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An Imperfect Match / Next Comes Love: An Imperfect Match / Next Comes Love
Helen Brenna
Kimberly Van Meter
Dare to dream… these sparkling romances will make you laugh, cry and fall in love – again and again!An Imperfect MatchKimberly Van Meter Dean Halvorsen is concentrating on two things: his business and raising his son. Then Annabelle Nichols starts work for him and turns his world upside down. The more time he spends with Annabelle and her baby daughter, Honey, the more he realises what’s missing in his life…Next Comes Love Helen BrennaGarrett Taylor takes one look at Erica and thinks, Trouble. The mysterious, sexy kind that disturbs a man’s peace. Erica’s on the run with her six-year-old nephew. The boy’s abusive father will stop at nothing to get his son back. Can she trust chief of police Garrett to keep them safe?
Available in June 2010
from Mills & Boon
Special Moments™
The Tycoon’s Perfect Match by Christine Wenger & Their Second-Chance Child by Karen Sandler
A Marriage-Minded Man by Karen Templeton & From Friend to Father by Tracy Wolff
An Imperfect Match by Kimberly Van Meter & Next Comes Love by Helen Brenna
A Bravo’s Honour by Christine Rimmer
Lone Star Daddy by Stella Bagwell
Claiming the Rancher’s Heart by Cindy Kirk
To Save a Family by Anna DeStefano
AN IMPERFECT MATCH
“I’m sorry about yesterday.
“I was rude,” Dean said gruffly. “Be at the office tomorrow at 8:00am and we’ll talk about the job.”
“Sure. Thanks.” Annabelle shifted and bit the inside of her cheek.
“You got family who could help you out?” he asked, wishing he hadn’t. It wasn’t a good idea to get too acquainted.
She chuckled wryly. “Nope. My mum died a few years ago and my daddy was a bit of a rambling man. I haven’t seen him since I was about seven. I have a younger brother, but the less I see of him the better off my pocketbook is.” She shrugged as if admitting that her family was less than desirable wasn’t a big deal. “I learned to rely on myself a long time ago.”
He believed her. Dressed in a denim skirt that was too short and a blouse that fitted too tightly across her breasts, she looked like a white trash prom queen, but there was a sense of dignity clinging to her that dared anyone to pass judgement.
Closing his eyes briefly to block out the image of her as she stood before him, he bit out a terse, “Don’t be late”, as his goodbye and walked – no, practically ran – from the restaurant.
NEXT COMES LOVE
“Never been married. Never plan to be.”
Erica took a step towards Garrett. “But if you think anything is going to happen between us, guess again. You are so not my type it isn’t even funny.”
They might as well have been alone in the apartment for the charge in the air. Flirting with her was dangerous. Still, Garrett couldn’t rein himself in. “So what is your type?”
“Not a cop, that’s for sure,” she said.
“What do you have against cops?”
“You wouldn’t get it.”
“Try me.”
“Don’t think so.” Erica’s dark brown eyes were laced with something he couldn’t put a finger on. Something that looked an awful lot like fear.
Someone had badly hurt her and the little boy. All Garrett wanted was to get his hands on the guy who had.
An Imperfect
Match
By
Kimberly Van Meter
Next Comes Love
By
Helen Brenna
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
An Imperfect
Match
By
Kimberly Van Meter
An avid reader since before she can remember, Kimberly Van Meter started her writing career at the age of sixteen when she finished her first novel, typing late nights and early mornings on her mother’s old portable typewriter. Although that first novel was nothing short of literary mud, with each successive piece of work her writing improved to the point of reaching that coveted published status. Kimberly, now a journalist, and her husband and three kids make their home in Oakdale. She enjoys writing, reading, photography and drinking hot chocolate by the windowsill when it rains.
Special thanks must go to RJ Murdoch
for taking time out of his tremendously
busy schedule to educate me on the big world of a
successful builder/contractor. Any deviations from
the way things are truly done are my own and no
reflection on what anyone has taken the time to
teach me. Thanks for all your help!
