Magic Possessed
Page 30
Neither Austin nor Leah is open to love. Isn’t that what makes it so perfect and yet still so dad-blasted frightening? We don’t find love; love finds us. And like me, Leah’s and Austin’s pasts have left them leery.
At age six, Leah realized her daddy had another family, one he obviously loved better because they had his name and he called that home. Oh, when older, she still gave love a shot, got married, expected the happily-ever-after, and instead got a divorce and a credit card bill for all his phone sex. It’s not that Leah doesn’t believe in love; she just doesn’t trust herself to know the real thing.
Austin, abandoned by his mother at age three, passed from one foster home to another, and learned caring about people gave them power to hurt you. His last and final (he swears) heartache happened when his fiancé dumped him after he got convicted of a murder he didn’t commit.
As scary as love is, Leah and Austin give it another shot. Not to give away any spoilers, but I think it’ll work out fine for them. I know it has for me. I’ll soon be celebrating my thirtieth wedding anniversary. So here’s to laughter, good books, and getting knocked on your butt by love.
Happy reading!
From the desk of Laura Drake
Dear Reader,
There’s just something about the soft side of a hard man that I’ve never been able to resist—how about you?
Max Jameson looks like a modern-day Marlboro Man. He’s a western cattleman, meaning he’s stubborn, hardworking, and an eternal optimist. But given his current problems, there’s not enough duct tape in all of Colorado to fix them.
To introduce you to the heroine of NOTHING SWEETER, Aubrey Madison (aka Bree Tanner), I thought I’d share with you her list of life lessons:
1. Nothing is sweeter than freedom.
2. It is impossible to outrun your own conscience.
3. “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”—Winston Churchill
4. There are more kinds of family than blood kin.
5. A stuck-up socialite can make a pretty good friend when the chips are on the table.
6. Real men (and bulls) wear pink.
7. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and discover that the prisoner is you.”—Louis B. Smede
I hope you’ll enjoy NOTHING SWEETER. Keep your eyes open for a cameo of JB and Charla from The Sweet Spot, and watch for them all to turn up in Sweet on You, the last book in the series!
From the desk of Rebecca Zanetti
Dear Reader,
I met my husband camping when we were about eight years old, and he taught me how to play Red Rover so he could hold my hand. He was a sweet, chubby, brown-eyed boy. We lost touch, and years later, I walked into a bar (yeah, a bar), and there he was. Except this time, he was six-foot-five, muscled, with dark hair, a tattoo, a leather jacket, and held a motorcycle helmet under one hand. To put it simply, I was intrigued. He’s still the sweet guy but has a bit of an edge. Now we’re married and have two kids, two dogs, and a crazy cat.
People change… and often we don’t know them as well as we think we do. In fact, I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that we never truly know what’s in the minds or even the pasts of the people around us. What if your best friend worked for the CIA years ago? Or the mild-mannered janitor at your child’s elementary school is a retired Marine sniper who didn’t like retirement and has found a good way to fill his life with joy? What if your baby sister was a criminal informant in college?
What if the calm and always-in-control man you married is one of the deadliest men alive?
And what if you’re now being threatened by an outside source? What happens to that calm control now? That was the main premise for FORGOTTEN SINS. Josie Dean, a woman with a lonely past, married Shane Dean in a whirlwind of passion and energy. Then he disappeared two years ago. The story starts with him back in her life, with danger surrounding him, and with the edge he’d always partially hidden finally exposed.
Of course, Shane has amnesia, and in his discovery of finding himself, he reveals himself to the one woman he ever truly loved. He’d always held back, always treated her with kid gloves.
Now, not knowing his deadly training, there’s no holding back. The primal, arousing man she’d believed existed has to take the forefront as he protects them from the danger stalking him from his past. Yeah, he’d always been fun and sexy… with hints of dominance in the bedroom. Now the hints disappear to unveil the true Shane Dean—the man Josie hoped she’d married.
I hope you truly enjoy Shane and Josie’s story.
Best,
RebeccaZanetti.com
Twitter, @RebeccaZanetti
Facebook.com/RebeccaZanetti.Author.FanPage
From the desk of Kate Meader
Dear Reader,
FEEL THE HEAT is the first in my smokin’ Hot in the Kitchen series, about an Italian restaurant–owning family and the sexy, sizzling chefs who love them. And don’t we all want a hotter-than-Hades, caring, alpha chef like Jack Kilroy in our lives? A man who cooks, defends his lady, and knows how to treat her right both in the kitchen and in the bedroom is worth his weight in focaccia (and the British accent doesn’t hurt). But sometimes we’ve got to work with what the gods have given us. So if you have a husband/boyfriend/sex slave who believes guy cooking = grilling, but outside of the summer months, you won’t catch him dead in an apron, read on.
“But he just makes a mess” or “I’m a better cook,” I hear you whine. Who cares? The benefits to encouraging your man to cook are multifold.
1. Guys who cook know how to multitask. If he can watch a couple of bubbling pots, chop those herbs, and pour you a glass of wine, all while you put your feet up, it’ll eventually translate to other areas. Childcare, taking out the trash, maybe even doing the dishes as he whips up that coq au vin.
Guys who cook know how to get creative. You might ask your man: “Is this made with sour cream, babe?”
*Cue worry crease on guy’s brow that looks so adorable.* “No, I didn’t have any so I used Greek yogurt instead. Does it taste okay?”
*Hold praise for a beat* “That’s so creative, babe, and less fattening.”
(Positive reinforcement is key during the early training phase.)
2. Guys who cook have a direct correlation to a woman’s TBR list. He’s brought you that glass of Pinot and he’s back in the kitchen where he belongs. Now you can get down to the important stuff—making a dent in your stories about fictional boyfriends who probably cook better than your guy. (In the case of Jack Kilroy, Shane Doyle, and Tad DeLuca, the sexy heroes of the Hot in the Kitchen series, this conclusion is a given.)
3. Guys who cook will evolve into guys who shop for groceries. Nuff said.
4. Guys who cook make better lovers. Chefs have very skillful hands, often callused and scarred from years of kitchen abuse. Those fast-moving, rough hands are going to take your sexytimes to the next level! As long as your guy is burning himself while he learns, it can only be beneficial to you further down the road.
So get your guy in an apron and let the good times roll. Remember, chefs do it better…
Happy cooking, eating, and reading!
www.katemeader.com
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Contents
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapt
er 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
A Preview of Angel Seduced
Also by Jaime Rush
Acclaim for Jaime Rush’s The Hidden Series
The Dish
Newsletters
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Tina Wainscott
Excerpt from Angel Seduced Copyright © 2014 by Tina Wainscott
Cover photograph by Claudio Marinesco
Cover copyright © 2014 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Forever
Hachette Book Group
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First ebook edition: January 2014
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4555-2319-1
E3
Table of Contents
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
A Preview of “Angel Seduced”
Also by Jaime Rush
Acclaim for Jaime Rush’s The Hidden Series
The Dish
Newsletters
Table of Contents
Copyright