Kidnapping His Bride

by Karen Erickson

  Warning: The sexy, grumpy Italian hero is finally won over by his son’s sweetly beautiful nanny—though it was quite the challenge for her to catch him. Watch for lots of high drama, passionate love and malicious rumors before these two can find their HEA.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Tempted by Her Boss:

  Paige exhaled loudly as she stopped in the living room, turning to face him dead on. “What is it that you wish to tell me?”

  He was surprised by her abrupt candor. Rather unlike the Paige he’d spent time with these last few months. Her spine was stiff, her expression void of any emotion, and he realized she must be nervous. After all the talk at the restaurant after dinner, she most likely thought he was demoting her or worse—firing her.

  Hell, he couldn’t bring himself to do such a thing, no matter how much he knew he should. Having her in his home was a temptation he found harder to resist as each day went by. But Matty loved her…

  And Matteo wasn’t ready to let her go.

  “It’s not a bad thing,” he reassured, noting the subtle fall of her shoulders when he said that. “I wanted to ask you to accompany us on a special trip.”

  That got her attention. “A trip? Where to?”

  “Sit down.” He indicated toward the couch. “I’ll tell you all about it.”

  She slowly shook her head. “I’d rather stand, if you don’t mind.”

  Huh. She was being…odd. “Very well then.” He clasped his hands behind his back. Best to stay in that position so he wouldn’t do something rash, like reach out and grab her. Haul her in close and mold that slender body to his. “I need to go back to Italy for business and I want you to accompany Matty and me for the trip.”

  Her jaw dropped open, her eyes went wide. “Y-you want me to go to Italy with you? When?”

  He winced. Here was the bad part. “Next week. I remember you telling me you had a current passport. That’s still correct, right?”

  “Well, yes, but next week? That’s so close.” She frowned, wrapped her arms around herself.

  Unease crept up his spine. Would she refuse him? Hell, he hoped not. “I only confirmed that the trip was necessary this morning. It’s why I came home early, so I could talk to you about it. But then Stasia showed up and distracted us all and now…here we are.” He spread his arms out wide, indicating the entire room, and let them slowly fall to his sides.

  She sunk her teeth into her lower lip, letting it go when she started to talk. “How long would we be gone?”

  “A week, maybe ten days, but no longer than that. We’ll stay at my family residence.” It was a favorite place of his. He’d grown up there, and since he’d come to the States he hadn’t a chance to go back and show his son where he’d lived and dreamed as a child. He couldn’t wait to share that with Matty.

  And Paige.

  “Isn’t that where your mother lives?”

  “Well, yes…” What did that have to do with anything?

  “So Claudia could take care of Matty, couldn’t she?” She nodded once, as if she just solved the matter.

  There was nothing to be solved, though. And he wasn’t going to let her get out of this so easily. For this, he would get his way.

  “But I want you there,” he said quietly. “And so does my son.”

  She stood incredibly still, watching him. He noted the delicate movement of her throat as she swallowed, the way her body seemed to quiver with her every breath. He made her nervous. Hell, she made him nervous. The two of them together in a room, alone…the potent physical chemistry between them arced and spun, bouncing off him straight to her. Again and again.

  “Why do you want me there, Matteo?” she asked, her voice a thin whisper. “For Matty or for…you?”

  It was his turn to be shocked. What she asked, what she implied, it could never be. No matter how much he wished for it. “Paige…”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head, a false little smile curling her lips. “Don’t say it, please. I don’t think I could bear it.”

  “You don’t even know what I was about to say.”

  Her eyes opened, pain glittering in their depths. “I’m sure it was going to be some sort of gentle let down so you wouldn’t hurt my feelings, right?”

  Paige was one hundred percent right, but he had a feeling agreeing with her at this moment would be the wrong thing to do. “No.”

