The Honor Bound Groom

Kate Fortune’s Journal EntryLetter to ReaderTitle PageAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenTeaser chapterCopyright

Kate Fortune’s Journal Entry

I couldn’t be happier about Kelly and Mac’s wedding! Thank goodness Mac knows the meaning of family honor and doing the right thing, especially since Kelly Sinclair had always been more like a daughter to me than an employee. Mac knows how worried I’ve been about Kelly once I learned how his brother Chad took advantage of her trusting innocence and ran off, leaving her pregnant and unwed! I’m just so proud of the way Mac’s taken charge of this awful situation, and I know he’s going to make Kelly a wonderful husband.

It’s been such fun helping these two dears plan their wedding. Oh, I know they’re not in love now! But I think Kelly’s about to show Mac exactly what’s missing in his life.... And I can hardly wait to see what this new year holds for them and the rest of my precious family!

Dear Reader,

Welcome to a new year with Silhouette Desire! We begin the year in celebration—it’s the 10th Anniversary of MAN OF THE MONTH! And kicking off the festivities is the incomparable Diana Palmer, with January’s irresistible hero, Simon Hart, in Beloved.

Also launching this month is Desire’s series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES. So many of you wrote to us that you loved Silhouette’s series FORTUNE’S CHILDREN—now here’s a whole new branch of the family! Awardwinning author Jennifer Greene inaugurates this series with The Honor Bound Groom.

Popular Anne Marie Winston begins BUTLER COUNTY BRIDES, a new miniseries about three small-town friends who find true love, with The Baby Consultant. Sara Orwig offers us a marriage of convenience in The Cowboy’s Seductive Propasal. Next, experience love on a ranch in Hart’s Baby by Christy Lockhart. And opposites attract in The Scandalous Heiress by Kathryn Taylor.

So, indulge yourself in 1999 with Silhouette Desire—powerful, provocative and passionate love stories that speak to today’s multifaceted woman. Each month we offer you six compelling romances to meet your many moods, with heroines you’ll care about and heroes to die for. Silhouette Desire is everything you desire in a romance novel.

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

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

The Honor Bound Groom

Jennifer Greene

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to

Jennifer Greene for her contribution to the Fortune’s Children miniseries.

JENNIFER GREENE

lives near Lake Michigan with her husband and two children. Before writing full-time, she worked as a teacher and a personnel manager. Michigan State University honored her as an “outstanding woman graduate” for her work with women on campus.

Ms. Greene has written more than fifty category romances, for which she has won numerous awards, including three RITA Awards from the Romance Writers of America in the Best Short Contemporary Books category, and she entered RWA’s Hall of Fame in 1998. She is also the recipient of a Career Achievement award from Romantic Times Magazine.

Meet the Fortunes—three generations of a family with a legacy of wealth, influence and power As they gather for a host of weddings, shocking family secrets are revealed...and passionate new romances are ignited

KELLY SINCLAIR: This sweet, single woman trusted the wrong man, but she’s determined to do anything to protect the littlest Fortune—even if it means marrying the baby’s uncle!

MAC FORTUNE: The brooding CEO thought he knew all about being responsible and acting honorably when he proposed a marriage-in-name-only to pregnant Kelly Sinclair. Until she and precious Annie moved into his home, and suddenly, keeping them at arm’s length became physically—and emotionally—impossible....

ANNIE FORTUNE: This adorable baby may be the youngest Fortune, but she’s a heartbreaker-in-waiting for the next generation.

KATE FORTUNE: She’s just celebrated her eightieth birthday, but the family matriarch is still going strong, rejuvenated by all the lovely newcomers to the Fortune family!

One

The wedding was a mistake. Getting married had seemed an outstanding idea to Kelly Sinclair two weeks ago, last week and even when she’d woken up this morning. But that was then and this was now. At this precise moment, Kelly realized—with a flash of brilliant clarity—that she’d have to be bonkers to go through with this.

The creamy gardenias clutched in her hands started trembling and wouldn’t quit. Anxiety sloshed in her stomach in sick, dread-filled waves. Maybe most brides suffered some nerves on their wedding day, but the average, normal bride wasn’t seven months pregnant. She not only felt scared, but she also felt ugly, fat and scared—a lethal combination. To add insult to injury, her pregnant condition made a swift escape an especially challenging problem. Her fastest speed was a waddle. A duck could probably beat her in a sprint.