Jennifer Drew - A Regular Joe

Two brand-new stories in every volume…twice a month!

Duets Vol. #45

Popular Carol Finch always “presents her fans with rollicking wild adventures…memorable characters and fun from beginning to end,” says Romantic Times Magazine. Joining her this month is mother-and-daughter writing team Jennifer Drew with a delightful spin-off to their first Duets title, Taming Luke.

Duets Vol. #46

The West will never be the same after Debbi Rawlins serves up her first dynamite Double Duets. Affaire de Coeur says “Rawlins’s books are jammed packed with witty dialogue, crazy situations, excellent characters and a lot of laughs!” Enjoy!

Be sure to pick up both Duets volumes today!

A Regular Joe

Carol Finch

Mr. Right Under Her Nose

Jennifer Drew

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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A Regular Joe A Regular Joe Carol Finch

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Mr. Right Under Her Nose

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

A Regular Joe

Carol Finch

Mattie Rowland had happened onto an employee who shared her love of art and woodcraft, and whose masculine, dynamic presence put a quick-charge on her feminine battery….

Mattie’s thoughts skidded to an abrupt halt. Good heavens, what was she thinking? Joe Gray, as attractive and appealing to the eye as he was, was off-limits. She was his employer and she couldn’t, wouldn’t, jeopardize their working relationship.

No, the head honcho, who sat on his duff on his velvet throne at corporate headquarters, would undoubtedly frown on a personal relationship developing between his store manager and an employee.

“Strictly business, and you’d better not forget that,” Mattie told herself. It didn’t matter that she was mesmerized by Joe’s whiskey-colored eyes and dark hair. It didn’t matter that she was thirty years old, and her biological clock was ticking loudly. She was his boss and he was her hired assistant and never the twain shall meet, as the saying goes.

Who ever made up that dumb saying, anyway?

Dear Reader,

One of my favorite old movies, Teacher’s Pet, starring Clark Gable and Doris Day, inspired me to create a hero who masquerades as someone he’s not. Combine that potentially explosive ingredient with a lively, trusting heroine who takes truth, honesty and honor very seriously and you have a recipe for trouble. No matter what pretty name, or justifiable reason, you attach to deception, it is what it is and, inevitably, it returns to haunt you—usually in the worst way, at the worst of all possible moments.

Just ask Daniel Grayson, the hero of A Regular Joe. Too late, he realizes he’s on a collision course with self-imposed disaster and that he’s head over heels in love with Mattie Roland, the bubbly, unique female he thoroughly deceived. If Mattie discovers the truth, the fur will fly—most of it Daniel’s, no doubt. Since Daniel lied about his identity, how can he convince Mattie that he speaks the truth when he says he loves her? Like she’ll believe that, coming from his lying lips!

The moral of this story? The lies you tell are gonna get you if you don’t watch out! And so, dear readers, the charade begins…

Enjoy!

Carol Finch

SILHOUETTE SPECIAL EDITION

1242—NOT JUST ANOTHER COWBOY

1320—SOUL MATES

This book is dedicated to my husband, Ed, and our children, Kurt, Jill, Christie, Jon and Jeff, with much love. And to our grandchildren, Blake, Kennedy and Brooklynn. Hugs and kisses!

A special thanks to my editor, Karen Kosztolnyik, and my agent, Laurie Feigenbaum.

It is a privilege to be working with you!

DANIEL JOSEPH GRAYSON, co-founder and CEO of Hobby Hut Enterprises, was running away from home. He wished he’d done it a year ago, because this hiatus was long overdue.

Daniel was desperate to regain his enthusiasm for the family-owned business. He needed to get back in touch with himself, because sitting in his plush executive office, surrounded by yes-men and -women, constantly staring at profit-loss spreadsheets, was distorting his perception of life. Hobby Hut’s version of Stepford wives—those nauseatingly agreeable robots whose sole purpose was to protect their high-dollar salaries and prestigious positions—were driving him absolutely nuts!

No longer could Daniel bounce ideas off his junior executives or expect constructive and innovative input, because he couldn’t trust their hidden motives. A year ago, when his grandfather officially retired, things rapidly deteriorated. J. D. Grayson was the only person Daniel could depend on to tell him the truth, and now the old man was spending his golden years in leisurely pursuits.

Therefore, Daniel decided to leave his executives holding the bag, forcing them to earn their exorbitant wages. He was hotfooting it out of Oklahoma City—without leaving a forwarding address. For one month Daniel was going to become a regular Joe and hope like hell that the working stiffs in this world were nothing like corporate society with its patronized schmoozing—along with a little treacherous backstabbing thrown in for good measure. Daniel craved a breath of fresh country air, longed to shed the cloak of executive privilege, and dodge the entourage of glossy females who saw him as a blue-chip bachelor.

Hell’s jingling bells! He wasn’t sure if he was liked for himself these days, or if his power, wealth and influence formed the world’s perception of him. There was only one way to find out, Daniel mused. When he became your everyday average regular Joe Schmo he would discover how many true friends he could acquire.

Daniel steered the clunker truck that he’d borrowed from his grandfather off the interstate and cruised down the two-lane road toward Fox Hollow. The town was situated in a valley, surrounded by timbered hills and clear blue streams. The community was only a hop, skip and jump away from a scenic lake.

The quaint, off-the-beaten-path hamlet was just what the doctor ordered, he thought to himself. This area of the state catered to hunters, fishermen, lake-goers and retirees. This was the perfect getaway for a cynical, jaded executive—namely him—who needed to get back in touch with the simple pleasures in life.

Feeling his tension and frustration ebb, Daniel cruised his bucket-of-rust truck from one end of Main Street to the other. It took three minutes—less if he hadn’t stopped for the white-haired old woman who jaywalked in front of him. There was one stoplight, dozens of parking spaces without meters, and several wooden barrels—belching riotous collections of flowers—sitting in front of each business establishment. A hardware store, with a sign that read If We Don’t Have What You Need We Can Special Order It, sat on one corner. A floral shop, antique store, tractor-mechanic shop, mom-and-pop grocery, hole-in-the-wall café, tag agency and furniture store lined the street. There were no traffic jams in which road-raging motorists shouted at one another and saluted with their middle fingers. Daniel didn’t hear the screech of brakes or blast of horns. What he heard was the sound of peace and quiet, the warble of birds and local citizens greeting one another as they passed friends and acquaintances on the sidewalk.