The Great American Bachelor

by Adrienne Staff

  “No!” She lifted her head and met his eyes with surprising vehemence. “I left it all behind. And it isn’t my fault. I know what’s real, and I fought for it! It just didn’t do any good.”

  The agent looked baffled. Did she mean porcelain, crystal, gold? Should he ask? Poor girl, she looked so lovely but so sad. Maybe she’d been robbed. She didn’t have a passport: just temporary identification. “Now, miss,” he offered consolingly, “it can’t be that bad—”

  “It’s worse than that,” she cried. “I lost everything that matters.”

  “Do you want to file a claim?”

  Cathy shook her head and slipped away, the tears balancing on the ends of her lashes.

  She had to get out of there before she really made a fool of herself. She looked around for a sign for taxis or buses, some means of escape. There were all kinds of people holding signs: signs for corporate connections, tour groups, prearranged transportation. Her eyes swam over them all blindly, then flew back with a start to one man, a handsome man in a suit and a pale blue button-down shirt that matched his eyes. Michael. Michael Winters, the Great American Bachelor. And he was holding a sign.

  Cathy could not breathe. And the floor was tilting beneath her feet. It couldn’t be him. She’d just spent two lovely weeks lost in a fairy tale, dreaming an impossible dream, and now her heart was playing tricks on her. Cathy squeezed her eyes shut tight. But trick or not, she would risk anything to see him one more time … even the pain of having him vanish. So she opened her eyes and looked again.

  Oh!

  Dreams didn’t stop hearts. Michael did. Fairy tales didn’t hurt. They came true.

  Cautiously, she edged forward through the crowds of people, her eyes never leaving his face until she could see for sure that he was smiling, grinning that heart-stopping grin at her, his eyes shining. And then she looked up at the sign he held.

  It read: MARRY ME.

  Cathy’s heart fluttered to her throat. She bit her lips and came as close as she could, leaning over the rope. “What about London? What about business?” she whispered.

  “I can do it all. With you I can do anything, or nothing, whatever we want, whatever we decide together.”

  “You’re sure, Michael?” she asked, watching his eyes.

  “I love you, Cathy.”

  “Those are the magic words.” She nodded, letting her smile climb from her lips to her soft brown eyes. “And I love you too.”

  She held her hand out and pulled him through the gate, against traffic. “Come with me!” She held his hand tight and led him back to customs.

  “It’s me again. I do have something to declare,” she announced to the same startled agent. “A friend … a husband.”

  “How nice.” The man laughed.

  “And an island,” Michael added, pulling Cathy close. “I bought back Yellowtail Cay for a wedding gift, from me to you. I want to see you there, with Gap and your aunt rocking on the front porch. And we can have a cat.”

  The agent laughed. “Are you declaring all those? There’s a special form for a cat.”

  “The only form we need now,” Michael whispered softly into her hair, “is a marriage license.”

  “That means we know the ending to this story.” Cathy tipped up her chin and smiled deep into his eyes.

  “And they lived happily ever after.”

  THE EDITOR’S CORNER

  Welcome to Loveswept!

  I have a little secret: when I’m shopping for gifts, I can never resist buying myself a little treat as well – usually in the form of a sexy and romantic read. If you’re like me, then you’re in luck because we have some exceptional books on sale this month. Like Juliet Rosetti’s CRAZY FOR YOU, the next book in her fun and sexy series featuring Mazie Maguire, everyone’s favorite escaped (but exonerated!) felon, and her hilarious capers. For historical romance fans, there’s Samantha Kane’s DEVIL IN MY ARMS, the last installment in her Saint’s Devils series which is heaping with steamy intrigue and mystery. Then there’s Lauren Layne’s LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH, the next book in the clever and sassy Sex, Love & Stiletto series—which reminds me so much of Sex & the City, with the story of two high-powered magazine writers who find love amid a war of words. And don’t miss Toni Aleo’s BLUE LINES; if you’re not already a Toni Aleo fan, you will be after this book. Sports romance are so hot right now– and Toni’s sexy hockey book will have you craving for more sports in your life.

  So treat yourself; you won’t regret it!

