Dude, she thought. He needed some tips on how to style it up.
She parked her car and tried not to stare at the guy as she walked inside the coffee shop to get her morning cuppa. But the closer she got, the harder it was not to gawk. Unless she missed her guess, that guy was Zach.
She stopped thinking about the email she needed to send, her heart beating faster as she walked over to his table.
“Zach?”
“Hiya, Lila,” he said with a tentative smile. “I was hoping to catch you before work.”
She pulled out a chair and sat down. He took off the sunglasses and as soon as their eyes met she felt that electric thrill go through her as it always did when she was with him. God, she’d missed this man. But what the heck was he wearing?
“Hey, what are you doing here dressed like this? Are you okay?” she asked with a laugh. He looked so silly and so sweet and her pulse sped up as she tried to figure out what this meant. Zach never did anything without a plan.
He tried to look...well, if she were being honest, he tried to be less himself. He kept sitting up straight and then seemed to remember something and then slouched and leaned over himself. As if he were trying to keep himself small so no one would notice him. Which was so not Zach that she almost laughed.
“I’m here for you. I heard what you said. That we are too different, but I’ve changed. Look at me. I’m like you were. Just a regular Zach blending in.”
She shook her head. “You could never blend in. You’re not meant to. When I said real, I mean the real Zach and the real Lila. I want you to be that larger-than-life man who loves the spotlight and selfies but also...” She trailed off. For a minute she had to stop and gather all her courage. It took a lot to tell Zach that she loved him. But she was going to do it. Also a man who loves me, she thought.
Before she could say the words, he started talking.
“I’m trying to show you something and because I’m who I am it’s harder than I thought.”
“What are you trying to show me?” she asked.
“If my lifestyle isn’t right for you then I have come to realize that it’s not right for me. I do like attention and the spotlight and yes, everything is usually about me, but I don’t like me without you.”
She held her breath, almost afraid for him to continue. “I like you.”
“I know you do, Brown Eyes. I love you.”
He breathed in deeply after he said it, the next words coming out in a rush.
“I tried to convince myself that it was only the novelty of you, but the truth is you have made me see the spots in my life where I was doing things to try to feel alive.”
“Try to?” she asked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that if I hadn’t come to Royal, I would have been content to keep partying and sleeping with hotties and just going about that life. Not really looking around me and noticing things like pretty brunettes with sassy attitudes or the sunset or the flowers around me. You made me wake up and see that I was filling my days with so much stuff and standing in the spotlight because I wanted the world to see me.
“And you’re real, Lila. You want me to be real, too. I’ve been afraid of that for so long. But I want to be real with you.”
* * *
Being back in Royal was different than it had been before. He remembered how arrogant and sure of himself he’d been when he’d arrived. A bad boy running from a scandal of his own making. He’d come a long way since then and he knew it was because of Lila’s influence. Regardless of what she said back to him, his life had been changed for good by her.
Zach had laid it on the line and kept talking, but now he had run out of words. He’d told her he loved her, and she hadn’t said it back. His heart was racing like it never had before. It was all he could do to keep from pulling her into his arms and kissing her. Thoroughly. Then, if she was willing, he’d scoop her up and whisk her away to someplace private where he could make love to her. And he knew it would be making love, not just sex.
Because it was Lila Jones. The woman he’d made over but who had truly transformed him.
“Zach, I like your true self. You are such a generous, caring man. And I’ve changed, too. Realized that I was sort of just existing and not living. You showed me how to make the most of every moment. I love you, too,” she said at last. “In more ways than you’ll ever know. But I can’t go back to California. That life is not for me.”
Yes! She loved him. He didn’t listen to the rest; he’d heard the only thing he needed to hear. They would sort this out but right now he needed to hold her. To make sure that she didn’t change her mind. He stood up and pulled her to her feet and into his arms, kissing her long and deep, not caring if the morning commuters saw them.
She clung to him, holding on to his shoulders, and when he lifted his head, he saw in her eyes the sincerity of the love she’d professed. His heart felt full for the first time in his life.
“I didn’t know how much I needed you until you were gone,” he whispered as he pressed his forehead to hers. “I love you.”
He hadn’t meant to say the words again, but they were right there. The emotion so real that it was making him want to do and say things that he’d never considered before.
