Be My Bride? — Karen Rose Smith

"I want this marriage," Cody assured her.

Her high-school heartthrob -- blue-eyed, broad-shouldered Cody Granger -- was back in Birch Creek, making Lauren MacMillan feel 16 again. That is, she felt like an awkward, overgrown virgin still smitten with the sexy star quarterback who'd left her longing for love that could never be hers.

But this time Cody -- now a busy doctor and single dad desperately seeking a mom for his adorable daughter -- proposed! Lauren had waited an eternity for this moment, this man and motherhood. But if she became Cody's bride strictly for convenience, would she still ache endlessly for his love?