To Dawn Henley for being the best “office roomie”
a person could ask for and helping me brainstorm
when my own brain went on hiatus.
To Marg Jackson for the laughter, friendship and
overall good company from day one.
To the Leadin’ Ladies for their unwavering support
that never fails to humble me and buoy my spirits
in one fell swoop. You ladies are the best!
CHAPTER ONE
DEAN HALVORSEN’S day soured just about the same time his breakfast burrito heartburn kicked in, and he realized as he fished around in his pocket that he’d left his antacids at home.
“Eagle came in with a lower bid. You know how it goes. Times are tough. The bottom line is tight and we had to go with the lowest bidder. You understand, right?”
Dean bit back what he wanted to say and gave a short nod to Petey Simonsini. No, he didn’t understand. What he did understand was that Eagle Construction had snaked another job out from under his company by somehow coming under the Halvorsen Construction bid. Which was damn near impossible since Dean had cut the bid to the bone in an attempt to get the job.
“Aaron beat us fair and square, I suppose,” Dean said, though it made his teeth grind just to say it. Aaron Eagle never did things the right way. He cut corners, hired unlicensed subcontractors and bought shoddy materials to punch holes in the budget. No. Dean didn’t figure Aaron had beat him square at all, but there was no sense in whining about it. Except, as he rubbed at the spot on his chest where the acid pooled, he knew his temper was about to get the best of him.
Damn him. The man was on a personal quest to put Halvorsen Construction out of business. This was the third bid they’d lost to Eagle in six months. It seemed every time Dean put in a bid, Aaron was right behind him, even on the out-of-town jobs. The man had an agenda and it was starting to piss Dean off. Pretty soon he was going to have to start bidding on state jobs and that idea didn’t appeal at all—not because he hated the unions, which wasn’t entirely true, but because of all the red tape that came with those jobs.
By the time he arrived at the office, his heartburn had reached four-alarm status. As he burst through the door, intent on one thing—to find his antacids—he pulled up short and choked on what he saw.
His younger brother Sammy looked up and grinned broadly, daring Dean to yell, and then introduced the woman sitting behind the desk.
Beth’s desk.
“Dean, meet our new office manager, Annabelle Nichols.”
She stood and extended her hand, but Dean wasn’t in the mood to play nice anymore. Too bad for her. And he was going to have one less brother in about two minutes.
“I don’t remember hiring an office manager,” Dean said stonily, and she withdrew her hand with a nervous glance at Sammy.
“Aw, c’mon now. Don’t be a jerk in front of Annabelle. There’s plenty of time to show her just how difficult and surly you can be. Why start with the first day?”
Sammy—ever the comedian. But Dean wasn’t laughing. Sammy had broached the subject of hiring someone new last week, and Dean thought he’d communicated quite clearly his thoughts on the subject. They didn’t need anyone new.
As he eyed the woman in front of him, Dean realized he must not have been clear enough.
Ignoring Sammy, he said to her, “Ma’am, I’m afraid there’s been a miscommunication between me and my idiot brother. We’re not hiring right now. I’ll pay you a full day’s wage for your trouble.”
“Excuse us, Annabelle. This will just take a minute.” Sammy lost his good-time grin and strode to Dean. “I own a stake in this company, and I say we do need someone. Beth’s been gone two years and the business is slowly falling to crap because you’ve refused to hire a full-time office manager. The temp agencies were fine for the short haul, but the constant flow of people that have come and gone through here is killing us. We’re losing too many jobs because of stupid mistakes that wouldn’t have been an issue if we’d had someone like Beth in the office.”
“There’s no one like Beth,” Dean all but growled, appalled that Sammy would even suggest such a thing. He avoided looking in the woman’s direction but he could smell something fruity in the air—melon, perhaps—probably coming from that long curly hair, he noted with a frown. It was making his nose itch. “Everything’s fine. You’re overreacting.”
“Bullshit,” Sammy said, his temper flaring. He gestured to the desk that was littered with Post-its, paperwork, bits and scraps of note pages and job sheets. “You couldn’t find a brick on that desk much less anything important, like contracts and subcontractor bids!”
