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Man, Wife And Little Wonder
Robin Nicholas
JUNE BRIDESBundles of JoySometimes small packages can lead to the biggest surprises!THE BAD BOYJohnny Tremont had once worn rebellion and recklessness as ruggedly as his black leather jacket. But now he was father figure to his young, needy niece, and he was determined to do right by her, no matter what it took.THE BRIDEWhat it took was the hand of a childhood friend Grace Marie Green. Marriage to this pert, upstanding beautician would guarantee him custody of her namesake, Gracie, and would give his little girl the perfect maternal role model…for a little while.THE BUNDLE OF JOYBut Johnny hadn't realized what an amazing effect a desirable wife and a darling little wonder could have on a man like him….Celebrate a month of joyful marriages with Silhouette Romance!
“She wakes up at night crying.” (#u6c43db9b-7ef7-5a4b-bf9d-36a85a6dc246)Letter to Reader (#u22ec0c87-9d8a-587e-a2ba-e543932e71d0)Title Page (#uc7e8c105-eeb7-5d21-bba4-40fe9cd2cb5d)Dedication (#u06a8e2c4-7482-57d5-a595-a16bb1fcba15)Acknowledgments (#u0699afb2-8cbe-5283-8bf6-fbe7e3d30110)About the Author (#ud113ac39-f073-5aef-a9dc-47ff36398147)Letter to Reader (#u0e7afd7d-e006-5290-92ab-efe86f78f628)Chapter One (#uc2e7ed99-bad3-5f3d-af40-bd0189b0e456)Chapter Two (#u5b1cbe4d-dea8-5ef7-8868-39149fb02cf9)Chapter Three (#ub3e8eb5d-80bd-5b42-8919-a0501c059a0f)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)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
“She wakes up at night crying.”
Johnny spoke as if the image his words conjured pained him. He turned to her then, more serious than she’d ever seen him. “I realize we won’t have one of those one-in-a-million kind of marriages, Grace, but we’ve got friendship going for us, haven’t we?”
His blue eyes were intent, warming her clear to that place in her heart that had always been just for him. She recognized the yearning inside her, just as she saw quite clearly that Johnny knew no such feeling, that because of his parents, he had no true concept of what love was.
He reached out and tentatively covered her hand with his. “I know it’s asking a lot. But I’m asking for Gracie’s sake. Will you marry me?”
Hadn’t she seen right away that Johnny would do anything for Gracie?
Even marry her.
And Grace said softly, “Yes.”
Dear Reader,
Traditionally June is the month for weddings, so Silhouette Romance cordially invites you to enjoy our promotion JUNE BRIDES, starting with Suzanne Carey’s Sweet Bride of Revenge. In this sensuously powerful VIRGIN BRIDES tale, a man forces the daughter of his nemesis to marry him, never counting on falling in love with the enemy....
Up-and-comer Robin Nicholas delivers a touching BUNDLES OF JOY titled Man, Wife and Little Wonder. Can a denim-clad, Harleyriding bad boy turn doting dad and dedicated husband? Find out in this classic marriage-of-convenience romance! Next, Donna Clayton’s delightful duo MOTHER & CHILD continues with the evocative title Who’s the Father of Jenny’s Baby? A woman awakens in the hospital to discover she has amnesia—and she’s pregnant! Problem is, two men claim to be the baby’s father—her estranged husband...and her husband’s brother!
Granted: Wild West Bride is the next installment in Carol Grace’s BEST-KEPT WISHES series. This richly Western romance pairs a toughened, taut-muscled cowboy and a sophisticated city gal who welcomes his kisses, but will she accept his ring? For a fresh spin on the bridal theme, try Alice Sharpe’s Wife on His Doorstep. An about-to-be bride stops her wedding to the wrong man. only to land on the doorstep of the strong, silent ship captain who was to perform the ill-fated nuptials.... And in Leanna Wilson’s latest Romance, His Tomboy Bride, Nick Latham was supposed to “give away” childhood friend and bride-to-be Billie Rae—not claim the transformed beauty as his own!
