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Love, Your Secret Admirer
SUSAN MEIER
FROM THE DESK OF EMILY WINTERSBachelor #1: Matthew Burke Title: Senior VP of Accounting This Month's Scheme: Open Matt's eyes to his adoring assistant Let's see… There's got to be a way to get all-business Matt Burke to notice his lovestruck secretary, Sarah Morris. I think she needs a secret admirer to shower her with gifts and a sexy makeover from small-town farm girl to big-city bombshell. That should be enough to drive even the most pragmatic man wild with jealousy–and desire. I'll leave the falling in love part to Sarah….
Wintersoft’s CEO is on a husband hunt
for his daughter. Trouble is, Emily
has uncovered his scheme. But can she marry off
the eligible executives before Dad sets his
crazy plan in motion?
“Go home, Sarah.”
“No. I think it’s time we had this out.”
“I don’t,” Matt said. He couldn’t. Good bosses didn’t romance their subordinates.
Completely catching him off guard, Sarah marched around his desk and trapped him in his seat by anchoring her hands on both arms of his chair. “I do.”
In their entire work association, Matt didn’t think they had ever been this close. He could smell the light floral scent of her perfume and see the flecks of gold in her green eyes.
“You should be thanking me, Sarah, for being a gentleman.”
“What the heck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that if we were in any other kind of circumstance, I would be doing this right now.” Before she had a chance to react, Matt pulled her into his lap. Then he lowered his head for a kiss.
Dear Reader,
If you’re like me, you can’t get enough heartwarming love stories and real-life fairy tales that end happily ever after. You’ll find what you need and so much more with Silhouette Romance each month.
This month you’re in for an extra treat. Bestselling author Susan Meier kicks off MARRYING THE BOSS’S DAUGHTER—the brand-new six-book series written exclusively for Silhouette Romance. In this launch title, Love, Your Secret Admirer (#1684), our favorite matchmaking heiress helps a naive secretary snare her boss’s attention with an eye-catching makeover.
A sexy rancher discovers love and the son he never knew, when he matches wits with a beautiful teacher, in What a Woman Should Know (#1685) by Cara Colter. And a not-so plain Jane captures a royal heart, in To Kiss a Sheik (#1686) by Teresa Southwick, the second of three titles in her sultry DESERT BRIDES miniseries.
Debrah Morris brings you a love story of two lifetimes, in When Lightning Strikes Twice (#1687), the newest paranormal love story in the SOULMATES series. And sparks sizzle between an innocent curator—with a big secret—and the town’s new lawman, in Ransom (#1688) by Diane Pershing. Will a seamstress’s new beau still love her when he learns she is an undercover heiress? Find out in The Bridal Chronicles (#1689) by Lissa Manley.
Be my guest and feed your need for tender and lighthearted romance with all six of this month’s great new love stories from Silhouette Romance.
Enjoy!
Mavis C. Allen
Associate Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance
Love, Your Secret Admirer
Susan Meier
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Books by Susan Meier
Silhouette Romance
Stand-in Mom #1022
Temporarily Hers #1109
Wife in Training #1184
Merry Christmas, Daddy #1192
* (#litres_trial_promo)In Care of the Sheriff #1283
* (#litres_trial_promo)Guess What? We’re Married! #1338
Husband from 9 to 5 #1354
* (#litres_trial_promo)The Rancher and the Heiress #1374
† (#litres_trial_promo)The Baby Bequest #1420
† (#litres_trial_promo)Bringing up Babies #1427
† (#litres_trial_promo)Oh, Babies! #1433
His Expectant Neighbor #1468
Hunter’s Vow #1487
Cinderella and the CEO #1498
Marrying Money #1519
The Boss’s Urgent Proposal #1566
Married Right Away #1579
Married in the Morning #1601
** (#litres_trial_promo)Baby on Board #1639
** (#litres_trial_promo)The Tycoon’s Double Trouble #1650
** (#litres_trial_promo)The Nanny Solution #1662
Love, Your Secret Admirer #1684
Silhouette Desire
Take the Risk #567
SUSAN MEIER
is one of eleven children, and though she has yet to write a book about a big family, many of her books explore the dynamics of “unusual” family situations, such as large work “families,” bosses who behave like overprotective fathers, or “sister” bonds created between friends. Because she has more than twenty nieces and nephews, children also are always popping up in her stories. Many of the funny scenes in her books are based on experiences raising her own children or interacting with her nieces and nephews.
She was born and raised in western Pennsylvania and continues to live in Pennsylvania.
FROM THE DESK OF EMILY WINTERS
Six Bachelor Executives To Go
Bachelor #1: Love, Your Secret Admirer
Matthew Burke—Hmm…his sweet assistant clearly has googly eyes for her workaholic boss. Maybe I can make some office magic happen….
