A Ring For Cinderella

What a wedding night! Letter to Reader Title Page About the Author Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Epilogue Copyright

What a wedding night!

Zach had promised Susan their marriage would be on her terms, but he hadn’t realized how difficult that promise was going to be to keep. Susan was a beautiful woman. But when she had confessed she’d never been in a hotel room before, he’d wanted to cuddle her against him and tell her he’d make her first experience one to remember.

He wanted to share a first with her.

What had started out as a simple scheme to please Gramp had become quite complicated.

Zach groaned and set up his bed on the couch.

It was going to be a long, lonely wedding night.

Dear Reader.

March roars in like a lion at Silhouette Romance, starting with popular author Susan Meier and Husband from 9 to 5. her exciting contribution to LOVING THE BOSS, a six-book series in which office romance leads to happily-ever-after. In this sparkling story, a bump on the head has a boss-loving woman believing she’s married to the man of her dreams....

In March 1998, beloved author Diana Palmer launched VIRGIN BRIDES. This month, Callaghan’s Bride not only marks the anniversary of this special Romance promotion, but it continues her wildly successful LONG, TALL TEXANS series! As a role, hard-edged, bard-bodied Callaghan Hart distrusted sweet, virginal, starry-eyed young ladies. But ranch cook Tess Brady had this cowboy hankerin’ to break all his rules.

Judy Christenberry’s LUCKY CHARM SISTERS miniseries resumes with a warm, emotional pretend engagement story that might just lead to A Ring for Cinderella. When a jaded attorney delivers a very pregnant stranger’s baby he starts a journey toward healing...and making this woman his Texas Bride, the heartwarming new novel by Kate Thomas. In Soldier and the Society Girl by Vivian Leiber, the month’s HE’S MY HERO selection, sparks fly when a true-blue, true-grit American hero requires the protocol services of a refined blue blood. A lone-wolf lawman meets his match in an indomitable schoolteacher—and her moonshining granny—in Gayle Kaye’s Sheriff “takes a Bride, part of FAMILY MATTERS.

Enjoy this month’s fantastic offerings, and make sure to return each and every month to Silhouette Romance!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

JUDY CHRISTENBERRY

has been writing romances for fifteen years because she loves happy endings as much as her readers do. She’s a bestselling author for Harlequin American Romance, but she has a long love of traditional romances and is delighted to tell a story that brings those elements to the reader. Judy quit teaching French recently and devotes her time to writing. She hopes readers have as much fun reading her stories as she does writing them. She spends her spare time reading, watching her favorite sports teams and keeping track of her two daughters. Judy’s a native Texan, living in Piano, a suburb of Dallas.

Chapter One

“More coffee?”

Without lifting his head, Zach Lowery moved his lips in a sham of a smile and nudged his cup toward the end of the table. He stared at the hand holding the glass pot. It was not the hand of the waitress who’d been serving him breakfast, which had been rather red and slightly wrinkled.

This hand was creamy smooth with rose polish adorning its trim nails. His gaze traveled up her arm and reached a face even more beautiful than his ex-wife’s. Soft blond curls framed a delicate face, blue eyes, dark lashes and soft pink cheeks that were growing rosier as he stared.

“Can I get you anything else?” she asked in a husky voice that sizzled through his veins.

Yeah, she could. She could get him some peace for his grandfather, some redemption for himself. All he had to do was find out who she was and get her to play along with his plan.

“Who are you?” he demanded, his voice sounding like he hadn’t used it in years.

She looked startled. Then, seeming to compose herself, she gave a half smile and said, “Susan.”

He let his gaze roam over her. She had a knockout body, wrapped in soft blue knit, the kind of body men dreamed of.

Gramp would believe him if he brought Susan along.

“Susan, you want to get engaged?”

Susan Greenwood was tired. Tired of the money problems that had been her mother’s legacy. Tired of being a single parent to her younger half siblings, Paul and Megan. Tired of putting up a brave front with her older half sisters, Kate and Maggie.

