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Sassy Cinderella
Kara Lennox
Prince Un-charmingJonathan Hardison didn't know whether to fire Sherry McCormick or take her to bed. Falling in love was not an option. Sure, she'd come to his ranch to help out with his kids while he recovered from a broken leg. But Sherry was a city girl from the tips of her frosted hair to the spike heels on her boots. She'd never stay. It was enough to make even the most levelheaded Hardison lose his cool….He was rude, uncooperative–and utterly irresistible. Jonathan's growls only made Sherry more determined to stay put. But when she got a country makeover to prove she could fit in, Jonathan's reaction shocked them both….
“It’s me, all right!”
He must have been staring, because Sherry flashed him an embarrassed grin. At least, he thought it was Sherry. He couldn’t get any words past his lips. She looked nice, he supposed, but she didn’t look like Sherry anymore. Gone was the cascade of curls that had reached the middle of her back. Now her hair fell in gentle waves down to her shoulders—and it was brown.
But the changes didn’t stop there. What had happened to those glossy red lips? Her clothes could only be described as sedate, and her shoes had no heel whatsoever. Even her voice seemed more subdued.
With an inward groan, he realized this metamorphosis was his doing. She’d changed for him….
Dear Reader,
Things get off to a great start this month with another wonderful installment in Cathy Gillen Thacker’s series THE DEVERAUX LEGACY. In Their Instant Baby, a couple comes together to take care of an adorable infant—and must fight their instant attraction. Be sure to look for a brand-new Deveraux story from Cathy when The Heiress, a Harlequin single title, is released next March.
Judy Christenberry is also up this month with a story readers have been anxiously awaiting. Yes, Russ Randall does finally get his happy ending in Randall Wedding, part of the BRIDES FOR BROTHERS series. We also have Sassy Cinderella from Kara Lennox, the concluding story in her memorable series HOW TO MARRY A HARDISON. And rounding out things is Montana Miracle, a stranded story with a twist from perennial favorite Mary Anne Wilson.
Enjoy all we have to offer and come back next month to help us celebrate twenty years of home, heart and happiness!
Sincerely,
Melissa Jeglinski
Associate Senior Editor
Harlequin American Romance
Sassy Cinderella
Kara Lennox
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Texas native Kara Lennox has been an art director, typesetter, advertising copy writer, textbook editor and reporter. She’s worked in a boutique, a health club and has conducted telephone surveys. She’s been an antiques dealer and briefly ran a clipping service. But no work has made her happier than writing romance novels.
When Kara isn’t writing, she indulges in an ever-changing array of weird hobbies, from rock climbing to crystal digging. But her mind is never far from her stories. Just about anything can send her running to her computer to jot down a new idea for some future novel.
Books by Kara Lennox
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
840—VIRGIN PROMISE
856—TWIN EXPECTATIONS
871—TAME AN OLDER MAN
893—BABY BY THE BOOK
917—THE UNLAWFULLY WEDDED PRINCESS
934—VIXEN IN DISGUISE* (#litres_trial_promo)
942—PLAIN JANE’S PLAN* (#litres_trial_promo)
951—SASSY CINDERELLA* (#litres_trial_promo)
Contents
Chapter One (#u15ba74e6-ddc0-5138-a8b2-4265c1633a87)
Chapter Two (#u05f933e2-a1f1-5160-8437-cea1e7cf38b8)
Chapter Three (#u1f8dfc2b-1b19-55ea-bde5-c3cf6d963511)
Chapter Four (#ud644dcbc-eca6-5f27-b188-b94688970b8e)
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)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
He had no idea how it had happened. One minute he was herding a bunch of cows to their winter pasture. The next, Jonathan Hardison was flying through the air, landing on his head with a thud hard enough to knock the air out of him, then being stomped on by the same stupid horse that had just bucked him off.
Damn, being stomped on hurt. A white-hot pain stabbed through his leg, but he was no stranger to pain. Ranching wasn’t an occupation for any guy who couldn’t stand the sight of blood or who got the vapors if he cut his hand on barbed wire.
As he lay there on the ground, struggling to get a breath, his right-hand man got off his horse and came over to check out the damages. Cal Chandler was a new man at the Hardison Ranch, but he was the local veterinarian’s grandson, and he seemed competent enough.
Until now.
Cal just stared at Jonathan, gaping.
“Well, don’t just stand there,” Jonathan said when he could finally catch enough breath to speak. “Help me up.”
“I don’t think so, boss,” Cal said in a shaky voice. He waved away Jon’s horse, which had come over to investigate why his master was on the ground, having apparently forgotten that moments ago he was in a blind, bucking panic. “I think you better just stay right there till an ambulance gets here.”
“What? Have you gone loco? I might be a little banged up…” Jonathan leaned up on one elbow, then wished he hadn’t because he got a good look at his leg. It was bent in a place no leg should be bent.
“You got a cell phone on you?” Cal asked.
“In the saddlebag,” Jon said, just before he passed out.
“IT ISN’T AS BAD as it could have been,” said Jeff, Jonathan’s brother, the next day at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas. Tyler was the closest big town to the Hardison Ranch. “It was an ugly break, but at least the swelling’s down.”
“So let me go home,” Jon grumbled. Lying in bed doing nothing was not his favorite way to spend time.
“Tomorrow. Maybe,” Jeff said. “I’m more worried about the concussion than the leg, to tell you the truth.” Jeff also happened to be Jonathan’s doctor, and he seemed to love bossing his older brother around.
