville’s been called a half-breed his whole life and doesn’t believe in storybook anything. So why can’t he stop dreaming of being loved by Becca Covington?

Suzanne McMinn makes her debut with Make Room for Mommy, in which a single woman with motherhood and marriage on her mind falls for a single dad who isn’t at all interested in saying “I do”…or so he thinks!

From classic love stories, to romantic comedies to emotional heart tuggers, Silhouette Romance offers six wonderful new novels each month by six talented authors. I hope you enjoy all six books this month—and every month.

Regards,

Melissa Senate,

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

www.millsandboon.co.uk

grew up in Oklahoma and has lived all over the South. In 1976 she married “the most romantic man in the world.” The author enjoys traveling with her husband, but writing has always been her chief pastime.

It was as common a sight to Jackson Tyler as his own face in the mirror—a crayon portrait of some small artist’s favorite subject on notebook paper. In his five years as a primary and elementary school principal, he had seen thousands of such. What set apart this slightly lopsided rendition was its location. It had been pinned—not upon some lightly scuffed school corridor wall—but at waist height amid the jumble of the large, square, community bulletin board mounted upon the brick facade of the Lake City Grocery. Curious at seeing the familiar in such an unexpected place, Jack shifted the sack of groceries he’d just purchased into a more comfortable position and strolled over for a closer look. Ignoring the protest of his left knee, he crouched down to study this young person’s artwork.

Despite the awkward positioning of the drawing in relation to the edges of the paper, it was, without question, a masterpiece, an unusually piquant rendition of, Jack felt certain, a real woman’s face, a woman with enormous blue eyes that tilted upward at the outer edges, a rather pointed chin, and a great deal of long, light brown hair with bangs that covered her eyebrows. Interesting. Even given the young artist’s above-average expertise, Jack’s experienced eye told him he was looking at the work of a child on the underside of nine, a conclusion bolstered by the youngster’s deficiency in spelling. Jack first read the left-handed block printing with a chuckle, then sobered as the implications sunk in.

HUSBAN WANTED

FOR PRETTY LADY WITH 3 GOOD CHIDREN

WORKING TO MUCH

NICE SMART TIRD

CALL 555-1118

ASK FOR CODY

Some sensitive little person had been moved by a working mother’s exhaustion to advertise for aid in the form of a husband. Jack sensed a child in distress and a mother who was going to be very embarrassed.

Oddly disturbed, he took the “ad” from the bulletin board, slipped it into his grocery sack, pushed up to his full, considerable height and walked rapidly across the parking lot to deposit all in the back seat of his sensible, late-model sedan. He hoped for both child’s and mother’s sakes that no one else had bothered to investigate as closely as he had. He would hate for a child’s misguided attempt to help an overwhelmed parent to result in crank calls, derision, or—God forbid—even danger, and he felt himself to be in a unique position to head off disaster. It was, he felt, his duty, if not his responsibility.