Stolen Kiss with the Hollywood Starlet Read online

  An innocent country girl...

  With stars in her eyes!

  In this Brides of the Roaring Twenties story, hotshot lawyer Walter Russell knows an innocent country girl like Shirley Burnette is going to find it tough in cutthroat Hollywood. A stolen kiss with this bright, young singer may be worthy of the silver screen—but Walter hates show business and has sworn off starlets. He knows he should steer well clear...if only he wasn’t so compelled to help her!

  Brides of the Roaring Twenties

  Finding husbands in Hollywood!

  Helen and Shirley are looking for a fresh start, and the bright lights of Hollywood beckon.

  They thought they’d left scandal behind them, but find plenty more adventure awaits them among the speakeasies, starlets and the silver screen.

  What they need are two handsome Hollywood bachelors to guide them through this dazzling new world—and down the aisle?

  Read Helen’s story in

  Baby on His Hollywood Doorstep

  And Shirley’s story in

  Stolen Kiss with the Hollywood Starlet

  Author Note

  Everyone has a dream. One thing they’ve dreamed about doing, being, seeing. For some, they don’t stop until that dream comes true. Others continue to dream because that’s the most important part for them, the dream itself. That’s the wonderful thing about a dream. It’s yours. To use however you want.

  Shirley, the heroine in this story, has a dream of becoming a singer. Her dream defines her, pushes her forward through trials and tribulations, but like a carrot dangling before her nose, it’s there, yet she just can’t catch it. I loved how she never stopped trying, but more than that, I loved how she never stopped dreaming.

  Walter, the hero of this story, has had his dreams shattered and attempts to convince Shirley to give up on hers. She can’t do that and, along the way, authenticates the importance of dreams to him. They are important, to each and every one of us.

  I hope you enjoy Shirley and Walter’s story.

  Keep dreaming!

  LAURI ROBINSON

  Stolen Kiss with the Hollywood Starlet

  A lover of fairy tales and cowboy boots, Lauri Robinson can’t imagine a better profession than penning happily-ever-after stories about men and women who pull on a pair of boots before riding off into the sunset...or kick them off for other reasons. Lauri and her husband raised three sons in their rural Minnesota home and are now getting their just rewards by spoiling their grandchildren. Visit her at laurirobinson.blogspot.com, Facebook.com/lauri.robinson1 or Twitter.com/laurir.

  Books by Lauri Robinson

  Harlequin Historical

  Unwrapping the Rancher’s Secret

  The Cowboy’s Orphan Bride

  Western Christmas Brides

  “A Bride and Baby for Christmas”

  Married to Claim the Rancher’s Heir

  Diary of a War Bride

  Oak Grove

  Mail-Order Brides of Oak Grove

  “Surprise Bride for the Cowboy”

  Winning the Mail-Order Bride

  In the Sheriff’s Protection

  Brides of the Roaring Twenties

  Baby on His Hollywood Doorstep

  Stolen Kiss with the Hollywood Starlet

  Visit the Author Profile page

  at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  To my sister-in-law Jeannette.

  An angel among the living.

  Contents

  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

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from The Duchess’s Secret by Elizabeth Beacon

  Chapter One

  1927

  Look out, Los Angeles! Shirley Burnette’s rolling into town!

  Shirley giggled at her own thoughts. Could almost hear Pappy saying them.

  He used to say, “Look out, Shirley’s up and at ’em,” every morning without fail.

  Nose glued to the window, she was enthralled, so thrilled her own breath kept fogging up the glass. Swiping the glass clean, she felt her excitement rise higher and higher as she watched the buildings roll by.

  Big ones, little ones and those in between.

  Los Angeles.

  Hollywood.

  The place where dreams came true.

  No more washing dishes. No more shucking corn. No more mucking out stalls. Nebraska was half a nation behind her, and that’s where it was going to stay.

  The train whistle, a screech that could make the hair on your arms stand on end, sounded like bells straight out of heaven to her. She’d waited years to hear that sound.

  Years and years.

  This wasn’t just her dream, it had been her mother’s, and she had to make it come true. No matter what.

  There had been times she’d wondered if that was possible, especially four years ago, when Pappy had died. That’s also when she’d focused on making it come true even harder. She’d tucked away every spare penny she’d made working for Olin Swaggert, and made sure none of the overgrown thugs he called sons didn’t get their grubby hands on it. She made sure they didn’t get their grubby hands on anything else, too.

  Olin kept saying that she was bound to fall in love with one of his boys, get married and live right there on that pig farm forever.

  She’d assured him that would never happen.

  Never.

  Ever.

  A lot of lazy dewdroppers, that’s what the entire clan of Swaggert boys were, and more than once she’d wanted to throw in the towel. The only reason she hadn’t was because Olin had paid her. The Swaggerts were one of the few families who could afford to have a live-in worker.

  Live-in because, thanks to some city slicker lawyer, as soon as Pappy had died, the Swaggerts got the farm. Lock, stock and barrel. The lawyer claimed Pappy had owed Olin money. Lots of it. She’d argued that, but that hadn’t done a wit of good. In the end, she’d been left with no place to live. No place to do much of anything. Olin had offered her a job—out of the goodness of his heart, that’s how he’d put it.

  A heart like his didn’t have any goodness. He’d known how badly it had hurt her to see the house she’d grown up in, lived in her entire life, torn down, but that hadn’t stopped him from tearing it all down and plowing up the land.

  Corn. That was all that was there now. A field of corn.

  That lawyer hadn’t had a heart, either. He’d refused to listen to a word she’d had to say. So had the sheriff, who’d ordered her out of the house. It had been hard to swallow, that there was nothing left of her family. Other than memories and a dream, so with no other options, she’d taken the job with the Swaggerts and turned her focus to saving up the money to get here. To where the only thing she had left was sure to come true.