“Like hell, ‘maybe,”’ Jonathan said. “I’ll check my own damn self out.”
“Ohh, surly, are we?” Jeff’s fiancée, Allison, had also dropped in for a visit, as if this was some kind of social event. Allison’s presence was the only thing that kept Jonathan from cussing Jeff out.
“You’d be surly, too, if you had to wear one of these stupid gowns with your butt hanging out.”
“Seriously, Jon,” Allison said, “you shouldn’t go home until you’re sure you can handle it. You’ll be on crutches—”
“No way. Put one of those rubber tips on this thing,” Jonathan said, knocking his knuckles against his cast. “I can walk.”
“You cannot walk,” Jeff said. “You put weight on this leg at this stage, it’ll never heal.”
“Then give me the crutches and let me get out of here.”
“Maybe,” Jeff said again. That word was starting to tick Jonathan off.
“Even with crutches, you’re going to need some help when you go home,” Allison said. “You’ve got two lively kids to care for.”
“Pete can handle the kids,” Jonathan said, referring to their eighty-one-year-old grandfather. Pete had built the Hardison Ranch from nothing, but he’d long ago deeded the property to his three grandsons and retired. He still lived in the house, though, and he helped take care of Jonathan’s children: eight-year-old Sam and seven-year-old Kristin. He said it made him feel useful, which was just fine with Jonathan, since he’d been long divorced and needed help at home.
“You’re forgetting,” Jeff said. “Pete and Sally are getting married this Saturday.”
“Ah, hell, that’s right,” Jonathan said. After the wedding, Pete and his long-time sweetheart, Sally Enderlin, were going on a weeklong cruise. “I don’t care. I’ll manage somehow.” But he really didn’t know how. His youngest brother, Wade, who ran a horse-breeding operation on his portion of the ranch, had offered to pitch in with the cattle-ranching work during Jonathan’s recuperation. But how in the world would Jon cook, clean and supervise his superactive kids?
“I’ll hire someone to come in,” Jonathan said decisively.
But Jeff was shaking his head. “You’ll need someone there all the time, at least for the first week or so.”
Jonathan looked to Allison, half hoping she’d volunteer. But realistically he knew she couldn’t. She was the dentist in Cottonwood, the small town where they all lived, and she had a thriving practice to manage. She couldn’t just take off a week.
Allison had a peculiar look on her face that Jonathan had come to associate with an impending brainstorm.
“What are you thinking?” he asked her point-blank.
“I have this friend in Dallas who’s a nurse,” Allison said, casting worried glances at Jeff. “She’s starting a new job in December, but for now she’s at loose ends. I’ve been trying to get her to come visit me in Cottonwood. If she knew someone here needed her nursing skills, she’d be here in a flash.”
“I do not need a nursemaid,” Jonathan protested, picturing some horse-faced pain queen with a hypodermic.
“But that’s precisely what you do need,” Jeff said. “I’d feel much better about releasing you if I knew a registered nurse was keeping an eye on you. Why don’t you call her, Allie?”
Allison looked at Jonathan. “It’s up to you.”
He saw no other alternative. Once this nurse saw he could take care of himself, she would leave him alone and focus on caring for the children. He nodded his assent.
Allison smiled and opened her purse. “I’ll call Sherry right now.”
Jeff’s jaw dropped. “Sherry? You mean Sherry McCormick, the she shark?”
“Oh, Jeff, you’re way too harsh. So, she had a crush on you. So what?” Allison scrolled through the phone numbers on her cell phone.
“A crush? She wanted to eat me alive at that convention.”
This was getting interesting, Jonathan thought. A she shark? Didn’t sound like a horse face, at least.
“She happens to be an excellent nurse,” Allison said. “At least, she just landed a job working for one of Dallas’s top cosmetic surgeons.”
“You can’t bring Sherry McCormick to Cottonwood,” Jeff said flatly. “A city girl like her won’t fit in here.”
“What’s the matter? You afraid she’ll come after you again? Well, don’t. She’s over you.”
“And you want to inflict her on Jonathan instead?”
Allison waved away Jeff’s concern. “Jonathan isn’t her type. Anyway, she told me she never gets involved with a patient. It isn’t professional.”
“Why am I not her type?” Jonathan wanted to know. Unfortunately, this Sherry sounded like his type—flashy and aggressive. His ex-wife, Rita, had been exactly that, all spike heels and expensive perfume. It had not been a match made in heaven. Rita had about died of boredom in tiny Cottonwood, Texas, and not even her two children had been enough to make her stick around. She’d fled to New Orleans, where she’d grown up, and saw the kids maybe twice a year.
“She goes for doctors and lawyers,” Jeff answered. “Guys in suits with expensive cars who will keep her on a steady diet of four-star restaurants and adorn her with diamonds.”
That certainly didn’t describe Jonathan.
“I’m not interested in romantic potential,” Jonathan said. “If she’s willing to come and can do the job, bring her on.”
Allison flashed a satisfied smile and dialed a number on her cell phone. Jeff groaned.
SHERRY MCCORMICK drove slowly around the town square of Cottonwood, hardly believing her eyes. It could have been a set from a Hollywood back lot—for a period piece from the 1920s. Quaint hardly began to describe this town.
Fortunately, Sherry was a sucker for quaint. The picturesque shops and restaurants charmed her silly. Did people really live like that? Even as she tried to tell herself the idea of residing in the sticks repulsed her, she felt an insistent pull toward this place.
Cottonwood was a town a person could call home.