  And, you can’t miss these classics:

  Two sizzling books from Ruth Owen: TAMING THE PIRATE, where a woman in danger must hide the truth about her past from the sexy PI who’s bent on protecting—and loving—her, and, LAST AMERICAN HERO, where a seductive cowboy loner learns a lesson in love; GREAT AMERICAN BACHELOR, Adrienne Staff and Sally Goldenbaum’s story of a small-town girl who shows a high-powered bachelor that some things in life are more important than the perfect deal; Iris Johansen’s mesmerizing WINTER BRIDE, about a woman who risks her life to win the love she’s always dreamed of; IMAGINARY LOVER, a haunting love story and HANNAH’S LOVER, a scorching hot fantasy – both from Sandra Chastain; and as a special treat, we’re also releasing Connie Brockway’s — McClairen’s Isle trilogy featuring the restless, daring and proud Merrick siblings as they find a love as wild and glorious as the Highland isle they claimed as their own: THE PASSIONATE ONE, THE RECKLESS ONE and THE RAVISHING ONE.

  Be swept away with Loveswept!

  Gina Wachtel

  Associate Publisher

  Read on for an excerpt from Maggie McGinnis’s

  Accidental Cowgirl

  Chapter 1

  “Roadkill? Again?” Kyla braked to steer around the third animal in as many miles, but this time, the ancient rental car jolted the other way, yanking her hands right off the wheel as it beelined for the carcass.

  “Eww! No! Bad car!” She stomped on the brake pedal with both feet, but instead of slowing down, the car jerked back to the right with an ominous clunking sound that grew louder as she death-gripped the wheel. For a long half-mile she thought she might be the next body to litter this deserted Montana highway, but finally she managed to muscle the car to a stop in the breakdown lane. A loud hiss preceded another thump, and as the car leaned suddenly to the right, steam billowed from the hood. She looked in the rearview mirror, fully expecting to see pieces of metal strewn in a path behind her, but the highway was empty.

  She whacked the wheel. “Seriously, car? You couldn’t think of a more original way to die?”

  Kyla looked out the open driver’s-side window, where the shimmering August sun was heading toward the horizon. Perfect. It was about to be dark, she was still probably an hour south of the rent-a-ranch, and now her lemon of a rental car had imploded.

  Never take the last car on the lot, she could almost hear Gramps chiding her. There’s a reason it’s still sitting there. She sighed, wishing he had added, And also, never agree to marry a man who’s planning to steal millions of dollars, send it to the Caymans, and set you up to take the fall.

  For a moment, she pictured the seedy hotel she’d spotted as the plane landed at the tiny airport. Even with hourly rates and a neon sign missing half its letters, it was looking better right now than this barren landscape. Too bad it was now two hours behind her and she had no way of knowing what was between here and the dude ranch her two best friends had booked for the next two weeks.

  She dug her phone and AAA card out of her carry-on, but the phone’s empty bars just taunted her. Uh-oh. No signal. Prickles spiked the crown of her head, creeping downward toward her ears as she looked at the empty landscape. She tried to force her shoulders to relax as she exhaled again.

  It was okay. She could handle this. It was just a little case of Dead Car. On a deserted highway. In freakin’ God’s Country, Montana, which was only about twenty-five hundred miles from her tiny Boston apartment. No problem.

  She pushed the door open and step
ped out gingerly to check the car, hoping maybe there was a way to milk it to the next town if she drove really, really slowly. The steam was clearing, but as she came around the rear, she saw that the back tire was so deflated the rim was practically touching the gravel shoulder of the road. She looked down at her silk blouse, pencil skirt, and heeled sandals. She was still dressed for court, not for doing a tire change on a dusty highway.

  She took a deep breath and pulled on the trunk latch, trying to keep the panic at bay. So she was alone. So it was getting dark. She wasn’t helpless. She knew how to change a tire. She didn’t need any big, strapping AAA mechanic, right?

  She opened the trunk and sighed as she viewed the contents. Her friend Hayley had promised big skies, fun, and cowboys. Kyla looked back at the setting sun, then up at the pink clouds. Big skies? Check. Too bad they were getting darker by the minute. Fun? Not yet. Cowboys? One with a lug wrench would be really handy right about now.

