The Great Baby Caper by Eugenia Riley Excerpt

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FIND A BRIDEGROOM . . . ON A SCAVENGER HUNT???

Oh, Baby!

Courtney Kelly is determined to become the next CEO of Bootle’s Baby Bower. Then at her company’s annual convention in New Orleans, Courtney’s crazy boss, M. Billingham Bootle, sends her and the other CEO candidates out on a wild, zany scavenger hunt to determine the winner of the promotion. Courtney’s assigned mission: Find the most eligible bachelor in the French Quarter willing to marry her . . . by morning!

Daddy Darling!

Daunted by her outrageous task, Courtney is prowling the French Quarter when she encounters suave, sexy Mark, a dashing Brit who quickly sweeps her off her feet and agrees to pose as her fiancé to help her win. But just as Courtney presents her “prize” to her boss, she learns she has been deceived, that the entire scavenger hunt was a stunt staged to get her to marry her boss’s grandson—who turns out to be none other than Mark! Although furious at him, Courtney can’t escape the consequences of an incredible night of passion she and Mark share. Soon the couple is immersed in a marriage of convenience, with a baby on the way. Mark and Courtney must juggle pending parenthood and a bi-continental marriage as they try to track down a wacky industrial saboteur at the baby products company. Can the expectant couple restore bliss to Bootle’s Baby Bower while finding love—and welcoming their own baby—along the way?

The Great Baby Caper is a fun, sexy, and touching contemporary romance of approximately 97,000 words. Eugenia Riley is the renowned, bestselling author of dozens of historical, contemporary, and time-travel romances, including the classics A TRYST IN TIME and BUSHWHACKED BRIDE.

An Excerpt From The Great Baby Caper by Eugenia Riley:

To “bag” her promotion, Courtney must find the most eligible bachelor in the French Quarter willing to marry her . . . by morning! Can charming and sexy Mark help her win?

“Courtney, I do have a question,” Mark said.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Just what are you planning to tell your boss about our ‘sudden’ engagement—to convince him this isn’t just an act?”

She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess that we met in the French Quarter, and it was love at first sight.”

He frowned. “I’m still rather afraid he might call your bluff and insist we marry.”

She couldn’t resist teasing, “And you’re saving yourself for the girl back in England, right?”

“Something like that.”

Though the prospect was daunting, she responded with bravado. “I wouldn’t worry too much about our being forced into matrimony on the spot. Besides, doesn’t a marriage take time, a license and blood tests, all that?”

He scratched his jaw. “True. So you just might pull it off. Only, there’s one aspect that might be hard to pretend about.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

He stared straight into her eyes, and all at once the mood changed from one of playfulness to one of breathless anticipation. “Don’t you think it will be difficult for us to pretend to be in love unless there’s some spark of chemistry between us?”

Courtney gulped, his gaze, his words, searing her with unexpected sexual heat. “Well . . . I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Wouldn’t your boss expect us to be lovey dovey, to hug and kiss and whatnot?”

“I hadn’t thought of that, either.”

He took her hand, raised it to his mouth and slowly, gallantly kissed it. “Well, you’d best think, Courtney. For me personally, it would be difficult to simply pretend consuming passion for a woman I hardly know.”

His words made a certain sense, provocative though they were, and she was already feeling hot from the touch of his lips on the back of her hand. “Then what are you suggesting?”

A hint of roguishness gleamed in his eyes. “I think we must share a kiss.”

“A kiss?”

At once he grew utterly solemn. “You know, strictly in the name of gamesmanship, to make our pretense believable.”

He had a point—a valid one—Courtney had to admit it. And he made his argument with the charm of a master.

Who was she kidding? This man was sexy as hell, and he wanted to kiss her—not just her hand, but her mouth. A brigade of bulldozers couldn’t stop her from accepting his offer.

“Well, okay,” she conceded demurely, raising her face toward his. “I guess one kiss wouldn’t hurt.”

For a moment he regarded her with wry humor. Then, smiling tenderly, he leaned over and pressed his mouth to hers. It was a sweet, gentle kiss, and never would Courtney have expected her world to be so rocked by it. But jolted she was. As his lips held hers and the heat of his breath seared her mouth, a current of sexual need warmed her midsection, then arced treacherously lower. She gasped against his mouth, and felt his strong arms move to envelop her. The protectiveness of his gesture further melted her. For a preppie Brit, this man certainly knew how to kiss. When his hot tongue just teased the contours of her lips, she went light-headed and could feel her insides melting.

“Well?” he asked a moment later.

“I—I think we’ll be believable,” she managed huskily.

He nuzzled his mouth against her flushed cheek. “Do you, love? I personally think we could use a bit more practice.”

“Sure,” Courtney replied recklessly, shocking herself to the core. Then she stunned herself even more when she kissed him this time.

Copyright © 2001 by Eugenia Riley Essenmacher