Susan Lute - Oops...We're Married?

Eleanor’s voice sounded husky. Could she possibly be as affected as he was by their proximity?

Entering her bedroom, Dillon stopped beside the bed, releasing her legs so they dropped until just the tip of her toes were touching the rug. She was just the right height, he realized, oblivious to everything but the woman standing still in his arms.

“You can let me go now,” Eleanor said in a hoarse whisper.

“What if I don’t want to let you go just yet?” Heating up at the tremor in Eleanor’s voice, Dillon wondered exactly what he did want from her.

“You don’t really want to do this.”

“I don’t?” He gulped, her voice splashing like coldwater on his growing desire.

“Well, if we do…this, we can’t get an annulment.”

Dear Reader,

Oh, baby! This June, Silhouette Romance has the perfect poolside reads for you, from babies to royalty, from sexy millionaires to rugged cowboys!

In Carol Grace’s Pregnant by the Boss! (#1666), champagne and mistletoe lead to a night of passion between Claudia Madison and her handsome boss—but will it end in a lifetime of love? And don’t miss the final installment in Marie Ferrarella’s crossline miniseries, THE MOM SQUAD, with Beauty and the Baby (#1668), about widowed mother-to-be Lori O’Neill and the forbidden feelings she can’t deny for her late husband’s caring brother!

In Raye Morgan’s Betrothed to the Prince (#1667), the second in the exciting CATCHING THE CROWN miniseries, a princess goes undercover when an abandoned baby is left in the care of a playboy prince. And some things are truly meant to be, as Carla Cassidy shows us in her incredibly tender SOULMATES series title, A Gift from the Past (#1669), about a couple given a surprising second chance at forever.

What happens when a rugged cowboy wins fifty million dollars? According to Debrah Morris, in Tutoring Tucker (#1670), he hires a sexy oil heiress to refine his rough-and-tumble ways, and they both get a lesson in love. Then two charity dating-game contestants get the shock of their lives when they discover Oops…We’re Married? (#1671), by brand-new Silhouette Romance author Susan Lute.

See you next month for more fun-in-the-sun romances!

Happy reading!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To my children,

Darren, Damon and Saritha,

you bring nothing but great joy to my life.

And…

to my husband, David,

I love you.

lives in the Pacific Northwest, in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. She married her high school sweetheart, has three children who are “the best thing she’s done with her life” and a dog named Wolfe.

Susan is fascinated by ancient history, loves reading, gardening, black-and-white photographs and traveling. She’s a veteran of the Portland to Coast Relay and plans one day to hike the Pacific Crest Trail.

By day she is a registered nurse. By night she loves to spin tales that resemble her own happy-ever-after, about that click of instant recognition that happens when a man and woman fall head over heels in love. When writing, her priorities include that first vanilla latté in the morning and a steady infusion of chocolate.

Dear Reader,

Used to moving from place to place with my family, I was thirteen the summer I discovered a lifelong friend in the guise of a book titled Black Beauty. Thus began my career as a reader, which ultimately led to aspirations of becoming a writer. For me, writing about that special, true love is like finally coming home.

I must confess to being an ardent student of human nature. Add a fascination for the ridiculous and the unusual, and you have the conception of Eleanor and Dillon’s story. I knew I wanted to explore the relationships between grandparent, parent and child. Oops…We’re Married? is about widower Dillon Stone and how he reacts when his father and son decide they heartily approve of Eleanor Silks, a corporate librarian so totally opposite from the wife and mother he’s decided he has to find.

When I wondered what these two different people would do if they accidentally got married after being thrown together as contestants at a dating-game benefit dinner, their story ran away with me. There’s nothing more devastating than love gone horribly wrong, and nothing more heavenly…and satisfying than love when it goes completely right. In the end, only Eleanor and Dillon could tell me how their love would triumph.

In heartfelt appreciation to Silhouette for this opportunity, I give you my first book….