“I love you, too. Oh, Zach. I thought you’d moved on when you switched off your account,” she said.
“I switched it off and created a new profile because my life is with you and not for my followers.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” he said.
“How will you make a living?” she asked, stepping back.
He laughed as joy filled him. She was so practical, his little Lila Jones. “I don’t have to work to support myself, but I’m going to be starting a Texas-based brand makeover company to help businesses and folks who want to grow their social media presence. The team insisted on coming with me. We are going to be right here in Royal.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to do this and then regret it,” she said.
“I am sure. From the moment you ran into me and I held you in my arms right across the street in front of the chamber of commerce, I knew you were different and I wasn’t sure what that meant at first. But over the last month you have opened my eyes to so much that I had missed before. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.” He tipped her chin up and stared into her eyes. “Will you marry me, Lila? Help me start a new life filled with love and experiences that aren’t for the masses but just for us?”
“Yes!” she said, throwing herself back into his arms.
The people around them applauded and he kissed her again.
She called in sick to work and they spent the day in her little house making love and making plans for their future together, living in their authentic selves in the real world.
* * * * *
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Thanks to Stacy Boyd for her insightful edits on this book, making it really shine.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Katherine Garbera for her contribution to the Texas Cattleman’s Club: Heir Apparent miniseries.
ISBN-13: 9781488070570
The Trouble with Bad Boys
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A lightning bolt of hunger shot through him.
This was supposed to be his game. His pursuit. She wasn’t supposed to arouse him with a single touch. He was in charge of the seduction, of enticing her into surrendering her secrets.
Yet Ethan found himself threading his finger into Sienna’s luxuriant waves and savoring the silky slide of the soft strands against his skin. He half closed his eyes and watched her expression transform from bold curiosity to wary anticipation. Which emotion would rule the day?
He had a plan to find out.
“Thanks for the fun night.” Her soft breath puffed against his cheek before she kissed him and left him aching for more.
Worse, he no longer knew if she was playing him or if her sweetness was honest and legitimate. He searched her eyes for the flicker he’d seen over dinner, the one that matched the fire inside him.
And he found it.
* * *
Seduction, Southern Style by Cat Schield is part of the Sweet Tea and Scandal series.
Dear Reader,
I’m so excited to be journeying back to Charleston for this fifth installment of my Sweet Tea and Scandal series. I know many of you have been eagerly awaiting the reveal of the Watts heiress, and I hope you won’t be too disappointed that this story is focused on her sister, Sienna Burns. I needed to give Ethan a counterpart who both confounded his expectations and gave him a feeling of belonging. Their romance is one of my favorites. I love how Sienna doesn’t realize she’s looking for her perfect match until the chemistry between her and Ethan awakens her sensuality and her confidence.
I ventured beyond Charleston for this book and you will get a glimpse of Savannah, as well. These two cities are both so beautiful and the perfect backdrop for this fantastic couple’s love story. I hope you enjoy Seduction, Southern Style.
Happy reading!
Cat Schield
Seduction, Southern Style
Cat Schield
Cat Schield is an award-winning author of contemporary romances for Harlequin Desire. She likes her heroines spunky and her heroes swoonworthy. While her jet-setting characters live all over the globe, Cat makes her home in Minnesota with her daughter, two opinionated Burmese cats and a goofy Doberman. When she’s not writing or walking dogs, she’s searching for the perfect cocktail or traveling to visit friends and family. Contact her at www.catschield.com.
Books by Cat Schield
Harlequin Desire
Sweet Tea and Scandal
Upstairs Downstairs Baby
Substitute Seduction
Revenge with Benefits
Seductive Secrets
Seduction, Southern Style
Dynasties: Seven Sins
Untamed Passion
Visit her Author Profile page at Harlequin.com, or catschield.com, for more titles!
You can also find Cat Schield on Facebook, along with other Harlequin Desire authors, at Facebook.com/harlequindesireauthors!
To Ella and Bri,
who took over for a couple weeks last summer
so I could write and make my deadline.
It was so much fun getting to know you!
Best of luck with your future endeavors.
