“Time for grace,” Amy announced. “Everybody hold hands.”
“Come here, Honeybell.”
Sugar Beth took the toddler from Heidi and wove through Ryan and Deke to get to Colin’s side, where she clasped his hand and they both gave thanks for more blessings than either of them could ever have imagined.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Bouquets of magnolia blossoms to everyone who helped me with my Mississippi research, especially Susan Jordan and Sherry Colhoun at the Holly Springs, Mississippi, Chamber of Commerce; Bridgette Correale for the photos; and Adele San Miguel for making certain I received them. Thanks to Elizabeth Baucom, Donna Barnes, Melanie Noto, Lynn Pittman, and Carol Jackson for observations and yearbooks.
Thank you, Peter Janson-Smith and Sir Richard Rougier, for permission to quote from the works of the incomparable Georgette Heyer.
I’ve received information, advice, and support from so many friends and associates. Thank you, Steven Axelrod, Jill Barnett, Jennifer Crusie, Lisa Gallagher, Kristin Hannah, Alison Hart, Cissy Hartley, Cathie Linz, Lindsay Longford, Meryl Sawyer, Suzette Vann, Matthew Verscheure, Margaret Watson, everybody on the SEP Bulletin Board, and the entire Phillips gang, including Dana, our newest member, and Nickie Shek, who set me straight on thirteen-year-old girls.
At William Morrow and Avon Books, I am forever grateful to Carrie Feron, my fearless and peerless editor. Also Nancy Anderson, Richard Aquan, Leesa Belt, George Bick, Ralph D’Arienzo, Karen Davy, Darlene Delillo, Gail Dubov, Tom Egner, Seth Fleishman, Josh Frank, Jane Friedman, Heather Gould, Brian Grogan, Cathy Hemming, Angela Leigh, Kim Lewis, Selina McLemore, Brian McSharry, Judy Madonia, Michael Morrison, Jan Parrish, Shelly Perron, Chadd Reese, Rhonda Rose, Pete Soper, Michael Spradlin, Debbie Stier, Andrea Sventora, Bruce Unck, and Donna Waitkus.
Bless all your hearts,
SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS
About the Author
Susan Elizabeth Phillips soared onto the New York Times bestseller list with her 1998 smash Dream a Little Dream. In addition to being the only two-time recipient of the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Favorite Book of the Year award, she holds the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. Susan delights fans by touching hearts as well as funny bones with her wonderfully whimsical and modern fairy tales. All of her titles are PerfectBound e-books: Ain’t She Sweet, Breathing Room; Dream a Little Dream; First Lady; Heaven, Texas; It Had to Be You; Just Imagine; Kiss an Angel; Lady Be Good; Nobody’s Baby but Mine; and This Heart of Mine. A resident of the Chicago suburbs, Susan Elizabeth Phillips is a wife and the mother of two grown sons. Visit her on the web at www.susanelizabethphillips.com.
By Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Breathing Room
This Heart of Mine
Just Imagine
First Lady
Lady Be Good
Dream a Little Dream
Nobody’s Baby But Mine
Kiss an Angel
Heaven, Texas
It Had to Be You
Ain’t She Sweet?
Credits
Designed by Adrian Leichter
Jacket design by Honi Werner
The chapter epigraphs from the works of Georgette Heyer are reprinted with the permission of Sir Richard Rougier and Harlequin Books. They are copyright Georgette Heyer 1926, 1932, 1940, and 1950.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
AIN’T SHE SWEET? Copyright © 2004 by Susan Elizabeth Phillips All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of PerfectBound™.
PerfectBound™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Microsoft Reader February 2004 ISBN 0-06-058848-9
FIRST EDITION
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
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United States
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Table of Contents
Epigraph
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
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
By Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
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