Book Details

Harlequin Enterprises,
Mass market paperback, January 2007, ISBN-13: 9780373772841

Harlequin Enterprises,
Temptation, Heat # 905, December 2002, ISBN-13: 9780373691050

Chapter One (scene)

Rina watched with amusement as the maintenance man tried to hang mistletoe according to Emma Montgomery's direction. The older woman had already hung sprigs in unsuspecting places around the Ashford Times' offices and had taken to adding a bit more each day. Of course she did her decorating after five, when the core staff had gone home for the day.

"A little more to the left. No to the right. Left. No right." From her seat, Emma tried to choreograph everything and everyone in her sphere of influence, a mean feat for an eighty year old. At least Rina thought she was eighty. Emma never discussed her actual age.

"Geez, lady make up your mind." The man's weight tipped the ladder precariously with each stretch of his arm in a different direction. "I haven't got all night."

Emma sniffed. "That's the problem with today's generation. Everyone's in such a rush. What do you think, Rina? Come here and check it out from my perspective."

Knowing Emma wouldn't be satisfied unless she complied, Rina shut down her computer for the night and joined Emma. She glanced upward at the ceiling. "Looks good to me. Want to test it out? Emma's willing," Rina jokingly told the head of the maintenance crew.

He glared, obviously not enjoying his role in holiday merrymaking.

Emma laughed. "You need holiday spirit," she informed the man, then squinted upward once more. She nodded at last.

"That's it then. Leave the mistletoe there."

Directly over Colin Lyons' chair. Despite Corinne's warning, his return had shocked the staff. Those who knew Colin had expected his long absences to continue. Instead as soon as he'd arrived home, he'd come on board at the paper. Corinne had agreed to let him take over the small news department, admitting that wasn't her forte. But even she didn't think he'd stay. According to office gossip, he never did.

Rina glanced at the greenery over his seat and grinned. "You are one wicked woman, Emma."

She rubbed her aged hands together with glee. "Tell me you wouldn't love to get that man underneath the mistletoe."

Of course she could. But Rina wouldn't be admitting anything to Emma. No way would she give the Queen of the Meet and Greet column a cause to focus on. She could handle her own affairs, thank you very much. Because if Emma discovered that Rina was attracted to Colin, she'd pull out all the stops to get them together and the timing was all wrong for Rina to find herself on the receiving end of Emma's renowned, matchmaking skills.

With her series coming up, she planned a calculated method of dealing with men in order to decipher what the opposite sex wanted. She couldn't have Emma meddling in her social life. Not now.

Even if Colin did light mega watts of electricity inside her every time he walked into the room. Those arresting blue eyes, that thick black hair, his distinctive masculine scent all set off heavy duty sparks of desire. Instant sexual attraction, she thought. And female intuition, plus the fact that she'd often caught him staring, told her he felt it too.

The older woman narrowed her gaze. "Silence is an answer in itself." She patted Rina's arm, rose and headed slowly back to her own desk.

"Come on, Emma. Pick on someone your own age," Rina said.

The older woman laughed. "You're a challenge, Rina. I thrive on challenges and I live to matchmake. What exactly do you live for, dear?"

"Until lately, not much," she admitted. After her husband's death, guilt had consumed her. He'd been rushing home from a business trip in the pouring rain, coming to be with her instead of sensibly spending the night at a hotel.

For a long while after, Rina hadn't thought life had much to offer. But after some soul searching, she sold the New York City penthouse they'd shared and decided it was time to live again. Financially secure and free to do whatever she wanted, Rina had no desire to return to her job as a legal secretary. It had been a decent means of earning a living, but didn't satisfy her.