  “Don’t lie, Matteo. I know what you’re going to say. What you’re always going to say. And maybe, just maybe I’m overstepping the line here, but I can’t keep it inside me any longer.” She rushed him, one moment standing across the room and the next she was upon him, raining her fists on his chest, her upturned face full of anger. “It’s pointless to deny what we both feel. I know I’m your employee. I know you’re my boss. But the attraction is there. I’m sick and tired of denying it. Are you?”

  Her outburst came as a complete surprise. Yes, he felt exactly that. All of what she said, he was experiencing. But he certainly hadn’t expected her to call him on it. Grasping her slender wrists, he stopped her from pummeling him, holding her hands close to his chest. “I must deny it, Paige. I have to.”

  Hope flared in her gaze—he would recognize that look anywhere. He wanted to dash it. He wanted to light the flame and watch it flare higher.

  “Why?” she asked. “Why must you deny it? Certainly you haven’t forgotten what happened between us before?”

  She brought up that one moment in their past and he wanted her. Just like that. He thought of that one night constantly. The taste of her sweet lips, how responsive she’d been and how she’d clung to him as if he were her lifeline. “It’s best we forget it ever happened once and for all, Paige. I—lost control that night. I shouldn’t have done that with you.”

  Her hands curled, pressing against his chest. “What if I told you I wanted to see you lose control again?”

  A ragged breath escaped him and he shook his head, his grip loosening on her wrists. She curved her fingers into the front of his sweater, as if testing the fabric, and he wondered fleetingly if she was really just testing him. “Losing control would be the last thing you’d want me to do. I couldn’t be held accountable for my actions. I might do something…”

  “Passionate?” she supplied for him. “Wonderful?”

  “Risky,” he answered. “And I’m not one to take risks. At least in my personal life.”

  “You took a risk on me. Hiring me when you didn’t know me.”

  “That was my mother’s choice.”

  “You could’ve vetoed her choice and you know it. You decided to keep me anyway.” She lifted her chin, studying him with those intense eyes that seemed to see all. “Why?”

  “Months after I hire you and you have to ask this question?” She brushed her fingers against his chest. Lord, he had it so bad for this girl. “Matty adored you. He still does.”

  “I adore Matty.” She paused, her fingers tightening in his sweater, pulling him in, closer to her. “I adore his father too.”

  His eyes filled with emotion. “You shouldn’t talk like that,” he whispered harshly, surprised at her words.

  Trembling against his frame, she stood on tiptoe, her mouth brushing against his when she spoke. His entire body stiffened in reaction to the fleeting touch, her potent nearness. “Why not? It’s the truth.”

  Their lips met. Clung. Broke apart to meet again. Her entire body trembled, he could feel her vibrating against him, so tense he was afraid she’d shatter like glass. He touched her. Circled his hand around her slender arm and drew her closer, positioning her body so it nestled close to his.

  One more kiss, he told himself. One more little indulgence in the sweetness that is Paige Stewart and then I’ll set her away from me. Tell her she deserves someone better for her, which is true. I’m old, set in my ways and absolutely no good for her.

  Paige slipped her hands up his chest, circled her arms around his neck. She parted her lips and he took advantage, delving his tongue into th
e warm depths of her mouth. God, she tasted good. So good. Better than anything he’d ever experienced in his life. He was heady with it. Drunk on Paige, her taste, the way she molded her body against his. She fit perfectly, so perfectly. As if she were made for him, and he slid his hands down the length of her back, over her sexy backside, until he was gripping her ass, pulling her into him. Wishing like hell she understood his need.

  His all-consuming need for her.

  Catching the one that got away could be the ultimate ride.

  Unforgettable Summer

  © 2013 Sami Lee

  Wild Crush, Book 1

  Champion surfer Ty Butler is living the dream—a great career, a globe-trotting lifestyle, and his pick of women. Then a visit to his hometown forces him to face Summer Campbell.

  A decade on, she still gives him an adrenaline rush to beat the biggest waves. She’s also as unavailable as ever, or so he thinks. When the truth comes out, Ty decides it’s time to lay old ghosts to rest—and lay Summer flat out in bed.

