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Just Between Friends
Julianna Morris
They've been stick-up-for-each-other friends since they were kids. But now Katrina Douglas was beautiful, all grown up…and still asking for her best buddy's help. Only this time, she didn't want Dylan as her stand-in date at isome stuffy charity event–she wanted him as her full-time husband!And Dylan O'Rourke would do almost anything for Kate. Even walk down the aisle and tie the temporary knot with a little white "I do" lie. But playing husband meant living with a friend who seemed more like a sexy woman–his woman–every day. Suddenly, being "just friends" didn't seem like enough….
“Breakfast is almost ready,”
Kate called.
Dylan came in, fastening his shirt. “You don’t have to cook for me. I don’t expect it.”
“I don’t mind.”
“At least you should wear something a little less…that is, something more suitable for cooking.”
Perplexed, Kate looked down at her nightshirt.
“What’s wrong with this?”
“For one thing, there’s nothing to protect your skin,” Dylan growled. “Your legs are completely bare.”
“Not really. See?” She plucked at the nightshirt, pulling it higher. The shirt went halfway down her thighs.
“For God’s sake, don’t do that!”
Dear Reader,
Whether our heroes are flirting with their best friends or taking care of adorable tots, their stories of falling for the right woman are sure to melt your heart. Don’t miss one magical moment of this month’s collection from Silhouette Romance.
Carolyn Zane begins THE BRUBAKER BRIDES miniseries by introducing us to the first of three Texas-bred sisters, in Virginia’s Getting Hitched (SR #1730). Dr. Virginia Brubaker knows the secret to a long-lasting relationship: compatibility. But one sexy, irreverent ranch hand has a different theory all together…that he hopes to test on the prim but not-so-proper doctor!
In Just Between Friends (SR #1731), the latest emotion-packed tale from Julianna Morris, a handsome contractor rescues his well-to-do best friend by agreeing to marry her—for a year. But he doesn’t know about her little white lie—for them, she’s always wanted more than friendship.…
Prince Perfect always answers the call of duty…to his sons and to his kingdom. But his beautiful nanny tempts him to let go of his inhibitions and give in to the call of the heart. Find out if this bachelor dad will make the perfect husband, in Falling for Prince Federico (SR #1732) by Nicole Burnham.
The newest title from Holly Jacobs, Be My Baby (SR #1733), promises a rollicking good time! When a carefree single guy finds a baby on his doorstep, he’s sure things couldn’t get worse—until he’s stranded in a snowstorm with his annoyingly attractive receptionist. With sparks flying, they’re guaranteed to stay warm!
Sincerely,
Mavis C. Allen
Associate Senior Editor
Just Between Friends
Julianna Morris
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To my sister.
Thanks for pitching in…even when it wasn’t fun.
Books by Julianna Morris
Silhouette Romance
Baby Talk #1097
Family of Three #1178
Daddy Woke Up Married #1252
Dr. Dad #1278
The Marriage Stampede #1375
* (#litres_trial_promo) Callie, Get Your Groom #1436
* (#litres_trial_promo) Hannah Gets a Husband #1448
* (#litres_trial_promo) Jodie’s Mail-Order Man #1460
Meeting Megan Again #1502
Tick Tock Goes the Baby Clock #1531
Last Chance for Baby! #1565
A Date with a Billionaire #1590
The Right Twin for Him #1676
The Bachelor Boss #1703
Just Between Friends #1731
JULIANNA MORRIS
has an offbeat sense of humor, which frequently gets her into trouble. She is often accused of being curious about everything. Her interests range from oceanography and photography to traveling, antiquing, walking on the beach and reading science fiction.
Julianna loves cats of all shapes and sizes, and recently she was adopted by a feline companion named Merlin. Like his namesake, Merlin is an alchemist—she says he can transform the house into a disaster area in nothing flat. And since he shares the premises with a writer, it’s interesting to note that he’s particularly fond of knocking books on the floor.
Julianna happily reports meeting her Mr. Right. Together they are working on a new dream of building a shoreline home in the Great Lakes area.
Contents
Chapter One (#ud0457389-6f0a-5428-9c62-5d7686547f35)
Chapter Two (#ud2c02f75-4539-5c87-8f5d-c0412ea482e1)
Chapter Three (#ub4a513b2-5c8e-5784-9705-9e1a07fac88d)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
“I’m sorry, you can’t go in.”
Dylan O’Rourke heard his secretary’s protest a split second before the door opened. He spun his chair around, prepared to deal with an insistent client, and saw Kate Douglas instead.
