Jill Limber - The 15 Lb. Matchmaker

His deep voice rolled over her like a fog across Puget Sound.

Startled, Jolie nodded and swallowed. “Yes?”

Griff took a minute to take in the whole package. What the heck was a beautiful woman dressed like this doing in Harry’s Diner?

“My name’s Griff Price. I have a proposition for you.” He didn’t miss the way her big brown eyes widened at his choice of words.

“How do you do, Mr. Price?” Her speech was careful and polite, her expression wary.

Sleek and sophisticated, she reminded him of a Thoroughbred horse. Generations of carefully chosen bloodlines came together to produce a woman this magnificent. Good bone structure, sleek hair, clear eyes, fine skin and good muscle tone didn’t happen by accident.

He was pretty good at sizing up women. She didn’t look like a baby-sitter.

She looked like trouble.

Dear Reader,

With summer nearly here, it’s time to stock up on essentials such as sunblock, sandles and plenty of Silhouette Romance novels! Here’s our checklist of page-turners to keep your days sizzling!

A Princess in Waiting by Carol Grace (SR #1588)—In this ROYALLY WED: THE MISSING HEIR title, dashing Charles Rodin saves the day by marrying his brother’s pregnant ex-wife!

Because of the Ring by Stella Bagwell (SR #1589)—With this magical SOULMATES title, her grandmother’s ring leads Claudia Westfield to the man of her dreams….

A Date with a Billionaire by Julianna Morris (SR #1590)—Bethany Cox refused her prize—a date with the charitable Kane O’Rourke—but how can she get a gorgeous billionaire to take no for an answer? And does she really want to…?

The Marriage Clause by Karen Rose Smith (SR #1591)—In this VIRGIN BRIDES installment, innocent Gina Foster agrees to a marriage of convenience with the wickedly handsome Clay McCormick, only to be swept into a world of passion.

The Man with the Money by Arlene James (SR #1592)—A millionaire playboy in disguise romances a lovely foster mom. But will the truth destroy his chance at true love?

The 15 lb. Matchmaker by Jill Limber (SR #1593)—Griff Price is the ultimate lone cowboy—until he’s saddled with a baby and a jilted-bride-turned-nanny.

Be sure to come back next month for our list of great summer stories.

Happy reading!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Jack—my personal hero.

I love you, forever and always.

lives in San Diego with her husband. Now that her children are grown, their two dogs keep her company while she sits at her computer writing stories. A native Californian, she enjoys the beach, loves to swim in the ocean, and for relaxation she daydreams and reads romances. Visit her at www.JillLimber.com!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Today might qualify as the worst day of Jolie Carleton’s life. If you didn’t count last Saturday, when she’d been left standing at the altar in front of three hundred people.

Being jilted had left her more embarrassed than hurt. She’d had second thoughts about her intended for weeks. If she’d had the backbone to speak up it wouldn’t have happened at all. It hadn’t taken her long to recognize the incident as a major wake-up call.

Jolie sighed and stabbed at the remains of a piece of cheesecake. Saturday night she’d made a vow to live with courage, to do something outrageous every day and get a life, but so far fate seemed to be testing her. Getting a life was proving to be harder than she imagined.

Glumly she watched the sunset paint the sky with streaks of orange and purple behind Winslow’s Garage across the street and tried to ignore the diner’s other customers, who watched her with open curiosity.

The smell of fried onions hung in the warm air, and the waitresses wore pink nylon uniforms with their name tags pinned over a fan of starched hankie. Ever since her car had been towed into Billings, Montana, Jolie had the strangest feeling she had entered a time warp.

She heard the door to the diner slap closed and looked up to see a blond version of the Marlboro Man talking to her waitress. Her breath caught in her chest as she fumbled her fork.

Over six feet tall, he had the wardrobe and the build of the icon plastered all over magazines. His broad shoulders filled out a worn sheepskin jacket, and his long legs were covered by blue jeans. He took off his cowboy hat and ran a broad hand through sun-bleached blond hair.

She exhaled a sigh of pleasure. He was eye candy at its finest.

He nodded at the cashier and smiled, displaying a set of even white teeth. Tanned skin crinkled at the corners of his deep-blue eyes, and a dimple dented one cheek. Drop-dead gorgeous, the man looked like a Hollywood version of the perfect cowboy.

The words hunk and babe drifted through her mind as she openly stared at the man, unable to look away.

He needed a shave. The stubble on his chin made him look even more masculine. She could imagine the rasp a beard like that would make against her skin.

Now she liked Montana even more than she had a moment ago. Feeling warm all over, she had to remind herself she’d sworn off men.

He glanced over and caught her gawking, open-mouthed. Jolie bent her head over her newspaper so her hair would hide her face.

Embarrassed to be caught gaping at a stranger, Jolie stared down at the want ads she had already read twice, then turned her head and dared a peek through a curtain of hair.

The cowboy walked past her with enough of a swagger to convince her he had just gotten off a horse, and took a seat at a booth in the rear of the diner.

Jolie dared one more glance in his direction, then turned her attention back to her problems. She needed a job, she told herself firmly, not a man who had the potential to star in a woman’s fantasies.

She tried to ignore the man and think about her situation. Just outside of Billings, a deer had bounded across the highway. Swerving to avoid the animal, Jolie had skidded across the shoulder of the road and run into a telephone pole.

She could almost hear her father scolding her. Jolie, he would say, as if she were still sixteen years old, never swerve to avoid an animal.

Easy enough to say when you didn’t have Bambi looking at you with those big startled eyes.

An hour ago, as she’d brushed the fine white dust that had exploded out of her car’s air bag off her silk shirt, the mechanic at Winslow’s had told her it might take three weeks to get the parts he needed for the repairs to her car.

His exact words had been, “Don’t stock parts for these foreign jobs” in a tone implying she’d broken some kind of law in Montana by driving a car made in Germany.