Fairy Tale Marriage, Book #4

• Marriage of Convenience
• Passionate Contemporary Romance
• Enemies to Lovers Romance
• Holiday Romance
• Cowboy Romance

Married by Midnight!
You’re invited to a wedding . . . your own!
Come to the Cinderella Ball single . . . leave happily wed.

The Cinderella Ball is the chance of a lifetime for individuals to come together to find their special someone. Their one and only. Their soul mate. Obtaining a ticket isn’t easy, but for those select few, it offers the chance at a lifetime of happiness.

At the tender age of seventeen, sweet, innocent Shayne Beaumont attended the Cinderella Ball and fell in love with rough-and-tumble wrangler Chaz McIntyre. But their marriage only lasted one night before her brother, Rafe (the hero from Fairy Tale Wedding, Book #3 in The Cinderella Ball Series) ripped them apart and had their marriage annulled. Now, she’s back—older, wiser, and determined to find love again.

Cold, hard-hearted Chaz McIntyre has no choice. If he wants custody of his daughter, he must marry immediately. And though he hates the idea of returning to the Cinderella Ball, it’s the only option if he wants an instant wife. And he finds one, a masked beauty who seduces him into marriage. It’s only after the fact that he discovers it’s the one woman he least wants to marry. His ex-love, Shayne.

But need outweighs all other considerations and he returns to his ranch with his wife, tasking her with putting together a home that will guarantee custody of his daughter. What he doesn’t expect is for Shayne to peel away the wintery layers surrounding his heart, bit by painful bit. While Chaz struggles to deny love, his wife and daughter are equally determined to unleash the miracle of Christmas, the one holiday he swore he’d never again celebrate.

To Chaz’s private amusement, the bells on Marianna’s mask clattered together in discordant protest. “Take off—”

“Your mask. Yes.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Problem?”
“I’d rather not,” she admitted.

Something about such devastating honesty had him regarding her with acute suspicion. “And why’s that?”

“What does it matter what I look like?” It was her turn to clench the coffee mug with white-knuckled desperation. “I don’t recall your mentioning that as part of your requirements. You wanted someone who’d turn your house into a home, who’d be willing to live with you in Colorado, who’d—”

“Sleep with me.”

It was a wonder the cup didn’t shatter in her hands. Did she find the idea of being intimate with him so overwhelming? He’d soon ease her past that particular concern.

“Yes,” she acknowledged. “And to sleep with you.”

He stood and approached her side of the table. “Don’t you think we should have a peek under the masks to make sure we can face each other over the breakfast table every morning?” he asked.

She held him with inky dark eyes, eyes that stirred memories he’d sooner forget. “And if my looks don’t appeal, we go our separate ways?”

Damn it! Did she think him so heartless? “I didn’t say that.”

“So it’s not whether or not I can make a home for you that’s important. It’s whether or not I’m attractive enough to share your bed?”

He stooped beside her, taking her hands in his. “Honey, in case you didn't know it doesn't much matter what your partner looks like once the lights are out, so long as part A fits pleasurably into slot B.”

He’d insulted her. It hadn’t been intentional. He just had an unfortunate knack for brutal frankness. Hell, he wanted a wife. Or rather, he needed one. If he were perfectly honest, he didn’t care how plain-faced the woman he married, so long as she could satisfy his requirements.

He’d had beautiful. If he was forced to take a wife, then this time around he wanted practical.

Chaz studied his prospective bride. He could see her intention to walk away as clearly as if she’d spoken it aloud. But something held her back. Something he couldn’t quite understand. Still, he saw it in the slight softening of her chin and the gentling of the anger darkening her passionate brown eyes. A smile flirted with her mouth, a smile as feminine and appealing as any he’d ever seen. Warmth pooled in his gut, stirring a reaction he hadn’t felt in far too many years.

“If it doesn’t matter, then the mask stays,” she said. “You decide. Are you willing to marry, sight unseen?”