We hope you enjoy the month’s wedding fun, and return each and every month for more classic, emotional, heartwarming novels from Silhouette Romance.
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor Silhouette Romance
Please address questions and book requests to:
Silhouette Reader Service
U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
Man, Wife And Little Wonder
Robin Nicholas
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Marilyn Sue Lemmon for her generous support of my
career, and for giving me the kind of encouragement only
another writer can give.
SPECIAL THANKS
To attorney-at-law and fellow author Lauren Phelps for her help with the legal technicalities.
ROBIN NICHOLAS
lives in Illinois with her husband, Dan, and their son, Nick. Her debut book, The Cowboy and His Lady, was part of the successful Silhouette Romance CELEBRATION 1000 promotion. Her current BUNDLES OF JOY feature is her third book for the line, and her fourth Romance novel will be available in the fall of 1998.
Dear Reader,
Having a book chosen for the BUNDLES OF JOY promotion is a very special occasion for me. My son, Nick, is certainly the greatest joy of my life. Through Nick and his cousins, Beth, Kris, Katie, Kyle, Nicholee and Garrett, Shandee and Micah, Justin and Lauren, I have found a constant source of pride, inspiration, laughter and love.
BUNDLES OF JOY celebrates the belief that the wonder of a child can bring to light the love between a man and a woman. I invite you to celebrate that belief with me, as well, in the story of Johnny, Grace and little Gracie in Man, Wife and Little Wonder.
I hope you enjoy the book.
Sincerely,
Chapter One
He was back.
Grace Marie Green tightened her grip on the open door to the Grace Marie Salon. A hot August breeze fanned her face while ribbons of heat rose from the glossy black and silver motorcycle parked diagonally at the curb. Straddling the bike, looking much like the teenage boy she’d once secretly worshiped, was Johnny Tremont.
Johnny pulled off dark glasses and took in his surroundings. Grace caught the gleam in his blue eyes as he removed his helmet, freeing his thick black hair. He stared straight into her green eyes, seeming to absorb all the changes of the past ten years in a matter of seconds. Then, flashing the smile that had once convinced her to let him siphon gas for his Harley from her daddy’s John Deere, he said, “Gracie needs a haircut. And I need you to marry me.”
The noonday heat hit her full in the face and Grace braced herself with a hand on the door frame. She felt almost faint. And she thought she’d just heard Johnny say he needed her to marry him. It had to be this hot weather, causing some kind of hallucination....
Her heart caught as a small body leaned from behind Johnny’s back, a child clad in pink T-shirt and jeans and wearing a pink and black helmet that probably cost more than a year’s worth of spiral perms. Johnny lifted the helmet from the child’s head, revealing dark hair and blue eyes. She knew without a doubt that this pretty child of four was Johnny’s niece, and her namesake, little Gracie.
“Is now okay?”
Johnny’s innocent voice drifted over her, as the sun slanted down, casting a deceptive halo over his gleaming black hair. Grace drew a deep breath. Johnny had said Gracie needed a haircut. She had only imagined the rest. Though it was Monday and the salon was officially closed, she said automatically, “Now is fine.”
“We can talk about getting married afterward,” Johnny said.
That feeling of faintness assailed Grace again.
It hadn’t been a hallucination....
Johnny dismounted and lifted Gracie, carrying the child past her, making brief but potent contact as his arms and legs and hips touched hers, his breath whisking her bangs across her forehead. Grace thought how little her life had changed over the years. But as Johnny brushed by, she could sense a change in the air.
Grace shut the door. What was going on here? Why had Johnny, who had always seen her as a pesky second sister, said such a thing? Hearing the words she’d once dreamed of hearing as an awkward teen only made her angry with him now.
