The Bachelor Takes a Bride (Those Engaging Garretts!) Read online

  “You don’t know me…but will you marry me?”

  It strikes him like a lightning bolt when he lays eyes on Jordyn Garrett. Just like his grandma always says, You’ll know her when you see her. Now restaurateur Marco Palermo knows he’s just met his wife—if only she’ll date him!

  Jordyn’s heard every line…and deflected them all. She’s walked through heartbreak and come out stronger, albeit lonelier. She’ll never love again. But the scrumptious Italian with the melted-chocolate eyes is nothing if not persistent. And sexy. So sexy. Just her luck to find the only man in the world who wants marriage and a family. Things Jordyn can’t give. But can he convince her that he’s everything she’s ever wanted…forever?

  He was gorgeous.

  Even standing in his kitchen whisking eggs, Marco couldn’t have looked sexier.

  “You’re a nurturer.”

  She didn’t realize she’d said that aloud until he looked up at her. “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s in your nature to take care of people,” she explained. “You anticipate their needs, try to fulfill them.”

  “You got that from watching me make French toast?”

  She smiled. “I’ve seen you with your nieces, heard you with your siblings.”

  “Sounds like you’ve been keeping a pretty close eye on me.” He nudged her. “Sounds like you might even like me a little.”

  “I might. A little.”

  “And why does that worry you?”

  She didn’t deny it. “Because you’re looking for a committed, long-term relationship. And I don’t know that I can give you anything more than this one day.”

  “That’s okay—because I do.” He gave her a confident look and went back to stirring.

  She felt a stirring of her own. She’d been alone for a long time, and numb for most of that time. But now, with Marco, she was feeling things she didn’t think she’d ever feel again. And wanting things...

  Dangerous things...

  * * *

  THOSE ENGAGING GARRETTS!:

  The Carolina Cousins!

  Dear Reader,

  Marco Palermo is an unapologetic romantic who believes in love at first sight because that’s how it happened for his grandparents, his parents and each of his siblings. According to his grandmother, when he finally meets the right woman, the realization will hit him “like lightning”—which is exactly what happens the first time he sees Jordyn, dashing through a downpour outside his family’s restaurant!

  Jordyn Garrett isn’t looking for love when she stops at Valentino’s restaurant on her way home from a blind date gone bad—she just wants pizza. Sure, Marco is cute and charming, and she feels a definite tingle of something when they meet. But she has no intention of risking a heart that has only recently healed from a past tragedy.

  But Marco has faith he will be able to convince Jordyn that love is worth a second chance...

  Happy reading,

  Brenda Harlen

  The Bachelor Takes a Bride

  Brenda Harlen

  Brenda Harlen is a former attorney who once had the privilege of appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada. The practice of law taught her a lot about the world and reinforced her determination to become a writer—because in fiction, she could promise a happy ending! Now she is an award-winning, national bestselling author of more than thirty titles for Harlequin. You can keep up-to-date with Brenda on Facebook and Twitter or through her website, brendaharlen.com.

  Books by Brenda Harlen

  Harlequin Special Edition

  Those Engaging Garretts!

  A Forever Kind of Family

  The Daddy Wish

  A Wife for One Year

  The Single Dad’s Second Chance

  A Very Special Delivery

  His Long-Lost Family

  From Neighbors...to Newlyweds?

  Montana Mavericks: 20 Years in the Saddle!

  The Maverick’s Thanksgiving Baby

  Montana Mavericks: Rust Creek Cowboys

  A Maverick under the Mistletoe

  Montana Mavericks: Back in the Saddle

  The Maverick’s Ready-Made Family

  Reigning Men

  Royal Holiday Bride

  Prince Daddy & the Nanny

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  For me, writing is truly a labor of love.

  Every day that I sit down at my computer, I feel fortunate to be doing a job that gives me so much pleasure and satisfaction—and I want to dedicate this book (my thirty-fifth project for Harlequin) to some of the people who have helped make that possible:

  To Gail Chasan, who long ago decided that she wanted Once and Again for Special Edition—and who has since found a home for many more stories.

  To Susan Litman, who discovered McIver’s Mission as a contest judge in 2002 and has been with me for every single book I’ve published since then. I realize I am incredibly lucky to work with an editor who supports me and my writing and always finds ways to make my stories better.

  To Carly Silver, who may be the newest member of the Harlequin Special Edition editorial team but has already provided invaluable assistance as a title guru—thank you!

  To everyone in the art and marketing departments for helping to ensure that the books have polish and appeal.

  While all of these people have played a part in transforming my stories from manuscript to bookstore, even then, the journey is not complete. A book is only a collection of pages (or coded words in a file) until a reader opens it up. For that reason, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to all of the readers who have taken my characters and stories into their homes and hearts—I am truly humbled and grateful.