Since her older half sisters had discovered her existence a little over a year ago, the pair had offered her assistance with her problems. As much as she’d come to love Kate and Maggie, she was too proud to shift her burdens to their shoulders. They said she was too hardheaded.

And she was tired of men thinking she was hot to trot because she had a well-endowed figure and blond hair.

But she wasn’t going to be rude to a customer at the Lucky Charm Diner, even if he had just proposed to her. She wouldn’t do that to Kate.

“No, thanks.” She even added a smile as she turned away.

“Wait!”

“You need something else?” She kept her words and her gaze cool, daring him to come on to her again.

“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” He ran a large hand through his dark hair. “Look, I can explain.”

“Not necessary. Enjoy your meal.” Again she turned away and reached the safety of the counter. “You’ll have to serve that guy next time,” she told Brenda, the waitress. “He wants to marry me.”

“I should have such luck!” the middle-aged waitress exclaimed. “’Course, Jerry might object if I threw him over for some cowboy, even if he is handsome.”

Susan smiled and went through the swinging door, past the kitchen to the small office behind it. She helped Brenda when there was a rush at the diner, or when Susan wanted a cup of coffee herself, but her real job was public relations.

She settled into her office chair with a sigh. She’d just started this job a week ago. It certainly beat her old job. She’d received propositions there, too, but they hadn’t involved marriage. She gave a rueful smile and picked up the brochure she was designing.

Maybe she should ask that cowboy to pose for the front cover. They’d get a lot of female customers for the catering business if he did. With a sigh, she tried to dismiss his broad shoulders and hazel eyes. A man wasn’t part of her plans, business or otherwise.

“Susan?” Brenda called as she pushed open the door. “That cowboy’s insisting he talk to you. And I’ve got my hands full with customers. Want me to call the police?”

Susan needed to avoid such a scene if she could. It wouldn’t do the diner’s reputation any good to be associated with a police incident. “I’ll see if I can talk him into leaving.”

When she reached the counter where the cowboy, his Stetson on his head, was waiting, she noted his stern features, his square jaw. He wasn’t going to be easy to dismiss.

“Yes?”

“Susan, I need to talk to you.”

“We serve good food, but conversation isn’t on the menu.” She tried to keep her expression pleasant, but the steeliness of his stare made her uneasy.

“I’m not looking for conversation. I have a proposition for you.”

“Yes, I’ve already heard it, and my answer is no.” She turned around to return to her office, but he reached out and caught her arm before she could get away.

His hard, calloused hand held her firmly but not tightly. “All I’m asking yon to do is listen to what I have to say. Give me ten minutes, in that booth,” he said gesturing to the last booth in the back, the one he’d earlier occupied. “If the answer is still no, I’ll leave and not bother you anymore.”

Susan debated her options. She could refuse and call the police. But she’d rather not. Maybe she could listen, then say no, and hope he kept his word. If not, then they’d definitely have a disturbance on their hands.

“Okay. Would you like more coffee while we talk?”

He stared at her. “You’re not going to run away?”

“No She was glad she was used to hiding her feelings. She didn’t want this cowboy to know she was trembling inside.

He released her arm, drawing his hand back slowly, and nodded. She picked up the coffeepot and two clean cups and saucers. Then she walked the length of the counter, slipped through the opening and continued on to the back booth.

He was right behind her. When he slid into the booth, their knees knocked together and she jumped in surprise.

“Sorry. I’ve got long legs,” he said.

She’d realized that. The man was easily over six foot. She filled the cups of coffee, saying nothing. But she did check the time on her watch.

“I’ve got ten minutes,” he reminded her, his jaw clenched.

She nodded.

Zach couldn’t figure out how to start. Finally, he blurted out, “My grandfather is dying.”

He’d shocked her, but he didn’t know how else to explain his sudden proposal. “He’s been wanting me to marry, have babies.” He stopped and stared out the windows, ashamed of what he had to confess. “I lied to him. I told him I had a woman...a fiancée. He seemed pleased.”