Gracie observed her from where Johnny settled the child on her feet, and Grace’s heart softened. Too solemn, Grace thought, and as the little girl glanced away, too shy. Johnny’s sister, Janelle, had been shy, and Grace felt the same protective instinct for Gracie that she’d felt for her best friend. The feeling was compounded by the accidental death of Gracie’s parents one month earlier, which she assumed had left the child under the guardianship of her maternal grandparents. Too distraught to make the three-hour drive to Chicago, Grace hadn’t attended the funeral. She tried, but failed, to imagine Gracie being raised by the highbrow Tremonts.
Conscious of Johnny’s watchful gaze, Grace stepped into the room, a wariness coming over her that she recognized from years ago whenever Johnny would try to draw her and Janelle into one of his pranks.
I need you to marry me.
Johnny had been smiling as he spoke and Grace realized he’d been teasing. He’d probably gotten a charge out of the shock value of his words. She’d fallen for his joke, of course, just the way she used to.
Most likely, Johnny had brought his niece from Chicago to the country to see where her mother once lived.
Johnny leaned down and whispered in Gracie’s ear. Then Gracie ran over to one of the styling stations and climbed into a chair. With her hand, she pushed off from the counter to set the chair twirling and creaking. Her hair, damp with sweat from the helmet, hung limply to her shoulders and clung to her head.
Grace planted her hands on her hips, frowning at Johnny. “That little girl has no business riding on a motorcycle.”
Though he’d taken a lazy stance, Johnny’s lean body seemed to simmer. His once shaggy hair was now cut in a stylish wedge, short on the sides, long on top. His T-shirt was plain white, devoid of snakes, chains or four-letter words. He wore jeans that looked soft, faded by design rather than as a show of rebellion, and a pair of pricey white high-top tennis shoes, which replaced the leather boots he used to favor. To the average eye, Johnny appeared to have changed.
But Grace had never seen Johnny in the same light as any average person, and with just a glance, she knew better. Johnny Tremont hadn’t changed.
“We only drove from the motel at the edge of town.” His nonchalant tone failed to reassure her. “A friend hauled us and the Harley down from Chicago last night.”
“So you could marry me.” Grace laced her voice with sarcasm, letting him know he hadn’t fooled her with his “proposal.” She was twenty-five, not fifteen. She didn’t have stars in her eyes anymore.
But her sarcasm bounced right off Johnny.
“That’s right.” There was purpose in his step as he drew closer, resolve in his voice as he lowered it to tell her, “In their will, Janelle and Grant named me Gracie’s legal guardian. Now Mother and Dad are suing for guardianship on the grounds that I’m unfit to raise her. I intend to keep Gracie, but to do that, I need a wife. I need you to marry me.”
Johnny’s words hadn’t lost any of their shock value with repetition. On an indrawn breath she whispered a sentiment once shared by all of Ashville, Illinois. “You’re crazy, Johnny.”
“I’ve never been more sane—or serious—in my life,” he responded without hesitation, his jaw set, his eyes more grave than she’d ever seen them.
Johnny, a father figure? The idea defied imagination. But apparently he’d served as one since Janelle and Grant’s deaths.
“Mother’s playing the part to impress her friends. Dad’s indulging her.” His voice grew bitter. “They don’t really want Gracie.”
Grace recalled how the wealthy Tremonts had originally bought the acreage outside of town, near the Green farm, with the hope that quiet country life would keep fifteen-year-old Johnny out of trouble and coax Janelle out of shyness. But their busy lives hadn’t allowed them time for Johnny and Janelle. They’d paid for Johnny’s pranks and had been relieved when Janelle found a friend to keep her amused.
She realized Johnny was right. The Tremonts had never seemed to want Johnny and Janelle. Why would they want Gracie?
“I want to raise Gracie here in Ashville,” Johnny went on. “But the court won’t allow it unless I can provide a better life for her than my parents.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to marry,” she insisted, her sense of self-preservation kicking in full tilt.
“According to my lawyer, it does.” Johnny’s reply was grim. Marriage had not likely been his first solution to his problem. But it was evident he meant to follow through on his lawyer’s advice, that he meant to marry her.
“I realize I’m asking a lot. But I intend to make this worth your while by paying off the mortgage on your farm, whatever the outcome in court.”
