Duets
Two brand-new stories in every volumetwice a month!
Duets Vol. #89
Just in time for the holidaysa delightful Double Duets from USA TODAY bestselling author Jacqueline Diamond! Christmas and Cinderella are two of the fun themes in the aptly titled Cindy and the Fella and Calling All Glass Slippers. Ms. Diamond never fails to make your head spin and leave you laughing says Rendezvous.
Duets Vol. #90
The celebrations continue with Hitched for the Holidays by well-known writing team Jennifer Drew. This talented duo always gives readers a top-notch reading experience with vibrant charactersand spicy tension, says Romantic Times. Rounding out the volume is popular Barbara Dunlop with the quirky A Groom in Her Stocking. Enjoy the fun when Santa delivers not one but two fiancés to the dateless heroine!
Be sure to pick up both Duets volumes today!
Hitched for the Holidays
Jennifer Drew
A Groom in Her Stocking
Barbara Dunlop
www.millsandboon.co.uk
Contents
Hitched for the Holidays
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
A Groom in Her Stocking
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Hitched for the HolidaysSilly to let all this tinsel go to waste.
Eric reached for the box, grabbed a handful and dangled the silvery ribbon in the hollow between her breasts.
I thought we were decorating the tree, not me,
Mindy said breathlessly.
Youre more fun.
It itches. She giggled and tried to remove the tinsel.
Ill get it out for you. He peeled off her sweater and tossed it in the direction of the ornament box.
Uh-oh, shed forgotten she was wearing a plain cotton bra. It was about as unglamorous as lingerie could get.
I didnt dress for this.
He held one breast in his hand and slowly covered her mouth with his as he caressed her through the cloth.
Tell me if you want me to stop.
Stop? As in red lights and no more kissing? She dropped her hands to his butt and squeezed.
Ill take that as a go, he said with a laugh.
Dear Reader,
Who wouldnt love having someone who could arrange everything perfectly for the holidays? Mindy Ryder is a professional organizer whos thrown for a Yuletide loop when her neatly ordered life is turned upside down by a visit from her matchmaking father. Shes told him shes been seeing a doctorand she has been, sort of!
Vet Eric Kincaid is her dogs doc. Mindys relationship with him is not romantic, at least not yet. She persuades Eric to play Dr. Boyfriend in return for some organizing help, and before the stockings are filled their agreement heats up!
One of us (Jennifer Drew is the pseudonym of mother and daughter Barbara Andrews and Pam Hanson) is a natural-born organizer. The other keeps buying how to declutter your life books and losing them in the debris! We hope you enjoy this mistletoe tale and that all your holidays are merryand neat!
Happy holidays!
Jennifer Drew
P.S. Drop us a line with your favorite organizing hint! Please send it to P.O. Box 4084, Morgantown, WV 26504.
Books by Jennifer Drew
HARLEQUIN DUETS
7TAMING LUKE
18BABY LESSONS
45MR. RIGHT UNDER HER NOSE
59ONE BRIDE TOO MANY*
ONE GROOM TO GO*
72STOP THE WEDDING!*
80JUST DESSERTS
Happy holidays, Aunt Lou!
1
BABY, YOU ARE SOOO GOOD. Were nearly there. Steady, sweetheart. Yes, yes, thats it.
Mindy Ryder shook her head to break the hypnotic spell of the melodic voice. For a moment shed imagined Dr. Eric Kincaid was crooning to her instead of Peaches, her rascally Corgi. No wonder his waiting room was always full. He charmed his patients, and their owners, with his soothing voice. Hed opened his animal clinic less than two years ago, and already he had a reputation as one of the best small-pet vets in the Phoenix area. It made her day when she came to his office, and not just because her dog liked him.
I dont know, Mindy, he said a trace apologetically, using her first name with casual friendliness. Peaches seems a hundred percent healthy to me.
She was sneezing Mindy began, a little ashamed of using her dog as a ploy to see Dr. Kincaid. Now that she was here, she was losing her nerve anyway. Sorry I wasted your time.
Im always glad to see Peaches. Shes the only female Corgi on my patient list. Makes her pretty special.
He smiled broadly and rubbed the short-legged dogs thick white ruff. Peaches basked in his attention, quickly forgetting the indignities of the examination.
The veterinarian was wearing a sky-blue lab coat that picked up the color of his eyes, and his sandy blond hair was just long enough to look rumpled in a fresh-from-the-pillow way.
He attached the leash to the dogs collar and made easy work of setting the thirty-pound pooch on the spotless white-tiled floor of the examining room. Mindy knew this signaled the end of the appointment, but shed come for a purpose that had nothing to do with imaginary dog sneezes. If she chickened out now, shed always wonder what his answer would have been.
The trouble was, she needed a man. Whats more, he had to be a doctor. The vet was the only bachelor she knew who qualified. Fortunately his receptionist, Della Rodriguez, was friendly and liked to chat. Shed leaked enough tidbits of information about her boss to make Mindy sure he was unattached and eligible. In fact, Della had dropped veiled hints that hed been dumped by a woman and was nursing a broken heart.
If so, he was good at putting up a cheerful front. The man had a smile as bright as the desert sun and pearly white teeth that made his whole face sparkle with good humor. But even if he had teeth like walrus tusks and a Cyrano schnoz, shed still need him.
She hadnt exactly lied to her father, but this time hed irritated her so much shed fudged the truth. The trouble was he was bound and determined to see her happily married like her older brother.
