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Married By Midnight
Judith Stacy
One unforgettable kiss from Nick Hastings had ended Amanda Van Patton's girlhood and ruined her for other men. Now he'd married her, but only to win some benighted wager! Well, if he expected her to adorn his bed like a spanking new trophy, he was in for a rude awakening. For as of their wedding night, all bets were off…!A whirlwind courtship won Nick Hastings both a bride and a bet he barely remembered making. But unless he could convince his indignant, impassioned Amanda to take a chance on love, their firecracker physical chemistry would go snap, crackle…stop!
“Do you routinely have so many women in your bedchamber?”
“Only ones I’m related to.” His grin turned devilish. “Unfortunately.”
The heat inside Amanda boiled, spread through her, weakening her knees. The mere presence of this man two feet away called to her, urged her to move closer, as if he somehow held a power over her she could not resist.
And didn’t want to resist.
“So, anyway,” Nick said, “I came to apologize for my state of dress just now.”
“The lack of it, you mean?”
He grinned again. “Yes. I hope you weren’t offended.”
“Traumatized beyond recovery,” Amanda declared. “I’ll probably have to spend the rest of the day in bed.”
His grin blossomed into a full smile and his gaze dipped to her toes, then rose to her face once more in a swift, hot sweep.
Amanda’s cheeks burned as his gaze caressed her….
Praise for Judith Stacy’s recent titles
THE NANNY
“…one of the most entertaining and sweetly satisfying tales I’ve had the pleasure to encounter.”
—The Romance Reader
THE BLUSHING BRIDE
“…lovable characters that grab your heartstrings…a fun read all the way.”
—Rendezvous
THE DREAMMAKER
“…a delightful story of the triumph of love.”
—Rendezvous
THE HEART OF A HERO
“Judith Stacy is a fine writer with both polished style and heartwarming sensitivity.”
—Bestselling author Pamela Morsi
#619 BORDER BRIDE
Deborah Hale
#620 BADLANDS LAW
Ruth Langan
#621 A PERILOUS ATTRACTION
Patricia Frances Rowell
Married by Midnight
Judith Stacy
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Available from Harlequin Historicals and
JUDITH STACY
Outlaw Love #360
The Marriage Mishap #382
The Heart of a Hero #444
The Dreammaker #486
Written in the Heart #500
The Blushing Bride #521
One Christmas Wish #531
“Christmas Wishes”
The Last Bride in Texas #541
The Nanny #561
Married by Midnight #622
To David—my Superman
To Judy and Stacy—my Kryptonite
Contents
Chapter One (#ub75cf240-415c-5776-9e36-e133a1c5e472)
Chapter Two (#ub1bb0574-e5ee-566b-8e83-8d16148275d8)
Chapter Three (#u7db985bb-51d7-543c-8b9b-b3ce24082fb6)
Chapter Four (#u8e47d6d7-1dc3-5f4f-a562-7b0ddb853a77)
Chapter Five (#u1a336e37-487b-5e67-808d-73a96c763361)
Chapter Six (#uc6c8359b-b3cc-58e9-b45e-03de83a7a612)
Chapter Seven (#ud81757ee-41de-5082-bbce-5f8e1b055561)
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)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
Los Angeles, 1896
Another wedding. Her third in as many months. Could she really be expected to show excitement about yet another trip down the aisle?
At least none of the weddings had been her own.
Trying to look interested in the chatter of the three other young women in the bedchamber, Amanda Van Patton eased onto the foot of her friend’s bed and gripped the carved post. Trousseaus, invitations, china patterns. Amanda feared she might scream if she heard those words one more time.
“ Oh, and look at this.” Cecilia Hastings, the bride-to-be, pulled another trousseau gown from her massive redwood closet and held it in front of her.
It was a promenade dress, pale teal with a matching parasol and hat that Amanda admitted would look wonderful on Cecilia, with her dark hair and green eyes. Another round of “ oohs” and “ aahs” rippled from the other women. Amanda managed an “ oh, lovely.”
Perhaps if she weren’t so tired she might enjoy this impromptu fashion show, she decided, as Cecilia emerged from her closet with a lavender-and-ivory afternoon dress. Amanda had just arrived at the Hastings mansion in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, making the trip from her home in San Francisco in her uncle’s private railroad car. She had already had a busy day before she’d set out on this journey.
“ Oh, it’s darling,” she murmured as Cecilia presented another promenade dress. While the other two women in the room—friends of Cecilia’s whose names Amanda had already forgotten—fawned over the pink creation and its wide-brimmed, white hat with matching flowers, Amanda kept her seat.
No, she wasn’t tired, she admitted to herself. Only bored.
She glanced out the window at the moonlight illuminating the darkness and wondered how much longer she’d have to sit here before she could tactfully retire for the evening.
And why shouldn’t she be bored? She’d just gone through this with her cousins—twice.
Since she was thirteen, Amanda had lived with her aunt and uncle and their four daughters in their Nob Hill mansion. Uncle Philip’s wealth had given the family the best of everything—culminating in her cousins’ weddings.
The twins, a few years younger than Amanda, had married within weeks of each other. Prior to that the Van Patton household had been in chaos for an entire year. Flower selection, dressmakers, menus, musicians and the endless stream of tedious details required to stage a wedding had been the topic of conversation morning, noon and night.
As a bridesmaid for both of her cousins, Amanda had been dragged through each facet of the planning. She’d managed to keep a smile on her face—in public, anyway—through the whole ordeal. She wasn’t sure she could do it much longer.
She drew in a fortifying breath as Cecilia whirled around the bedchamber holding a pale yellow ball gown in front of her, and the other young women broke into applause.
“Radiant…” Amanda said, calling upon her considerable store of bridal compliments.
Luckily, Cecilia’s wedding ceremony was only two days away. Amanda straightened her shoulders. Somehow, she’d get through it. She had to.
After all, she was the sole representative of the Van Patton family present at the Hastings-St. John wedding. Both of her cousins were still off on their own honeymoons, and Aunt Veronica had come down with a case of the hives at the last minute. Uncle Philip was too busy—or too smart—to attend weddings.
That left only Amanda to put in an appearance on behalf of the Van Pattons at what one Los Angeles newspaper’s society column had already proclaimed “the wedding of the season.” The prominence and wealth of the Hastings family allowed for no less.
Amanda pulled her lips upward, forcing a smile as Cecilia headed into the closet once more.
If it hadn’t been a wedding that brought Amanda to Los Angeles she probably would have enjoyed the trip. The Hastings and Van Patton families had been friends for years. They visited back and forth, hosted each other on holidays and occasionally vacationed together. The time they spent together had diminished in the past few years, since Cecilia’s father had died, and everyone had grown older and moved on with life.
But the families stayed in touch. They had, in fact, known each other for more years than Amanda had been part of the San Francisco branch of the Van Patton family. She’d only been sent to live with them eleven years ago when, at age thirteen, her father had passed away and her mother had fallen on hard times.
Amanda had been accepted into the family, even if she hadn’t fit in very well.
