Cerella Sechrist - Gentle Persuasion

“Perhaps we’re both a little desperate, hmm? Why not see if it can work to both our advantages?” she asked.

She had always known Dane Montgomery would be the toughest recruitment of her career. But she had the feeling that if she could just spend enough time with him, get to know him, find some sort of compromise to their situations…

“Fine.”

“Fine? I mean…you’ll do it?” She knew that her face revealed her surprise.

“For $10,000, I’ll be your personal tour guide…for this week only.” He rose to his feet. “But let me warn you, Ms. Reid, that others with more experience than you have tried many times over the past three years to lure me back.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

He paused, seeming to consider her. “What makes you think you’ll have a better chance than they did?”

She met his gaze with determination. “I don’t know that I do,” she confessed, “but I have to try.”

He straightened at this, and did she imagine it? Or was there just the slightest hint of respect in his eyes to avoid repetition?

“Then let the games begin.”

Dear Reader,

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Hawaii a total of three times in my life. The first, I was barely three years old and recall little other than crystal clear waters, deliciously cool breezes and soft, pristine sand. The second trip was a family vacation in my early teens that created a wealth of treasured (and humorous!) memories. And the last was only a couple of years ago, not too long after I had the idea for Gentle Persuasion .

The impression of Hawaii that has always stayed with me is the unique culture and welcoming aloha spirit of its people, the complicated beauty of its native language, and the purity and diversity of its landscape.

Hawaii is a place where it’s easy to fall in love. So it was no stretch of the imagination to consider characters who might be tempted to leave behind their mainland lives for the paradise of the islands.

Dane’s dreams of running a coffee plantation on the islands afforded me the opportunity to learn more about the families who live and work the hundreds of farms along the coast of Hawaii’s Kona region. Their daily struggles and triumphs helped give voice to the challenges of making such dreams a reality.

If you haven’t already, perhaps one day you can experience the beauty of the islands for yourself, but for now, I hope Gentle Persuasion gives you a small taste of paradise.

If you’d like to share your own Hawaii experiences, contact me through my website at www.cerellasechrist.com.

Gentle Persuasion

Cerella Sechrist

www.millsandboon.co.uk

lives in York, Pennsylvania, with two precocious pugs, Darcy and Charlotte, named after Jane Austen literary characters. She has won various competitions and a scholarship for her writing, which includes devotionals, full-length plays and novels. Her debut novel, Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania , recently was rereleased by Love Inspired. Cerella divides her time between working in the office of her family’s construction business and as a barista to support her reading habit and coffee addiction. Her novels exhibit her love for both the written word and food in fiction. You can find her online at her website, www.cerellasechrist.com, where she pens “Literary Fare: Fiction & Food,” a blog for readers.

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Dedicated to my mom, Cherie Sechrist, who gave me my first glimpse of Hawaii at three, my first taste of coffee at five and a love of stories from the moment I could understand words.

Special thanks to my editor, Laura Barth, and senior editor Victoria Curran, for their input, advice and support. You have been invaluable. I raise my mug of Kona coffee to you both!

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS BALMY.

She hadn’t expected it to be so...balmy.

Ophelia Reid squared her shoulders as she stood at the doorway of the Okina Inn, the bed-and-breakfast where she’d booked lodging until she completed her mission in Hawaii.

She’d endured merciless teasing from her coworkers in the time before her flight: how privileged she was, as the CEO’s daughter, to snag this assignment. Yet, even in such lighthearted banter, there had been the glint of sympathy in their eyes. This was no simple placement such as those Reid Recruiting Agency normally performed. This was the assignment that would make or break her career and fulfill the dreams she had nurtured since childhood.

Clearing her throat, Ophelia raised her hand and rapped upon the door with solid determination. Only as her fist withdrew did she notice her hand was trembling slightly.

Frowning, she rested her arms at her sides and willed her fingers to still their shaking. She tapped out the seconds in her designer sling backs, resisting the desire to smooth her black slacks.

Minutes passed, and she again marveled at the temperate climate. Not too hot, not too cold—just as her assistant, Holly, had told her it would be. The trade winds offered a consistently sweet breeze, and the air held only the faintest hint of ocean moisture. Paradise.

For a moment, her shoulders sagged, and she let her head fall back, feeling the delicious pull of her tense muscles as they stretched along her spine.

The door opened, and she snapped her head forward, wincing at the abrupt movement.

A squat, round-faced woman with Polynesian features narrowed her eyes to slits at the sight of Ophelia standing on the doorstep.

“I’m Ophelia Reid.” She paused, hoping this introduction would be sufficient.

Apparently not. The woman stared.

“I’m a guest of the inn. I’ve booked the Lilly...koloni suite.” She stumbled over the Hawaiian name, and the stubby woman scowled.

“Liliuokalani,” she offered in a slightly accented voice, her tone disparaging.

Ophelia’s smile felt strained after her long flight. “That would be the one.”

The woman huffed and folded her short arms across her more-than-ample bosom. “Where’s your husband?” she demanded.

Ophelia’s mouth dropped at this question. “I don’t have a husband.” She winced at this statement, thinking of her longtime boyfriend, Cole. The two of them had broken things off shortly before she’d boarded the plane to Hawaii. The possibility of her moving to Paris had ignited an argument between them that could reach no satisfactory conclusion, and she had ended things after four long years of dating.

Her statement only served to heighten the woman’s suspicions. “What sort of haole woman books the Liliuokalani suite only for herself?”

“Haole?” Ophelia repeated, suspecting she had just been insulted.

“Foreigner. White,” came the clipped reply.