Fugitive Fiancee (Maitland Maternity Quartet #4) (Silhouette Special Edition)

Cynical rancher Garrett Lord finds poor little rich girl Mimi Casville hiding in his barn wearing a wedding dress. He doesn't want to hear her story because he was once jilted at the alter. Mimi decides to hide her identity from him because she is sick of being taken advantage of because of her wealth and last name. That's the reason she ran out of her wedding, because her bethrothed was being bribed by her father to marry her and produce Casville grandchildren before he dies of cancer. The fiance is money hungry and eager to elevate his standing in society, which a marriage to a Casville will ensure Mimi decides to become Garrett's ranch hand to prove her worth so she can earn money and strike out on her own and her efforts start to earn Garrett's trust. While these two are exploring their feelings, Mimi's father Rupert and fiance Paul are trying like the dickens to find her. Paul is doing his own search and finds a damning secret that will blackmail Mimi into marrying him. Meanwhile Mimi uses her career advantages to help Garrett find his birth mother but is still afraid to tell him her deepest darkest secret, a secret she fears he will hate her for it. She has no idea her fiance knows her little secret. Paul finally locates Mimi and shows up at the ranch and threatens to spill Mimi's secret to Rupert unless she agrees to marry him. Afaid of what could happen if her father finds out, she agrees to the marriage and returns to her father's house. Garrett decides he won't go down without a fight and snatches Mimi from the church and takes her to the Maitland Clinic, where he and his siblings were left. Mimi finally reveals her big secret: Ten years ago she got pregnant and her father tried to push her into an abortion but she kept the baby and put her son up for adoption. If Rupert found out, he would fight for custody and send him to the stuffiest, coldest boording schools like she was and that's not what she wanted for her boy. She knows she made the right choice and tells Garrett she must marry the jerk to protect her little boy. Back at the house the scorned fiance for the second time decides to bilk Rupert out of money for information on his grandson but Mimi decides to get some balls and tells her father the truth about everything. She also tells Rupert he will not go after her little boy and he will leave the family alone, for they are stangers to this little boy and if he breaks this promise, he will never see his daughter or any future grandkids. Rupert sadly relents and throws the slimeball out and Mimi marries Garrett, naturally. The happy ending comes though when Garrett and his siblings are reunited with their birth mother Leeann, who like Mimi, had to make hard choices that turned out to be the right choices. I am looking forward to reading the other books in this series! I enjoyed this book and it is still one of my favorites to this day. Read it and see for yourself.