The Groom's Little Girls

This Attorney’s Got A Case Of True Love!

Father to tenacious and adorable twin girls. Business owner. Friend. That’s plenty for Tyler Jackson to juggle. Did he really need to add mentoring a troubled little boy to that list? Yet he knows he can make a difference and maybe help the child’s guardian, Dani Post, too. Because something about the lovely lawyer sends the widower’s heart skipping...

After several difficult months, Dani is finally getting her career and life back while learning to deal with her PTSD. Her heart is even opening up again, thanks to handsome Tyler. His ability to care for family and help her unsettled charge sparks something deep within Dani—something she thought was lost long ago. But can she learn to trust again—and open her heart to Paradise?

“There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” No, Tyler had no intention of keeping Dani from joining them. In fact, he found he was almost looking forward to another meeting with the fiery lawyer. Ever since his wife’s death, his friends and family had treated him with kid gloves—always careful with how they spoke, what they said.

Dani, on the other hand, had gotten in his face, telling him what she thought without holding back. That kind of forthrightness was refreshing and, he was shocked to realize, a bit of a turn-on.

Of course, it wasn’t going to lead to anything; he was already overwhelmed with running a business and caring for his daughters, not to mention the new responsibility of being a mentor to a troubled boy. The very last thing he needed was one more complication in his life—romantic or otherwise.

Still, there was no harm in looking. No harm at all.

* * *

Proposals in Paradise: True love on bended knee!

The Groom’s Little Girls

Katie Meyer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

KATIE MEYER is a Florida native with a firm belief in happy endings. A former veterinary technician and dog trainer, she now spends her days homeschooling her children, writing and snuggling with her pets. Her guilty pleasures include good chocolate, Downton Abbey and cheap champagne. Preferably all at once. She looks to her parents’ whirlwind romance and her own happy marriage for her romantic inspiration.

This book is dedicated to all those who have been mistreated because of their gender or sexual identity, and to anyone struggling with mental health issues, especially PTSD.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

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

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Why were the good-looking ones always jerks?

That was the thought circling through lawyer Dani Post’s mind as Tyler Jackson made his way to the witness box. Yes, he was gorgeous, with ice-blue eyes, short, cropped blond hair and an athletic build that had the middle-aged courtroom reporter nearly drooling as she typed. But he obviously lacked a shred of human decency, as far as Dani could tell, and she’d had more than enough experience with men like that. It was because of him that the little boy at her side was trembling with fear, his sweaty hand clenched around her own.

Kevin McCarthy, a precocious nine-year-old, had been caught stealing a baseball bat from the toy store that Tyler owned. Obviously he shouldn’t have done it, but there were extenuating circumstances, not the least of which was that Kevin was a foster kid who’d been through more trauma in his short life than most adults could even imagine. The boy had just wanted to be able to join in the pick-up baseball games at the park, and knowing his foster parents couldn’t afford a new bat he’d grabbed one out of desperation, hoping that it would help him fit in with his peers. Dani didn’t condone his actions, but surely the coldhearted toy-store owner could have handled it without going to the cops! He could have just made the boy return the bat or spoken to his foster parents. Maybe had him do some chores around the shop. But instead he’d pressed charges against a kid barely big enough to see over the witness box.

And now Kevin was her very first guardian ad litem case. Guardians ad litem, GALs for short, were adult volunteers who were assigned to children involved in the family court system, to advocate for their rights and help make what could be a frightening process easier for the child. Originally they had only been assigned in abuse cases, but Palmetto County, Florida, had recently expanded the program to all foster children, to help them navigate the family court system. Dani’s job was to help him understand what was happening, and to speak out on the child’s behalf as his representative. And now, with Kevin facing criminal charges, she was also acting as his guide through the juvenile justice system.

A legal background like Dani’s, although not necessary, was helpful, and the program director had assured Dani that even though she’d only been practicing a few years she was more than qualified. But nothing in the training program had prepared her for how emotional it would be, and how hard. The very thing that had drawn her to the program, her understanding of what it felt like to be vulnerable and powerless, was what made doing the job so heartbreaking. When she looked at Kevin she didn’t see a case or a volunteer project. She saw a frightened little boy who had made a mistake he was very sorry for. He was just a kid who needed a break—someone to stand by him and believe in him. Sitting next to her, legs dangling several inches above the ground, he seemed so small and vulnerable. And she knew too well what it was like to feel vulnerable.