Kelsey Roberts - Handsome As Sin

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Merry Christmas to the heroes in my life: my dad, Conway, who told me I could do anything; my husband, Bob, who told me I could sell a book; my son, Kyle, who told his third-grade class that I had sold a book; and my stepson Eric, who sold his plasma at college to buy my first book.

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

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

“Just play along with me,” Ellie whispered to the bartender as she leaned against the bar. Her task was hindered by the rather imposing figure of a man who had occupied the same stool ever since the snow began sticking to the street two hours ago.

Josh gave her a conspiratorial smile and a flirtatious wink. “Anything for a beautiful woman.”

“So I hear,” she mumbled under her breath. She was turning away from the bar when she caught the other man’s gaze.

The tall stranger had eyes the color of rare emeralds. A brilliant, sparkling green that reflected the white light overhead.

Normally friendly and outgoing, Ellie Tanner suddenly found herself without a voice. Actually, she amended, it wasn’t that she’d lost her voice, it was more like a total loss for words. What do you say to a man who is as handsome as sin? A man with a perfect smile and even more perfect dimples?

She didn’t have time to contemplate an answer because Mike Avery, his jacket dusted with a damp layer of fresh snow, burst through the door.

“Show time,” she said, sighing.

After taking a second to brush the flakes off his coat, he shrugged it off and deposited it on one of the hooks on the wall. In keeping with one of his many personality flaws, he didn’t seem to care that a small puddle of water was forming on the polished wood floor.

“Why are you here?” she asked without preamble, crossing her arms in front of her chest. In her peripheral vision, she saw the tall, blond stranger remove his Stetson and place it on the bar next to the penny he’d been playing with for the better part of an hour.

Great! she silently fumed. Nothing like an audience.

Mike stepped forward and attempted to place a kiss on her tightly clamped lips. Ellie turned her head at the last second. Mike had to settle for a brief brush against her cheek.

“Merry Christmas to you, too,” he said.

“It isn’t Christmas yet.”

Mike’s eyes narrowed, but her blatant rebuke didn’t seem to be penetrating his thick skull any better than it had back in New York.

Just then, Josh came out from behind the bar and draped his arm across her shoulder. Ellie derived some small amount of satisfaction as she watched her former boyfriend try not to react.

“Josh Richardson, Mike Avery.”

“Nice to meet you,” Josh greeted, extending his hand. “I didn’t know Ellie had any friends here in Charleston.”

Ellie drew her bottom lip between her teeth to keep from laughing aloud. Aside from being a great bartender and an even more legendary leech, Josh was also a very good actor. No, she corrected when she felt him brush his mouth against her hair, he was an excellent actor.

“What’s going on here?” Beth asked as she came over, an empty tray balanced against her slender hip.

Ellie felt a momentary panic. What if Beth gave them away? The last thing she needed was for this well-meaning waitress to tell Mike the truth.

“Miss?”

Ellie was saved by the handsome man at the bar. His Texas accent and deep, sexy voice could not be ignored, especially by the obviously curious Beth. Somewhat reluctantly, Beth walked over to serve the lone customer waiting out the storm.

“What gives here?” Mike asked, his eyes fixed on Ellie.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she responded, slipping her arm around Josh’s waist.

If it were physically possible, steam would have poured from Mike’s ears. Instead, his face flushed an angry shade of red.

“You’ve been down here less than a week and you’ve already taken up with this guy?” He hooked his thumb in Josh’s direction as if he were insignificant.

“I’m a quick study,” Josh volunteered, baiting the larger man. “And Ellie sure is a beautiful topic to study.”

He was playing it all wrong, she thought to herself as she gently extracted herself from his arm. “Josh, honey,” she purred. “Why don’t you let me explain things to Mike. Besides...” She turned her eyes toward the bar. What she saw there made her heart skip a beat. Mr. Handsome as Sin was watching her with blatant interest. If that sexy half smile was any indication, he was enjoying the show, too. “You promised Rose you’d keep Chad out of the cherries.”

When her pseudoadmirer spotted the two-year-old reaching into the tray of fruits, Josh abandoned her and raced to the end of the bar. Hesitantly, she turned to face the music.

* * *

THE PENNY WAS SMOOTH as he rubbed it between his fingers. Smooth and satisfying. Jake only wished he had had the time to send it to Greenfield before arriving in Charleston. He’d only been in town a couple hours and already his opinion of the city fell well short of positive. Or at least it had until he’d caught his first glimpse of the tall, willowy woman now seated at one of the round tables arranged near the glow of the fireplace.

This was the South, the place where people came to escape the snow-ladened winters up north. Raising his eyes to the large picture window, he felt himself frown as he watched the steady stream of fluttering white flakes floating down from an ominous gray sky.

“I hate the cold,” he grumbled to the bartender as he turned to rest his elbows on the bar, giving him a front-row view of the couple.

“Where’re ya from?”

“Texas,” Jake answered absently, his attention drawn to the woman’s stunning profile. She was certainly something when she was mad. And she was nothing, if not mad. Whatever that muscle-bound jerk was saying to her had the lady seeing red. He could tell by the way her dainty hands were balled into furious little fists. He could also see it in the way her foot nervously tapped against the floor. But mostly he saw it in the flushed expression on her face.

Then he could hear it. Whoever she was, she wasn’t shy about her feelings. Leaning back, he listened.

“...told you that months ago,” she was saying, or rather shouting.

“Ellie, honey, we both know that you overreacted. You know how emotional you can be.”

“Emotional?” she scoffed. “I’m not being emotional. I’m simply telling you I don’t feel any emotions for you.”

“Muscles” made a grab for her hand. She countered the move as easily as she’d deflected his earlier attempt to kiss her. Jake’s admiration for the woman increased with every passing moment.

She wasn’t a classic beauty, he decided. Her features didn’t have the severe angles or the even distribution of perfection. No, this lady’s mouth was slightly off center, her eyes too far apart. But there was an alluring quality to those blue-gray eyes, rimmed in inky lashes. A certain subtle sensuality that he doubted she was even aware of. No, this woman’s charm was understated and natural. It was apparent in the almost regal way she held her head, totally unconcerned with the few strands of raven black hair that had fallen free from the gold barrette. It was apparent in her choice of cosmetics, or lack thereof, he noted when his eyes fixed on her slightly overfull lips. The rosy hue was a gift from nature, just like the long, shapely legs she crossed and uncrossed as she continued her heated conversation.