Heat burned Grace’s cheeks. He was paying her to marry him. Nothing could have made it more clear—he still saw her as something less than a desirable woman.
“Once I have guardianship of Gracie, and Mother gets back to her tea parties, we can divorce.”
Nothing except that.
Grace felt a flare of indignation. Worse, she felt all of fifteen again, desperate for Johnny to see her as a woman. A woman in love with him...
Her heart missed a panicked beat. She couldn’t do this.
She was about to tell Johnny so when his gaze cut to Gracie, and she saw a fierce protectiveness come into his eyes, tinged with a trace of desperation. She caught her lip. Johnny, who had never needed anything but his motorcycles and the successful dealership and repair shop he’d started in Chicago, needed her help with Gracie.
Suddenly aware of the quiet, she realized the chair had stopped creaking and Gracie sat watching them, her eyes revealing the sadness inside her.
A sense of fate rolled over Grace. But she only whispered to Johnny, “I don’t know. I need time to think.”
But she couldn’t think clearly standing so close to Johnny. She walked over to the styling station and summoned a smile for Gracie. She pumped the chair as high as it would go, rewarded when Gracie’s lips curved and the little girl leaned to watch the floor descend. She didn’t use the booster chair, because she wanted Gracie to feel like a big girl.
“Just, uh, cut a little off the bottom...” Johnny’s voice trailed off at her baleful stare.
Grace spun Gracie to face the mirror. “How would you like your hair cut, Gracie?”
Gracie stared at her pink tennis shoes. Johnny shifted, and this time Grace warned him clearly with her gaze to keep quiet.
“Like yours,” Gracie finally said.
“Excellent choice.” Grace smiled, her heart turning over. No one had ever wanted to look like her before.
She set to work, tying a pink plastic apron beneath Gracie’s chin. Aware of Johnny’s close regard, she wondered if he noticed that her once long brown hair now swung neatly at her shoulders, that she wore a touch of makeup and a fashionable denim jumper over her crisp white T-shirt. She thought of the ill-fitting clothes and unstyled hair she’d had in high school. She hadn’t exactly been prom material.
But then, in his own way, neither had Johnny.
She parted Gracie’s silky hair while Johnny circled the room, skirting hair care displays and the potted plants she’d been watering. His straight nose wrinkled over the lingering scents of solutions and shampoos. He eyed the photos on the wall of models with elaborate hairdos, coming to a halt before the cash register. Behind it, she’d hung a picture of Elvis sporting a ducktail, in deference to the retro look.
“I remember that picture,” he said.
Of course he remembered. Her parents had been Elvis fans, in their thirties during Elvis’s heyday of movies and songs, when they’d fallen in love. The front hall of the old farmhouse where Grace had lived since her parents’ deaths had been decorated with photos of Elvis when she and Janelle and Johnny were teens. The one time she’d danced with Johnny had been in the living room to a slow Elvis tune.
“Can’t Help Falling In Love.”
Grace shook off the wistful feeling that came over her and gazed at Johnny with a critical eye. He was handsome with his hair cut in that crisp wedge, falling sexily over his forehead. With a ducktail he would look like a devastatingly young Elvis.
He turned then and caught her staring. Hiding her attraction, the way she’d always done, she said haughtily, “A shampoo and trim would do wonders for you.”
Johnny’s gaze glinted right back at her. “I have a barber in the city. And he doesn’t give shampoos.”
Grace turned away to hide her grin. She’d missed the exhilarating rush that came with sparring with Johnny. She’d missed Johnny. Before she could stop the thought, Grace imagined, as she had long ago, what it would be like if he really wanted to marry her.
But he’d come back for Gracie’s sake.
They needed to talk and so she hurried little Gracie’s trim along. Grace was aware from the way Johnny jingled his keys in his pocket that his patience was running out.
Johnny managed not to reach up and push his hand through his hair. He was due for a trip to the barber but he’d be damned if he’d sit in that chair with a pink bib tied around his neck.