  Once she had Gramps’s old army duffels lined up on the grass, she reached into the trunk and pulled on the loop that should have revealed the spare. Instead, all she found in the wheel well was a pile of fluff that looked suspiciously like a mouse nest. She shuddered and closed the hatch before a set of twitchy whiskers could appear.

  Kyla walked around to the right side of the car to take another look at the tire, wondering how far she could get on just the rim. No way was she going to sit out here on this highway all night long with no way to get hold of anyone. How long would Hayley and Jess wait before they got worried and came looking for her?

  She grimaced. When she’d called from the airport, they’d been headed out on a twilight trail ride. They wouldn’t get back to the ranch and find her missing until after dark.

  Kyla muscled the duffels back into the trunk and slammed it shut, taking in one of the deep breaths her PTSD therapist was always advising. At least this time, she wasn’t trapped inside her car at the bottom of a ravine. At least this time, she could still walk. At least this time, her fiancé—ex-fiancé, that is—was in jail, rather than emptying her bank accounts while she lay unconscious in the hospital. So really, she was ahead of the game, right?

  She glanced toward the sunset, trying to estimate how much daylight she had left. Unfortunately, she was used to gauging time by where the sun was in relation to the Prudential building, not an actual horizon. It looked like there was nothing but rolling prairie between her and the mountains in the distance.

  She kicked off her heels and hoisted herself up on the trunk to see if she could get a better view from up higher. “Damn, damn, double damn,” she muttered as she looked around. The view was stunning, and if circumstances were different, she’d be awed by the darkening grass rippling toward the jagged Rockies.

  As it was, she tried not to think about just how many animals emerged out here at dusk, hoping for a human-sized snack. She clambered up the back windshield to the roof, hoping against hope that she’d see something useful from that vantage point, but no. Still just grass.

  Kyla looked up at the purpling sky and decided to try out her very rusty praying skills. “If I promise to be really, really good this entire vacation, could you please just send someone to help me, like maybe one of those cowboys in the brochure?” Right. Like those existed outside of a Madison Avenue studio shoot.

  As she circled slowly on the roof, a low hum made her jump. She peered back toward where she’d come as the hum slowly grew louder. She thought she could see a dust cloud coming her way. Oh, happy day. She was saved.

  As a rusty blue truck crested the rise behind her, she waved crazily from the roof of the car. There really was no way the driver could miss her, but she wasn’t taking any chances. The sun was hitting the windshield just right, and she couldn’t tell who was behind the wheel, but she caught her breath when she saw a blue light flashing as the truck pulled up behind her car.

  Kyla’s chest constricted as she froze, watching the blue light spin. Visions of Wes’s arrest catapulted through her brain in painful slow motion, followed by flashes of the days she’d spent in an airless interrogation room. It had been like a made-for-TV movie with the acrid-smelling coffee, the blazing lights, and even the good cop–bad cop routine.

  She forced herself to puff out little rhythmic breaths as she heard the truck door creak. She needed to calm down. She was in Montana, for God’s sake. Wes was in jail. She’d been found innocent. They weren’t after her anymore. She didn’t need to be afraid. Maybe, just maybe, she was about to be rescued by a handsome Western lawman.

  The driver’s-side door opened fully and a wizened old man eased himself out of the truck. He was dressed in wrinkled khaki pants and a leaf-print golf shirt that looked like it might be more at home in Florida than Montana. Her lawman fantasy quickly fizzled.

  As he shut the door, he shook his head. “Lady, what in tarnation you doin’ on top o’ your car? Did you see a bear?”

  “Bear?!” Her voice came out in an eep! “No. No bear. I have a flat tire.”

  “So you got on top o’ your car?” His hands stayed near his gun belt while he studied her, but she couldn’t tell whether he had a gun.

  Was this how cops dressed in Montana? Where was his uniform? “I don’t have a spare. I was just trying to see if I could see something besides … grass from up here.”

  “And do you see anything besides grass?” He strode up to the driver’s side of her rental car, eyeing it suspiciously.