  Ten years ago Summer committed the ultimate sin by falling for her sister’s boyfriend. She rejected Ty’s love out of duty, even marrying another man in an attempt to move on. An attempt that failed. She never forgot Ty—or the havoc loving him wreaked in her life.

  Her body wants to finish what they started long ago. Her head tells her she can indulge in a wicked affair with no regrets. But when the pro-surfing tour inevitably calls him away, her heart could crumble like a sandcastle beneath his feet.

  Warning: Book contains hot sex with a hot surfer. Might warm your heart and heat up a few other parts, as well. Might even inspire you to chuck it all in and chase the endless summer.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Unforgettable Summer:

  Ty hooked an arm over the back of his chair, assessing her from his seated position. “Hello, Summer. I thought that was you I saw the other day.”

  The implication that he might have been unsure of her identity when she’d been instantly certain of his increased Summer’s discomfiture. “Ty, what are you doing here?”

  Ty lifted his cup and drawled, “Grabbing some coffee.”

  He might as well have said, asinine question, woman. Summer’s mortification intensified. “I suppose I meant here in Leyton’s Headland.”

  “Back for a visit.”

  He didn’t say he was planning to buy a house and move back to his hometown, but for all Summer knew he simply didn’t feel like telling her his business. He’d definitely been interested in real estate when she’d seen him.

  “I see.” She looked at the staff working behind the counter, recognizing from the small crowd of people hovering that they had several orders to fill. How long before hers was done?

  “Do you need somewhere to sit while you wait for your drink?”

  Turning back to face Ty, Summer saw the way his brow kicked up and wondered if he found her inept attempts at conversation amusing. What had happened to all those cool lines she’d secretly rehearsed over the years? Part of her had wanted, if she’d ever seen Ty again, to appear aloof and sophisticated, as though she wasn’t still occasionally haunted by thoughts of him and what might have been.

  Seeing no way of refusing his offer without looking ridiculous for standing right next to his table instead of sitting at it, Summer murmured a thank-you and took the seat opposite him. After an awkward silence during which Ty eyed her over the rim of his coffee mug, he remarked, “It’s been a long time.”

  Summer forced herself to let out a breath. “It has. Ten years I think.”

  “How have you been?”

  “Fine.” Summer gave the standard response, hardly able, or willing, to condense the last decade into a five-minute conversation. “Not as well as you from what I hear.”

  Summer almost winced when Ty’s brows hiked. “What is it you’ve heard?”

  “Oh, only the sound bites. You’ve won the world title three times, scored several high-profile sponsorship deals and dated as many models as you’ve caught waves.”

  Ty laughed. “That’s an exaggeration. Only a couple of my sponsorship deals are high profile.”

  Ignoring his deliberate insinuation that the stories of his dating history were not inflated, Summer noted, “You’ve done well for yourself.” She’d always known he would. That his skill and personality were too big for a place like Leyton’s Headland, that they would take him places far away from here. Far away from her.

  Ty merely lifted a careless shoulder in response. “So have you. Your own business and all.”

  Summer tried to ignore the strange thrill she experienced because he’d noticed that achievement. “I’m a naturopath now.”

  “Naturopathy. I bet your dad’s impressed.”

  “You mean Dr. Rex Campbell, purveyor of all things western medicine? I think he’s finally taken the attitude that when it comes to his daughters, things could be worse.”

  “Sounds like glowing praise.”

  Summer shrugged at Ty’s drawled comment. What could she say about her dad? He was a demanding man who had expected his children to make full use of the educational opportunities afforded them. While he didn’t exactly think practicing herbal “mumbo jumbo” was making full use, he’d finally stopped verbalizing his thoughts on the issue. “Dad remarried last year. Dianne is a psychologist with two sons, both very successful in finance. He’s relaxed a bit with me and Jasmine, now that he has the sons he always wanted.”

  Summer had meant the remark as an offhand joke, but Ty’s frown made her fear it had come out sounding bitter. Remorse niggled. She had no wish to malign her father, he’d done the best he could with the hand he’d been dealt when Joy Campbell died. He’d never asked to be a sole parent any more than Summer had asked to lose her mother.

