One Night with the Groom

By Sara Daniel

As if Luciana Cortez doesn’t have enough problems trying to save the family farm and pay her mother’s medical bills, her brother uses the last of the mortgage money to buy her a one-night stand. Even if she wasn’t boiling with rage, her farm chores leave her with no time to date. The only bright spot...she’s too busy and exhausted to think about the man who’d once pledged to marry her then abandoned her.

Working on an important presentation, CEO Blake Wellington doesn’t think twice when he steps out of the limousine...until the car leaves and he realizes instead of the business he needs to attend to, he’s on the doorstep of the farm where his past love Luciana lives. Without cell phone service or transportation to get back to civilization, he must rely on her for help. Powerful attraction and deep hurt immediately swirl between them, compelling him to use the evening to gain closure over the ache of what might have been.

The emotions and memories of the past are stronger than either can imagine, but Blake’s business is across the country and Luciana can’t leave the farm. When the night is over, they have no choice but to heed their responsibilities and go their separate ways...or turn their lives upside down and risk a lifetime of heartbreak.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Decadent Publishing
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781613336939

Book preview

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One Night with the Groom

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014 by Sara Daniel

ISBN: 978-1-61333-693-9

Cover art by Tibbs Designs

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

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www.decadentpublishing.com

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Also by Sara Daniel

More Than a Fantasy

One Night with the Bride

Captivating the CEO

One Night with the Bridesmaid

One Night with the Groom

A 1Night Stand Story

By

Sara Daniel

~Dedication~

For everyone who holds special memories of The Farm, especially David, Mary, Michael, and Amy.

Chapter One

Luciana Cortez stared into the empty envelope, willing the cash to materialize. Of course, it didn’t. Rifling through her labeled manila envelopes in the scarred oak desk, she prayed the mortgage money had simply been misplaced.

Her pleas went unanswered.

Heart pounding, she gazed out the front window at the windblown pastures and cornfields. Only the meager funds she’d scraped together for her meeting with the hospital billing department in two days remained. She needed a miracle before then, or she’d be forced to choose between saving the farm and her mother’s health.

A maroon pickup raised a cloud of dust as it turned from the gravel road into the rutted drive.

Mama would tell her to say a rosary to find the missing funds. If Papa were alive, he would have told her to work harder to make up for it. And her brother, Alejandro, borrowing her ancient Chevy Silverado while on leave from the Marines, would concoct a ridiculous moneymaking scheme.

She shoved her chair back and slammed out of the house to confront him. Bracing her hands on her hips in the middle of the driveway, she waited for the vehicle to stop.

The rusted bumper coasted inches from her legs, but she refused to flinch.

You’d make a hell of a Marine, he called through the open window. Most soldiers would have dived for cover. He shifted into park and ran his fingers through his military-short haircut. Guilty.

Luciana stormed to the door and yanked it open. God damn it, Alejandro. What’d you do with the money?

Don’t get mad. I can explain.

Did you use it to pay the mortgage? She clung to her last hope everything would turn out all right.

No.

A lump swelled in her throat, but she ignored it along with the tears filling her eyes. How could you? I trusted you.

Since we weren’t going to have enough this month, just like we didn’t last month or the one before, I came up with another plan.

The bank knows I’m making a good faith effort. Paying something is better than nothing.

The threatening letters they’re sending make it clear they’re not going to settle for ‘something’ and ‘good faith.’ Not to mention, the bank president enjoys being an ass rather than cutting anyone any slack. Every penny I have is tied up in a new investment that hasn’t paid out yet. Since I don’t have anything to loan you, I used the mortgage money to buy you a one-night stand.

Her jaw dropped, and her stomach plummeted. You did what?

I found this company called 1Night Stand. The proprietor, Madame Eve, will match you up. I explained our goal is for you to meet someone with too much cash who’s looking for a place to unload it so our troubles will be over.

Mama didn’t have to worry about her baby boy dying in a war zone because Luciana would kill him with her bare hands. He didn’t even have the decency to squander her hard-earned money on a get-rich scheme with a conceivable