“All you need is a good file system,” the woman interjected quickly, drawing Dean’s attention away from the need to place his fist squarely into his brother’s face. She swallowed and gestured, her hands moving like little birds as she gathered piles. “And I was just telling Sammy when you came in that I may have an idea that might work to organize your system.”
“The system’s fine the way it is,” he answered, giving her a hard look, which she—surprisingly—returned.
“Not from what I can see,” she said. “Your system is cataloged by job number, which makes it hard to find later for reference. If the files were alphabetical, it would be much more efficient and you wouldn’t have a Post-it forest growing on your desk, the surface of which, I might add, has completely disappeared. It’s no wonder you’re losing jobs.”
Dean sent a quick look to his brother. Sammy had told her about Gilly’s? That was low. Embarrassment at that incident made his heartburn feel like a mild tickle.
“Yes, I told her about Gilly’s,” Sammy said without a hint of apology, his gaze clear but concerned. “Beth’s gone. We all loved her but we can’t let the family business go down the tubes because you don’t want anyone else to sit at that desk.”
Dean caught the quick widening of Annabelle’s eyes and he felt terribly exposed. Beth used to keep the office running smoothly. They had been a team: a well-oiled machine that had helped take his father’s company to another level of business. She was not only his wife, but his best friend and business partner.
No one could replace her. Especially not a woman barely out of her teens. Dean assessed Annabelle with a quick, dismissive sweep. She wasn’t a day over twenty-five, he’d wager, though there was something about her—the way her dark eyes caught everything without missing a beat—that made her seem older.
“Sorry,” he said to her, as he pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “I said we don’t need anyone else.” Throwing a wad of cash to the desk, he turned on his heel, saying over his shoulder to his brother, “She’s gone by the time I get back.”
ANNABELLE felt the slam of the office door reverberate, and she exhaled heavily, pursing her lips against the awkward moment sitting between her and Sammy.
Sammy was married to Annabelle’s best friend, Dana, but Annabelle didn’t know him or his family very well, having only just moved to Emmett’s Mill. Obviously, he’d offered her the job without consulting his brother.
And now she was in a strange town without a job. If that wasn’t a continuation of the stream of bad luck she’d been cursed with, she didn’t know what else was.
“Let me talk to him,” Sammy said, his mouth grim. “He’ll come around.”
“It’s fine. Don’t push it. He seems pretty set in his mind. Besides, I’ve never been the type to stay when I’m wanted to go. Thanks for trying, though. I appreciate it.”
Sammy shook his head resolutely. “No. I’ll talk to my dad. He’ll get him to see reason.”
Annabelle shuddered at the thought of Sammy doing such a thing on her account. “God no. I don’t even know your brother, but I wouldn’t much like it if someone tattled on me like that. I’ll be fine. There’s gotta be something else available. Restaurants are always hiring, right?”
Sammy grimaced. “Maybe. But Emmett’s Mill is a tourist town. It practically shuts down in the winter. Hell, I’m sorry, Annabelle. Dana and I pretty much talked you into moving here on the promise that you’d have a job. I never figured on Dean being such an ass about the whole thing. I mean, I knew he’d be resistant but not this bad…”
She patted Sammy on the shoulder and scooped up the cash on the desk. “My rent’s paid for the month. I’ll find something else. Besides, I like it here. It’s a perfect town for a fresh start.”
Sammy smiled but there was worry in his expression. Pocketing the cash, she grinned without showing a hint of the true panic starting to blossom, and did what she could to allay his concern. Dana had married a good man. It wasn’t his fault things hadn’t worked out as they’d hoped.
If anyone was well acquainted with disappointment, it was Annabelle. But she never dwelled on the past. And as she closed the office door to Halvorsen Construction she considered the unfortunate incident with Dean Halvorsen well on its way to history.
She paused briefly at her car. For some reason, she’d thought this was going to be the place where she could put down roots. Talk about being way off.
Family, roots, stability. She snorted. An illusion. All of it. God, when was she ever going to learn?
CHAPTER TWO
