The Bride Said, 'Finally!'

“Tell me you don’t still feel it.”

“Feel what?” Jenna asked, ignoring the way his gaze kept drifting to her lips.

Jake hauled her against him. “This.”

The next thing Jenna knew, Jake had wrapped his arms around her back and lowered his lips to hers. His kiss was hot, sure and so sensual it took her breath away. Despite herself, she had missed this, missed him and the special…and yes, powerful way he made her feel.

Jenna knew if they didn’t stop soon they would end up in one of the beds upstairs. And while that was all she had wanted when they had been together before, she also knew this was no way, and no place, to lose her virginity….

Dear Reader,

It’s another wonderful month at Mills & Boon American Romance, the line dedicated to bringing you stories of heart, home and happiness! Just look what we have in store for you….

Author extraordinaire Cathy Gillen Thacker continues her fabulous series THE LOCKHARTS OF TEXAS with The Bride Said, “Finally!” Cathy will have more Lockhart books out in February and April 2001, as well as a special McCabe family saga in March 2001.

You’ve been wanting more books in the TOTS FOR TEXANS series, and author Judy Christenberry has delivered! The $10,000,000 Texas Wedding is the not-to-be-missed continuation of these beloved stories set in Cactus, Texas. You just know there’s plenty of romance afoot when a bachelor will lose his huge inheritance should he fail to marry the woman he once let get away.

Rounding out the month are two fabulous stories by two authors making their Mills & Boon American Romance debut. Neesa Hart brings us the humorous Who Gets To Marry Max? and Victoria Chancellor will wow you with The Bachelor Project.

Wishing you happy reading!

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

The Bride Said, ‘Finally!’

Cathy Gillen Thacker

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CATHY GILLEN THACKER is a full-time wife/mother/author who began typing stories for her own amusement during “nap time” when her children were toddlers. Twenty years and more than fifty published novels later, Cathy is almost as well-known for her witty romantic comedies and warm family stories as she is for her ability to get grass stains and red clay out of almost anything, her triple-layer brownies and her knack for knowing what her three grown and nearly grown children are up to almost before they do! Her books have made numerous appearances on bestseller lists and are now published in seventeen languages and thirty-five countries around the world.

Books by Cathy Gillen Thacker

MILLS & BOON AMERICAN ROMANCE

102—HEART’S JOURNEY

134—REACH FOR THE STARS

143—A FAMILY TO CHERISH

156—HEAVEN SHARED

166—THE DEVLIN DARE

187—ROGUE’S BARGAIN

233—GUARDIAN ANGEL

247—FAMILY AFFAIR

262—NATURAL TOUCH

277—PERFECT MATCH

307—ONE MAN’S FOLLY

318—LIFETIME GUARANTEE

334—MEANT TO BE

367—IT’S ONLY TEMPORARY

388—FATHER OF THE BRIDE

407—AN UNEXPECTED FAMILY

423—TANGLED WEB

445—HOME FREE

452—ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE

456—THE COWBOY’S MISTRESS

472—HONEYMOON FOR HIRE

483—BEGUILED AGAIN

494—FIANCÉ FOR SALE

506—KIDNAPPING NICK

521—BABY ON THE DOORSTEP‡

526—DADDY TO THE RESCUE‡

529—TOO MANY MOMS‡

540—JENNY AND THE FORTUNE HUNTER

556—LOVE POTION #5

568—MISS CHARLOTTE SURRENDERS

587—A SHOTGUN WEDDING

607—DADDY CHRISTMAS

613—MATCHMAKING BABY

625—THE COWBOY’S BRIDE††

629—THE RANCH STUD††

633—THE MAVERICK MARRIAGE††

673—ONE HOT COWBOY

697—SPUR-OF-THE-MOMENT MARRIAGE††

713—SNOWBOUND BRIDE*

717—HOT CHOCOLATE HONEYMOON*

721—SNOW BABY*

747—MAKE ROOM FOR BABY

754—BABY’S FIRST CHRISTMAS

789—DR. COWBOY**

793—WILDCAT COWBOY**

797—A COWBOY’S WOMAN**

801—A COWBOY KIND OF DADDY**

837—THE BRIDE SAID, “I DID?”†

841—THE BRIDE SAID, “FINALLY!”†

Dear Reader,

The fictional town of Laramie, Texas, exemplifies everything I know and love about the state. The people are warm and friendly and helpful as can be, their desires bold, their dreams big. It’s a place where opportunity is limitless and people are encouraged to live and enjoy life to the fullest.

