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To Have And To Hold: Made for Marriage / To Wed a Rancher / The Mummy Proposal
Helen Lacey
Myrna Mackenzie
Cathy Gillen Thacker
Made for Marriage by Helen LaceyNoah Preston has managed to get on the wrong side of Equestrian teacher Callie Jones. But Callie is so much more than her fiery personality…and Noah wants her for keeps!To Wed a Rancher by Myrna MackenzieShane Merritt plans to sell his parent’s ranch. But Rachel Everly’s enthusiasm for the ranch, and Shane’s enthusiasm in her starts to change everything…!The Mummy Proposal By Cathy Gillen ThackerNate’s gearing up to become an adoptive father – so hires Brooke Mitchell to turn his lonely bachelor estate into a real home. They both end up getting more than they bargained for!
HELEN LACEY grew up reading Black Beauty, Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie. These childhood classics inspired her to write her first book when she was seven years old, a story about a girl and her horse. She continued to write with the dream of one day being a published author and writing for Cherish is the realisation of that dream. She loves creating stories about strong heroes with a soft heart and heroines who get their happily ever after. for more about Helen visit her website at www.helenlacey.com (http://www.helenlacey.com).
MYRNA MACKENZIE grew up not having a clue what she wanted to be—she hadn’t been born a princess, the one job she thought she might like because of the steady flow of pretty dresses and crowns—but she knew that she loved stories and happy endings, so falling into life as a romance writer was pretty much inevitable. An award-winning author, with over thirty-five novels written, Myrna now divides her time between two lakes in Chicago and Wisconsin—both very different and both very beautiful. She adores the internet (which still seems magical after all these years), loves coffee, hiking, attempting gardening (without much success), cooking and knitting.
Readers (and other potential gardeners, cooks, knitters, writers, etc.) can visit Myrna online at www.myrnamackenzie.com (http://www.myrnamackenzie.com), or write to her at PO Box 225, La Grange, IL 60525, USA.
CATHY GILLEN THACKER is married and a mother of three. She and her husband spent eighteen years in Texas and now reside in North Carolina. Her mysteries, romantic comedies and heartwarming family stories have made numerous appearances on bestseller lists, but her best reward, she says, is knowing one of her books made someone’s day a little brighter. A popular author for many years, she loves telling passionate stories with happy endings, and thinks nothing beats a good romance and a hot cup of tea! You can visit Cathy’s website at www.cathygillenthacker.com (http://www.cathygillenthacker.com) for more information on her upcoming and previously published books, recipes and a list of her favourite things.
To Have and To Hold
Made for Marriage
Helen Lacey
To Wed a Rancher
Myrna Mackenzie
The Mummy Proposal
Cathy Gillen Thacker
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08149-8
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
Made for Marriage © 2012 Helen Lacey To Wed a Rancher © 2011 Myrna Topol The Mummy Proposal © 2010 Cathy Gillen Thacker
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#u9a261b7a-ef6f-54b6-a65e-36b7ecca7e06)
About the Authors (#ufc0152a5-b94d-5ebd-9a54-57e94c119e5f)
Title Page (#u22f6c98c-5e9a-5fe2-a5fb-1e7b1df36865)
Copyright (#u9a261b7a-ef6f-54b6-a65e-36b7ecca7e06)
Made for Marriage (#u6368866a-52b3-565b-b464-c19defc4f068)
Dedication (#ueae16d4f-094d-537c-ad57-8de3e39414f4)
Chapter One (#ub378af64-2e3c-5314-bbe7-493effa240ed)
Chapter Two (#u8ee73545-74c5-5e85-bf0d-a7faa31b3dfa)
Chapter Three (#u6b91338e-c57d-52d4-9156-7afda0ebb8c5)
Chapter Four (#u923154cd-a5eb-505e-bd79-7d4c74d07528)
Chapter Five (#u07e042dd-cd34-5431-9fea-a01f29a55bd4)
Chapter Six (#u4cc12b0d-0a9b-5e66-99bd-5d830d35eb9e)
Chapter Seven (#u3fa46fe6-3012-5839-86f0-0e65370a562e)
Chapter Eight (#u41bbad73-487f-54d1-8964-d3e28aaaf0ef)
Chapter Nine (#u21061b6a-799a-51f5-989e-ef1c4f6e726e)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
To Wed a Rancher (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
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)
The Mummy Proposal (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)
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)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Made for Marriage (#u418be5ea-a9d5-52b7-a196-c52cb9116728)
Helen Lacey
For Robert
Emphatically, Undeniably, Categorically.
