Unknown: [Carly Phillips] The Bachelor (The Chandler Brothe(Bookos.org) (1)

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The Bachelor

Carly Phillips

When Mrs. Chandler is rushed to the hospital due to what appears to be a heart attack (but turns out to be a bad case of heartburn), her three handsome, unmarried sons flock to her side, anxiously asking what they can do to make her feel better. Their mother opens her eyes and utters one word: “Grandbabies!”

Wanting to grant their ailing (or so they believe) mother her one wish before she departs for the sweet hereafter, the Chandler brothers start looking for wives.

Roman, the youngest of the brothers, takes a leave of absence from his job as a foreign correspondent to spend time with his mother while she recuperates. Having lost a coin toss with his brothers, he must be the first to become a married man with baby to abide by his mother’s wish. He is sure he’ll never find a woman sophisticated enough to satisfy him as his partner-in-life in the sleepy upstate New York town where his mother lives. Then he’s reacquainted with the woman who got away, the one woman he’s drawn back to, even as he’s planning his escape—Charlotte Bronson, the town’s newest entrepreneur.

Charlotte’s sexy lingerie shop has had a string of burglaries, and Roman agrees to investigate and report on the series of thefts, which puts him in close and frequent contact with the very beautiful and sophisticated owner. Soon, he discovers that Charlotte may just be the woman who can make all of his—and his mother’s—dreams come true.

Charlotte braced both hands against Roman’s shoulders.

“Your staying is not a good idea.”

“Then why does it feel like one?”

Waves of sensation rushed through her. “It feels good because there’s nothing rational about sex. But I’m being rational now. You can’t stay because you came over here to say good-bye.”

“And then I kissed you and realized there’s no way in hell I can walk away.”

“What? What are you saying?”

“There’s always been something between us. Something that won’t go away.” His blue eyes stared into hers. “If you’ve got the guts to take the risk and see where it leads, then so do I.”

“Ms. Phillips gives her fans something extra in her scrumptious tales that makes them keeper status.”

—Rendezvous

“Carly Phillips writes the best in hot, sexy romance today. . . . It’s impossible to put her books down.”

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—AOL Writers Club Romance Group

To Mom and Dad for making me believe I could do anything.

To Phil, who loves and supports me through everything.

And to Jackie and Jen, who make it all worthwhile.

Acknowledgments

To the people who made this book possible: Maureen Walters, agent extraordinaire, who believed in me from day one.

Beth De Guzman, for welcoming me with open arms; and Karen Kosztolnyik, for making the experience the best I could hope for!

Special Thanks

Thanks to the people who contributed their knowledge and answered endless questions: Lynda Sue Cooper, the cop expert, and Terri Hall, journalism expert. Any errors or fabrications are mine alone.

And last but by no means least, to the best critique partners a girl could have. To Kathy Attalla for your plotting brilliance and Janelle Denison for your panty thief expertise—without your endless patience and willingness to reread, I’d have lost it a long time ago!

PROLOGUE

You’re fit, Mrs. Chandler. The cardiogram is normal and so is your blood pressure. Nothing more than a bad case of indigestion. An antacid, some rest, and you should be fine.” The doctor slipped her stethoscope around her neck and made another notation in the chart.

Relief flowed through Raina Chandler as strong as the pain had ripped through her earlier. The fiery sensation in her chest and arm had caught her off guard. Ever since losing her husband to a heart attack at age thirty-seven, Raina had never taken unexpected pain lightly. She’d become health-conscious, watched her weight, and started an exercise routine of brisk walking she’d kept up through this very day.

At the first twinge of pain, she’d picked up the phone and called her oldest son. Not even the bad memories of sterile, antiseptic hospital smells or the depressing graying walls could deter her from taking care of her health. She had a mission to accomplish before she left this earth.

She glanced at the attractive young doctor who had met her at the Emergency Room. Any woman who looked good in drab hospital green had potential. “You’re new to this town, aren’t you?” But Raina already knew the answer before the other woman nodded.

She knew everyone in Yorkshire Falls, population 1,723, soon to be 1,724, when the editor of the local section of the Yorkshire Falls Gazette and his wife had their baby. Her general practitioner had been Dr.

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Eric Fallon, a close friend for years. Widowed like herself, Eric only recently had succumbed to the desire to enjoy life more and work less. As Eric’s new partner, Dr. Leslie Gaines was his answer to less stress.

She was new to town, and from Raina’s perspective that made her not just interesting, but fresh, potential wife material for her jaded sons. “Are you married?” Raina asked. “I hope you don’t mind my prying, but I’ve got three single sons, and—”

The doctor chuckled. “I’ve only been here a few weeks and already your sons’ reputations precede them, Mrs. Chandler.”

Raina’s chest swelled with pride. They were good men, her boys. They were her greatest joy and recently the source of continued frustration. Chase, her oldest, Rick, the town’s favorite cop, and Roman, her foreign correspondent and the baby brother, who was currently in London covering an economic summit.

“Now, Mrs. Chandler—”

“Raina,” she corrected and studied the good doctor. Nice laugh, sense of humor, and a protective nature. Raina immediately discounted the woman physician as a mate for Roman or Rick.

Her no-nonsense demeanor would bore Roman and a doctor’s hours would clash with Officer Rick’s.

But she could be just the right woman for her oldest son, Chase. Since taking over as publisher of the Yorkshire Falls Gazette for his father almost twenty years earlier, he’d become much too serious, bossy, and overprotective. Thank God he had his father’s handsome, chiseled face to make a decent first impression before he opened his mouth and started taking control. Good thing women loved a protective man and most single women in this town would marry Chase in a heartbeat. He was handsome, as were Rick and Roman.

Her goal was to marry off all three of her boys, and she would. But first they had to desire more from a woman than sex. Not that there was anything wrong with sex; in fact, it could be more than pleasant, she thought, remembering. But it was her sons’ mind-set that presented her with a problem. They were men .

And having raised them, Raina knew exactly how they thought. They rarely wanted any female for more than one night. The lucky women lasted a month, no longer. Finding willing women wasn’t the issue. With the Chandler good looks and appeal, women fell at their feet. But men, her sons included, wanted what they couldn’t have, and her boys had too much, too easily.

The lure of the forbidden and the fun of the chase was gone. Why should a man consider until death dous part when he had women willing to give it up without commitment? It wasn’t that Raina didn’t understand today’s generation. She did. But she’d also loved the trappings of a family life—and was smart enough to hold out for the whole package.