âAre you okay?â Cash murmured
Marley winced. âNot really. Uhâ¦I guess itâs because weâre about to have sex.â
He studied her a minute. âWe donât have to.â
She stared back, making him smile by saying, âUh, yes, we do.â And it was true. Neither of them would sleep until theyâd satisfied their curiosity. âIâm just nervous.â
âMe, too.â
Maybe. But Marley didnât think Cash looked all that nervous. âIt must be performance anxiety,â she said, trying to make light of it.
His dark eyes sparkled as he pulled her close. âYours or mine?â
Her jaw dropped. âYours, of course.â
He grinned. âLet me get this straight. Youâre afraid youâre going to regret the best sex of your lifeâ¦.â
The tension in the room suddenly seemed palpable. Marley wanted to fast forward through all the groping and divesting of clothes. Truly, there was nothing worse than first-time sex, she thought.
But what if it did turn out to be the best sex�
Dear Reader,
Since the early nineties Iâve been very lucky to have been able to write for so many Harlequin series, including Love & Laughter, American Romance, Intrigue, Blaze and Temptation, as well as to pen whatâs been called the BIG APPLE series, which has included miniseries such as BIG APPLE BACHELORS and BIG APPLE BABIES.
These books are close to my heart, especially since I make my home in Manhattan, and I have made my writing home, for some time, at Harlequin Blaze and Harlequin Temptation, which now brings you BIG APPLE BRIDES.
I do hope youâll enjoy watching the three Benning sisters grapple with a wedding curse thatâs wreaked havoc with their love lives. Itâs my greatest wish that they provide everything for which the much-loved Temptation series has always been known: sassiness, humorous fun, a fast pace and a heartwarming happily-ever-after.
Enjoy!
Jule McBride
SPARKY DARDENâS DAUGHTER, Julia, had fluffed his pillows, propping them against the headboard, just the way Sparky liked them, and sheâd left a silver-wrapped square of chocolate on the coverlet like those left nightly on pillows of Darden hotels all over the world. As Sparky unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth, he reclined.
At the moment, he felt forty years old, not sixty-eight, and his cancer, which had gone into remission, wasnât worrying him in the least. As he ran his fingers through the remaining strands of silver hair left after chemo, he used his other hand to fish into the pocket of a crimson robe for the remote; he was tired of watching late-night infomercials, a habit acquired during his illness, so he switched to the VCR and hit Play.
Since the threats against Julia began, Sparky had watched this tape many times. Taken fourteen years ago by a security camera at the Long Island estate Sparky now called home, it was grainy and dark, so the figure racing across Sparkyâs lawn looked scarcely visible. The guy had been clever, breaching security, blackening his face and dressing in dark clothes. After locating the switch plates inside the estateâs gates, heâd extinguished almost all the lights. Cameras and alarms were everywhere, and with the exception of a wooded area between the house and a two-lane rural highway, fencing surrounded the property, but heâd been determined, climbing the fence, hurdling flower beds, dodging hedges and circling statuary. After reaching the veranda steps, heâd climbed stealthily, his body moving like a dancerâs.
Inside, everyone had been shouting in confusion, trying to turn on the lights. Funny, Sparky thought now. He should have suspected foul play, since heâd made countless enemies in the course of his career, but heâd thought there was a power outage. âNothingâs wrong,â heâd assured.
When heâd opened the door, though, a flashlightâs beam from inside had glanced off steel. Just as air had whooshed across his exposed neck, heâd jumped back, realizing the wind had been the wake of a knife meant to slit his throat. And then heâd seen the eyes through the ski maskâdark and full of hate, as if the man had been fantasizing about this confrontation for years.
Sparky had lived, of course. Since starting Darden Enterprises, heâd survived murder attempts, near bankruptcy, paternity suits and slander, not to mention his own loneliness. The latter was like a gaping mouth inside him, and no matter what Sparky had fed it over the yearsâwine, women or songâheâd never felt filled. Always on to lifeâs next conquest, heâd needed more sex, more money, more accolades. At least until heâd gotten the big C, and heâd survived that, too.