When She's Bad (24 page)
She had felt useless since her horrible horseback riding accident in college several years ago. She’d nearly died and it had taken three surgeries and months of rehabilitation to put her back together again. Riding had been the passion of her life and she hadn’t ridden a horse since. First, her father had forbidden it. Now, without him, she was too frightened. Scaredy cat is what her sister Delilah would have called her and Delilah would have been right.
Lori bit her lip and felt the beginning of an unwelcome, but familiar edgy sensation. Of her four siblings, she’d gotten lucky with the sperm donor. She’d won the lottery when it came to fathers. Her father had not only loved and adored her, he’d also been loaded. The only thing he’d requested in trade for his devotion and riches was that she leave her mother, half-sisters and half-brother behind. She’d been willing to hide her contact with her half-sisters and brother until the accident. After that, she just couldn’t hide her desire to connect with them anymore, and she feared that was what had broken Harlan’s heart.
She’d felt guilty most of her life. Guilty for having a wealthy father. Guilty for having siblings he didn’t approve of.
The nasty, edgy feeling built inside her so that she couldn’t sit still. “There must be some way,” she ventured. “Some creative accounting way—”
“Creative accountants and their clients often end up in prison.”
Lori glanced at him again. She was surprised they’d sent someone so young. He didn’t seem the least bit affected by her appearance. She wondered if he was gay. He didn’t look gay. Except for his suit, he didn’t look like an accountant either. He was tall with broad shoulders. His nose looked as if it had been broken, but he wasn’t ugly. He wasn’t handsome either. Strong jaw, she noticed. She had the unfun sense that he would be stubborn.
“There’s got to be a way around this,” she said.
He placed a file of papers on the coffee table. “I’m leaving you with a copy of the will and the amount of the allowance you’re due for the next six years. We can meet again tomorrow,” he said, then paused. “Provided you don’t start any new charitable foundations or go on any shopping sprees.”
She frowned at his dry tone. “I don’t like your attitude, Mr. James. I’m not sure I want to work with you. Perhaps I should call Mr. Hollingsworth about working with someone else.”
“Good luck,” Mr. James said in a confident tone that grated on her.
“Why good luck?” she demanded.
“Because everyone else said no to the job. I’m the only sap they could talk into taking you on. They’re all afraid you’ll turn them into mush and send their careers down the toilet.”
“I’m not that difficult to work with! I’m not rude or arrogant or—”
“No. You just come across as so sweet and helpless that you make men feel like they have to take care of you. They want to give you everything you ask for, everything you wish for.”
She didn’t like the image he was painting of her. She didn’t like it at all. “I’m not helpless.”
He cracked a half-smile that didn’t reach his piercing eyes. “Here’s your chance to prove it.”
Dear Reader,
Whether it’s a matter of knowing when to be bad, or knowing when to trust, both of these elements can play a hand in bringing two people together. As Delilah Montague and Carly Martin will discover in our Warner Forever titles this November.
Janet Evanovich exclaims, “When life gets tough, read a book by Leanne Banks.” Nothing could be truer than while reading
Leanne Banks
’s
WHEN SHE’S BAD
. Delilah Montague is a self-made woman who manages an exclusive spa in Houston, TX. She garners a bad girl reputation due to her supposed establishment by a married tycoon, though they were never romantically involved. Delilah uses her bad rep to keep people at a distance. She is one tough cookie who likes to be in control and live a quiet life … until a certain brainy stud moves in next door. Benjamin Huntington begins upsetting her calm existence by renovating in the middle of the night and playing opera music. But her world is about to be turned completely upside-down when a baby appears on her doorstep … and Delilah may need a little help from her handsome neighbor
and
Cupid!
Going from sizzling guy-next-door to brooding alpha male, we offer
TRUST ME
by
Melanie Craft
, a wonderful new voice in contemporary romance. Veterinarian Carly Martin has a soft touch for stray animals and vulnerable men, so she is shocked when a stranger barges into her clinic one day and accuses her of being a gold digger. The stranger is Max Giordano, the illegitimate grandson of an eccentric millionaire, whose menagerie of animals is under Carly’s care. With his grandfather on his deathbed, Max has to inform Carly that she will inherit the Tremayne mansion and the animals. At first, Max is suspicious of her, only he begins to see she’s a guileless and gentle person that he is rapidly falling for. Now if he can just get Carly to trust him after getting things off to such a bad start …
To find out more about Warner Forever, these November titles, and the authors, visit us at
www.warnerforever.com
.