So much so that I knew when I started writing the books about John and Lilah McCabe and their four sons that I'd also write another series set in Laramie. But this one would be about a family of four sisters who, like the McCabes, find the love that has eluded them in Laramie.

Look for the first two books about the Lockharts in August and September 2000. The third and fourth books will be published in February and March 2001.

In the midst of all this, I am also writing a bigger, more in-depth story about Sam McCabe, John and Lilah McCabe’s nephew. A widower with five lively boys, he returns to Laramie when his life soars out of control. TEXAS VOWS: A MCCABE FAMILY SAGA, will be published in March 2001.

I hope you enjoy them all as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Happy reading!

Cathy Gillen Thacker

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter One

“I need a favor. And I need it from you,” the low, distinctively male voice drawled.

As the velvety sound surrounded her, tingles of awareness slid down Jenna Lockhart’s spine. She knew that rich, familiar murmur. Unless she was hallucinating…The blood rushed hot through her veins. She turned slowly toward the door, telling herself all the while she had to be imagining it. That the romantic notion was prompted by the equally shocking elopement of her sister, Dani, and Beau Chamberlain several weeks before. Just because Dani had found the man of her dreams and married him, just because wedding fever was sweeping the town of Laramie, Texas, did not mean that the man of Jenna’s dreams would waltz back into her life on a moment’s notice. Did it?

Drawing a deep breath, Jenna lifted her eyes, curious to see who had entered her exclusive boutique just seconds before she closed for the day. And promptly felt her knees turn to jelly. Well over six years had passed since she had seen the man who had broken her heart all to pieces, but Jake Remington hadn’t changed a bit. Except, perhaps, to become even more handsome and self-assured. He was a good six inches taller than her five-foot-nine-inch frame, with a penchant for casual clothes, and an even more casual manner that belied his enormous wealth and good fortune.

“What are you doing here?” Jenna demanded.

Looking completely at ease with himself in the ultrafeminine surroundings, he circled around the one-of-a-kind wedding and evening dresses on display. Once at her side, he tipped back his black Stetson, revealing layers of thick jet-black hair. As he scanned her from head to toe, reluctant pleasure tugged at the corners of his lips. “I wanted to congratulate you on your success.” Jake lifted his glance back to her eyes. “Your clothing designs have been in the news all month. Dani created quite a stir when she wore one of your dresses to the premiere of Beau Chamberlain’s new movie. Reportedly, every starlet in Hollywood now wants one of your originals.”

That was true. Due to her growing success, Jenna was booked solid with appointments. She was taking the time between now and then to prepare for the onslaught. And perhaps look at hiring someone besides Raelynn to help her in the shop. But not wanting to disclose all that to Jake, Jenna merely shrugged and returned his steady glance, albeit with a lot less admiration. “You’ve done very well for yourself. I hear J&R Industries is a multimillion-dollar conglomerate.”

Jake pushed back the edges of his black sport coat, and placed his hands on his waist. His sexy grin widened. “You’ve kept up.”

Jenna turned away, trying hard not to notice how taut and trim his midriff was beneath his olive-green shirt and snug black jeans. “Hard not to, if you read the business pages of all the major Texas newspapers—and I do.”

Following her around the shop, Jake said, “I would have called for an appointment, but I didn’t think you’d see me.”

Struggling not to recall how good it had felt to be held against that warm, strong chest, Jenna refused to look at him as she shut down her computer for the night. “You were right.” She remembered without wanting to how much he had hurt her, abandoning her the way he had. “I wouldn’t have.”

Jake looked at her steadily, serious now. “What happened between us was a long time ago.”

Funny, Jenna thought. It seemed like just yesterday to her. Though in reality it had been six years, eight months, ten days and…nineteen hours. But who was counting?

She smiled thinly. “What’s your point?”

Jake’s expression was suddenly as vulnerable as it was grave. “I want us to be friends again.”

