It Was Too Late To Think Rationally As Coleâs Lips Brushed Hers.
No pressure, no demand, justâ¦touching.
As the kiss slowly deepened, Marty felt as if sheâd been asleep for a hundred years and had woken up in a brand-new world to the tantalizing scent of soap and leather and sun-warmed male skin, to the iron-hard arms that held her breathlessly close.
Her carpenter. Her kissing carpenter, her upstairs man.
âWell,â she breathed, unable to think of anything else to say. âWellâ¦â
âI guess we got that out of the way,â Cole said, sounding a tad stunned himself. âYou want to fire me? Iâll understand.â
Marty shook her head. Fire him? Things might be infinitely more complicated after this, but if she let Cole walk away, she might lose the opportunity of a lifetime.
Dear Reader,
Itâs Valentineâs Day, time for an evening to remember. Perhaps your perfect night consists of candlelight and a special meal, or a walk along a deserted beach in the moonlight, or a wonderful cuddle beside a fire. My fantasy of what the perfect night entails includes 1) a very sexy television actor who starred in a recently canceled WB series 2) a dark, quiet corner in an elegant restaurant 3) a conversation that ends with a daring proposition to⦠Sorry, some things a girl just has to keep a secret! Whatever your evening to remember entails, hereâs hoping itâs unforgettable.
This month in Silhouette Desire, we also offer you reads to remember long into the evening. Kathie DeNoskyâs A Rare Sensation is the second title in DYNASTIES: THE ASHTONS, our compelling continuity set in Napa Valley. Dixie Browning continues her fabulous DIVAS WHO DISH miniseries with Her Man Upstairs.
We also have the wonderful Emilie Rose whose Breathless Passion will leave youâ¦breathless. In Out of Uniform, Amy J. Fetzer presents a wonderful military hero youâll be dreaming about. Margaret Allison is back with an alpha male who has A Single Demand for this Cinderella heroine. And welcome Heidi Betts to the Desire lineup with her scintillating surrogacy story, Bought by a Millionaire.
Hereâs to a memorable Valentineâs Dayâ¦however you choose to enjoy it!
Happy reading,
Melissa Jeglinski
Senior Editor
Silhouette Books
Marty allowed herself ten minutes, start to finish, to shower, shampoo the stink out of her hair, dress and get back downstairs in time to meet the fourth carpenter. If he even bothered to show up. What the devil had happened to the work ethic in this country?
She knew what had happened to her own. It fluctuated wildly between gotta-do, gonna-do and canât-do. Between full speed ahead and all engines reverse, depending on the time of the month.
At least she had no one depending on her for support. Not even a cat or a dog, although she was thinking about getting one. Something to talk to, something to keep her feet warm in bed at night while she read herself to sleep. But then there were all those shots and flea medicines and retractable leashes and collars and tons of kibble.
So maybe a couple of goldfish�
She checked her image in the steam-clouded bathroom mirror, searching for signs of advancing age. âAt least youâre not paying rent. Except for the phone bill, the power bill and property taxes, you donât owe a penny to anyone.â
On the other hand, her split ends were in desperate need of a trim and the sweater she was wearing dated back to her junior year in college. Even if she couldâve afforded to update her hairstyle and her wardrobe, she lacked the interest, and thatâthe lack of interestâwas the scariest of all. She was sliding downhill toward the big four-oh, which meant that any day now, the guarantees on various body parts would start running out. Oh sure, her teeth were still sound, and she could still get by with drugstore reading glasses, but she plucked an average of three gray hairs a day; she was collecting a few of what were euphemistically called âlaugh linesâ and lately her back had been giving her trouble.
Of course, moving a ton and a half of books and bookshelves single-handedly might have had something to do with that.
Bottom line, she wasnât getting any younger. Her income was zilch minus inflation, her savings account had earned the lofty sum of a buck eighty-seven in interest last month, and with the least bit of encouragement she could become seriously depressed. She read all those magazine articles designed to scare women and sell pharmaceutical products. The trouble was, scare tactics worked.
Frowning down at her Timex, Marty decided sheâd give him ten more minutes. Traffic jams happened, even in Muddy Landing, population just shy of a thousand. Sheâd forgotten to ask where he was staying, when heâd called late yesterday to see if she still needed a builder. If he was coming from Elizabeth City and happened to get behind a tractor or a school bus, all bets were off.