With warmest wishes,
Karen Kosztolnyik, Senior Editor
P.S. With the holidays approaching, Warner Forever presents two titles that are perfect gifts—and perfect indulgences!
Lori Wilde
pens a fun-filled tale about a female private eye helping her drop-dead gorgeous client dodge bullets and goons on their tail when they end up creating sparks that could ignite Las Vegas in
LICENSE TO THRILL
; and
Edie Claire
makes her mainstream romance debut in
LONG TIME COMING
, a captivating novel about a young woman who returns to her hometown to confront her childhood memories of her best friend’s tragic death, and falls in love with the man she held responsible.
Here’s your chance to win $100 worth of makeup from Sephora. Just fill out the coupon below—or enter electronically at
www.warnerforever.com
—and you could be one of ten lucky winners randomly selected to receive a $100 gift certificate from Sephora, redeemable in person at any Sephora store or on the Web at
www.Sephora.com
. So enter any time between October 27, 2003, and December 1, 2003, your entry must be postmarked by December 1, and you could end up being one of our truly romantic winners! Winners will be announced on or about December 15—just in time for the holidays!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. See details on back.
TO ENTER Complete this entry form or send us a 3x5 index card with the following information:
Name: ____________________________________________
Address: __________________________________________
City: ____________________ State: ________ Zip: ________
E-mail:____________________________________________
Mail to:
When She’s Bad Sweepstakes
c/o Warner Books
Dept. KK, Ninth Floor
1271 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
WARNER BOOKS
An AOL Time Warner Company
Official Contest Rules
PURCHASING DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING
Official Rules. No Purchase Necessary. Residents of the continental U.S. and Canada only, age 18 or older. Void in Quebec, Vermont and where prohibited by law. Substitution for any prize may be necessary due to unavailability, in which case a comparable prize of equal or greater value will be awarded. To enter, follow the instructions on the entry form, enter electronically at
www.warnerforever.com
or hand print your name, address and e-mail address, if you have one, on a 3″ x 5″ piece of paper and send to: When She’s Bad Sweepstakes, c/o Warner Books, Department KK, Ninth Floor, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Mechanical reproductions or use of automated devices not valid. Electronic and mailed entries must be received by the specified date. One entry per household. In the case of multiple entries, only the first entry will be accepted. In the event of a dispute over the identity of an online entrant, entry will be deemed submitted by the holder of the e-mail account. Warner Books is not responsible for technical failures in entry transmission, or lost, late, misdirected, damaged, incomplete, illegible or postage due mail, nor for any damages to participants’ computers occasioned by participation in the promotion or downloading any information necessary to participate in the promotion. Warner Forever reserves the right to cancel the sweepstakes if it becomes technically corrupted. Winners will be randomly selected from all entries received by Warner Forever, whose judging decisions are final. Winners will be notified by mail or e-mail within 30 days of the drawing. In order to win a prize, residents of Canada are required to answer a skill-testing question administered by mail. Any prize or prize notification returned to Warner Forever as undeliverable will result in the awarding of that prize to an alternate winner. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Except as required by law, Warner Forever will not share entrant information with any third parties. Warner Forever may contact entrants in the future with offers we feel may be of interest and will add all entrants’ e-mail addresses to our e-romance newsletter mailing lists. Employees of AOL Time Warner Book Group Inc. and affiliated companies and members of those employees’ immediate families are not eligible. Drawing governed by laws of United States. Any claims relating to this sweepstakes must be resolved in the United States. For a list of prizewinners, send a self addressed envelope to Warner Forever, c/o Warner Books, Dept. KK, Ninth Floor, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 between end date of contest and one month later. Winners are responsible for all applicable taxes.
Entry constitutes permission (except where prohibited by law) to use the winner’s name, hometown, likeness, and any text submitted for purpose of advertising and promotion on behalf of the sweepstakes sponsor without further compensation.