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
ONE
Sienna Burns experienced a familiar thrill as the town car, carrying her and her adopted sister, Teagan, coasted along the tree-lined avenue in downtown Charleston. As an independent art consultant, Sienna spent a great deal of time traveling and always loved the opportunity to visit a new city. And this one was breathtaking. Picket and iron fences hid lush gardens transected by hedge-lined brick walkways and dotted with palm trees and bountiful hydrangeas. The pastel buildings with overflowing window boxes imprinted her mind with explosions of vibrant colors.
“This is really beautiful,” she said, as one terraced, columned mansion after another flew by.
When her sister didn’t respond, Sienna shifted attention to Teagan and wasn’t surprised to find her taking a selfie. Teagan knew better than to ask Sienna to join her in the picture. With her dark hair and life-long weight issues, Sienna had always felt like a plump, shabby shadow of her beautiful, trendy sister and actively avoided the limelight.
“You should try and get one of these gorgeous mansions in the background,” Sienna suggested as the car stopped at an intersection. “I’ll bet your followers would love that.”
“Uh-huh,” Teagan mumbled, pouting at the screen and showing no indication that she was paying attention to her sister.
“Why am I even here?” Exhaustion sparked Sienna’s temper. She hadn’t slept during her eight-hour flight from London to New York or at any point during the hectic three-hour turnaround before Teagan had dragged her aboard the private jet for their flight to Charleston. “You’ve been glued to your phone the entire trip.”
As different as the two sisters were in appearance and temperament, one trait they shared was that they never stopped working. Teagan had spun her status as a social media influencer into several successful businesses and was constantly promoting her jewelry and accessories lines, as well as her concierge makeup service.
“I need my sister with me.” Without looking up from her phone, Teagan reached over to grip Sienna’s hand, the biting clamp revealing the tension hidden behind her unruffled expression. “You know I’m freaked out about meeting my birth mom’s family.”
Several months earlier Sienna had been shocked to hear that Teagan had submitted her DNA to a genetic testing service and discovered she was related to a prominent family in Charleston, South Carolina. The full details of how baby Teagan had come to be available to be adopted by a wealthy couple on the Upper East Side of New York might forever remain a mystery, but from what Teagan had patched together from talking with her Charleston family, it seemed that her biological mother, Ava Watts, had headed to the Big Apple in the hopes of becoming a fashion model only to become pregnant and die tragically, leaving behind her infant daughter. Apparently, Ava had cut herself off so thoroughly from her family that they hadn’t discovered her death or that she’d had a daughter until many years after the fact. By then, Teagan had been adopted and the sealed court records had prevented her family from locating her.
“You shouldn’t
be,” Sienna said, sandwiching Teagan’s hand between hers and offering the comfort her sister craved. “They’ve been looking for you since learning you existed. I’m sure they’re over the moon to have found you at last.”
“Of course, but what if they don’t like me?”
It never ceased to amaze Sienna that her beautiful, talented sister suffered bouts of insecurity. “What’s not to love?”
“You’re the best sister.” Teagan leaned her head on Sienna’s shoulder and absorbed all the support. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Sienna’s heart gave a painful wrench. “Luckily, you’ll never have to find out.”
Filled to the brim with optimism once more, Teagan turned back to her phone. Sienna released her sister’s hand and returned her attention to the scenery they were passing, letting her delight in the charming view recharge the energy she’d poured into the other woman.
“You know it still amazes me how much I look like them.” Teagan displayed the Instagram page belonging to her Charleston cousin, Dallas Shaw.
The image on the screen showed a smiling trio of blonde women. The twin cousins and their mother, Ava Watts’s older sister, Lenora Shaw, bore an uncanny resemblance to Teagan. Sienna felt a tinge of jealousy as she imagined future pictures with her sister grinning alongside the trio, her long blond hair and riveting green eyes proof that she belonged to the Watts/Shaw clan.
“Even without the DNA test, there’s little question you’re related,” Sienna said, overcome by a sudden blast of panic and misery at the thought of losing her sister to her new family.
“I hope they feel the same way.”
“Of course they will,” Sienna assured her, pushing aside her own anxiety and grief to bolster Teagan.
“I really wish you’d stay longer than a few days,” Teagan said, continuing to scroll through her cousin’s Instagram feed, skipping over the photos of beautifully plated dishes to focus on the images of Dallas and her identical sister, Poppy.
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