tion>
Andrew listened to the conversation.
While he went to the other room, Rachel gathered up the cards they were playing with his daughter. “Maybe we should play Candy Land next time,” he heard her say to Maura. “I’m pretty good at that game.”
“You really like Candy Land?” the girl asked.
“It was one of my favorite games when I was a kid.”
“I didn’t know it was that old,” Maura said so solemnly that Rachel had to laugh.
“Even my mother played it when she was a little girl,” she told the child.
“My mommy’s dead,” Maura told her.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Maybe someday I could get a new mommy. But she’ll have to be someone my daddy likes.”
“That would probably help,” Rachel agreed.
“Daddy likes you,” Maura said.
And that was Andrew’s cue. He stepped back into the room before his daughter proposed right there and then.
* * *
Those Engaging Garretts!
The Carolina Cousins
The Single Dad’s Second Chance
Brenda Harlen
BRENDA HARLEN is a former family law attorney turned work-at-home mom and national bestselling author who has written more than twenty books for Mills & Boon. Her work has been validated by industry awards (including an RWA Golden Heart® Award and the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award) and by the fact that her kids think it’s cool that she’s “a real author.”
Brenda lives in southern Ontario with her husband and two sons. When she isn’t at the computer working on her next book, she can probably be found at the arena, watching a hockey game. Keep up-to-date with Brenda on Facebook, follow her on Twitter at @BrendaHarlen, or send her an e-mail at [email protected].
MILLS & BOON
Before you start reading, why not sign up?
Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!
Or simply visit
Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.
To all of the readers who asked for more “Garretts”—
thanks for welcoming my characters
into your lives and your hearts.
Contents
Chapter One
Rachel Ellis hated Valentine’s Day.
Not that she’d ever admit as much to any of the customers who had formed an almost-steady stream of traffic through the door of Buds & Blooms since about 11:00 a.m., but she had expressed the sentiment—more than a few times already today—to her best friend and business partner, Holly Kendrick.
“Can you tell me,” Rachel asked, when she went to the back during a rare quiet moment in the shop, “why so many men seem surprised to realize it’s Valentine’s Day when it falls on February 14 every single year?”
“Because they’re men,” Holly said simply.
“And is that why they also wait until the absolute last minute to buy flowers for their wives or girlfriends?”
“Yep.”
“Next year we should offer discounts for advance orders.” They had taken some, but those represented a small percentage of the sales already processed that day.
“It
