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Marriage In Six Easy Lessons
Mollie Molay
Sullivan's RulesHe Has Six Rules About MarriageLucas Sullivan is a sociologist who's come up with a set of rules that, in his opinion, will guarantee a happy marriage. Unfortunately, April Morgan, his editor, sees things quite differently.She Has Six Lessons To Teach Him– About Life, Love AndMarriageApril considers Sullivan's rules biased, out of touch and out of date. In her opinion, Sullivan has no idea how real men and women think, act or feel. So April sets out to show him…and in the process discovers that there's another side to Lucas Sullivan.This other Lucas is a man who doesn't always follow his own rules. A man who's a quick learner, too–when April Morgan's doing the teaching!
How could any twenty-first-century man believe this stuff?
As April continued to read the manuscript, making notations in the margin, she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
“So, you’re working on ‘The Mating Game’ article,” a familiar voice broke in.
She looked up at Thomas Eldridge, the magazine’s publisher and editor in chief. To her chagrin, he wasn’t alone.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m afraid I was busy reading this unbelievable submission. To tell you the truth, I was trying not to laugh.”
“Laugh?” Tom said with a warning frown. “Well, if you think you can contain yourself, I’d like to introduce you to Lucas Sullivan—the author of this piece.”
Before she could apologize, Tom went on. “Sullivan here is a noted sociologist. The article you have is one I asked him to write.”
April turned to smile at Lucas Sullivan. At first glance he looked like the stereotypical absentminded professor—a thatch of unruly brown hair, clothes a little rumpled, smelling ever so slightly of musty old books.
But on second glance…Under that staid exterior was one very sexy male.
Dear Reader,
You might be interested to know that when I was plotting my trilogy SULLIVAN’S RULES I discovered I was actually incorporating my own life into the three stories.
As in this book, April Morgan’s story, my own young dream was to marry a man who would treat me as an equal.
The second book, coming in December of this year, is about April’s friend Rita Rosales. There—as in my own life—the hero turns out to be the boy next door. We had two children and twenty-three wonderful years together before I lost him.
As in the third book, Lili Soule’s story, I was given a second chance at finding the strong yet gentle man who became my husband.
Like the three women in my stories, I believe in love and a happy-ever-after. That’s why I love writing stories of home, heart and happiness for Harlequin American Romance.
I hope you enjoy reading about April, Rita and Lili as much as I enjoyed writing about them!
Mollie Molay
Books by Mollie Molay
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
938—THE DUCHESS & HER BODYGUARD* (#litres_trial_promo)
947—SECRET SERVICE DAD* (#litres_trial_promo)
954—COMMANDER’S LITTLE SURPRISE* (#litres_trial_promo)
987—MY BIG FAKE GREEN-CARD WEDDING
Marriage in Six Easy Lessons
Mollie Molay
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To newcomers Joseph Murray Fox and Luke Joseph Molé.
Welcome to the world.
Sullivan’s Rules
1 A happy relationship requires that a woman make her man feel masculine.
2 While a man is not monogamous by nature, he is more likely to see a woman as a potential girlfriend or mate if sexual intimacy doesn’t occur too soon.
3 A woman must rein in her own desires to promote the health of a relationship.
4 A woman must strive for compatibility, rather than try to be sexy.
5 A woman must show her man how much she likes and appreciates him. She must shower him with affection and sublimate her own daily frustrations.
6 A woman must be supportive, fun-loving, easygoing and generous in her praise of a man’s achievements.
Contents
Prologue (#u9528c4c8-a2e9-59d3-9f00-aebc4ed579f5)
Chapter One (#u4422b7f4-742b-53b2-969e-3ac0b688e79a)
Chapter Two (#uf0e02f6e-ac5b-50d9-938d-0fd4f9a19913)
Chapter Three (#u2f84915c-710c-5d8b-90c3-2e88e61ea52d)
Chapter Four (#u1201ce52-2930-5de8-ae56-768441a4a79d)
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)
Prologue
A few last-minute guests at the Morgan-Blair wedding hurried to take their seats in the flower-decorated nave of St. James Church-by-the-Lake. The church organist launched into the romantic and emotional “Lara’s Theme” from Dr. Zhivago, a prearranged signal that the wedding ceremony would begin in twenty minutes.
In the bride’s dressing room, the bride, April Morgan, frowned and regarded her bridal bouquet of white roses and gardenias with a growing sense of unease.
Rita Rosales, her maid of honor, tucked something borrowed, a tiny good-luck charm, in April’s shoe. “There, that should take care of the wedding ceremony.” She laughed as she adjusted the shoulder straps of her pale green dress. “The honeymoon is up to you.”
April’s face whitened.
“Now, Rita,” Lili Soulé, the matron of honor, scolded, “April doesn’t need any of your teasing. Can’t you see she’s already nervous?” She checked the basket of flowers that the little maid of honor, her daughter Paulette, was carrying to make sure the rose petals were still inside. Paul, the ring bearer and Paulette’s twin brother, clutched the satin cushion holding the wedding rings to his chest.
“I’m okay,” April murmured, although she was becoming more nervous by the minute. “Rita, why don’t you see if any of the bridesmaids need help before the ceremony?”
Rita glanced over to where the bridesmaids were busy checking their gowns in floor-length mirrors. “There doesn’t seem to be a problem. All five of them are looking good.”
April’s frown deepened. “Five? There’s supposed to be six!” She scanned the group uneasily. “Where’s Claire Dunn?” she called to them.
