Kimberly Raye: Restless

Jack put the video camera aside. “Okay,” he said. “For now.” He stared at Paige for a long moment. “Close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Trust me, remember? I’m the teacher, you’re the student. Now close your eyes.”

She drew in a shaky breath and fought to calm her beating heart. “I don’t understand what this has to do with—”

“Sex appeal comes from the inside. You want to learn all about sex, then you need to realize your own sex appeal. You need to feel it, Paige. That’s what it’s all about. Feeling, not seeing or understanding. That’s why I want you to close your eyes. So you’re not distracted.”

She drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”

When her eyelids had fluttered closed, his voice suddenly seemed deeper, huskier. She could sense his nearness, feel the heat emanating from him. Suddenly, she was in a world where all that mattered was desire.

“That’s it, Paige.” He picked up the video camera again. “Now undress for me…”

Dear Reader,

I’m back again this month with another bad boy to heat up your nights! Jack Mission is a sexy, restless, love-’em-and-leave-’em type who returns home to Inspiration, Texas, for his brother’s wedding. Temporarily, of course. No way is Jack trading his wandering ways to settle down. At least, that’s his intention until prim-and-proper Paige Cassidy turns his world upside down.

It’s bold, it’s provocative, it’s a BLAZE! I love writing for such an ultra-sexy line! And it looks like I’ll be writing many more of these seriously sexy books. Look for my short story in the new BLAZE anthology, Midnight Fantasies, available in June 2001. And then watch for the launch of Harlequin’s newest—and hottest—series, Harlequin Blaze, also in 2001.

I love to hear from my readers. Please drop me a line c/o Harlequin books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9, or you can visit me online at www.kimberlyromance.com.

Enjoy, and have a deliciously sinful read!

Kimberly Raye

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

728—BREATHLESS

791—SHAMELESS

Restless

Kimberly Raye

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Curt

I love you very much

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

SOME MEN WERE JUST made for sex.

The thought struck Paige Cassidy the moment she spotted the man through the lens of her video camera at the crowded wedding reception.

It wasn’t so much the way he looked, though he was handsome enough to make even devout manhater Imajean Strickner adjust her bifocals and smooth her heavy-duty girdle.

Tall and muscular and tanned, he stood just over six feet tall, his broad shoulders filling out the black tuxedo jacket to mouthwatering perfection. His ragged sun-streaked blonde hair caught the light and his strong jaw, sensuous lips and rugged air made her think of open prairie, wild horses and hot nights beneath a stardusted sky.

But it was more than his appearance that screamed HOT STUD ALERT!

It was the way he moved.

She blinked and adjusted her focus, her gaze fixed on his lean tanned fingers stroking up and down the long neck of his beer bottle. Up and down, slow and steady, again and again in a sensuous stroke she could practically feel along her spine.

And the way he smiled.

She watched as he leaned toward the blonde, blue-eyed woman standing next to him at the bar. She whispered something in his ear. His lips tilted at the corners, lifting in an enticing, suggestive grin that made Paige’s heart shift into overdrive.

And the way his liquid gray eyes seemed to deepen when his gaze snagged hers and—

He was looking at her.

Her hands went limp on the camera and she would have dropped it had she not been wearing the safety strap around her neck. He’d already turned back to the blonde, leaving Paige to wonder if she’d only imagined that brief, heart-stopping moment of eye contact. The intensity of his gaze, the heat…

“Say, there, Paige, how about cuttin’ up the dance floor with me?”

The voice came from behind her and she turned to find Shelby Hoover standing there, his straw hat in hand. He stared at the worn tips of his Justin boots peeking from beneath the hem of a pair of starched Wrangler jeans and rubbed a hand over the top of his burred black hair. His black mustache twitched at the corners as he chewed his bottom lip and waited for her answer.

Unfortunately Shelby didn’t rouse her hormones into an orgasmic frenzy, but the man did know his left foot from his right. What’s more, he was ready to settle down. And he didn’t go around flirting outrageously with pretty blondes.

Shelby wanted more. He wanted a house and kids and forever.

Just like Paige.

She glanced down at the bridal bouquet she’d caught and smiled. In Paige’s mind, she and Shelby were a perfect match, even if he hadn’t yet worked up his nerve to ask her out on a date. She wasn’t giving up hope. Shelby was just quiet. Shy. Insecure.

Qualities Paige had known all too well. Up until six months ago when she’d walked away from Cadillac, Texas, and a failed marriage. She’d headed straight for Inspiration and a brand-new improved life.

She’d been determined, but scared. Until she’d met Deb Strickland, the owner and editor of the town’s only newspaper and now, the prettiest bride Paige had ever seen.

She shifted her attention to Deb who stood across the room beside her new husband. The woman had given her a job and some much-needed help, which was why Paige had been more than willing to use her newly learned video skills to record her friend’s wedding to Jimmy Mission, the most handsome man in the county.

Unwillingly, Paige’s attention shifted back to the bar. Better make that one of the most handsome men in the county. Jimmy definitely had some competition for the title since his younger brother had rolled back into town, and straight into Paige’s line of vision.

She would have known Jack Mission anywhere. He was a legend in town. The cool, elusive drifter who wandered into Inspiration on occasion and then right back out. According to Deb, who knew everything about everyone in town thanks to her gossip columnist, Dolores Guiness, Jack was a legendary heartbreaker and not a man Paige should be wasting her thoughts on.

Her mind should be on Deb and making the best wedding she could. The woman had helped her so much. With Deb’s encouragement, Paige had managed to trade her shyness for a little sass, her quiet demeanor for a more outspoken one, and her insecurity for some much needed self-confidence. Deb had been one of the few people to help her when her sorry ex-husband had walked out on her, leaving her the new girl in a small, close-knit town.

Woodrow. His name popped into her head and before she could stop herself, she lifted a self-conscious hand to check for any wayward strands of hair. Woodrow had always hated her flyaway mane. It had always been too long or too short. Too straight or too curly. Too…wrong.

Her gaze collided with a pair of liquid gray eyes and her hand stopped a heartbeat shy of making contact. Heat bolted through her, pushing aside a lifetime of insecurity, until she felt only the beat of her own pulse and a fierce expectancy in the pit of her stomach.

He was so handsome. Those eyes and those lips…slightly large for a man, but just right for kiss—

“Paige?” Shelby’s voice drew her back around and heat rushed to her cheeks. She’d forgotten all about him! “Are you okay? You look a little flushed.” He eyed her. “Maybe we should just forget the dancing and try it some other—”