He stopped to take a sip of coffee, but he avoided looking at the beautiful woman across from him. “Then today he had a massive heart attack.” He paused again, this time to swallow the emotion that filled him.

“I’m sorry,,” she said softly, in that husky voice.

His gaze hardened. He’d been misled before by a beautiful face and a sweet voice. Women used their softness to trap a man.

“He wants to meet my fiancée.”

He watched her carefully as comprehension filled her gaze. “I see. And you want me to—”

“Pretend to be my fiancée.”

“I appreciate your predicament, but—”

“I’ll pay you!” He was desperate. She was a beautiful woman, the kind Gramp would expect him to choose. And he didn’t have much time.

“No, I—”

“Ten thousand dollars.”

He watched cynically as the amount he’d offered penetrated her brain. Then he leaned back against the cushioned bench. “Not bad for one night’s work, is it?”

She stared at him. “Define ‘night.’”

He gave her a look of disgust. “Lady, I don’t have to pay for that kind of evening. I’m talking about a visit to the intensive care unit at the hospital. It won’t take long. He—he doesn’t have a lot of strength.”

“You’re serious?”

Suddenly, weariness hit him. What had he been hoping? That this woman, in spite of her incredible beauty, would put someone else’s needs before her own? Yeah, right.

“Can you afford to—”

He whipped out his checkbook. “Ever heard of the Lowery Ranch?”

She nodded, frowning.

“Well, I’m the heir to the Lowery Ranch. I can afford it.” He scrawled his name on the check and ripped it out of his checkbook. “Here’s five thousand now. You’ve got time to put it in the bank before it closes. I’ll give you the other five thousand when it’s over.”

She stared at the check as if she couldn’t believe it. Then she slowly reached out and picked it up from the table.

“What’s your last name and address?”

She answered him as if in a daze, and he jotted down the information. She didn’t live in the best part of town, he realized.

“I’ll pick you up at six-thirty. Be ready.”

Then he walked out of the diner.

Susan continued to stare at the check for long minutes after the stranger’s departure. Five thousand dollars. She couldn’t believe it.

Her half sister’s room and board at college was due in two weeks. Megan would be a freshman and had gotten a scholarship for her tuition. All she needed was living expenses to go as long as Susan could come up with the money. And suddenly, here it was.

She knew she should tear the check up. In fact, she’d been considering offering to help the man, but there was her eight-year-old brother, Paul, to consider. Before she could decide, the cowboy had thrown his money in her face.

If he truly was the Lowery heir, he had plenty to spare. And she was going to do him a service, pretending to be his fiancée. But all the justification in the world didn’t ease her conscience.

Deliberately, she folded the check. Her conscience would have to live with it. She wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity to pay for Megan’s living expenses at college, maybe even finish paying off her mother’s debts, buy Paul a few clothes for when he started school. She couldn’t afford to let this opportunity go.

She’d been parent and sister to both of her younger half siblings for four years now. Her mother had died when Susan was twenty-one. She’d just finished her junior year in school, existing on a scholarship and a part-time job as a waitress.

Suddenly, she had to provide for Megan and Paul, as well as herself. And deal with her mother’s debts. All her plans, her dreams, had disappeared as she faced her responsibilities.

She’d had a surprise eighteen months ago when she acquired two more half sisters and learned of her father, and that he’d just died. Her new sisters assured her her father had only found out about her existence just before his death. Her mother, when she’d asked questions as a child, had told her her father had moved on. He hadn’t been interested in her.

Neither had the other men her mother had been with. Each time the men disappeared, her mother was left with a child and no support. Susan had grown up ashamed of her mother and her behavior. When Paul’s and Megan’s fathers had disappeared also, Susan had felt responsible for helping to raise her half siblings.

Kate and Maggie, her new half sisters, were wonderful, and the feeling of not being alone anymore made a huge difference to Susan. Even financially, she’d gained. The diner, where she now worked, had been her father’s. She was actually part-owner, with Kate and Maggie, though she’d protested their including her.