“Claire just stepped outside for a minute,” Joyce Humphries called back.
“Did she say she’s going to get back in here in time for the ceremony?”
Joyce shrugged and turned back to the floor-length mirror. “Claire is Claire. Who knows what she’s going to do next?”
Aware of Claire Dunn’s erratic behavior lately, April tried not to think that the bridesmaid’s disappearance was a bad omen.
She dismissed the growing hollow feeling in her middle as a case of prewedding jitters, but deep in her heart she knew there was more to her growing unease. The truth was she was having last-minute doubts about the wisdom of marrying her fiancé, Jim Blair.
Judging from the anxious look in her mother’s eyes as she straightened the wreath of orange blossoms on April’s head, April sensed she wasn’t the only one to feel uneasy.
Before she had a chance to speak to her mother, there was a commotion outside the dressing room, followed by an urgent knock at the door. A moment later, an obviously agitated usher appeared in the doorway. After apologizing to everyone for his intrusion, he beckoned to the mother of the bride. With a final pat on April’s shoulder, Eve Morgan hurried to the door.
A moment later, she hurried back to April’s side, a piece of paper in her hand. Her voice was shaking. “Oh, my dear, maybe you should sit down!”
As if one, the five bridesmaids froze.
Rita Rosales dropped her own bouquet and hurried to April’s side. Lili Soulé handed the rose-petal-filled flower basket to little Paulette and rushed over, too.
April’s heart took a dive. Even before she took the note from her mother’s hand, April sensed that something had gone seriously wrong with the wedding.
“What does the note say?” Rita asked, peering over April’s shoulder.
April read the note aloud: “‘Claire and I have eloped. Jim.’”
“He didn’t even say he was sorry,” her mother said. “Maybe it’s all for the best,” she added slowly as she glanced at the five silent bridesmaids.
Instead of collapsing on the satin-covered bench behind her, April took off her bridal veil and sighed her relief.
Something was finally right.
Chapter One
Six months later
“A happy relationship requires that a woman make her man feel masculine.”
—The Mating Game. Lucas Sullivan, Ph.D.
April Morgan, assistant editor of Chicago’s Today’s World magazine, gazed in disbelief at the manuscript in front of her. As an editor of a magazine popular with young professionals, she’d edited a number of strange submissions, but this one beat all.
The article “The Mating Game” was apparently based on a sociological study the author did, originally published in a scientific-community newsletter. The article proposed to enlighten female readers about the behavior men expected in a potential mate. To her growing dismay, the author, an academic, actually went on to list six rules of behavior that he concluded women must follow in order to attract and keep a mate.
From her viewpoint, that of a bride jilted at the altar not too long ago, the article was ludicrous. The author was either naive or deluded. No matter how noteworthy the man’s credentials were, assuming they were real, how could any twenty-first-century man actually believe men preferred a Stepford Wife to a real woman?
More to the point, how could any man in his right mind even want a woman whose mind had been altered to turn her into a man’s idea of an ideal woman?
April frowned. She was aware of other theories that made more sense than his, in particular the one she preferred to believe: a person was driven by a biological imperative to mate with the fittest—read, strong genes—of the opposite gender. To a layperson like her, that clearly meant an innate desire to produce strong and healthy offspring. A goal that she’d been determined to reach before it was too late and that had unwisely led her to the altar.
In retrospect, April realized that accepting Jim’s proposal had been prompted by the loud ticking of her biological clock.
But according to this Lucas Sullivan, a man’s search for a mate was based solely on a woman’s social behavior! Even an academic like him, or perhaps especially an academic like him, should have known that choosing a mate was more than merely a game. It was a life-altering choice, one to be made only one time—and very carefully.
She’d learned this the hard way. A wedding fiasco that had left her at the altar at the ripe old age of thirty-two had also left her a lot wiser about men. Most men, she believed, were largely self-centered and chauvinistic like her ex, and as far as she was concerned there wasn’t a man currently around her who was worth a second look.
Not that remaining single had been her choice, April mused as she put a question mark in red pencil alongside a sentence she thought needed clarification. If all had gone as she’d planned, she would have honeymooned in Hawaii with that traitorous fiancé of hers, James Elwood Blair. He’d gone on his honeymoon all right, only not with her.
She made additional notations of questions she thought needed answers in the margins of the manuscript and read on. It only became worse.
She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
“April, I’m glad to see you’re working on ‘The Mating Game’ article,” a familiar voice broke in. “April?”
It took her a moment to realize who was speaking. Ready to apologize for her rudeness, she glanced up at Thomas Eldridge, the magazine’s publisher and editor in chief. To her chagrin, he wasn’t alone.
“Sorry,” she said, gesturing to the manuscript. “I’m afraid I was caught up reading this unbelievable submission. To tell you the truth, I was trying keep from laughing.”
“Laughing?” Tom said with a warning frown. He gestured to the man standing at his side. “If you think you can contain yourself, I’d like to introduce you to Lucas Sullivan. Lucas and I went to Northwestern together and belonged to the same fraternity. Lucas, this is April Morgan. April is one of our—” he paused significantly “—top editors.”
April cringed. Damn. Of all people to have heard her flippant remark, why did it have to be the author of the piece?
Before she could apologize, Tom went on. “Sullivan here is a noted sociologist, April. The article you have there is one that I asked him to write. The original study was published last year in the National Association of Science Writers newsletter.”