  The last dozen years have been an exciting adventure in my publishing career and I look forward to sharing many more with all of you!

  I’d also like to acknowledge and thank Maria Rosati and Mike Boccalon for their assistance with the Italian dialogue in this story. Any errors are my own.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Ransom Canyon by Jodi Thomas

  Chapter One

  As Marco Palermo squinted through the windshield of his small SUV—as if squinting might somehow improve visibility—he realized that he might as well have been blindfolded.

  Though it was early May and not yet eight o’clock, the sky was black and the rain was pouring down so hard the windshield wipers couldn’t clear it away fast enough for him to see more than three feet beyond his vehicle’s headlights. Why anyone would choose to be out in such weather was a mystery to him, and yet here he was, at the behest of his sister—because he never could refuse her anything.

  “I hav
e an insatiable craving for tiramisu,” Renata had said, explaining the reason for her call. “I’d come to the restaurant myself, but Anna and Bella are in their pj’s and ready for bed.”

  The restaurant was Valentino’s—an establishment in Charisma’s downtown core that had been started by their grandparents nearly half a century earlier; Adrianna and Isabella were Renata’s daughters, ages five and three years respectively, and Marco loved them both to bits. A definite benefit of doing this favor for his sister was getting to spend some time with his adorable nieces.

  “Tiramisu, huh?”

  “It’s not me—it’s the baby,” she said, referring to the third child she was carrying.

  He figured pregnancy cravings were the responsibility of the baby’s father, and he knew that his brother-in-law wouldn’t hesitate to drive through a torrential downpour to get his wife anything she wanted or needed. The fact that Renata had called Marco suggested that her firefighter husband was at work and unable to cater to her every whim, as Craig was usually happy to do.

  “Well, the baby’s going to have to wait at least half an hour,” Marco told her. “Because I’m not at the restaurant right now.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry, I just assumed...”

  “That I spend twenty-four hours a day at Valentino’s?”

  “Something like that,” she admitted.

  “It’s Saturday night,” he said, reminding her of the one night a week he forced himself to take away from work to ensure that it didn’t become all consuming. He could—and often did—take more days and nights, because a well-established restaurant pretty much ran itself even without one of his siblings or cousins on-site to oversee every little detail.

  “Ohmygod—I didn’t think...you have a date. I’m interrupting a date. I’m so sorry.”

  “Relax, Nata. I’m just working at home tonight—you’re not interrupting anything.”

  “It’s Saturday night,” she repeated his words back to him. “Why don’t you have a date?”

  He shook his head. The abrupt change of topic and the demanding yet concerned tone in her voice were so typical of his sister, he didn’t know whether to chuckle or sigh.

  “I’ll be there with your tiramisu in half an hour,” he said. “You can grill me in person then.”

  “And I will,” she assured him.

  He had no doubt, but all he said was, “Don’t let the girls go to bed before I get there,” then he disconnected the call.

  And so he’d abandoned the blueprints on his desk, picked up his keys, dashed through the rain to his car and headed to Valentino’s.

  Why don’t you have a date?

  He considered various responses to Renata’s question as he drove the familiar route, hoping to come up with something that was believable and reassuring. The truth—that he was tired of dating the wrong women—wouldn’t satisfy his sister. She would insist that he not give up, because the right woman was out there, waiting for him as much as he was waiting for her. But he was getting tired of waiting.

  All of his siblings were in settled relationships. Nata and Craig had been married for almost eight years. His oldest brother, Tony, had been married to his high school sweetheart, Gemma, for nine. And Gabe, his other brother, had recently—finally—gotten engaged to Francesca, the woman he’d started to fall in love with more than two years earlier but for whom he’d only recently acknowledged his feelings. His sister and brothers had each found the right people to share their lives with and were happy and settled. Marco yearned for the same thing.

  When you find her, you’ll know. Nonna’s words—spoken to him at Gabe and Francesca’s engagement celebration—echoed in the back of his mind.

  Caterina loved to tell the story of her first meeting with Salvatore, which happened to be on their wedding day. “It was like lightning—a surge that tingled through my veins. I had worried about what marriage to a stranger would bring, but I knew then that I would love him forever.”

  Marco figured sixty-one years was pretty close to forever. And from what he could see, his grandparents were still very much in love with each other. Sure, they argued—sometimes loudly and passionately—and they often made up the same way. The key to a long and happy marriage, Nonna told him, was to never go to bed alone or angry.

  So he didn’t question the conviction in her words, because that was how it happened in his family—starting with his grandparents, then his parents, and his sister and both of his brothers. No, he didn’t doubt it would happen that way, but he was starting to worry about the when—or even if—it would happen for him.