Prologue Prologue Eleanor Silks Rose sat in the church pew wishing more than anything that it was she standing at the altar becoming Dillon Stone’s new wife. It wasn’t fair that Joan Butler, Centennial High’s sweetheart, with her dark beauty and serene personality, had gotten the most perfect guy in the whole world to walk her down the aisle. Squirming in pinching panty hose that she rarely put on for any reason, Eleanor watched the ceremony from a seat as far in the back of the small church as she could get and still see down the center aisle to where the couple stood taking their vows. She was oblivious to the soothing music, the serenity of lighted candles and the near tranquillity of the expectant hush as the priest said the words that would join Joan for life to the man Eleanor had secretly loved from the first moment she’d laid eyes on her foster brother Jake’s newest friend. She’d been fourteen then, and still she would give anything to be in Joan’s white patent leather shoes, only Eleanor’s choice of elegant footwear ran more to new Nikes than anything shiny or with a heel. To be fair, it wasn’t the other woman’s fault Dillon had never noticed her, a ragtag tomboy, who would much rather go hiking or follow the boys fishing than do girl things like primp in front of a mirror, clean house, or cook. She would rather eat dirt than do more than pop something frozen into the microwave. Of course, Joan did all those housewifely things. Tugging on a piece of hair that insisted on curling around her neck, instead of staying in the French braid she’d tried for the first time, Eleanor dropped her gaze as the ceremony ended so she wouldn’t see Dillon enthusiastically kissing his new bride. At the start of the bold music that announced another couple had tied the knot, she looked up to see the happy couple start down the aisle toward her, sparkling in the congratulations of their wedding guests. Her foster parents were always telling her she had her whole life ahead of her. But, to Eleanor, it sure didn’t feel like it. She refused to cry. Her heart was not broken. Another woman had gotten the only man in the world worth considering spending the rest of her life with. King Arthur of Camelot and the Man of Steel all rolled into one, Dillon would always be the only man for her.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Eleanor Silks Rose sat in the church pew wishing more than anything that it was she standing at the altar becoming Dillon Stone’s new wife. It wasn’t fair that Joan Butler, Centennial High’s sweetheart, with her dark beauty and serene personality, had gotten the most perfect guy in the whole world to walk her down the aisle.

Squirming in pinching panty hose that she rarely put on for any reason, Eleanor watched the ceremony from a seat as far in the back of the small church as she could get and still see down the center aisle to where the couple stood taking their vows. She was oblivious to the soothing music, the serenity of lighted candles and the near tranquillity of the expectant hush as the priest said the words that would join Joan for life to the man Eleanor had secretly loved from the first moment she’d laid eyes on her foster brother Jake’s newest friend.

She’d been fourteen then, and still she would give anything to be in Joan’s white patent leather shoes, only Eleanor’s choice of elegant footwear ran more to new Nikes than anything shiny or with a heel. To be fair, it wasn’t the other woman’s fault Dillon had never noticed her, a ragtag tomboy, who would much rather go hiking or follow the boys fishing than do girl things like primp in front of a mirror, clean house, or cook. She would rather eat dirt than do more than pop something frozen into the microwave.

Of course, Joan did all those housewifely things. Tugging on a piece of hair that insisted on curling around her neck, instead of staying in the French braid she’d tried for the first time, Eleanor dropped her gaze as the ceremony ended so she wouldn’t see Dillon enthusiastically kissing his new bride.

At the start of the bold music that announced another couple had tied the knot, she looked up to see the happy couple start down the aisle toward her, sparkling in the congratulations of their wedding guests.

Her foster parents were always telling her she had her whole life ahead of her. But, to Eleanor, it sure didn’t feel like it.

She refused to cry.

Her heart was not broken.

Another woman had gotten the only man in the world worth considering spending the rest of her life with. King Arthur of Camelot and the Man of Steel all rolled into one, Dillon would always be the only man for her.

“Jake Edward Solomon. You are not my father.”

“No, El, but a big brother is the next best thing. Now, are you going to do me this little favor or not?” Jake’s voice fairly crackled with humor.

Pushing the phone between her ear and hunched shoulder, Eleanor settled behind her desk and swiveled her chair to gaze unseeing out her office window at the intercity park below.

Jake knew he was going to get his way. Just once, Eleanor wished she could resist her foster brother and one of his crazy schemes. She hated being emotionally blackmailed, especially by the one and only person who came the closest to being any kind of family to her.

“I’m not saying I’ll do it, but tell me again what you want me to do?” Eleanor was resigned to helping him out, just like she always did. But, this time, she was determined he was going to have to work hard for his victory.

“The Marshals service is putting on this benefit dinner, and for the price of the ticket we’re going to do a dating-game theater show, with a mock marriage at the end—”

“You’ve got to be kidding, right?” Eleanor knew her voice was on the rise, but at the moment she didn’t care as she caught a glimpse of where her foster brother was heading.

“No, I’m not, El. We’ve got it all arranged for Saturday night, and now one of the girls has backed out.”

Eleanor ignored the begging tone Jake tried to trap her with. She’d been exposed to it more times than she cared to remember. In fact, anytime Jake wanted his way.

“I hope you’re not suggesting that I should replace this…person in your charade. You know I don’t like to do dates…blind, for charity or otherwise,” Eleanor reminded Jake flatly, hoping to make him back off.