It was wonderful Dwight had a wife and two adorable kids, but love was a special gift. So far all that had popped out of her annual Christmas stocking were trolls, geeks and ego-freaks like her last boyfriend. Mike Manning had wanted a fan club, not a significant other, and shed had the pleasure of telling him to take a hike. Dad hadnt met him, which was just as well. He was one guy who wouldve enjoyed her fathers usual third-degree interrogation. Talking about himself was what Mike liked best.
Dad had been on a tear lately, sure that Mindys biological clock was ticking like a time bomb, never mind that she was still two years short of thirty. He was lonely since her mother, Abby, had died, and he worried because she was alone, too. Unfortunately, he was too obsessed to pay any attention to her protests. He refused to believe she could manage just fine as a single woman.
When hed suggested introducing her to a friends son a couple of months ago, shed told him she was already seeing someone. Of course, hed pressed for details. Shed taken Peaches to the vet for a shot the day he phoned, so she had seen a doctoran animal doctor. Telling her father she was seeing a doctor had sort of slipped out because she wanted his badgering to stop.
As long as her widowed, workaholic father stayed in Pittsburgh, she could keep him at bay with her spur-of-the-moment deception. But the unimaginable had happened. Hed decided to retire early and sell his accounting business. Now he was coming to Arizona for a visit and expected to meet her doctor-boyfriend this weekend.
Is there something else? Dr. Kincaid asked, when she didnt take the leash he was holding out to her.
Oh, its silly, she said, taking control of Peaches. Just a little problem I have.
Im afraid Im not licensed to treat people, he replied, radiating good humor.
Oh, I didnt meannot ayou know.
Its not a health problem?
His curiosity was encouraging.
No, not at all. Its my father
Ah.
Hes coming to visit. From Pittsburgh. He lost my mother five years ago in a car accident, and now hes sold his business. Im afraid Im his new project.
I know what thats like. My mother always has some scheme that involves me.
Hes a fanatic when it comes to my personal life, she went on, encouraged by his sympathy. My brother is married and has two kids, but thats not enough grandchildren for my father. He wont give up until he walks me down the aisle and gives me away.
My mothers the same. I came close to tying the knot once, and she was the one who was broken-hearted when it didnt work out. Her hobby is match-making, and Im her main project.
Then you understand. Unfortunately my father never, ever liked anyone I used to date, so he wants to mastermind a courtship sweepstake with more grandkids for him as the prize.
Yeah, parents have a different take on things. He hesitated as though examining the decorative paw prints on the wall. My mother was crazy about my fiancée. Unfortunately Cassandra loved horses so much there wasnt much room left for people, me included. Guess she just thought it would be handy to marry a vet who could look after her stable of Arabians.
He leaned against the metal-topped examination table and focused on the chart of dog breeds on the wall behind her, maybe regretting saying so much to the owner of one of his patients. Then he met her eyes again and gave her a rueful smile. I prefer working with smaller animals.
Now she was much more interested in his problem than hers, but Dad would be getting off a plane in three days expecting to meet a boyfriend.
I did a terrible thing, she admitted, nervously twisting the leash around her fingers.
I find that hard to believe.
Again the thousand-watt smile. Did he have any idea how devastating it was?
It was the day Peaches came in for her heartworm shot.
I remember that day. It was about three months ago, beginning of August, right?
Right. You have a good memory.
Sometimes.
Anyway, thats the day he called and started talking about his favorite obsessionmy marriage prospects. Had I found a decent sort yet which translates to someone he wont hate more than pickled beets or home shopping networks? I think hes hated every boyfriend Ive ever had!
I guess fathers can be too protective.
Can they! While he was talking, I remembered taking Peaches here for her shot. On impulse I told him I was seeing a doctor. After all, I had just seen you. I never dreamed hed come before the end of tax time next April, she babbled. Hes an accountant, and thats his usual vacation time. He always spends Christmas with my brothers family. But he suddenly decided to retire early, and hes coming to check on me.
Ah.
Again the ah. She didnt know whether he was sympathetic or eager to have her leave so he could see his next patient. He appeared to be giving her his full attention.
Well, Ive wasted enough of your time, she said, her resolve melting under his gaze.
Youre not the first.
What?
Not the first woman to make an unnecessary appointment for her pet.
She opened her mouth to deny it, but his eyes were too all-knowing, too penetrating
No wonder, he said, when my mom, my aunts, even my receptionist have been recruiting bachelorettes for me since the breakup more than six months ago. One of Moms prospects even brought in a borrowed cockatoo to check me out.
How do you know?
She was embarrassed to be busted, but glad she wasnt the only one to book an unnecessary appointment as an excuse to see him. At least Peaches was a regular patient.
I can recognize my own patients, even when someone besides the owner brings the bird for a visit.
Im really sorry I bothered you, she said, trying to lead Peaches toward the door.
The Corgi plopped down on her hindquarters, a trick six weeks of obedience school had done nothing to delete from her repertoire.
So ask me, the vet challenged.
Ask you? To compound her general embarrassment, her voice squeaked.
What you came to ask me.
Oh, it doesnt matter.
It must matter a lot if youre willing to pay for an appointment just to see me. If theres something I can do
Her nerve failed her, in no small part because she didnt want to be turned down. The man was gorgeous. He probably had a pack of women on his heels. Hed never go along with what she wanted.