âMy nameâs Sam. And you are?â
âJust leaving,â I said with a tight smile. It was for my own good. My friends had told me to make a play for the sandy-haired hunk, but it just wasnât in me to pick up a man in a bar. The girls had bought me a drink for my birthday, given me a ridiculous gift and now it was time to follow their example and head home.
Even though Samâs shiny brown bedroom eyes made the moisture evaporate from my mouth.
He seemed disappointed by my response, but accepting. âWell, nice almost meeting you.â
I gathered up my present and had turned to go when he called, âHey. You forgot something.â
I turned back and, to my horror, saw him bending to retrieve the pink sheet of paper containing directions for my present, the âMake Your Own Dildoâ kit. The subhead âThe Only Set That Lets You Cast It from the Real Thingâ seemed to jump off the page. I lunged for the paper, but Sam was too quick. When he lifted his gaze from the sheet, a mischievous smile curved his mouth and his eyes danced. âLooks like fun.â
Hmm. On second thought, maybe I did have one more birthday present coming to me.
Dear Reader,
Itâs Harlequin Temptationâs twentieth birthday and weâre ready to do some celebrating. After all, weâre young, weâre legal (well, almost) and weâre old enough to get into trouble! Who could resist?
Weâve been publishing outstanding novels for the past twenty years, and there are many more where those came from. Donât miss upcoming books by your favorite authors: Vicki Lewis Thompson, Kate Hoffmann, Kristine Rolofson, Jill Shalvis and Leslie Kelly. And Harlequin Temptation has always offered talented new authors to add to your collection. In the next few months look for stories from some of these exciting new finds: Emily McKay, Tanya Michaels, Cami Dalton and Mara Fox.
To celebrate our birthday, weâre bringing back one of our most popular miniseries, Editorâs Choice. Whenever we have a book thatâs new, innovative, extraordinary, look for the Editorâs Choice flash. And the first oneâs out this month! In Cover Me, talented Stephanie Bond tells the hilarious tale of a native New Yorker who finds herself out of her element and loving it. Written totally in the first person, Cover Me is a real treat. And donât miss the rest of this monthâs irresistible offeringsâa naughty Wrong Bed book by Jill Shalvis, another installment of the True Blue Calhouns by Julie Kistler and a delightful Valentine tale by Kate Hoffmann.
So, come be a part of the next generation of Harlequin Temptation. We might be a little wild, but weâre having a whole lot of fun. And who knowsâsome of the thrill might rub offâ¦.
Enjoy,
Brenda Chin
Associate Senior Editor
Harlequin Temptation
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORâ¦
I love âfish out of waterâ stories. Thereâs no better way to see the kind of stuff a person is made of than to plunk them into a situation where everything they believe to be true not only canât help them, but sometimes can even get them into more trouble!
Meet Kenzie Mansfield, a label-conscious, career-minded city girl who has to temporarily relocate to a small town to thwart a magazine âcover curse.â Kenzie can handle just about anythingâor so she thinks!
I hope you enjoy this story, written from Kenzieâs point of view as she deals with rural mishaps and tries to maintain a professional distance from the handsome veterinarian she is sent to keep an eye on. Too late, Kenzie realizes this cover assignment might leave her caught between her job and her heart!
Happy reading, and donât forget to tell your friends about the wonderful romantic stories between the pages of Harlequin novels. Visit me at www.stephaniebond.com.
Much love and laughter,
Stephanie Bond
For Brenda Chin, a fearless editor who keeps raising the bar
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
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
âIâM ALLERGIC to men,â I announced to my three girlfriends between forkfuls of my wickedly garlicky Caesar salad.
Being accustomed to my somewhat obscure proclamations, their vigorous chewing proceeded unchecked. I looked from face to face to see who would cave first. My gaze stopped on Denise and she gave me an eye roll. I could always count on Denise to nibble at my conversation tidbits, however begrudgingly.
âOkay, Kenzie, Iâll bite. Are you talking allergic in literal terms, or figurative?â
âLiteral,â I declared. âI am physically allergic to the male gender.â
Cindy squinted. âLike ragweed?â
âExactly.â
Jacki shook her head. âYou are hopeless. Youâre allergic to feathers, mold, pollen, dairy products, rubber and now men?â
âDonât forget pet dander,â I said.
Jacki pointed with her fork. âKenzie Mansfield, you are a hypochondriac.â
Admittedly, I was. My copy of Disease and Diagnosis was as dog-eared as were most womenâs copies of Kama Sutra. At different times in my life, I had been sure Iâd had an enlarged spleen, Touretteâs syndrome and a brain tumor. Even though those ailments had all been disproved by various and sundry tests, my extensive allergies were documented and real, so I clung to them.