The Bachelor's Matchmaker, page 1
“My dog was on the wrong end of a very sudden, very ugly dispute with a fierce pit bull that must have gotten loose in the neighborhood.”
She continued, “We were taking a late-night walk and I think that Charlotte was trying to protect me. It all happened so fast, I didn’t realize that anything was going on until I heard this awful barking and crying coming from Charlotte.”
Fearing the worst, Sam asked, “And where’s your dog now?”
“I put her into my car and drove over here. That’s how I got all this blood on me,” the woman told him, waving her hand at the front of her shirt. “I’m sorry to wake you up in the middle of the night like this, but someone I know gave me your name and address and said you were really good with dogs.” She added, “I’m new here and I had nowhere to go.” She flashed an apologetic look at him. He caught himself thinking that he had never had an apology look quite as good before.
Dear Reader,
Well, we’re back, this time with a brand-new series revolving around the Sterling Brothers (and their father), five men born between eighteen months and two years apart. Shortly after the youngest was born, their mother died as a result of a car accident. At a loss, their father, with the help of his late wife’s best friend, found a nanny to help care for the boys as if they were her own. She helped raise them and educate them (rather than just indulge them). Consequently, the boys grew up smart and educated as well as able to do things (they cooked as a way of honoring their mother, who loved to cook).
Their father, Sanford, was lost without his beloved wife, Shirley, but he found a way to keep going and make sure that his sons grew up educated and provided for. Thanks to their nanny, Randi, the boys never sat on their hands. The oldest, Samuel, is a veterinarian; the next in line, Simon, is a very serious divorce lawyer who does not believe in love because of what he has to deal with; Scott, the middle son, is an investment counselor and takes care of the family’s finances; Sebastian, the next to youngest, is brilliant, having gotten his degrees in literature and become a college professor before he turned twenty; and Sean, the youngest and most likely the handsomest of the lot, managed to talk their father into taking him on as his partner despite not wanting his son to be part of a construction business.
The theme behind the books is getting his sons matched up so they could enjoy the sort of happiness that he, Sanford, did.
I hope I succeed in entertaining you, and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.
With all good thoughts,
Marie Ferrarella
THE BACHELOR’S MATCHMAKER
Marie Ferrarella
www.millsandboon.com.au
USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author MARIE FERRARELLA has written more than three hundred books for Harlequin, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, marieferrarella.com.
TO
My Editor,
Patience Bloom,
Who Is the Living Embodiment
Of Just That,
Patience,
With a Dose of Love
Thrown In,
I Will Always Be Eternally Grateful
We Crossed Each Other’s Paths
Contents
Prologue
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
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Excerpt from Her Fake Boyfriend by Heatherly Bell
Prologue
Sanford Sterling sat in the trailer he had parked at the newest construction site he had set up. He felt incredibly lost and alone. This sensation was nothing new. It came whenever he was alone with his thoughts, looking at the framed photograph he kept on his desk of his late wife. He was contemplating what his life had become in the years since Shirley had died as a result of a car accident, which had left him with their five sons to raise—two of whom were too young at the time when she died to even remember what she had been like.
“Oh, Lord, Shirley, you have no idea how much I wish you were here,” he told the woman in the photograph. “Our boys need to settle down, to get married and start their own families. They need your help—I need your help. I lucked out when I found you.”
He sighed deeply, remembering the day he first saw her. She had walked into his second-period English class on a Tuesday morning in eighth grade. He fell in love with her right then and there—and they had been together ever since. Until the day she had been taken from him. The resulting wound was still fresh even after all these years.
“I want our boys to feel that sort of luck coursing through their veins, but how on earth do I manage to do that for them? I need your help, Shirley. I really, really need you next to me. I don’t want to guide our sons into making a mistake, marrying the wrong woman. Otherwise, they’ll be sorry for the rest of their lives. I’ve never been able to even get them to find time for any serious dating.” Sanford sighed, shaking his head. “They’ve always been too focused on getting their degrees and starting their careers. That much I’ve accomplished.” He had a feeling that had been because Shirley was looking down at her sons and guiding their every move.
But this was too much to hope for—and how could he even be able to get all five of his sons to pair up with the right women? The best dating advice he had to offer was “follow your heart.”
Sanford combed his fingers through his hair, frustrated and at a complete loss. “Oh, Shirley, I need you now more than ever. The boys need you,” he whispered into the shadows.
And then suddenly, just like that, it came to him. The answer. From out of the past.
Maizie.