  “My dad loves me.” Summer felt the need to come to Rex Campbell’s defense. “Everything he’s done has been because he wants what’s best for me.”

  Including making sure she didn’t throw her life away on a nomadic type like Ty Butler. The derisive turn of Ty’s lips made Summer wonder if he had made the same connection between her statement and what happened in the past. If so, he didn’t say. Instead he steered the conversation away from her family altogether. “So what do you do at the clinic?”

  “Everything from aromatherapy to acupuncture.” Summer relaxed a fraction at the change of subject. She’d decided to study naturopathy despite the fact Duncan had shared her father’s disdain for the practice. After the divorce, it had given her something to focus on, to work toward. Now, she was proud of her job and the business she’d built all by herself. “I do sports massage too. I’ve treated your mother a few times.”

  “Yeah, she’s still doing those triathlons. Not bad for an old bird.”

  “I’ll tell her you called her that next time she comes in.”

  “No you won’t.”

  His smile was knowing, and Summer bristled. Okay so clearly Ty was making an affectionate joke and there was no way Summer would repeat it to his mother, but she didn’t much appreciate that he seemed so certain of how she’d behave. She wasn’t that predictable.

  “Here’s your chai latte and cookie, Summer.”

  Having apparently noticed her involved in conversation, Patrice chose that moment to appear at the table, delivering Summer’s order instead of having her pick it up. Summer’s regular order, the one all the cafe staff knew by heart. Not predictable, eh, Summer?

  Smiling a thank-you, Summer silently cursed the missed opportunity to make her exit when her order was called out. It would have been the perfect excuse to leave the table, depart the cafe altogether so she could catch her breath. Instead she was still sitting here, part of her jittery with the urge to flee while her pride told her not to give away how strangely nervous she actually was.

  For God’s sake, why are you nervous? Summer was dismayed to discover being in Ty Butler’s presence still had the power to do peculiar things to her heartbeat. Dismayed and…oddly relieved.

>   You’re divorced, not dead. The line Penny had delivered more than once echoed in her head. Summer had never told her employee how her flippant words saddened her, made her mind careen away from a truth she didn’t want to acknowledge. For a long time it had felt like a part of her had died somewhere along the way, the part that could still be physically affected by a man’s presence. The part of her that could still be exhilarated by anything.

  She wasn’t miserable by any stretch of the imagination. But if she ever took time to examine her life, Summer couldn’t say she was exactly happy either.

  “This is weirder than I thought it would be.”

  Ty’s rueful statement made Summer lift her gaze from where it had been fixed on the plastic lid of her takeaway cup. Her eyes connected with Ty’s, making Summer aware she had been avoiding direct eye contact since she’d first seen him sitting in the cafe. Now, she forced herself to hold Ty’s gaze. That unexpected spike in her heart rate occurred again. She had once known those whiskey-hued eyes so well, and for a fleeting moment she was transported back in time, to those months of teenage longing and anguish.

  And the lust. Dear God, the lust. A remnant of it passed through her like a ghost, sending tingles up her spine before common sense returned and Summer forcibly tamped the reaction down. His eyes were the same, but so many other things about him were different. The careless stubble that graced his jaw, the hard lines of his mouth that lent a sardonic edge to his smile. His shoulders and arms were more solid, more roped with muscle. He was more of everything, like nature had taken the boy he used to be and multiplied his physicality, his persona, by a thousand, creating a man who was both innately congenial and overtly intimidating at once.

  Kidnapping His Bride

  Karen Erickson

  Catch her if you can…

  The Renaldis, Book 2

  Rafael Renaldi is a modern man with an old-fashioned secret—an arranged marriage. Though it was an informal agreement, made when they were children, Rafe has always been a little in love with the beautiful, passionate Catalina Campioni. And assumed that the single, searing kiss they shared years ago sealed the deal.