  He’d dated a lot of perfectly nice and undeniably attractive women, but none of them had been the right woman. He’d wanted them to be; each time he’d embarked on a new relationship, he’d had high hopes that this woman would turn out to be the woman who would make him fall head over heels in love forever after. But it had never happened. Not yet.

  So he was waiting, albeit a little less patiently with each year that passed. He wasn’t ready to give up, but he wasn’t holding his breath, either. And if he didn’t actually experience a lightning moment of recognition, he would settle for a tingle of attraction—or even a spark of static electricity.

  He backed into his usual parking spot behind the restaurant and turned off the engine. As he did, thunder crashed and the skies opened up again, the strong and steady thrumming of the rain on his windshield washed away by an absolute deluge. He unhooked his belt but didn’t reach for the door handle—he wasn’t leaving the shelter of his vehicle until the downpour eased up.

  After a couple more minutes, when the rain finally began to slow, he saw the take-out door of Valentino’s open and a woman step out. She exited from under the red-and-white-striped awning with her pizza box in hand and hurried across the parking lot. Despite the ongoing storm, something about her snagged his attention and wouldn’t let go.

  Her hair was short, dark and wet from the rain. She didn’t wear a coat, and her dress showcased some nice curves as she moved surprisingly fast in the heels she wore on her feet. Lightning flashed, illuminating the sky for what might have been a heartbeat if not for the fact that his heart literally skipped a beat.

  His eyes continued to track the mystery woman’s path to her vehicle. She opened the driver’s side of a light-colored compact car and ducked inside, setting the pizza box on the empty passenger seat before closing the door, extinguishing the interior light.

  He’d barely caught a glimpse of her, yet he felt an ache beneath his breastbone, a yearning that suggested she might be the one. Finally.

  The initial sense of jubilant relief was supplanted by frustration as he watched her taillights disappear in the night.

  He might have finally found her—but he didn’t have the first clue as to who she was or when and where he might see her again.

  * * *

  When Marco entered the restaurant through the same take-out door a few minutes later, he found his sister-in-law, Gemma, behind the counter.

  Usually a hostess in the dining rooms, Gemma was happy to fill in wherever she was needed. And since their cousin Maria was currently on an extended holiday/honeymoon with her new husband—because it wasn’t just his siblings but also his cousins who were happily pairing up—they were short-staffed at the take-out counter.

  Gemma glanced up when she heard the bell over the door and smiled at him. “What are you doing in here on a Saturday night?”

  “Renata says the baby wants tiramisu,” he told her.

  “She couldn’t even stand the scent of coffee when she was pregnant with Adrianna and Isabella,” Gemma noted. “Makes me think Nonna is correct in her prediction that this one’s a boy.”

  “Well, she does have a fifty percent chance of being right.”

  “She predicted that both Adrianna and Isabella would be girls,” Gemma reminde
d him. “And that Christian and Dominic would be boys.”

  “She also predicted that you and Tony would have half a dozen babies.”

  His sister-in-law laughed. “Well, I can promise you that’s not happening.”

  “But speaking of Nonna’s predictions,” Marco said, “did you notice the woman who walked out that door?”

  “Lots of women walk out that door. And sometimes they come in. Sometimes men, too.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I was referring to the last customer who left with a pizza box in her hands.”

  “You mean Jordyn Garrett?”

  “You know her?”

  “Yeah—she’s Rachel’s husband’s cousin.”

  Rachel Ellis—now Garrett—had been a friend of Gemma’s since high school, and Rachel and her husband, Andrew, were regular customers at Valentino’s, along with Maura, Andrew’s daughter from his first marriage. The previous November, they’d added another daughter, Lily, to their family.

  “What else do you know about her?” he asked.

  “I know that she left her phone on the counter,” Gemma said, glancing at the slim case on the ledge in front of the cash register.

  “How do you know it’s hers?”

  “Because I saw her set it down when she got out her wallet to pay for the pizza.”

  The device hummed quietly, a light in the corner blinking.

  “Maybe you should answer that,” she suggested.

  “Why me?”

  “Because I’m going to the kitchen to get the tiramisu for Nata.”

  “Throw in a couple of cannoli for the girls,” he suggested.

  “Of course,” she agreed, already moving past the pizza ovens and slipping through the door to the main kitchen.

  Leaving him alone with Jordyn’s phone and its blinking light.

  He touched the screen, expecting to see a password request, which would, of course, prevent him from accessing anything on her phone. But there was no password protection—the screen immediately illuminated to reveal the recent communication to the phone’s owner—assumed to be Jordyn—from someone identified at the top of the screen as Tristyn.