Maybe you didnt think our marriage was real, but I did, Jack said.
Youre not like other women. Youre Annie. Annie, his friend, who had stood beside him in a gaudy little wedding chapel and promised to be with him forever.
I wasnt expecting to leave the country practically the minute I got married! I wasnt expecting to get married at all! Then you got that call. Everything happened too fast.
Look, Annie, weve got to get some things settled.
You want a divorce.
Divorce? Im not here to ask you for a divorce. Im here to claim the wedding night we never had.
Dear Reader,
Happy New Year! Silhouette Intimate Moments is starting the year off with a bangnot to mention six great books. Why not begin with the latest of THE PROTECTORS, Beverly Bartons miniseries about men no woman can resist? In Murdocks Last Stand, a well-muscled mercenary meets his match in a woman who suddenly has him thinking of forever.
Alicia Scott returns with Marrying Mike Again, an intense reunion story featuring a couple who are both police officers with old hurts to heal before their happy ending. Try Terese Ramins A Drive-By Wedding when youre in the mood for suspense, an undercover agent hero, an irresistible child and a carjacked heroine who ends up glad to go along for the ride. Already known for her compelling storytelling abilities, Eileen Wilks lives up to her reputation with Midnight Promises, a marriage-of-convenience story unlike any other youve ever read. Virginia Kantra brings you the next of the irresistible MacNeills in The Comeback of Con MacNeill, and Kate Stevenson returns after a long time away, with Witnessand Wife?
All six books live up to Intimate Moments reputation for excitement and passion mixed together in just the right proportions, so I hope you enjoy them all.
Yours,
Leslie J. Wainger
Executive Senior Editor
Midnight Promises Eileen Wilks
This book is for Bill and Martin, who serve the best
Key lime pie in the world.
Thanks for sharing Denver with me
live long and prosper!
EILEEN WILKS
Eileen figures her professional career matches her nomadic upbringing, since shes tried everything from drafting to a brief stint as a ranch handraising two children and any number of cats and dogs along the way. Not until she started writing did she stay put, because thats when she knew shed come home. Readers can write to her at P.O. Box 4612, Midland, TX 79704-4612.
Contents
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 1
Annie didnt actually sway. Her head went light and dizzy and the attics dusty air got stuck in her lungs, keeping her from drawing a breath, but her body didnt move. That was fortunate, since only half of her was in the attic. The other half was in Mrs. Perezs garage, with her size-five work boots planted on
the highest rung of the stepladder.
Jack is back? she managed to say as soon as her lungs started working again. Are you sure?
Annie couldnt see Mrs. Perez, who had been determined to stay in the garage while Annie worked so she could steady the stepladder with all ninety-five pounds of her aging body. It was an unnecessary caution. The ladder was sturdy, and Annie had a head for heights.
At least, normally she had a head for heights.
Oh, yes, the older woman said. I heard it directly from Ida Hoffman when I went to the grocery store this morning.
Ida had been the Merrimans housekeeper for thirty years. It must be true, then.
He showed up yesterday afternoon without a word of warning. Ida said she nearly fell over when she opened the door and there he stood, grinning at her.
That sounds like Jack. Unpredictable. Annie was pleased with herself. She didnt sound angry or upset or afraid, though she felt all of that and more. How typical of Jack to show up without a word to her! Ill bet Ida was surprised.
Thats an understatement. She was thrilled, of course. She always did have a soft spot for that rascal.
So what else was new? Women always liked Jackall women, all ages.
Ida was so excited about having Jack home. Shes looking forward to cooking for him. With that big old house standing empty ever since Sybil Merrimans death, she hasnt had much to do.
Annie agreed without really listening, her attention trapped between the past and the present. She frowned at the dust motes sifting lazily down the band of sunshine admitted by the attic window. Jack was a lot like those dust motesalways in motion. Even when everything was smooth and peaceful, he couldnt be still, couldnt stay in one place. One little puff of wind and he was gone.
Hed proved that, hadnt he? A little over two months ago, when he left her.
She wasnt here to contemplate past follies, she reminded herself, and trained the beam from her high-powered torch on the wiring shed just finished redoing. It looked fine. The damned beam was trembling, though. So was Annies hand. She scowled and shut the torch off. All done here, she said, and started down the ladder.