  “Besides the Rockies on the other side of it? No, not really.”

  “Huh.” He looked at her quizzically. “How ’bout you come down from there and we’ll check out that tire?”

  “Oh, thank you. I’m so relieved you came along.” Kyla slid gingerly down the windshield on her rear end, then scooted down the hood, wincing at the dirt she was probably collecting on her backside. As she jumped off the bumper, her right leg buckled and she lost her balance, swaying for a long moment.

  The old cop’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You been drinking, young lady?”

  “No.” She adjusted her skirt nervously. “Absolutely not. I just lost my balance.” She pointed to her right thigh. “I broke my leg last year. It’s still a little unsteady.”

  He raised his eyebrows and smirked as he shook his head slowly. “Uh-huh.” He crossed his arms and widened his stance. “Let’s just check and see.” He walked by her and stood about ten feet in front of the car. “Step over here and put both feet on the white line.”

  Seriously? He was going to make her do a sobriety test? For tripping? She stepped warily to the front of the car and put her feet on the line as best she could.

  “You know the drill,” he growled.

  “Actually, sir, I don’t. I’ve never actually been pulled over … for anything.”

  He lifted his eyebrows in disbelief, shaking his head. He pointed at the white line. “Walk twenty steps thataway, then back. Try to stay on the line.”

  Welcome to Big Sky Country, Kyla thought as she took a deep breath and set out down the white line. She was still uncoordinated on a good day, so acing a sobriety test after three hours of sleep, a trial, and a full day’s travel was likely to be a challenge.

  “Where you from?” the cop asked.

  “Boston.”

  “When’d you leave?”

  “This morning.” Was he just making idle conversation? Or had she somehow aroused his powers of suspicion?

  The cop scratched his head. “Where’d you change planes?” Apparently suspicion. “Philly. Why?”

  “Kinda late to be arriving way out here all by your lonesome. Surprised you didn’t pick an earlier flight.”

  She turned around, gingerly trying to maintain her balance. “I had a commitment this morning.” In court, where I had to testify one last time against the man I thought I was going to marry. He’s enjoying a new six-by-ten cell and orange jumpsuit right now, but all the money he stole is still somewhere in the Caymans.

  “Look like you’re dressed for court.
”

  She jolted. “No offense, sir, but why are you so curious?”

  “It’s my job.” He looked her up and down again. “So where ya headed? That newfangled spa up by Donovan’s Lake?”

  There was a spa here? A spa?! And Hayley had still chosen a dude-ranch vacation, knowing Kyla was deathly afraid of horses? The Whisper Creek Ranch website must have been very, very convincing.

  “I’m heading to Carefree. Am I close?” She got back to her car and stood ramrod-straight. “There. See? Totally sober.”

  “I’m not convinced,” the officer mumbled. “Carefree’s another hour north, give or take. That’s if I decide you’re sober enough to drive there. Otherwise, you get a free ride in my cruiser.”

  “Cruiser?” She felt her eyebrows hike upward as she glanced quickly at his truck.

  “Cruiser,” he deadpanned.

  Prickles took hold at the top of her head again, moving steadily downward. She was alone on a deserted highway, a woman in a suit and bare feet with a flat tire and no spare. Cripes, she was a serial killer’s dream.

  Maybe one posing as a cop, for instance.

  “Do you … have a badge?”

  He reached into his inside pocket and flipped open a badge holder that looked as official as all the others she’d seen this past year. Her shoulders relaxed a tiny bit as she stepped forward to look more closely, then tensed back up when he slapped it shut. She stepped back quickly, trying not to think about how easy it probably was to get one online.

  “Do you have a Breathalyzer? That would prove I haven’t been drinking, right?” If she kept him talking, maybe she could stall until another car came along?

  He stepped directly in front of her and put his hands out to the side. “Hands out like mine. Do exactly what I say.”

  Kyla paused. Putting her hands up left her whole midsection exposed. What was he going to do if she complied? If she didn’t?

  “You having trouble following my very simple instructions?” His eyebrows smushed together like a big, furry caterpillar.