Three sexy bachelor brothers meet their destiny in. . . An exciting new anthology that will launch readers into the characters and setting of Forrester Square, the new 12-book continuity, launching in August 2003, from Harlequin Books. Widow Carmen Perez was about to sell her historic to a woman who wanted to open a day-care center. But what would happen to Carmen's sons who lived there now? Carmen dreamed of a house full of grandchildren. But Carmen was a woman who believed we each had a hand in destiny. . . . . The Families of Forrester Square. . . . connected by destiny.

Transforming Frankie by Kristine Rolofson

"Maybe I've done something wrong," Carmen Perez told the granite stone etched with her husband's name. "I've spoiled them, taken care of them, cooked for them. No wonder they're not looking for wives."

She sighed and readjusted the clay pot filled with tulips so that it wouldn't tip over on the freshly cut grass. "I'm not getting any younger and neither are those boys. They don't understand how fast life goes. One minute you're young, and the next you're ... well, getting gray hair and ready to retire."

Carmen paused to compose her thoughts. She didn't want to complain too much. A woman with four healthy, handsome sons had no right to complain, of course. But three of those healthy sons needed wives. Daughters-in-law were such a blessing.

Carmen took a tissue from her pocket and wiped her eyes. Anyone walking past the cemetery would see a small, wiry woman huddled in her raincoat, shivering in the wet spring wind that everyone who lived in Seattle was accustomed to. Her black and silver hair was short, her glasses concealed the lines around her dark eyes and her thick shoes protected her from the damp grass that covered her beloved husband's grave.

But nothing could protect her four grown children from Carmen's worried interest in their lives. She figured it was her duty to worry. They were her sons, after all, and she would hold their best interests to her heart until the day she joined Jose in the graveyard.

"It's not right for them to live the way they do," she declared. "They need their own families, like Tomas has." She omitted complaining that her eldest lived too far away with his wife and son.

"They need to settle down, to be happy."

And she didn't mean the kind of "happy" that came from Rick's wild social life or Rafe's mysterious charm or Rob's talent for making furniture. But she didn't have to explain that to Jose. He would know what she meant. He always had, right up until the day he died.

Carmen patted the headstone and reached into her pocket for a tissue. "Oh, I know you think they have plenty of time, those boys of ours. But time is precious when you get to be my age, though fifty-five is still middle-aged," she added. "And I try to keep myself up, not that it's easy."

You always look good to me .

Yes, that's what her husband would say. He would also tell her to mind her own business - their sons would be just fine and she should stop worrying.

You worry too much. All the time, worry, worry, worry, he would say. And then he would distract her with a kiss or two. Not that kisses worked for long. All the Perez men knew that Carmen was a formidable force when she wanted to accomplish something.

"I want daughters-in-law," she told her husband's headstone. "And more grandchildren to babysit and spoil. Rob's two, Maggie and T.J., need a mother, and Rafe should stop traveling around, and Lord knows Rick needs a nice girl to make him listen to reason and stop -"

The crackle of lightning high in the sky overhead ended Carmen's weekly plea for heavenly help. She made the sign of the cross, patted the smooth granite of the stone one last time and turned toward her car as thunder boomed in the distance.

A sign, she decided, smiling a little as the rain pelted her head. Her prayers would be answered.

* * *

"I am absolutely sure I'm making the biggest mistake of my life." Frankie Raimondi unlaced her mud-splattered work boots and kicked them away from the front door of her small apartment before she stepped into the living room, where her sister waited to pounce.

"Isn't the bride the one supposed to say things like that?" Rosa handed her a tall-stemmed glass filled with a bright blue liquid. "Drink up, you'll be fine."

Frankie grimaced as she reached for the glass. "Is this another one of your weird martinis?"

"Of course. Try it."

She did, though she knew from past experience that it was a good idea to sip, not gulp, her youngest sister's alcoholic concoctions.

"Now sit," Rosa said, pointing to the sofa that was covered with a blue sheet in deference to Frankie's dirt-covered jeans and shirts. "I think Katherine's idea was brilliant."

"That's because you want your wedding to be perfect." And Rosa, Little Miss Perfect, expected everyone to be paired off neatly. The wedding, a tribute to perfect planning and high expectations of grandeur, was going to go off without a hitch because Rosa wanted it to. And Rosa, the youngest of three sisters, most definitely got her way.

Always. It was enough to make a perfectly sane construction worker drink blue alcohol.

"No," her sister was saying. "It's because Donny doesn't have any unmarried friends in the wedding party."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Date With Destiny by Kristine Rolofson Muriel Jensen Kristin Gabriel Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.