SUSAN MEIER - Married Right Away

Savannah faced him, her fingers immediately going to the top button of her blouse.

Ethan almost ran to stop her. “No,” he said, clasping her fingers to remove them from the button.

“No?” she asked, wide-eyed, frightened and so incredibly beautiful in her innocence that he almost shook with gratitude.

“If we’re going to do this we’re going to do this right,” he said.

Then he bent his head and kissed her….

Dear Reader,

Calling all royal watchers! This month, Silhouette Romance’s Carolyn Zane kicks off our exciting new series, ROYALLY WED: THE MISSING HEIR, with the gem Of Royal Blood. Fans of last year’s ROYALLY WED series will love this thrilling four-book adventure, filled with twists and turns—and of course, plenty of love and romance. Blue bloods and commoners alike will also enjoy Laurey Bright’s newest addition to her VIRGIN BRIDES thematic series, The Heiress Bride, about a woman who agrees to marry to protect the empire that is rightfully hers.

This month is also filled with earth-shattering secrets! First, award-winning author Sharon De Vita serves up a whopper in her latest SADDLE FALLS title, Anything for Her Family. Natalie McMahon is much more than the twin boys’ nanny—she’s their mother! And in Karen Rose Smith’s A Husband in Her Eyes, the heroine has her eyesight restored, only to have haunting visions of a man and child. Can she bring love and happiness back into their lives?

Everyone likes surprises, right? Well, in Susan Meier’s Married Right Away, the heroine certainly gives her boss the shock of his life—she’s having his baby! And Love Inspired author Cynthia Rutledge makes her Silhouette Romance debut with her modern-day Cinderella story, Trish’s Not-So-Little Secret, about “Fatty Patty” who comes back to her hometown a beautiful swan—and a single mom with a jaw-dropping secret!

We hope this month that you feel like a princess and enjoy the royal treats we have for you from Silhouette Romance.

Happy reading!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Books by Susan Meier

Silhouette Romance

Stand-in Mom #1022

Temporarily Hers #1109

Wife in Training #1184

Merry Christmas, Daddy #1192

*In Care of the Sheriff #1283

*Guess What? We’re Married! #1338

Husband from 9 to 5 #1354

*The Rancher and the Heiress #1374

†The Baby Bequest #1420

†Bringing up Babies #1427

†Oh, Babies! #1433

His Expectant Neighbor #1468

Hunter’s Vow #1487

Cinderella and the CEO #1498

Marrying Money #1519

The Boss’s Urgent Proposal #1566

Married Right Away #1579

Silhouette Desire

Take the Risk #567

SUSAN MEIER

is one of eleven children, and though she has yet to write a book about a big family, many of her books explore the dynamics of “unusual” family situations like large work “families,” bosses who behave like overprotective fathers, or “sister” bonds created between friends. Because she has more than twenty nieces and nephews, children are also always popping up in her stories. Many of the funny scenes in her books are based upon experiences raising her own children or interacting with her nieces and nephews.

She was born and raised in western Pennsylvania and continues to live in Pennsylvania.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

When Savannah Groggin opened the door of her Thurmont, Maryland, bed-and-breakfast to Ethan McKenzie, she wasn’t surprised to see her former boss, the in-house counsel for an Atlanta-based company where she had worked as a paralegal.

“Savannah, I’m so sorry,” Ethan said, as he entered her foyer. His short black hair was combed in the usual neat style she remembered from two years before. His brown eyes were serious, concerned. But wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt and not dressed in a suit, he looked much younger than she remembered. Also, the casual clothes made him seem more approachable than he had been when she worked for him, which was the first and only good thing she had noticed all day.

“You’re sorry?” Savannah said, looking at the floor because she couldn’t meet his eyes. In just twelve short hours, all the joy her pregnancy had brought her had been lost. Not only had she learned from the Georgia State Police that the sperm donation used to create the baby she carried belonged to her ex-boss, but also that her brother was a fugitive from justice. She bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling, then said, “My brother and I are the ones who should be sorry.”

“I know you didn’t have anything to do with this,” he said urgently. “From the way this thing was set up, the police deduced you’re innocent. But even if they hadn’t told me you weren’t an accomplice, I worked with you long enough to realize, well, that you hadn’t known—”

“That my brother falsified records at the clinic where he worked and stole your sperm?”

Ethan grimaced at her frankness, then nodded. “Yes.”

Confused and tired from a long, difficult day, Savannah rubbed her hands along the small of her back. “Since we have a lot to talk about, could we sit in the living room?”

Ethan’s expression became distressed and his gaze fell to her stomach, which wasn’t yet huge with child, but was obviously swollen.

Suddenly, it hit her full force.

The baby in her belly belonged to both of them.

He cleared his throat. “Savannah, I’m sorry. I should have thought of that,” he said as he took her hand and led her into her quiet living room. Furnished with aging blue French provincial furniture trimmed in walnut, with thick navy velour drapes in front of white lace sheers, the room was dark and quiet.

Savannah turned on a lamp, shedding some much-needed light into the room, and sat on the sofa.

Ethan sat beside her and took her hand again. “Is there anything I can get you?”

“No. I’m fine.” Part of her almost wished he wouldn’t be so nice because it made her feel incredibly guilty. The other part was glad he was handling this better than she was. It was hard enough to come to terms with the fact that her brother had forged someone’s name, falsified records and stolen property all because she was concerned about getting a good father for the in vitro fertilization. It was almost too much to bear that Barry felt the only way he could fulfill his promise to her was to cheat a man she knew and respected.

Tightening his hold on her hand, Ethan said, “Savannah, though your brother had no right to do what he did, I also have to take some responsibility. I should have destroyed that sample two years ago when my wife and I divorced.”

“It’s very nice of you to say that,” Savannah said. “But you entrusted your property to a reputable clinic. You shouldn’t have had to worry that someone would steal it.”