Bachelor #2: Her Pregnant Agenda
Grant Lawson—The guy’s a dead ringer for Pierce Brosnan— who wouldn’t want to fall into his strong, protective arms!
Bachelor #3: Fill-In Fiancеe
Brett Hamilton—The playboy from England has some aristocratic ways about him. Maybe he’s royalty and I can find him a princess!
Bachelor #4: Santa Brought a Son
Reed Connors—The ambitious VP seems to have a heavy heart. Who broke it, and where is she now?
Bachelor #5: Rules of Engagement
Nate Leeman—Definitely a lone wolf kind of guy. A bit hard around the edges, but I’ll bet there’s a tender heart inside.
Bachelor #6: One Bachelor To Go
Jack Devon—The man is so frustratingly elusive. Arrogant and implacable, too, darn it! I’ll put him last on my matchmaking list until I can figure out what kind of woman he likes.
Contents
Prologue (#udd57e0d9-3358-5450-936d-152bdaf4c870)
Chapter One (#u5fc03dd3-03d6-59f8-82d5-8b497804c0af)
Chapter Two (#u971c44cb-d28e-5168-a98a-b13e10ee5193)
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)
Prologue
“We’ve got a problem.”
Carmella Lopez watched as Emily Winters looked up from the report she was reading. Emily’s desk was in front of a wall of windows, and the lights of the Boston skyline twinkled behind her, highlighting her brown hair and sapphire-blue eyes. The nighttime view also illustrated that it was long past the hour when most of the employees of Wintersoft, Inc., had gone home. Emily was as intelligent and dedicated as she was beautiful, and that was why Carmella was so annoyed by the conversation she’d overheard Emily’s dad having with his sister that afternoon. Emily didn’t need to have a man “help” her run her father’s company when he retired, any more than she needed help finding a husband.
Emily said, “Spill it.”
Carmella stepped into Emily’s office and closed the door behind her. She had been Lloyd Winters’ executive assistant for twenty-five years, first when he was an investment banker and now at his financial software company. But she also came from a family that had survived being chased out of Mexico several generations ago by Pancho Villa, and she knew that sometimes discretion wasn’t the better part of valor. Action was. Though she would never do anything disloyal to Lloyd, she felt a sense of responsibility to his daughter. In a way, acting on her loyalty to Emily protected Lloyd.
“Your dad is about to play matchmaker.”
Emily’s face lost its color. “Again?”
“I think he’s forgotten that he already tried this and failed. This morning, he took one look at our organizational chart and saw that most of our senior vice presidents are eligible bachelors and wheels started turning in his head. I overheard him telling your Aunt Anne in Florida that each of the guys on the chart makes a respectable salary. All of them have proven themselves. And all of them are acceptable son-in-law material.”
Emily looked as though she’d faint. “Dear God. Fixing me up with one Wintersoft employee was bad enough,” she said, speaking of the disastrous marriage that had resulted when Emily had tried to please her dad by marrying one of Wintersoft’s former executives, Todd Baxter. “Marrying me off to everybody who’s available will make me a laughingstock.”
Carmella softened her tone because, in spite of his sometimes overbearing, old-fashioned tactics, Lloyd’s heart was always in the right place. “He doesn’t mean it that way.”
“He didn’t mean it that way the last time, either. But that’s exactly what happened. The tension was so thick when my marriage to Todd collapsed that Todd had to leave the company, and I lost credibility with most of the staff. It’s taken me five years of working nearly nonstop to prove myself again.”
“But you did it. And earned a senior vice presidency in the process. Plus, the five years it took you to be promoted proved you didn’t just get your job because you’re Lloyd Winters’ daughter. No one can say that you don’t deserve your position.”
“No, but they can lose respect for me. Who’s going to take seriously a woman whose dad is trying to auction her off to the highest-ranking corporate officer?” Emily raked her fingers through her thick, shoulder-length hair. “I’m going to have to quit.”
Carmella shook her head. “You can’t quit. That would mean explaining to your dad why you were leaving and it would kill him to think he pushed you away. He’s not trying to push you away; he’s trying to help you. It might be old-fashioned, but I’m guessing your dad believes marrying you off to one of the senior vice presidents—someone who could take over the company when he retires instead of you—is a way to give you options. If you don’t have to replace him, you would be free to be a wife and a mother—if that was what you wanted.”
“I don’t know what I want. Maybe I do want to be a wife and mother one day, but that’s my decision. I just need time.” Emily drew a frustrated breath. “Things would be so much easier if my dad and I could talk about this. But since the mess with Todd, it’s like we don’t even speak the same language anymore.”
“Talking won’t help. Once your dad gets an idea in his head, it’s impossible to get it out. He has hundreds of reasons to want to see you married and a mother. You would have to have a hundred arguments to change his mind.”
