The Loner's Guarded Heart
Josie was touched that her brothers had arranged a holiday for her–she certainly needed one.Only, the location isn't the lively resort she'd expected, but a rustic cabin in a beautiful but isolated Australian idyll…. Her only neighbor for miles is the taciturn, if incredibly attractive, Kent Black. Following a family tragedy, Kent cut himself off from the world.Josie can't help but be intrigued by this solitary man, and with her bubbly, warm personality, she's determined to pick away at the iron padlock around his heart.
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He began to press hot kisses to her throat before claiming her mouth.
Their desire swept her along like a swollen current of the river, like gale-force winds that bent the tops of trees. She felt wild, freeâ¦cherished. Sheâ
âNo!â
Kent jerked back and glared. Through the haze of her desire Josie saw the torment in his eyes. His fingers bit into her shoulders and he shook her, but she had a feeling it was himself he wanted to shake. She made a move to reach out to him, to try and wipe away the pain that raked his face, but he dropped his hands and stepped back out of her reach.
âThis is not going to happen,â he ground out.
Her arms felt bereft, cold. She gulped. Need lapped at her. What had she done wrong?
At the age of eight, Michelle Douglas was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She answered, âA writer.â Years later she read an article about romance writing and thought, Oohâthatâll be fun. She was right. When sheâs not writing she can usually be found with her nose buried in a book. She is currently enrolled in an English masterâs program, for the sole purpose of indulging her reading and writing habits further. She lives in a leafy suburb of Newcastle, on Australiaâs east coast, with her own romantic heroâhusband Gregâwho is the inspiration behind all her happy endings. Michelle would love you to visit her at her Web site, www.michelle-douglas.com.
âMichelle Douglas makes an outstanding debut with His Christmas Angel, a complex, richly emotional storyâ¦This oneâs a keeper.â
âRomantic Times BOOKreviews
The Lonerâs Guarded Heart
Michelle Douglas
TORONTO ⢠NEW YORK ⢠LONDON
AMSTERDAM ⢠PARIS ⢠SYDNEY ⢠HAMBURG STOCKHOLM ⢠ATHENS ⢠TOKYO ⢠MILAN ⢠MADRID PRAGUE ⢠WARSAW ⢠BUDAPEST ⢠AUCKLAND
Just like having a heart-to-heart with your best friend, these stories will take you from laughter to tears and back again!
Curl up and have a
with Harlequin Romance>®
So heartwarming and emotional, youâll want to have some tissues handy!
Look out for the next HEART TO HEART
THE ITALIANâS CINDERELLA BRIDE
by Lucy Gordon
Available in June
For Greg
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER ONE
âHELLO?â
Josie Peterson bent down and called her greeting into the half-open window before knocking on the door again.
No movement. No sound. Nothing.
Chewing her lip, she stepped back and surveyed the front of the cottageâweatherboard, neatly painted white. A serviceable grey-checked gingham curtain hung at the windows.
Grey? A sigh rose up through her. She was tired of grey. She wanted frills. And colour. She wanted fun and fanciful.
She could feel the grey try to settle over her shoulders.
She shook herself and swung away, took in the view about her. The paths were swept, the lawns were cared for, but there wasnât a single garden bed to soften the uniformity. Not even a pot plant. At the moment, Josie would kill for the sight of a single cheerful gerbera, let alone a whole row of them.
Six wooden cabins marched down the slope away from the cottage. Nothing moved. No signs of habitation greeted her. No cars, no towels drying on verandas, no pushbikes or cricket bats leant against the walls.
No people.
Fun and fanciful werenât the first descriptions that came to mind. The grass around the cabins, though, was green and clipped short. Someone took the trouble to maintain it all.
If only she could find that person.
Or people. She prayed for people.
The view spread before her was a glorious patchwork of golden grasses, khaki gum trees and a flash of silver river, all haloed and in soft focus from the late-afternoon sunshine. Josie had to fight back the absurd desire to cry.
What on earth had Marty and Frank been thinking?
You were the one who said you wanted some peace and quiet, she reminded herself, collapsing on the top step and propping her chin in her hands.
Yes, but there was peace and quiet and then there was this.
From the front veranda of the cottage, there wasnât another habitation in sight. She hid her face in her hands. Marty and Frank knew her well enough to know she hadnât meant this, didnât they?
Her insides clenched and she pulled her hands away. She didnât want the kind of peace and quiet that landed a person so far from civilisation they couldnât get a signal on their cell-phone.
She wanted people. She wanted to lie back, close her eyes and hear people laughing and living. She wanted to watch people laughing and living. She wantedâ
Enough already! This was the one nice thing Marty and Frank had done for her inâ¦
She tried to remember, but her mind went blank. OK, so maybe they werenât the most demonstrative of brothers, but sending her on holiday was a nice thing. Did she intend spoiling it with criticisms and rank ingratitude?
Some people would kill to be in her position. Lots of people would love to spend a month in the gorgeous Upper Hunter Valley of rural New South Wales with nothing to do.
