Lone Star Bride

“I seem to recall that you just agreed to be my friend,”Letter to ReaderTitle PageDedicationAbout the AuthorChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenCopyright

“I seem to recall that you just agreed to be my friend,”

Tony said.

Mariah pressed her back against the door. “I don’t know why I did that. I prefer that we remain strangers.”

“It’s too late. We’re way beyond the stranger stage. Or don’t you know the evolutionary steps of the man-woman relationship?”

Mariah, who didn’t have a clue what he meant, shook her head.

“I’ll be glad to teach them to you. At stage one, we’re strangers. Stage two is the acquaintance phase.... After friends, of course, comes lovers,” Tony continued, taking one last step forward. “Lovers is my favorite stage.” He grinned.

“There’s just so much to do in this phase. So...very...much...”

A panicky sidelong glance revealed that his arms and body pinned her to the spot. She should have punched him.

Instead, she melted into his kiss....

Dear Reader,

You’ll find the heartwarming themes of love and family in our November Romance novels. First up, longtime reader favorite Arlene James portrays A Bride To Honor. In this VIRGIN BRIDES title, a pretty party planner falls for a charming tycoon...whom another woman seeks to rope into a loveless marriage! But can honorable love prevail?

A little tyke takes a tumble, then awakes to ask a rough-hewn rancher, Are You My Daddy? So starts Leanna Wilson’s poignant, emotional romance between a mom and a FABULOUS FATHER who “pretends” he’s family. Karen Rose Smith finishes her enticing series DO YOU TAKE THIS STRANGER? with Promises. Pumpkins and Prince Charming. A wealthy bachelor lets a gun-shy single mom believe he’s just a regular guy. Will their fairy-tale romance survive the truth?

FOLLOW THAT BABY, Silhouette’s exciting cross-line continuity series, comes to Romance this month with The Daddy and the Baby Doctor by star author Kristin Morgan. An ex-soldier single dad butts heads with a beautiful pediatrician over a missing patient Temperatures rise, pulses race—could marriage be the cure? It’s said that opposites attract, and when The Cowboy and the Debutante cozy up on a rustic ranch...well, you’ll just have to read this TWINS ON THE DOORSTEP title by Stella Bagwell to find out! A hairdresser dreams of becoming a Lone Star Bride when a handsome stranger passes through town. Don’t miss the finale of Linda Vamer’s THREE WEDDINGS AND A FAMILY miniseries!

Belovod authors Lindsay Longford, Sandra Steffen, Susan Meier and Carolyn Zane return to our lineup next month, and in the new year we launch our brand-new promotion, FAMILY MATTERS. So keep coming back to Romance!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary-Theresa Hussey Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book is dedicated to a special long-distance friend,

Dora E. Pendetgraft

LINDA VARNER

confesses she is a hopeless romantic. Nothing is more thrilling, she believes, than the battle of wits between a man and a woman who are meant for each other but just don’t know it yet! Linda enjoys writing romance and considers herself very lucky to have been both a RITA finalist and a third-place winner in the National Readers’ Choice Awards in 1993.

A full-time federal employee, Linda lives in Arkansas with her husband and their two children. She loves to hear from readers. Write to her at 813 Oak St., Suite 10A-277, Conway, AR 72032.

SAMPSON FAMILY TREE

Chapter One

A trained chimp could drive this car, thought Mariah Ashe with a soft sigh of boredom. Nonetheless, she kept her eyes glued to the two-lane highway, arrow straight at this point and without hill or valley, vehicle or pedestrian to break the monotony.

Most days, that was.

Today Mariah actually spotted a suspicious dot miles ahead, marring the flat Southern Texas horizon. Instantly her curiosity was piqued. And as the car Mariah was driving zipped past the white lines dividing Hwy 385, she watched with interest how the dot grew in size until it materialized into a pickup truck with concessionaire’s trailer, parked on the shoulder up ahead.

“I’ve seen that rig before!” exclaimed Opal Crawford, one of Mariah’s passengers and half owner of the car.

“I have, too!” chimed in the other half owner, Opal’s twin sister Ruby Smythe. “Slow down, Mariah! We want a better look.”

Mariah willingly did as requested, braking the car until it barely rolled past the beautiful rig. Long and jet-black, the trailer sported a Texas license plate and side window flaps that could be raised to reveal whatever merchandise was inside. The words Tony Mason, Freelance Artist were painted on the doors of both the trailer and the antique truck, which gleamed even though the sun barely peeked through the storm clouds that had hovered for days.