Maizie Sommers had been Shirley’s close friend in high school as well as her maid of honor at their wedding. And, just as important, she had been the one who had helped him find a nanny to watch over the boys so he was able to go back to work, to earn a living and provide for his family.
That hadn’t been easy, either, but Maizie was right there beside him, despite her busy schedule, weeding out potential candidates for the position of the boys’ nanny, promising him he was going to get through this, assuring him that he had to get through this for Shirley’s sake. And ultimately telling him that if there was absolutely anything she could do for him, she would.
For Shirley’s sake.
And that was when he suddenly remembered. Aside from being a successful real estate agent, on the side, Maizie also ran a matchmaking service with two of her best friends. She took no money for it, instead gathering a sense of pride and feeling of accomplishment from the matchup.
That was his answer, Sanford realized.
“Matchmaking service,” he said out loud, happy for once that his youngest son and business partner was not on-site with him. “Of course. Boy, talk about being thick,” he murmured, shaking his head.
The first opportunity he got, he planned on paying Maizie a visit and laying this new dilemma he found himself facing at her feet. He needed help, and he didn’t mind admitting it. This needed a woman’s touch, he thought.
“Brace yourself, Sam,” he said to his firstborn, the one he was planning on matching up first. “Your fancy-free days are about to come to an end.”
He was that confident that Maizie was about to find someone for Sam.
Now that he thought about it, he had heard good things about the enduring matches that Maizie and her friends had made in the last fifteen years. It gave him hope.
“My sweet boys,” he said to the image he had in his heart of his sons. “Your lives are about to change—for the better,” he said with certainty.
He decided that Sam, as his oldest, was going to be first. It only seemed fair to go that route. He had a feeling that Shirley would definitely approve of this move.
* * *
As soon as he was alone—and able—he placed a call to Maizie. It turned out to be the following day. Since she was successful in both her real estate business and this matchmaking, he had a feeling that he would need an appointment to see Maizie in a timely fashion.
Not that the woman would put obstacles in his way, but he wanted to pay her the courtesy of going to her on her timetable rather than his own, even though he was exceedingly busy 24/7.
Maizie picked up her phone on the third ring. “Maizie Sommers, how may I help you?”
He would have recognized that bright, chipper voice anywhere. “Maizie, this is Sanford Sterling. Would you be available to meet with me tomorrow?”
It had been several years. “Sandy, is that really you?” she cried, clearly stunned. And then she immediately asked, “Is anything wrong?”
“No, as a matter of fact, there isn’t,” Sanford told her. “But once again, I find myself in need of your very unique services.”
He imagined Maizie making herself comfortable. “I’m listening. What can I do?”
He took a breath, launching into the reason for his call. “You once told me that you and your two friends had dipped your toes in matchmaking waters. Are you still treading water?”
“Not for a while now,” she admitted. “But the girls and I are ready and eager to get back into it. You’re not looking, are you?” she asked incredulously.
No one loved their late wife as much as Sandy loved Shirley. “No, not me, but it’s time for the boys to find their soulmates. I hear you’re really good at that sort of matchup.”
He could hear the smile in Maizie’s voice. “As a matter of fact, we are. Why don’t you come down to the office the first opportunity you get, and we’ll discuss the particulars?” she suggested.
“Tomorrow morning too soon?” he asked her.
“Tomorrow’s perfect, Sandy. I look forward to seeing you,” she told him. “How about ten?”
This was going to be good. “Sounds perfect,” he told her.
“I certainly hope so” was Maizie’s response.
* * *
The shopping center where Maizie’s real estate agency was located had changed somewhat since Sanford had seen it last. It had been built up over the years, even though it continued to maintain its warm, friendly, welcoming appearance.
As he pulled into the lot, he felt as if he had butterflies in his stomach, a strange feeling for a grown man to have, he thought. But this was important. Very important, he told himself. If this visit went well, the ones that would follow would, too.
Parking his vehicle, he made his way over to the recently renovated real estate building. It looked inviting, he thought. That was a good sign. Taking a deep breath at the front door, he knocked once, opened it, then went inside.
There was one person inside. It wasn’t a client. He flashed a quick smile in greeting, then nodded.
The woman came straight for him, her arms outstretched. “Sanford?” she asked.
“Maizie, you haven’t aged a day since I last saw you at Sean’s graduation,” he told her.
“And you are still spreading it as thick as you ever did,” Maizie said with a laugh, planting a kiss on Sanford’s cheek. “How have you been, Sandy?”
“Busy.” And then he admitted, “Lonely.”
“Do you still have Sunday dinners at the house the way you all used to?” she asked him.
