JENNIFER LABRECQUE - Barely Mistaken

The sharp sound of crunching gravel nearby roused Olivia. She froze, acutely aware of her semidressed state. A woman’s voice cut through the night air. “It’s cold out here. Let’s go back inside.” A man murmured something intelligible and the sound of retreating footsteps left Olivia alone with Adam once again.

Olivia had no intention of squandering even a minute of this night. She smoothed her palms over Adam’s chest, and rising on tiptoe, she whispered in his ear, “I don’t think it’s cold at all. In fact, I think it’s very, very hot.”

“Honey, you’re killing me.” Adam’s low murmur stirred her hair and her feminine self-esteem.

Her thighs quivered and clenched in response to the need in his voice. She reached between them and touched him. “We could go to my house.”

“Are you propositioning me, Olivia?” Was that a hopeful note underlying his incredulity?

She knew she’d stepped—make that leapt—beyond her self-imposed boundaries. But it was just for one night. Hopefully one incredible night. She drew a fortifying breath. “Yes, I believe I am.”

“Thank God,” he whispered roughly, just before he crushed her lips with his.

Dear Reader,

I’ve had the time of my life writing my first book for Temptation. Especially since it offered me the chance to combine two of my favorite things—sizzling sensuality and humor. After all, it’s not every day a girl finds herself in the wrong bed. Or, in this case, the right bed. With the wrong brother. Or is he?

Olivia Cooper, daughter of the town drunk, has spent a lifetime trying to rise above her inherited reputation. She’s carved a respectable niche for herself as the local librarian and head of the literacy council. And as long as she manages to control her occasional reckless impulses, all is right with her world. But not for long….

Luke Rutledge is the black sheep of his family and the local bad boy. As a rule, the lofty Rutledges don’t sport earrings or tattoos, and they definitely don’t ride around on a Harley. Except for Luke, that is…. So when Olivia finds herself having the best sex of her life with the resident rebel, it’s the last place she should be. And it’s exactly where her wild side urges her to go—again and again!

I hope you enjoy Luke and Olivia’s story. I sure enjoyed writing it and I’d love to know what you think. You can write to me at: P.O. Box 801068, Acworth, GA 30101. And don’t forget to look for my next book, Barely Decent, coming out in November.

Enjoy,

Jennifer LaBrecque

HARLEQUIN DUETS

28—ANDREW IN EXCESS

52—KIDS + COPS = CHAOS

64—JINGLE BELL BRIDE?

Barely Mistaken

Jennifer LaBrecque

www.millsandboon.co.uk

In tribute to all the victims of the September 11th massacre at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the empty field in the Pennsylvania countryside. We continue to laugh and love in honor of your memory, which is the greatest refutation of terrorism known to man.

Prologue

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

OLIVIA SHIFTED on the cold concrete bleacher, and closed her eyes in bliss. Snuggling deeper into a sweater delivered earlier in the week by the church charity group, she absorbed the moment. The bite of a brisk autumn night. The rallying charge of the marching band overlaid by the cheerleaders’ chant. The glare of lights illuminating the field in an otherwise dark night. The smell of popcorn, hot dogs, and the occasional waft of hot cocoa. The collective surge of excitement in the stands and on the field.

“Earth to Olivia.”

She blinked her eyes open to find her best friend Beth’s freckled hand waving in front of her face. “I love football games.”

Beth sighed and dreamily eyed the second string quarterback parked on the sidelines. “Yeah. Doesn’t Chuck Lamont look cute in his uniform?”

Olivia rolled her eyes and grinned. The question was purely rhetorical. Beth didn’t expect an answer.

A frisson of awareness tingled against the back of her neck—the feeling that someone was looking at her. She turned her head. A rowdy group hovered at the edge of the bleachers, drawing several disapproving glares from parents in the booster section. Her gaze skidded to a stop as it locked into the bright blue eyes of Luke Rutledge who stood slightly apart from his crowd. Tough. Wild. Older. Her stomach flip-flopped and her pulse ran amok, even as a wave of self-consciousness washed over her. He quirked one corner of his mouth in a smile.

If she absolutely didn’t know better, she might, for one wild flight of fancy, think one of the sexiest bad boys in the senior class was flirting with her mousy, bookworm self. She attempted to smile back. Her awkwardness produced something much closer to a grimace.

Burning with self-consciousness and an attraction much more intense than the benign crush she’d had on Barry Elwell last year, she glanced away before she made a total fool of herself.

What had seemed like minutes must have only been seconds. Beth remained fixated on second-string Chuck Lamont. Olivia peeked from beneath lowered lashes at Luke. He stood, laughing with his friends, oblivious to her presence. What if some of them had seen her mooning at him? Was that why they were laughing? She shivered into her sweater. Forget it. She read too many books and possessed too much imagination.

“So, who wants the scoop?” Amy Murdoch’s voice drifted two rows back to Olivia and Beth. Lucy Jacobs and Melissa Bowers, sitting on either side of Amy, squealed their excitement.

Beth screwed up her face, imitating them. “They sound like greased pigs in a race,” she muttered to Olivia.

Grateful to concentrate on something other than her imaginary exchange with Luke, Olivia snickered. “Yeah. Kind of.” Amy, Lucy and Melissa were the reigning queens of sophomore cool. You only had to ask them.

“Tammy Cooper…health department…birth control pills…” Even though Amy lowered her voice to a conspiratorial level, bits and pieces drifted up to them. Lucy and Melissa visibly gasped.

“…trashy…”

“…in her blood…their mother ran…another man…”

“…Olivia…honor society…same way…born that way.”

Olivia blinked hard to stem the tears stinging her eyelids, her flesh crawling with humiliation. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to fill in the blanks between the snatches of conversation.

Driven to escape, Olivia surged to her feet.

“Bitches,” Beth muttered, eyeing her cup of steaming cocoa and their well-groomed tittering backs with intent. “Meet me in the bathroom. I’ve got business to take care of.”

Olivia stumbled off the bleachers and dashed behind them, desperate to find a dark place to hide. She forced air into her lungs in great shuddering breaths. The words chased around in her head, searing her with their poison. …born that way…Olivia…same way. She huddled in the dark, against the cold concrete.

Olivia looked up at a movement. Luke Rutledge stepped into the shadows with her. Olivia’s heart hammered. She dashed at the trickle of tears behind her glasses with her gloved fingers.

“Olivia? Are you okay?” His big hands cupped her shoulders. A tremor of recognition rippled through her. She hadn’t imagined the look they’d shared earlier.