Jenna didn’t want to think of Jake as vulnerable, because if she did it meant he had a heart, and that was definitely not true. Jenna locked her cash register. “Not possible.”

He leaned across the sales counter. “How will you know unless you try?” he asked.

Every muscle in her body went stiff with tension. “I’m not interested in trying, Jake,” she told him flatly, ignoring the unsettling way her senses stirred at his close proximity.

Jake regarded her with so much smug male assurance it took her breath away. “Same old stubbornness and fiery temperament.”

“Same old arrogance and conceit,” she shot back, refusing to be distracted by the enticing, woodsy scent of his skin.

Instead of being insulted, Jake merely grinned, and looked all the more entranced. “Jenna, I have a proposition for you.”

As Jenna recalled, what he’d said was that he needed a favor from her. In her opinion, those were two very different things. “I’ll just bet you do,” she replied. Grabbing a clear plastic garment bag, she slipped it over a wedding dress on the overhead rack.

“I need you to make a complete wardrobe.”

Jenna knelt and gently folded the edges of the beaded satin gown into the bag. “I don’t design men’s clothing.” And even if she did, she wouldn’t design anything for him!

Jake also knelt to help, holding the bottom of the bag straight. “It’s for the lady in my life.”

Resisting the urge to deck him, Jenna zipped the garment bag closed. “Now I’m really not interested.”

Jake stood, and hand beneath her elbow, gallantly helped Jenna to her feet. “I’ll do anything you want.”

Still tingling from his brief, but sure touch, Jenna carried the gown back to the storeroom. Wishing her heart would stop pounding and resume its normal beat, she carefully hung the gown on the rack. “I’m still not interested, Jake.” To her dismay, Jake showed no signs of leaving despite her less-than-gracious hints.

He moved back to let her pass and continued speaking as if she had already agreed to accommodate him. “The thing is, it’s a rush job.”

Her exasperation mounting by leaps and bounds, Jenna strode back out into the carpeted showroom. She went to the desk behind the sales counter and reached for her Rolodex. “I’ll give you some names and send you on your way.”

“I don’t want anyone else. I want you.”

“Too bad,” Jenna replied, forcing herself to remember how much he had hurt her instead of how very well he kissed, “because you’re never going to have me.” Ever again.

Jake quirked a brow. Desire, pure and simple, was in his eyes. “Don’t make promises you may not be able to keep.”

Her temper flaring, Jenna poked a finger at his chest. “And don’t you presume to know what is in my heart or on my mind.”

Outside, a red sport utility vehicle with tinted windows pulled up to the curb and parked just ahead of Jake’s charcoal gray truck and Jenna’s sporty white convertible.

Obviously perturbed by the interruption, Jake glanced at his watch and frowned. “She’s early.”

Like that matters! Jenna thought, incensed.

Unable to believe his audacity, never mind his lack of consideration for her feelings, Jenna turned to Jake furiously. “You are so out of here,” she said just as the driver alighted from the truck. To Jenna’s amazement, it wasn’t some glamorous young babe Jake was dating, but a plump, pleasant-looking woman in her mid to late fifties, wearing jeans, boots and blue denim work shirt. She had a straw cowgirl hat pulled over wild salt-and-pepper curls and a red bandana tied around her neck. She walked to the rear door on the passenger side. Realizing this woman was only the chauffeur, Jenna began to frown again.

Jake moved between Jenna and the window, adeptly blocking her view. He tugged her behind a three-mannequin display of evening wear in the boutique window. Meanwhile, though the chauffeur had opened the passenger door and was holding it wide, no one was getting out.

“Look, I’m begging you,” Jake said urgently. He clamped both his hands on Jenna’s shoulders and held her there in front of him when she would have bolted. “Alex’s been through a really rough time. When she saw your designs on TV she fell in love with them. I promised her I’d get you to design her some dresses, just for her. Exactly what she wants. Down to the very last detail.”

Finding his request more unbelievable than ever, Jenna snapped at him, “So break the promise. That’s certainly not anything you’ve hesitated to do before.”

Reminded of the heartless way he had betrayed her in the past, he showed a moment’s regret. Then, recovering, he went on matter-of-factly. “It’s not that simple, Jenna.”

