Even more tempting than ice cream!
Sorrel Amery is determined to make her summer event the talk of the town, and she knows just the way into peopleâs heartsâchampagne sorbet! Itâs the perfect strategy⦠Until the ice cream parlourâs owner runs off, leaving Sorrelâs plans melting faster than a sundae in the summer sun.
All Sorrel wants is to get back into her comfort zone, but when the gorgeous Alexander West arrives to help pick up the pieces her life gets shaken up more than ever before! Especially as this globe-trotting adventurer is determined that nothing in Sorrelâs life should ever be boring old vanilla againâ¦
ANYTHING BUT VANILLAâ¦
Sorrel had assumed Alexander would take the spoon from her, but instead he leaned forward and put his lips around it.
His hair fell forward and brushed against her wrist, giving her goose bumps. He put his hand beneath hers to steady it when it began to shake, then raised heavy lids to look straight into her eyes.
They were dangerously close.
Sheâd taken an involuntary step back, shocked by such a powerful response to a man who, while undeniably attractive, she was not predisposed to like. But lust had nothing to do with liking. It was an unthinking, mindless live-now-pay-later physical response to the atavistic need of a species to reproduce itself. A lingering madness, as outdated, as unnecessary, as troublesome as the appendix. Something sheâd have had removed if it was an option.
And yet, with his palm cradling her hand, face-to-face, the effect was amplified; not so much a ripple as a tsunamiâ¦
ABOUT LIZ FIELDING
Liz Fielding was born with itchy feet. She made it to Zambia before her twenty-first birthday and, gathering her own special hero and a couple of children on the way, lived in Botswana, Kenya and Bahrainâwith pauses for sightseeing pretty much everywhere in between. She finally came to a full stop in a tiny Welsh village cradled by misty hills, and these days mostly leaves her pen to do the traveling.
When sheâs not sorting out the lives and loves of her characters, she potters in the garden, reads her favourite authors and spends a lot of time wondering, What ifâ¦?
For news of upcoming booksâand to sign up for her occasional newsletterâvisit Lizâs website, www.lizfielding.com.
This and other titles by Liz Fielding are available in ebook formatâcheck out www.millsandboon.co.uk
ONE
Thereâs nothing more cheering than a good friend when weâre in troubleâexcept a good friend with ice cream.
âfrom Rosieâs âLittle Book of Ice Creamâ
âHello? Shop?â
Alexander West ignored the rapping on the shop door, the call for attention. The closed sign was up; Knickerbocker Gloria was out of business. End of story.
The accounts were a mess, the petty cash tin contained nothing but paper clips and heâd found a pile of unopened bills in the bottom drawer of the desk. All the classic signs of a small business going down the pan and Ria, with her fingers in her ears, singing la-la-la as the creditors closed in.
It was probably one of them at the door now. Some poor woman whose own cash flow was about to hit the skids hoping to catch her with some loose change in the till, which was why this wouldnât wait.
He topped up his mug with coffee, eased the ache in his shoulder and set about dealing with the pile of unopened bills.
There was no point in getting mad at Ria. This was his fault.
Sheâd promised him that sheâd be more organised, not let things get out of hand. He was so sure that sheâd learned her lesson, but maybe heâd just allowed himself to be convinced simply because he wanted it to be true.
She tried, he knew she did, and everything would be fine for a while, but then sheâd hear something, see something and it would trigger her depression...get her hopes up. Then, when they were dashed, sheâd be ignoring everything, especially the scary brown envelopes. It didnât take long for a business to go off the rails.
âRia?â
He frowned. It was the same voice, but whoever it belonged to was no longer outsideâ
âIâve come to pick up the Jefferson order,â she called out. âDonât disturb yourself if youâre busy. I can find it.â
âbut inside, and helping herself to the stock.
He hauled himself out of the chair, took a short cut across the preparation roomâscrubbed, gleaming and ready for a new day that was never going to comeâand pushed open the door to the stockroom.
All he could see of the âvoiceâ was a pair of long, satin-smooth legs and a short skirt that rode up her thighs and stretched across a neat handful of backside. It was an unexpected pleasure in what was a very bad day and, in no hurry to halt her raid on the freezer, he leaned against the door making the most of the view.