Proxy Bride (The Lindstroms Book 1) Read online

  He stood up, and she put her hands on either side of his face, tilting her head to the side like all the Lindstroms and admiring her ring. “I love it. It looks like a star.”

  “And I love you.”

  He smiled at her the way he would smile at her forever, like no woman walking on the earth had ever been, or would ever be, loved as much as Jenny Lindstrom Kelley.

  “An ever-fixed mark,” he told her, “so you’ll always find your way back to me.”

  “Shakespeare,” she murmured with wonder. Then she smiled. “I love you, Sam. I’m going to love you forever.”

  He smiled and put his arms around her, lifting her off the ground and lightly swinging her around before leaning back to look at her beloved face. As he lowered his head to kiss her, Jenny had one final thought before she gave herself totally to Sam, and it was the same one she had the first time she ever saw him, on the day he walked into the courthouse four weeks ago:

  This is Sam, the man I’m going to marry.

  THE END

  EPILOGUE

  Two Years Later

  Great Falls, Montana

  Erik Lindstrom carefully taped up the last box and carried it out to his car, setting in on the backseat and slamming the door shut. The trunk was already full to bursting; he’d have to return to Jenny and Sam’s place in a few weeks to pick up the rest of his stuff. Maybe he should have rented a U-Haul, as Jenny had suggested.

  He looked up to see Jenny walking down the stairs to the driveway with Sam beside her, their hands linked together. Erik wanted nothing less than a devoted spouse for his sister, but at the same time, Jenny and Sam’s lovey-dovey ways made him uncomfortable.

  Erik didn’t have much faith in love.

  He liked a pretty girl just as much as the next guy and had no problem with short-lived flings and mutual pleasure. It was love he didn’t trust. He didn’t want any part of it. No, sir. No how.

  “You’re going to drive carefully, Minste?”

  Jenny’s feet crunched over the gravel driveway as she approached her brother, dropping Sam’s hand to wrap her arms around Erik. He was grateful for the warmth of her embrace. He might not believe in romantic love, but he had plenty of space in his heart for his family.

  “Of course, Jen.” Erik glanced down at her still-flat belly with brotherly concern. “I don’t want you worrying about me. Just grow a nice little Lindstrom for all of us to love on, okay?”

  “Kalispell feels like a long way away after having you around all year. We’ll miss you, Erik,” said Sam, putting his arm around his wife.

  Erik nodded at his brother-in-law with an easy smile. “You know I’ll be back, Sam. Lots. At Midsommardagen, for sure.”

  Jenny grinned, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back into Sam. Suddenly her eyes flew open and she pressed the heel of her palm against her forehead.

  “I almost forgot!” She smiled at Erik cajolingly, pushing a strand of blonde hair behind one ear. “I need you to do me a favor. Can you stop in Choteau for me? On your way north? I need you to pick up something from Ingrid.”

  Ingrid and Kristian had recently moved back to the United States and lived halfway between Great Falls and Kalispell in Choteau.

  “Aw, Jen,” protested Erik, giving her a sour look. “Is this really necessary? I’m eager to get up there. I meet with my supervisor at five so I can start work tomorrow.”

  “Yes, it is necessary, and it’s the least you can do after being my houseguest for a year.” She gave Erik her best no-nonsense glare. “You’d best get moving, Minste.”

  Why couldn’t Erik say no to her? There was something about his sister…and Ingrid too, for that matter. His heart had a veritable wall of ice around it when it came to any other girl in the world, but those two had always managed to get around it, the pair of them. Like a couple of human blowtorches.

  He nodded grudgingly and kissed Jenny on the cheek before shaking Sam’s hand good-bye.

  As he pulled out of their driveway, he looked back in time to catch them kissing before they turned and sprinted back into the house, Sam pulling Jenny eagerly behind him up the steps and into the house. Erik rolled his eyes, but a quiet voice in the back of his mind wondered,

  What would it be like to love someone as much as Sam loves Jenny?

  He grimaced, annoyed with the direction of his thoughts. There was no doubt as to the answer. He knew it as surely as he knew his name, as surely as the sky was blue:

  Like hell. That’s how.

  He sighed, shaking his head to clear it and rolled down his window. Turning up the music, he drove north and smiled at the long stretch of open road ahead, ready to start his life’s next chapter…

  Erik Lindstrom’s story continues in:

  SWEET HEARTS

  (available on March 23, 2020)

  Did you love PROXY BRIDE? Please consider leaving a review on Goodreads, Amazon, or wherever you purchase e-books! Thank you!

  More LINDSTROM romances are coming in 2019 - 2020!

  ALSO AVAILABLE

  from Katy Regnery

  a m o d e r n f a i r y t a l e

  (A collection)

  The Vixen and the Vet

  Never Let You Go

  Ginger’s Heart

  Dark Sexy Knight

  Don’t Speak

  Shear Heaven

  Fragments of Ash

  THE BLUEBERRY LANE SERIES

  THE ENGLISH BROTHERS

  (Blueberry Lane Books #1–7)

  Breaking Up with Barrett

  Falling for Fitz

  Anyone but Alex

  Seduced by Stratton

  Wild about Weston

  Kiss Me Kate

  Marrying Mr. English

  THE WINSLOW BROTHERS

  (Blueberry Lane Books #8–11)

  Bidding on Brooks

  Proposing to Preston

  Crazy about Cameron

  Campaigning for Christopher

  THE ROUSSEAUS

  (Blueberry Lane Books #12–14)

  Jonquils for Jax

  Marry Me Mad

  J.C. and the Bijoux Jolis

  THE STORY SISTERS

  (Blueberry Lane Books #15–17)

  The Bohemian and the Businessman

  The Director and Don Juan

  Countdown to Midnight

  THE SUMMERHAVEN SERIES

  Fighting Irish

  Smiling Irish

  Loving Irish

  Catching Irish

  THE ARRANGED DUO

  Arrange Me

  Arrange Us

  ODDS ARE GOOD SERIES

  COMING FALL 2019 – SPRING 2020

  Single in Sitka

  Nome-o Seeks Juliet

  A Fairbanks Affair

  My Valdez Valentine

  Kodiak Lumberjack

  STAND-ALONE BOOKS:

  After We Break

  (a stand-alone second-chance romance)

  Frosted

  (a stand-alone romance novella for mature readers)

  Unloved, a love story

  (a stand-alone suspenseful romance)

  Under the sweet-romance pen name

  Katy Paige

  THE LINDSTROMS

  COMING FALL 2019 – WINTER 2020

  Proxy Bride

  Missy’s Wish

  Sweet Hearts

  Choose Me

  Virtually Mine

  Unforgettable You

  My Treasure—all new!

  Summer’s Winter—all new!

  Under the paranormal pen name

  K. P. Kelley

  It’s You, Book 1

  It’s You, Book 2

  Under the YA pen name

  Callie Henry

  A Date for Hannah

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Katy Regnery started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract, and Katy’s first novel was published in Sep
tember 2013.

  More than forty books and three RITA® nominations later, Katy claims authorship of the multititled Blueberry Lane series, the A Modern Fairytale collection, the Summerhaven series, the Arranged duo, and several other stand-alone romances, including the critically acclaimed mainstream fiction novel Unloved, a love story.

  Katy’s books are available in English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Turkish.

  Pen names:

  Katy Regnery (Contemporary Romance)

  K.P. Kelley (Paranormal Romance)

  Katy Paige (Sweet/Clean Romance)

  Callie Henry (YA Romance)

  Check out Katy’s Website: http://www.katyregnery.com

  Sign up for Katy’s newsletter today: http://eepurl.com/disKlD