And when, last week, she’d quit her public relations job with a local firm because her boss wouldn’t leave her alone, Kate had immediately hired her for the Lucky Charm Diner and Catering Company. But they were just beginning to show a profit, and the salary was less than she’d been making.

She couldn’t turn down the money the cowboy had offered her.

As weird as his offer was, at least she would be earning the money and not taking charity from her new family.

She slid out of the booth. “Brenda, I’m going to leave a few minutes early today.”

The waitress only nodded.

She’d been careful to adhere to a strict work schedule in the week she’d been there. She didn’t want anyone to think she’d taken advantage of Kate. But this was an exception. It was four-thirty. She could get to the drive-through window of the bank before it closed, just as the cowboy had said.

What if he wasn’t who he said he was? What if the check bounced higher than a skyscraper? She sighed as she picked up her purse from beside her desk. She’d find out soon enough, and if it wasn’t any good, she’d be no worse off than she was now.

Which was flat broke.

After depositing the check, she hurried home. Paul spent his days with her neighbor. Rosa Cavalho had an eight-year-old, too, Manuel, and he and Paul were best friends. What Susan paid Rosa helped their tight budget, and it ensured that Paul was safe.

In two more weeks, school would start. Then her baby-sitting fees would go down. But Paul’s appetite seemed to increase each year. Her grocery bill was growing along with him.

“Rosa?” she called as she rapped on the apartment door across from hers.

It swung open, and two little boys looked at her in surprise. “You’re early!” Paul exclaimed. Then he gave her a big smile and hugged her waist. “Hi!”

“Hi, yourself. How’s everything?”

“Who is it?” Rosa called. She did sewing at home to add to her husband’s construction income.

“It’s me,” Susan called as she headed to Rosa’s bedroom, where she worked. “Could you keep Paul this evening for a couple of hours?”

“Oh, Susan, I’m sorry, but we have to go to my mother-in-law’s tonight. It’s a command performance,” Rosa said with sarcasm. Her husband’s family didn’t like Rosa because she was from a poor family and hadn’t increased her husband’s financial worth.

“That’s okay. I’ll just have to take Paul with me.”

“You have a date?” Rosa asked, hope in her voice. She worried that Susan didn’t get out much.

“No, it’s sort of a job, but Paul won’t get in the way. He can sit in the lounge. What’s the occasion at your mother-in-law’s?”

Rosa made a face. “Pedro’s sister is in town with her wealthy husband.”

“Looks like we’ll both have an exciting evening,” Susan said with a laugh. “I’ll take Paul home now.”

In spite of Paul’s protests, Susan insisted he come with her. Those protests were nothing compared to the ones he made when he discovered he had to bathe and put on his one pair of nice slacks and a clean shirt.

“I can stay by myself, Susan. I’m eight now. I don’t need to go with you.”

She smiled down at his earnest expression. “Sweetie, I know you’re eight. But I can’t leave you alone at night. Besides, it will be interesting. You haven’t been to a hospital since you were born.”

Scowling, he dragged his feet to the door of his room. “I won’t have a good time.”

“Sometimes, we don’t. But we do what we have to, right?” It was a lesson she’d learned long ago.

“Yeah,” he agreed, resignation in his voice.

“Go ahead and take your shower now, Paul, while I figure out what we’re going to eat for dinner. I’ll need the bathroom after we eat.”

Some day they were going to have more than one bathroom. When Megan was home, she and her sister had to share the larger bedroom, leaving Paul the smaller room for himself. Her dream was to have a home where everyone had his or her own space.

Megan had gone to the University of Nebraska early for orientation and to find a job. Although like Susan, Megan had gotten a scholarship for her tuition, she still intended to help Susan pay for her room and board.

Which brought Susan’s thoughts back to this evening. As she opened a can of tuna to add to the casserole she was making, she justified her behavior in taking the money again.

They were good reasons.

