Kristin Gabriel - Good Night, Gracie

A note from the editor…

Well, this is it—the last month of Harlequin Temptation. We’ve had a good run, but everybody knows that all good things have to end sometime. And you have to admit, Temptation is very, very good….

When we celebrated our twentieth anniversary last year, we personified the series as a twenty-year-old woman. She was young, legal (well, almost) and old enough to get into trouble. Well, now that she’s twenty-one and officially legal, she’s leaving home. And she’s going to be missed.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the countless number of authors who have given me, and other Harlequin Temptation editors past and present, so many hours of enjoyable reading. They made working at Harlequin an absolute pleasure.

I’d also like to thank our loyal readers for all their support over the past twenty-one years. Never forget—you are the reason we all do what we do. (Check out the back autograph section if you don’t believe me.)

But this doesn’t have to be the end….

Next month Harlequin Blaze increases to six books, and will be bringing the best of Harlequin Temptation along with it. Look for more books in THE WRONG BED, 24 HOURS and THE MIGHTY QUINNS miniseries. And don’t miss Blazing new stories by your favorite Temptation authors. Drop in at tryblaze.com for details.

It’s going to be a lot of fun. I hope you can join us.

Brenda Chin

Associate Senior Editor

Temptation/Blaze

“I think it’s time to say good-night, Gracie.”

She leaned toward him and whispered, “Not yet.”

He knew he’d lost the battle the moment her lips met his. His conscience tugged at him to stop, but Zack couldn’t pull back now. Not yet. Not when she tasted so good. Not when his hands on her breasts evoked those soft, needy whimpers in the back of her throat.

Somewhere in a corner of his lust-fogged brain he knew this wasn’t right, that making love to Gracie while impersonating Gilbert wasn’t fair to her. But when he broke the kiss to tell her, she pushed him back on the bed, then slid one hand down to his waist and placed it over the bulge in his pants.

Zack groaned aloud. He was lost now. And he didn’t care if he ever found his way back.

Good Night, Gracie

Kristin Gabriel

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

One of my favorite quotes is “A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.” (Harvey Mackay) We all have dreams, and my heroine, Gracie Dawson, is no different. But it’s not until she turns her dream of seducing her best friend into a goal—with a plan and a deadline—that her life suddenly takes a turn in a new and exciting direction.

My goal in writing this latest installment of the fabulous WRONG BED miniseries was to make it both exciting and entertaining for my readers. I hope I succeeded.

I’d love to hear what you think about Good Night, Gracie. Please write to me at P.O. Box 5162, Grand Island, NE 68802-5162.

Happy reading—and may all your dreams come true!

Kristin Gabriel

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

834—DANGEROUSLY IRRESISTIBLE

868—SEDUCED IN SEATTLE

896—SHEERLY IRRESISTIBLE

909—PROPOSITIONED?

932—ENGAGING ALEX

966—STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

996—NIGHT AFTER NIGHT…

To all the wonderful authors of Harlequin Temptation—thanks for the memories.

The Temptation Years

1984–2005

Autographs

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

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

“IT’S OVER.”

The words she’d been dreading to hear rang in Gracie Dawson’s ears. It’s over. Her dreams of attending law school—of finally embarking on a life of her own—were over. Goliath had won again.

“I knew those biddies at the historical society would reject us.” Cat Sheehan mixed drinks behind the mahogany bar while Cat’s sister Laine sat shell-shocked on a bar stool between Gracie and waitress Tess Applegate.

As usual, the bar was empty of customers. Temptation was owned by the Sheehan sisters and housed in the same old brick building as Between the Covers, the bookstore Gracie had inherited from her aunt. Recent road construction had caused business to dwindle at both establishments, but that didn’t make accepting their loss any easier.

This time Goliath had come in the form of city hall, with plans to demolish the building in order to widen the street. Appealing to the Kendall Historical Society to have the building declared a landmark had been their last hope.

Temptation was like a second home to Gracie and these women like a second family. She’d let them down. Just as she’d let down her aunt Fran, unable to challenge the insurance company that had refused to cover all the medical expenses incurred during her decade-long fight against kidney disease. They’d gone to lawyers for help, but none of them had been willing to take on the sprawling legal department of a huge corporation.

That made them gutless wonders in Gracie’s estimation. She’d heard too many stories of people like her aunt at the mercy of bureaucrats and pencil-pushers. Gracie was ready to do some pushing herself—or shoving, as the case may be. But she needed a law degree first and that took time and money. Both would be in short supply now that she’d be forced to relocate the bookstore.

But she believed in loyalty—and keeping promises. Before her aunt had died, she’d told Gracie that as long as Between the Covers existed, a part of her would live, too. Gracie had vowed to keep her legacy alive.

She owed Aunt Fran that much.

Anger flared inside of her at the unfairness of it all. Her aunt had died eleven months ago, worn-out from the struggle of battling both the disease and the bill collectors whom she just managed to satisfy. She’d left everything to Gracie. The house. The bookstore. Her prized collection of Harlequin romance novels. Though she’d never married, Fran Dawson had been a romantic at heart.

Gracie had come to live with her in Kendall, Texas, when she was fifteen years old, after her parents had answered a call to become missionaries. Adjusting to life in Kendall had been difficult at first, made even more so by the tight cliques at her new high school. Losing herself in all those romance books had helped ease the transition.

So had Gilbert Holloway, the high school’s resident computer geek, who had become her best friend. They’d spent most of their free time together watching vintage comedy shows on television and making big plans to attend the same college somewhere on the East Coast after graduation.

Then her aunt had been diagnosed with kidney disease and Gracie’s plans had drastically changed. Chronically ill, Fran had depended on her for care and to help run Between the Covers. Gracie had never told anyone how much she’d missed going off to college like the rest of her classmates.

Just like she’d never told anyone how much she hated the bookstore.

Except for Gilbert.

He’d left for Boston after graduation and never looked back. For the past ten years, they’d corresponded almost daily by e-mail, his messages like a lifeline to her as her aunt’s condition had worsened. He let her whine and rant and worry without judging her. Gilbert was the only man who understood her. The only man who knew how much her dreams meant to her.