From Neighbors...to Newlyweds?. Brenda Harlen
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Matt glanced at his watch as he followed her into the hall, and she knew he was eager to head back over to the park.
But when they made their way down the stairs and into the empty living room, he frowned.
“Where did the babysitter go?”
“I sent her home.” She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt, because now that they were really alone, her stomach was in such a mess of knots she didn’t think they’d ever untangle.
“I thought we were going back to the park to see the fireworks.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Don’t I get a vote?”
She shook her head. “No, but you have a choice.”
“What choice is that?” Matt asked her.
She lifted her arms to link them around his neck. “You can go back to the park for the fireworks—” her fingers cupped the back of his head, drew it down toward hers “—or we can make some of our own right here.”
And then she kissed him.
About the Author
BRENDA HARLEN grew up in a small town, surrounded by books and imaginary friends. Although she always dreamed of being a writer, she chose to follow a more traditional career path first. After two years of practicing as an attorney (including an appearance in front of the Supreme Court of Canada), she gave up her “real” job to be a mum and to try her hand at writing books. Three years, five manuscripts and another baby later, she sold her first book—an RWA Golden Heart winner.
Brenda lives in southern Ontario with her real-life husband/hero, two heroes-in-training and two neurotic dogs. She is still surrounded by books (too many books, according to her children) and imaginary friends, but she also enjoys communicating with real people. Readers can contact Brenda by email at [email protected].
From
Neighbours…
to Newlyweds?
Brenda Harlen
Because this series is about brothers, this book
is dedicated to Brett (AKA “BIL”).
You became my brother when you married my sister,
and through all the years that you’ve been part of our
family you’ve proven yourself to be a terrific husband
and a wonderful father—a true romantic hero.
(PS You’re a pretty good brother-in-law, too.)
Chapter One
The house was finally, blissfully quiet.
Georgia Reed mentally crossed her fingers as she sat down at the antique dining room table, hoping for one hour. If she could have a full sixty minutes to focus on the manuscript pages spread out in front of her, she might actually catch up on her work. Unfortunately, the thought of catching a nap was much more tempting than the book she was currently reading.
Though she was officially on maternity leave from her job as an associate editor at Tandem Publishing, she had agreed to accept work on a contract basis to help out the senior editor and keep some money coming in. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but Georgia hadn’t been nearly as productive as she’d hoped to be, especially since she’d uprooted her kids and moved to Pinehurst only six weeks earlier.
She sipped from the cup of herbal tea she’d reheated for a third time and skimmed through the previous chapter to refresh her memory. But just as her mind began to focus on the story, it occurred to her that it was too quiet.
The realization kicked her protective instincts into overdrive. She pushed her chair away from the table and raced across the hall to the living room, where she’d left four-year-old Quinn and Shane with a pile of building blocks. The carpet was littered with the chunky pieces but her boys were both gone—no doubt through the wide-open patio door.
The door had been closed when she settled the boys down to play—closed and locked. But the lock was tricky, and sometimes just tugging on the handle would allow the latch to slip and the lock to slide free. She’d talked to her mother about getting it fixed, but apparently that detail had slipped Charlotte’s mind.
And now her children were gone.
She hurried back to the dining room to grab the baby monitor before racing out the back door.
“Quinn! Shane!” She ran across the deck, cursing when she stepped on a red block. They couldn’t have gone far. She’d only left them in the room a few minutes earlier. If anything had happened—
No, she couldn’t even complete the thought.
“Quinn! Shane!”
A flash of movement caught the corner of her eye, and she spun around, her heart sinking when she didn’t see the boys’ familiar faces but the shadowed jaw of a grown man standing on the grass.
“Are you looking for two little guys about yay—” he held a hand about three and a half feet off the ground “—high?”
“Did you see where they went?” she asked hopefully, desperately.
“They wandered into my backyard.” He gestured toward the adjoining property.
Georgia closed her eyes so he wouldn’t see that they’d filled with tears. “Oh, thank you, God.”
“Actually, my name’s Matt—Matt Garrett.”
She opened her eyes again and saw that he was smiling at her.
“And your kids are fine,” he promised her.
“Only until I get my hands on them,” she muttered.
His smile widened.
Now that the panic had subsided and her heart was beating more normally again, she took a moment to look at her new neighbor—and felt a little tug low in her belly.
Matt Garrett had thick dark hair that was sexily tousled, as if he’d been running his fingers through it, a slightly crooked nose and a strong unshaven jaw. His shoulders were broad, his long, lean body well-muscled. And as his deep blue gaze connected with her own, she felt a subtle buzz in her veins that made her feel hot and tingly in a way that she hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
“One of the puppies escaped into your yard and caught their attention,” he explained.
“Puppies?”
“Come and check them out,” he invited.
She hooked the monitor on her belt and followed him, surreptitiously checking out his spectacular backside as she did so.
He’d moved in a few days earlier. She’d noticed the moving truck when she’d gone out to the porch to check the mail Wednesday afternoon—and then she’d noticed the tall, broad-shouldered man supervising the unloading of it.
He was in faded denim with an even more faded Orioles T-shirt stretched across his broad chest. Definitely a man’s man, she decided, and felt a flutter of something low in her belly. He lifted an arm in casual greeting and flashed a quick smile that actually made Georgia’s heart skip a beat before it began hammering against her ribs.
She raised her hand in response, waving her mail at him, then felt the flood of heat in her cheeks as she realized what she’d done. She wasn’t sure if it was sexual deprivation or sleep deprivation that was responsible for her distraction, but thankfully, he was too