Jenna scoffed again. “It is to me. Besides, I have confidence in you,” she continued sweetly, favoring him with a long, withering look. “You’ll think of something, Jake. You always have.”

The driver turned to Jake and lifted her hands in exasperation. Jake nodded his understanding signaling the driver to wait.

“I’ll double your usual fee,” Jake said urgently, fastening his attention on Jenna once again.

Jenna shook her head, thinking, This man really needs to have his head examined. “No!”

“Triple.”

Jenna rolled her eyes. “You must really be desperate.”

Jake muttered, lifting one hand from her shoulder and, rubbing the back of his neck. “You have no idea how much.”

Jenna wasn’t sure whether to tell Jake what she really thought of him, or just pity him. “Find some other ex-girlfriend to torture,” she said in a low, bored tone.

Jake dropped his other hand, stepped back. Where he had gripped her shoulders, Jenna continued to tingle warmly. Too warmly.

“There is no one else,” he said, dispirited.

Looking into his mesmerizing silver-gray eyes, still feeling the awareness that shimmered through her at his touch, Jenna could almost—almost—believe that. Which only proved that once a fool, always a fool, she reprimanded herself. “No one else who knows how to operate a sewing machine, you mean,” she replied archly.

Without warning, the limo driver snapped to attention once again. Sensing something was about to happen, Jake and Jenna both looked in the direction of the car. Seconds later, Jake’s “lady” vaulted out, clutching what looked to be a squirming bullfrog in both hands. She was muddy, unkempt, with a baseball hat planted backwards on her head, covering a mop of long and tangled strawberry blond hair that obviously hadn’t seen a brush all day. Olive-green overalls and a dingy T-shirt, several sizes too big, hung from her slender figure. She wore pink-rimmed sunglasses, high-topped basketball sneakers. A backpack in the form of a monkey was slung over one shoulder. Relief and amusement—and irritation at Jake for not having explained further—flowed through Jenna in equal quantities, making her want to deck him all over again.

“This is the lady in your life?” Jenna asked, guessing the little girl’s age to be about five or six.

“The one and only,” Jake smiled as the little scamp marched toward him. Jake turned to Jenna, sexy mischief in his eyes. “What did you think I meant?”

Too late, Jenna realized it had been a test, to see if she still had feelings for him, and she had failed. Hardening her heart against any further involvement with him, she said, “I don’t design children’s clothing, either.”

Outside, the chauffeur waved cheerfully at Jenna, gestured to Jake she’d be back in a minute, then took off down the street after she ushered the child toward the shop.

“I was hoping you’d make an exception for Alexandra, here,” Jake continued as the child sidled up to him for a one-armed hug.

“That’s okay, Daddy.” Alexandra leaned against Jake’s side, her head resting against his waist. “I didn’t want any dresses anyway. And stop calling me Alexandra. You know I only wanta be called Alex.” Carefully transferring the frog to one hand, she grabbed onto the sleeve of Jake’s casual black blazer with the other and tugged fiercely. “Let’s go, Daddy.”

His eyes still on Jenna, Jake shook his head. “Not yet, honey. I’ve got business to do.”

The pout that formed on Alexandra’s pretty face was immediate—and potent. “You’ve been doing business all day,” she grumbled as the frog leapt from her hand and hopped across the floor of the shop. “I want to go to the ranch house now,” she repeated stubbornly. Racing after her frog, she called over her shoulder, “It’s brand-new. Daddy built it just for us, so I’d have somewhere I could play outside, and have horsies and dogs and cats and stuff. Only I don’t have none yet.”

Jenna looked at Jake, too surprised by his revelations to be concerned with the amphibian escapee. “I didn’t think your family was summering here anymore.” They had stopped at the time of Jake and Jenna’s failed elopement.

“My folks don’t, although they keep the ranch for an investment and loan out the house to friends from time to time.”

“Then why would you build a place here, if you no longer have family vacationing in the area?”

Jake shrugged. “I loved coming to Laramie when I was a kid.” He shot a glance at Alex, who had throw off her monkey backpack and pink sunglasses and was hopping around after her frog, well out of earshot. “I figured Alex would love it, too.”

