Cathryn Parry - Something to Prove

The past won’t stay buried

Digging for the truth is what Amanda Jensen does. And interviewing ski legend Brody Jones is a journalist’s dream come true. Yet something else is happening between them, something neither of them expected. Acting on their attraction, they spend one incredible night together.

Still, Amanda’s instincts tell her there’s a bigger story waiting to be told.

Being snowed-in is an advantage because Brody’s definitely hiding something. But if she does her job to find out what that is, she puts his comeback in jeopardy—and risks what they share. Now Amanda has an impossible choice: her career…or his.

I’ll never feel like this again, Brody thought

He buried his head in Amanda’s hair and took in a deep, cleansing breath. God help him, for just a moment he latched on to the fantasy that she was his girlfriend. Not this summer or next winter or whenever it was they were finished with their goals, but here and now. He imagined he could take her out in public, today, and have people respect them as a couple.

None of these setups of her with other people.

Nobody assuming he was dogging her because that’s what skiers did.

It felt good being with Amanda Jensen.

He could get used to this feeling.

Dear Reader,

I confess, I love heroes. I also love stories where the emotion between the hero and heroine takes center stage.

The idea for this story—my first published book—came in the months before the Winter Olympics. The elite athletes who train their whole lives for the love of their sport intrigue me. What if guilt over a past mistake drives a retired champion back to his sport for a shot at redemption?

Brody Jones is an alpine skier with something to prove. He and reporter Amanda Jensen share similar values of family, integrity and work that fulfills them.

But Brody has a career-ending secret he needs to keep hidden, and Amanda needs to uncover Brody’s secret in order to excel at her job. It’s an emotional dilemma that isn’t easily solved. As they’re drawn together during a week on the ski tour at close quarters, they’re tested to the utmost. But like all my favorite stories, the power of love shines through and heals all.

Thanks for picking up my first Harlequin Superromance. I hope you enjoy the romantic Italian Alps setting and the company of elite competitors. Drop me a line at www.CathrynParry.com and let me know what you think.

Best wishes,

Cathryn Parry

Something to Prove

Cathryn Parry

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cathryn Parry lives in New England where she loves to dote on her husband, Lou, and her neighbor’s cat, Otis (in that order). She enjoys traveling, sports of all kinds (but especially winter sports) and genealogy. After writing stories for nearly her whole life, she is thrilled to publish her debut novel with Harlequin Books.

Don’t miss any of our special offers. Write to us at the following address for information on our newest releases.

Harlequin Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

For Lou, first and always. You’ve supported me as I reach for my dreams, and your faith in me always lifts me up.

Acknowledgments

A debut novel takes many fairy godmothers to bring to fruition. Most important was my editor, Megan Long, who saw the spark of promise in the manuscript and worked patiently with me to bring it to form. I can never thank you enough!

Also, thanks to Laurie Schnebly Campbell, writing teacher extraordinaire, whose classes helped me develop the characters, and to Brenda Chin, who, through one of her famous workshop contests, gave me my first shot at submitting my manuscript to Harlequin. I appreciate you both so much!

Much gratitude goes to my nephew Charles, who, as a ski racer on an alpine team, inspired me to write about a downhill racer.

Where would I be without my writing friends? Thanks to Karen Foley, Denise Eagan, Barbara Wallace, Nina Singh, Michelle Drosos and Dani Collins. Thanks as well to my blogging partners at www.MoodyMuses.com: Barbara, Katy Cooper and Becca Wilder; and to the members of the New England Chapter RWA, for your encouragement and support.

Contents

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

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

THEY HAD TRACKED HER DOWN, even at her sister’s Italian wedding hideaway.

Amanda Jensen disconnected the call from her boss and jammed her phone inside the pocket of her spa robe. Wouldn’t she love to shut off the thing completely? But since the magazine she worked for was going through layoffs and she was the last person hired, she couldn’t take chances.

“Sorry, but I have to go.” She wiggled her foot, hoping to gain the attention of the impossibly beautiful European woman with the glossy bun, wearing a white lab coat, who knelt over Amanda’s toes, meticulously applying a thin layer of French nail polish.

“But, madam, I have finished only one foot.”

She had, and it looked silly. Amanda stifled a laugh. “It’s okay, I’ll come back tonight to get the rest of the pedicure.”

“But, madam, our resort spa is full with the wedding guests.”

True. Jeannie’s wedding weekend had created a logjam of skiers, coaches, friends and ski fans, all clamoring to be made beautiful for the event of the season. Amanda’s stomach dropped. She was reminded of the subject of her interview assignment, and she felt queasy.

“Madam?”

“What? Oh, never mind my foot. It’s winter—I’m wearing closed-toe shoes.”

The European woman turned her doe eyes up at Amanda, insinuating what only doe eyes could insinuate.

Amanda shook her head. “No one’s going to be sucking on my toes anytime soon.”

Which was depressing now that she thought about it, but what could she do?

“It is winter in the Italian Alps, madam. Anything can happen.”

“Yes. Yes, it can.” That was how it had happened for her sister, and in this very resort.

Smiling, Amanda glanced through the plate-glass window at the glistening white slope dotted with pine trees, and for a moment she felt that old familiar tug in her heart. Mountains had been her home from her earliest memories. Now she lived in a concrete city, bustling, alive and powerful. And the demands of New York followed her, even to this snowcapped paradise.

Shaking off her wistful mood, she took one last inhalation of the siren’s call of cedar-and-rosemary-scented massage oil. She felt bad enough as it was, cutting out on her pampering afternoon with Jeannie, but work gave her no choice. She hoped Jeannie would understand.

Amanda pushed off the lounge chair in search of her younger sister, trying not to dwell on what she was missing. She and Jeannie had so little time together as it was. For months Jeannie had been recuperating in a hospital in Milan, healing from a horrific ski-racing crash. Amanda had been in the States, shuttling between her magazine job in Manhattan and their mother’s hospice in New Hampshire.

Home, she thought. Or what used to be home. Now her home was the place that employed her.

Jeannie’s home was Massimo Coletti.

“Ciao, bella.” Massimo ducked his head inside the herb-laced, steamy room, and immediately sent the temperature rocketing upward another few degrees. Her sister’s Italian skier fiancé was a knockout. Chiseled cheekbones, sleek shiny hair, glowing green eyes, dimples and a hard body that didn’t quit. But his sexiest trait, in Amanda’s eyes, anyway, was the way his gaze softened when he looked at her sister.