And had nothing to do with the handsomeness of the cowboy. But she couldn’t deny his good looks affected her. Not that anything would come of it, of course. But he was a sexy man.

And for an hour, she would be his fiancee.

Zach went to his favorite store on the Plaza and bought everything he’d need to dress for the evening. Then he checked into a nearby hotel.

It was difficult to think of practical matters after what the doctors had told him about his grandfather. The one person he loved more than anyone else on earth could die at any moment His grandfather had had a heart attack this morning. They’d flown him by helicopter to Kansas City and finally stabilized him, but it had been touch-and-go.

Dear God, he loved that old man.

And why wouldn’t he? Gramp had been there for him all his life, had become his only parent when his mom and dad had died in a car accident when he was eight.

Gramp had given him hugs as well as a whack on his rear when he’d needed them. He’d taught Zach ranching and manners.

He’d taught him to be a man.

And Zach had failed him.

The one thing Gramp had wanted was for Zach to marry. To provide sons to carry on the ranch traditions that had gone on for four generations. He’d tried. Five years ago, he’d married a beautiful woman, sure he’d found his own true love.

He snorted in disgust That marriage hadn’t worked out. No marriage. No heirs.

Which brought him back to Susan Greenwood.

An hour later, he settled into the dining room of the hotel and ordered a steak with all the trimmings. He’d talked to the doctor before he’d come down to dinner and Gramp was holding his own, looking forward to Zach’s arrival that evening with his fiancée.

Gramp was like a dog with one bone. He never left it alone. He wanted great-grandsons.

Too bad making babies wasn’t part of the deal with Susan, he decided with a wry smile. The lady was one tasty morsel. But he’d had enough of women with cash-register hearts. He might enjoy a night spent with one every once in a while. Hell, he was a man. But he wasn’t about to give any of them legal or emotional control over him or anything that belonged to him.

But Gramp’s happiness was important to him.

That was why he was dressed in a sport coat, slacks, crisp white shirt and, worst of all, a tie. He hated those things. But tonight was important. If he’d come to the hospital in his jeans to introduce his fiancee, Gramp would be offended.

After paying his bill, he settled his Stetson on his head and headed for the rental car. Since he’d traveled on the helicopter with Gramp to Kansas City, he didn’t have his pickup with him. Instead, he had to fit his big frame into a four-door sedan.

He’d gotten directions from the concierge before leaving the hotel, just to be sure he had the right area of town. As he drove, the neighborhoods changed from the elegant to the barely habitable.

Pulling up in front of an apartment building with peeling paint and a small patch of grass that hadn’t been mowed any too recently, he frowned. Had he made a mistake? Susan had looked high-class, though he now realized she’d worn no jewelry other than plain gold earrings.

He got out of the car and locked the door. Checking the address once more, he headed for the stairs in the center of the building. When he found the apartment on the second floor, he rapped firmly.

The door swung open, and he had to drop his gaze to look at the person who had opened the door. A little boy stared up at him.

“Hello. I’m looking for Susan Greenwood.”

“Okay. Susan?” the boy called. “He’s here.” Then he turned back around to stare up at Zach. “I’m ready.”

That gave Zach pause. “Uh, okay. Where are you going?”

“With you. But I don’t want to.”

Chapter Two

“Paul, that was ill-mannered. Apologize to Mr. Lowery, please,” Susan called as she entered the living room of their apartment.

Then she looked at Zach Lowery.

Gone was the scruffy outdoorsman in his tight jeans and Western shirt. In his place was a cleans-haven, expensively dressed man. Handsome as sin.

She also realized she recognized him. His picture was in the society pages frequently. But he was usually dressed in a tux with a beautiful woman on his arm.

All that remained of the. cowboy she’d met earlier today was his hat.

“I’m sorry about Paul. but I couldn’t get a sitter. And I promise he’ll be well behaved.” She lifted her chin as she met his glare. Her arm stole around Paul’s thin shoulders, afraid the man would hurt her brother’s feelings.