Dear Reader,
Iâve known for a long time that I have the best job in the worldâwriting stories about powerful, complicated men and the women who love themâwhatâs not to like? Some of these stories have stayed especially close to my heart and Iâm delighted to announce that you can now read them for yourself if theyâre new to youâor maybe rediscover them if you loved them as much as I do.
I love them for different reasons. Sometimes because thereâs a heroine I can particularly identify withâlike Rose in Surrender to the Sheikh or Sabrina in The Unlikely Mistress. Sometimes because I am unable to forget the heroâand I confess that they all have an unforgettable hero. I think about Dominic Dashwood in Settling the Score and all the fuss that book caused at the time. I think of the proud Russian, Nikolai, in Too Proud to be Bought and Ross in One Husband Required, who was a very different kind of hero. I can feel as if theyâre all in the room with me, urging you to read their stories, and I hope you will.
The collection runs from May through to October 2015, so please write or tweet me @Sharon_Kendrick and tell me which are your favourites.
Happy reading,
Love,
Sharon
CHAPTER ONE
âPINCH me, quick! Who the hell is he?â
âNo ideaâbut just watch me find out!â
Lola, who had been shamelessly listening in to this conversation, watched as the two women tottered across the clubhouse towards the object of their desire.
And then her heart missed a beat. Or rather it missed several.
Lola blinked as the man glanced up and looked at her. And just carried on looking.
It was the classic, corny situationâthe kind that Lola had read about in books and had never really believed could happen.
Well, it was happening now, and to her! Eyes meeting across a crowded room and all the things that went with it whether you liked it or notâthe heightened awareness and the not so subtle body language which shrieked out mutual attraction.
Lola recognised him immediately. But he wouldnât recognise her; of that she was certain. People never did! Lola was an air stewardess, and once she changed out of her uniform she was anonymousâit went hand in hand with the job!
She swallowed, unable to tear her eyes away from him.
As well as being the most outrageously attractive man in the room, he was making no effort to disguise his rather bored indifference. With eyes like storm clouds he was moodily surveying the proceedings as if he would rather be somewhere else.
Well, you and me both, buddy, thought Lola, with a touch of defiance!
She usually adored partiesâthe fact that she was invited to so many was one of the perks of her job with the airlineâbut this party was slightly different.
For a start she knew no one.
Everyone seemed to be standing around in large, impenetrable groups which didnât look particularly welcoming. And she didnât really feel like going up to one of them and saying in her best stewardess voice, âHi, Iâm Lolaâwho are you?â
The man with the stormy eyes was in the middle of just such a clique, and a scrumptious-looking blonde who had clearly poured herself into her black, sequinned dress without much thought of how she was going to get out of it was gazing into his eyes as if all her Christmases had come at once. And she wasnât the only one. He seemed to have that hypnotic effect on just about every female in the room.
Lola could see exactly why.
He wasnât precisely what youâd call good-looking, she decided, not in a boring, even-featured sort of way. His nose looked as though it had been brokenâprobably on the rugby field, thought Lola as she took in the broad, strong shoulders. But the imperfection only seemed to add to the rather devastating overall attractiveness of his face.
His mouth was sublimeâhe had the most sensual lips that Lola had ever seenâbut there was an unmistakably hard, almost cruel curve to its corners which hinted at a powerful, sexual mastery which Lola loathed herself for finding attractive.