âTake Your Boots Off,â AJ Demanded. âThen Crawl Inside My Sleeping Bag.
âWeâre going to pool our warmth.â
Jacquelyn started to shake her head.
âLook,â he insisted, âbelieve me, Iâm not making a pass at you. When I do that, I donât bother with tricks. But we could be in this cavern for some time yet, and youâre not freezing to death on my watch. Now stow the modesty and crawl in here.â
âFine,â she snapped as she wiggled into the sleeping bag. âBesides, weâve got a dozen layers of clothing between us.â
Already she was warmer. But he was so close. And so was the scent of himâdark, male and enticing. Dangerousâ¦.
Dear Reader,
Silhouette is celebrating its 20>th anniversary throughout 2000! So, to usher in the first summer of the millennium, why not indulge yourself with six powerful, passionate, provocative love stories from Silhouette Desire?
Jackie Merritt returns to Desire with a MAN OF THE MONTH whoâs Tough To Tame. Enjoy the sparks that fly between a rugged ranch manager and the feisty lady who turns his world upside down! Another wonderful romance from RITA Award winner Caroline Cross is in store for you this month with The Rancher and the Nanny, in which a rags-to-riches hero learns trust and love from the riches-to-rags woman who cares for his secret child.
Watch for Meagan McKinneyâs The Cowboy Meets His Matchâan octogenarian matchmaker sets up an ice-princess heiress with a virile rodeo star. The Desire theme promotion THE BABY BANK, about sperm-bank client heroines who find love unexpectedly, concludes with Susan Crosbyâs The Baby Gift. Wonderful newcomer Sheri WhiteFeather offers another irresistible Native American hero with Cheyenne Dad. And Kate Littleâs hero reunites with his lost love in a marriage of convenience to save her from financial ruin in The Determined Groom.
So come join in the celebration and start your summer off on the supersensual sideâby reading all six of these tantalizing Desire books!
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
âJacquelyn, itâs early Monday morning, and this is Hazel McCallum calling, dear. I have aâ¦slightly unusual request to make of you. The last time you were here, it seems we got a bit sidetracked from your interview about Jake. It might be better if we meet at my home again. Please call at your convenience to arrange a time.â
Jacquelyn Rousseaux hit the rewind button on the answering machine, feeling heat rise into her face.
Last time we got a bit sidetracked. My God, was that a polite understatement!
Jacquelyn still felt mortified for her uncharacteristic lack of restraint. Back in Atlanta, even those who had known her for years often learned little about her private life, yet, once she and Hazel had gotten to talking about life and hopes and dreams, she found sheâd opened up like a floodgate to the older woman, who was practically a stranger. Jacquelyn had talked about the most personal and humiliating details of her life as if it were a catharsis.
She swept that unpleasant memory away, glancing at an old case clock in the back corner. It had kept near-perfect time in the office of the townâs newspaper, the Mystery Gazette, since 1890.
Almost 10 a.m. She returned Hazelâs call and quickly arranged to meet the Matriarch of Mystery, as Jacquelyn had secretly dubbed the famous cattle baroness, at 1 p.m. When she pressed Hazel for more information about that âslightly unusual request,â the cagey old dame told her only, âYouâll find out soon enough.â
A pleasant-looking, middle-aged woman in a beige pantsuit stepped out of a Plexiglas cubicle at the front of the office. Managing Editor, Bonnie Lofton, held a pica pole in one hand, an X-Acto blade in the other. The Gazette was one of the last weekly newspapers in the country that was not computer composed. Bonnie laid out each offset-press page by hand for a distinctly âold-timeâ look, in the spirit of Mysteryâs upcoming sesquicentennial.
âMorning, Jacquelyn,â Bonnie greeted her summer staffer. âWas that Hazelâs voice I just heard?â
âNone other. I already called her back. She wants to see me again. Wonât tell me why, either. Not even a hint.â
âUh-huh, thatâs Hazel, all right. Sometimes sheâs Mysteryâs biggest mystery. Her heartâs so generous, that woman wonât let one person in this valley ever go cold or hungry. But sheâs the boss, and she expects everybody to know it.â