Chapter One (#u418be5ea-a9d5-52b7-a196-c52cb9116728)
Callie Jones knew trouble when she came upon it. And the thirteen-year-old who stood defiantly in front of her looked like more trouble than she wanted on a Saturday morning. For one thing, Callie liked to sleep later on the weekend, and the teenager with the impudent expression had banged on her door at an indecently early 6:00 a.m. And for another, the girl wasn’t anything like she’d expected. Her long black hair was tied up in an untidy ponytail revealing at least half a dozen piercings in her ears, plus another in both her brow and nose. And the dark kohl smudged around her eyes was heavier than any acceptable trend Callie had ever seen.
“I’m Lily,” the girl said, crossing her thin arms. “I’m here for my lesson.”
Callie opened the front door fractionally, grateful she’d had the sense to wrap herself in an old dressing gown before she’d come to the door. It was chilly outside. “You’re early,” she said, spotting a bicycle at the bottom of the steps.
The teenager shrugged her shoulders. “So what? I’m here now.”
Callie hung on to her patience. “I told your father eight o’clock.”
Lily shrugged again, without any apology in her expression. “Then I guess he told me the wrong time.” The girl looked her over, and Callie felt the burning scrutiny right down to her toes.
Callie took a deep breath and glanced over the girl’s head. Dawn was just breaking on the horizon. Another hour of sleep would have been nice, but she wasn’t about to send Lily home.
“Okay, Lily. Give me a few minutes to get ready.” Callie pointed to the wicker love seat on the porch. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
The girl shrugged. “Whatever.”
Callie locked the security mesh screen as discreetly as she could and turned quickly on her heels. She didn’t want an unsupervised teenager wandering around her house while she changed her clothes. Dashing into the bathroom, she washed her face and brushed her teeth and hair before slipping into jeans and a T-shirt.
She skipped coffee, grabbed a cereal bar and shoved it into her back pocket. She really needed to do some grocery shopping. But she was too busy. Busy with her students, busy trying to ensure the utilities were paid, busy not thinking about why a recently turned thirty ex-California girl worked twelve-hour days trying to make a success of a small horse-riding school situated a few miles from the eastern edge of the Australian coastline.
Callie grabbed her sweater from the back of the kitchen chair and headed for the front door. Once she’d locked up she pulled her muddy riding boots off the shoe rack, quickly tucked her feet into them, snatched up her battered cowboy hat and placed it on her head. She turned around to find no sign of her visitor. Or the expensive-looking bicycle.
Obviously the teenager wasn’t keen on following instructions.
She put the keys into her pocket and headed for the stables. The large stable complex, round yard and dressage arena were impressive. Callie had spent nearly every penny she had on Sandhills Farm to ensure it became a workable and viable business.
Okay kid—where are you?
Tessa rushed from around the back of the house. Still a pup, the Labrador/cattle dog cross bounded on lanky legs and yapped excitedly. Obviously no kid was back there, or Tessa would have hung around for attention.
So, where was she? Callie’s intuition and instincts surged into overdrive. Miss Too-Many-Piercings was clearly looking for trouble. She called the girl’s name. No answer.
When Callie opened the stable doors and flicked the lock mechanism into place, a few long heads immediately poked over the stalls. She looked around and found no sign of Lily.
