Kristin Gabriel - Night After Night...

Mia bolted upright in the bed and screamed.

The man sat up, too, causing the comforter to fall and reveal a snug gray T-shirt that outlined the impressive width of his shoulders. His gaze dropped to her breasts, which were visible through her pink nightshirt. A wickedly sexy smile kicked up one side of his mouth.

She grabbed the comforter, pulling it up to her neck, then jabbed the call button on the headboard several times.

The door to the suite swung open and Dr. Harlan Longo hurried into the room. “Is there a problem?”

She pointed to the intruder. “I just found this man in my bed!”

The man leaned against the headboard. “I don’t think she was expecting me, Harlan.”

“Nate Cafferty is part of the sleep experiment I’m conducting,” the scientist explained. “This experiment tests the effects of sleeping with a stranger.”

Mia looked over at Nate. Ruggedly handsome, he far surpassed any dream lover she’d ever imagined. And at that moment she half feared, and half hoped, she wouldn’t be doing any sleeping at all….

Dear Reader,

I love to hear stories about how couples first met. What fascinates me is how one seemingly insignificant decision can change your life forever. Like when I chose to attend a college fraternity party instead of going home for the weekend. That’s how I met my future husband. Or when a friend of mine decided to take a later airplane flight and found himself seated next to his future wife. Fate or coincidence?

When Mia Maldonado decides to take her friend’s place in a sleep study, she has no idea that a sexy stranger named Nate Cafferty will be sleeping beside her. Fate or coincidence? You decide….

I love to hear from readers. You can reach me through my Web site at www.KristinGabriel.com or write to P.O. Box 5162, Grand Island, NE 68802-5162.

Enjoy!

Kristin Gabriel

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

834—DANGEROUSLY IRRESISTIBLE

868—SEDUCED IN SEATTLE

896—SHEERLY IRRESISTIBLE

909—PROPOSITIONED?

932—ENGAGING ALEX

966—STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

HARLEQUIN DUETS

7—ANNIE, GET YOUR GROOM

25—THE BACHELOR TRAP

27—BACHELOR BY DESIGN

29—BEAUTY AND THE BACHELOR

61—OPERATION BABE-MAGNET OPERATION BEAUTY

Night After Night…

Kristin Gabriel

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

For Jean Louise

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

MIA MALDONADO knew there was trouble the moment she heard “Blue Suede Shoes” blaring from the stereo speakers. Elvis always meant a crisis was brewing, so she proceeded warily through the front hall of the house, ready for anything.

The living room, which doubled as an office for her interior design business, was empty. Another bad sign. She’d leased the Tudor-style home a year ago, hoping the affluent Philadelphia neighborhood would bring wealthy, decorating-impaired clients to her door.

It had worked, too—until she’d started dating her design firm’s best carpenter. She had a bad habit of falling too hard and too fast for men like Ian Brock. Men who looked so good in a pair of tight jeans that she overlooked their other genes—the ones that made them lie, cheat…and steal her sanity.

When she’d lived in Chicago, her heart had been broken so many times that she’d made a donation to the new cardiac wing at one of the city’s hospitals in the name of all her mistakes. Mistakes like Bryan, Andrew, Jeff, Wyatt and Justin. Then she’d moved from Chicago to Philadelphia, ready for a fresh start.

But Ian was proof that she still hadn’t learned her lesson. He’d dumped Mia three months ago, taking her heart and most of her clients along with him. Now she was determined that he’d be the last romantic mistake she ever made. From here on, Mia was going to follow her head instead of her hormones.

At least her best friend hadn’t abandoned her yet. She’d met Carleen Wimmer a year ago, when they were the only two people at a matinee screening of Gone With The Wind. By intermission, they’d been sharing a large tub of buttered popcorn and commiserating over the fact that men like Clark Gable didn’t exist anymore. By the end of the movie, Mia had offered Carleen a job as her office assistant.

Soon after, they decided to pool their limited resources by having Carleen move into the house. Kindred spirits, they shared a love of old movies, Thai cuisine and expeditions to flea markets. Carleen’s gentle, cautious nature was the perfect complement to Mia’s leap-before-you-look approach to life.

But Mia would lose her roommate next month when Carleen married Tobias Hamilton, a Philadelphia blue blood who could trace his family back to the Mayflower. He didn’t seem to care that his fiancée had grown up in a trailer park instead of on Park Avenue.

Mia was happy for Carleen, even if Tobias was a little…bland. Maybe bland was good. Bland didn’t run off with the first teenage bimbo to come along. Bland didn’t break your heart. She was certainly in no position to criticize anyone else’s love life. Not when her own had so recently ended in disaster.

She just hoped it wasn’t contagious.

Mia turned down the sound on the stereo, then noticed the empty candy bar wrappers on the desk in the corner. Chocolate and Elvis. That meant it was serious. Carleen was on a strict diet so she could fit into the vintage wedding dress worn by all the Hamilton brides.

She shed her coat and purse, shoving her latest dating debacle to the back of her mind so she could tackle whatever awaited her. She found Carleen seated at the kitchen table, hunched over a carton of chocolate almond ice cream. Half of it was already gone.

“What’s wrong?” Mia asked without preamble.

Carleen looked up at her, black mascara smudges beneath her green eyes. “I’ve ruined everything.”

Mia grabbed a spoon from the drawer, then sat down across from her. “It can’t be that bad.”

“Oh, yes it can.” Carleen dipped her spoon into the ice cream. “It’s all over.”

“What’s all over?”

Carleen sucked in a shaky breath. “The wedding. Your business. My life.”

Mia pulled the ice cream carton toward her, telling herself not to panic. “All right, let’s start from the beginning. What happened?”

Carleen brushed back a wisp of blond hair stuck to her tear-stained cheek. “Toby left the country today. He’s on an airplane right now, headed for Germany.”

“Why?”

“Because his mother hates me.” Her lower lip quivered. “She’s only met me once, but she hates me all the same. Beatrice Hamilton thinks I’m not good enough to marry her only son.”

“Hold on,” Mia said. “Are you telling me his mother sent him off to Germany?”

Carleen shook her head. “No, but she’s behind it. Toby has always been fascinated by show business. Recently, his mother arranged for him to meet a screenwriter at one of her fancy parties and now Toby’s going to produce his movie. They’re filming on location in Frankfurt for the next three weeks and he says he has to be there.”