“Kate.”
She smiled. “Hey, Dylan.”
“What do you want?”
With Kate it was wise to cut to the chase. When they were kids he’d had an annoying habit of being unable to say “no” to the lady—like the time she’d gotten him to help her run away from home. He still remembered his father’s blistering lecture over that particular stunt. After that Dylan had nicknamed her “Katydid,” to remind himself that he didn’t have to do everything that Kate did.
“Right now I want to sit down.”
Kate sank onto the couch and crossed her legs. Her long gold hair matched the earrings and the gold chain around her neck, and she wore a white silk dress, white silk hose and a pair of white leather sandals…an outfit that probably cost more than his first car.
White, in a construction office.
Dylan shook his head, yet he couldn’t help grinning at the same time. Common dirt wouldn’t dare stick to someone with Katrina Douglas’s kind of old money—gold dust, maybe, but never just plain dirt.
“It’s good to see you,” Kate said softly.
“Same here.” And he meant it. Kate might be a spoiled rich kid, but she was bright and full of fun…and she could wheedle a glass of water from a man lost in the desert.
Of course, he was older now, and not nearly so susceptible. He usually got stuck with buying tickets to some god-awful charity event when she stopped by to see him, but he’d refused other stuff. Like the time she’d wanted to auction him as a bachelor at one of her fund-raisers. Dylan shuddered at the memory. He was willing to escort her now and then to a party, but get auctioned?
Not a chance.
“What is it, Kate?” he asked, determined to get right to the heart of the matter. “Another fund-raiser? I’ll donate, but I’m not coming.”
“No, it isn’t another fund-raiser. Though it was mean of you not to show up at the last one. You were supposed to be my date.”
“No, I wasn’t. I told you I couldn’t go to that one, you just didn’t listen.”
She didn’t look convinced. “There I was, all alone,” she said. “It was terrible—it’s humiliating to be the only woman without an escort.”
Dylan almost fell into the trap before he caught the sparkle in her green eyes. “Brat,” he muttered.
“So, why couldn’t you come?”
“I was busy. And I’m tired of dry sandwiches with the crusts cut off.”
“They weren’t dry.”
“They’re always dry. You’ve dragged me to enough of those things for me to know I’ll be poorly fed and miserably uncomfortable. Honest, Katydid, you have the most boring friends. And they have an insatiable curiosity about how you happen to know an immigrant Irish construction worker. I should wear a sign that says My Dad Was One of the Help. Maybe I’d get left in peace.”
“Strictly speaking, your parents were the immigrants. You were born in the United States.”
“You know what I mean.”
“And you own the construction company,” Kate added. “You’re a very successful businessman.”
“Don’t glamorize me. I’m still a construction worker, and your friends wouldn’t know the difference between the working end of a hammer and a staple gun.”
“Maybe they’re curious because you’re Kane O’Rourke’s brother,” she said brightly.
Dylan snorted. His brother had become one of the wealthiest men in the country, but to the Douglases’ small and snobbish social circle, it was new money and not worth their attention. Of course, some of the unattached women he’d met at those fund-raisers had obviously hoped for an introduction to Kane, at least before he’d gotten married.
Thank God Kane had found a genuinely sweet and loving woman. Beth was terrific—down-to-earth and totally unimpressed with her husband’s money.
“Or maybe everyone wonders what such a great-looking guy is doing with me,” Kate suggested.
She did her best to look pathetic, but Dylan wasn’t buying a second of it. If he hadn’t watched her grow up from a skinny little kid, Kate’s golden-haired beauty would probably knock him breathless. Instead he was merely wary.
“Then when you don’t escort me,” she continued sadly, “I’ll bet they think you found someone prettier.”
“Give me a break,” Dylan muttered.
He didn’t usually think about the way Kate had blossomed. He wasn’t even sure when it had happened. One minute she was a bratty kid with a genius for talking him into trouble, the next minute she was dropping male jaws all over Seattle. But she still seemed awfully young—mostly because of the impish mischief lurking in her sea green eyes.
After a moment Kate looked up, but for once her eyes were very serious. “What you said about the ‘help’…does it bother you that your father used to work for my family?”
“Not particularly. Your friends, on the other hand?” Dylan lifted a shoulder.
“We might work on fund-raising projects together, but they’re my mother’s friends,” Kate said slowly. “I don’t fit in that well.”
“You’re young, give it a couple years.”