Jenna smiled, unable to resist a dig after the way his family’s snobbish attitudes had hurt her. “Are you sure that’s wise? Laramie is a great place. Friendly. Warm. Caring. Intimate. But on the social register—well, we really can’t compare with your native Dallas now, can we?” She looked at him steadily, daring him to claim otherwise.

Jake stared back, regarding her with the same steady intensity. “I never thought you’d be a snob.”

“Me?”

“Okay, reverse snob,” Jake amended.

Before they could continue their discussion, Alex’s chauffeur stepped into the shop. Jake turned to the older woman, affection etched on his face. It was, Jenna noted curiously, a feeling that was returned. “Jenna,” Jake said warmly, “this is Clara, our housekeeper, the lady who keeps us all sane. Clara, I’d like you to meet Jenna Lockhart, the lady I’ve been telling you and Alex about.”

“I heard you two knew each other as kids,” Clara said.

Jenna nodded. “We used to see each other every summer. But that ended a long time ago. We haven’t seen each other since.”

Jake gave Jenna a look that said: “And it’s a loss to us both.”

Jenna gave Jake a look that said: “Speak for yourself.”

Alex popped up from behind the sales counter. She waved the bullfrog in the air. “Hey, everybody, I got him!”

“Well, nice meeting you all, but as you can see I’m closing my shop for the day.”

“Goody! Did you hear that, Mr. Froggie? We get to go to the ranch!” With a wave at Jenna, Alex darted back out the door.

“Nice meetin’ you!” Clara said, waving as she headed out the door after Alex.

Jake frowned at his daughter, who was already climbing back in the truck. “This probably isn’t a good time for us to talk,” he conceded with a frown.

Jenna breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you finally realize that.”

“We need to go to dinner together,” Jake said firmly.

Jenna’s eyes widened. Determined not to put herself in an emotionally vulnerable position with him again, she scoffed derisively. “In your dreams!”

Jake’s eyes darkened with legendary confidence. “I’ll be by to get you around eight o’clock,” he promised as she stalked away from him.

Jenna concentrated on putting the Closed sign on the front door. Then opened it and held it wide for him. “Don’t hold your breath,” she muttered sweetly as she waved him toward the exit.

But clearly, Jake was counting on getting his way. As always. “Wear something casual,” Jake advised as he sauntered toward the door. “I want you to be comfortable.” He gave her a smile that reached his eyes. “We have a lot to talk about.”

“THE NERVE of that man!” Meg Lockhart fumed short minutes later at the emergency meeting of all four Lockhart sisters. Having come straight from work, she was still in her nurse’s uniform.

“I’ll say!” Kelsey agreed with a snort of disgust as they all gathered around the dining table in Jenna’s apartment above her Main Street boutique. Kelsey put down the stack of catalogs of ranch gear she’d brought in with her, pushed back her cowgirl hat and pulled up a chair.

“To come around after all these years, acting as if nothing much at all had happened!” The happily married Dani shook her head in a reproach too deep for words. A movie critic by profession, she liked drama and excitement as much as anyone, but this was too much—even for her!

Dani leaned toward Jenna urgently. “I mean, I know how much you loved him once, Jenna. But for him to think—after all this time, no less!—that you would still be carrying a torch for him…How foolish is that?”

Pretty foolish, Jenna thought, aware it was uncomfortably close to the truth. As much as she hated to admit it, no man had ever come close, before or since, to engendering the passionate emotions in her that Jake Remington, captain of J&R Industries, did.

All four sisters sipped iced tea with lemon, their heads bent together thoughtfully.

“Actually, I think the smartest thing would be for you to go on that date,” Meg decided after a moment as she took the pins out of her long auburn hair and shook it out.

Everyone turned to Meg—the oldest and most responsible of them all—in shock. Meg regarded them determinedly but saved her advice, which came straight from the heart, for Jenna. “You need to prove to him once and for all that you are so over him it isn’t funny,” Meg told Jenna sternly. “Let him wine and dine you and even pull out all the stops if that’s what he wants to do. Just play along with nary a word of protest and let him go for it. And then—” Meg paused and raised a cautioning hand “—when he’s expended his full bag of rich-boy tricks, let him know straight out there’s no going back to the way things were when you were teenagers. Let him know it’s over, once and for all.”