He nodded. “It’s a tribute to Shirley.”
Maizie smiled broadly. “She would have been very proud. Come, sit,” she urged. “So are the boys ready for something serious?”
“Absolutely,” he answered. “And I realize that I’m just not any good at matchups. But word on the street is that you and your two friends are extremely good at it.”
“Well, I don’t mean to get your hopes up,” Maizie confessed, “but so far, my friends and I have been batting a thousand.”
“I’d say that’s pretty damn good,” Sanford told her. “Do you think you could do it a few more times?”
Her smile all but lit up the room. “Absolutely,” she told him. “I just need to ask you a few preliminary questions. But first, how is everyone?”
“Busy,” he said again. “That’s the problem. The boys are too busy at the moment to do the ordinary things that men their age normally do. That’s why I need you, Maizie. They just don’t seem to be able to find the time to sow their oats, wild or otherwise. They seem obsessed with laying the foundations of their various careers. Sam is a veterinarian, Simon is a divorce lawyer, Sebastian—”
Maizie held up her hand, stopping Sanford midsentence. “You don’t have to go through all their vocations. I was there at each of their graduations, remember?” she reminded her late friend’s husband. “I can take it from here,” she assured him. “Are they happy in their chosen fields?”
“They never gave me any reason to doubt that they were very happy,” he told her.
Maizie frowned. “Not exactly a ringing endorsement.”
“They’re not exactly a talkative bunch, at least not around me,” Sanford told her.
“Boys have trouble making their feelings known around their father, especially when he sacrificed so much for them,” Maizie pointed out. She made a notation on her folder, then looked up. “Are they still as handsome as ever?”
He felt the usual fondness whenever he thought of his boys. “I’m sure that their mother would say that they are.”
Maizie flashed a warm smile at him. “Just like their father,” she pointed out.
Sanford gave her a look. “I’m not fishing for a compliment.”
“I know that,” the potential matchmaker told him. “You were never that vain. That was one of the things that Shirley liked about you. She would have approved of you trying to match up your sons to their potential soulmates. So, is Sam dedicated to his vocation?”
“If he could, he would care for animals for free,” he told Maizie.
“Selfless and dedicated. There’s a lot of his mother and his father in him,” she told Sanford.
“But I know my limitations, which is why I’ve come to you for help,” he told her.
Maizie nodded. “Tell me, do I have a time limit on this?”
“Just sometime before I die would be nice, although I need to tell you that I would like to be able to enjoy my grandkids,” he told her.
Maizie smiled, probably thinking of her own grandchildren. “Oh, they are just the very best,” she assured him. “You get to play with little people and enjoy them without worrying that you’re doing things wrong. Because you know you’re not.” She patted her friend on his broad shoulder. “Smile, Sandy. It’s going to be all right, I promise,” she said, leaning over the desk and squeezing his hand. “Are there any physical preferences? You know, blonde, brunette, tall, short, that sort of thing.”
“Only that she’s breathing,” Sanford specified.
Maizie nodded, lips pursed as if to keep from laughing. “Definitely breathing,” she agreed. She leaned back in her chair, reviewing the notes that she had taken. “Well, I think I have everything I need. I take it you want to match up all of your sons?”
“Most definitely yes,” he answered.
“In order?” She knew him well.
“Well, I think that would only be fair,” he pointed out.
Maizie nodded. “Wouldn’t want any of the boys to think that you’re playing favorites,” she said, “putting one above the other.”
“Just like doing things in their proper order, that’s all,” Sanford said. “I always have. Will that be a problem?”
“Not for me,” she answered. “If we find someone more suited to one of the other brothers, I’ll just make a note to get back to the woman at a later date—unless, of course, there’s a danger of losing the woman, and if we come up against that, then we’ll take the proper precautions.”
Sanford smiled. “That’s why I came to you, Maizie. You know how to juggle things and keep all the balls up in the air at the same time. If you need anything to make this happen, just let me know,” Sanford said. “Also, that goes for any payments.”
“Payments?” she questioned, looking at him oddly.
“For possibly the initial outlay,” Sanford specified.
She was still confused by his meaning. “Such as?”
“I’ll leave that to your imagination,” Sanford told her.
She flashed a smile at him. “Not to worry,” she answered. “I have plenty to work on in my notes. Let me talk to my friends Theresa Manetti and Cecilia Parnell. We’ll put our heads together and see if we can come up with a good candidate for Sam. There’ll be a good backstory—all true,” she specified. “And once we find the proper candidate for Sam, we’ll go from there.”
