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Hard To Forget
Annette Broadrick
Sheikh Haroun al Muntazir was honor-bound to recover a priceless family jewel…but what was lovely operative Mariel de Vouvray's mission? Until her motives were made plain, he had to keep her close - yet at a distance. But with one stolen kiss Haroun's resistance turned to air. Was Mariel's melting surrender a trap of ultimate danger…or a precious haven offered by his future beloved wife?
“I’ve Always Wanted To Make It Up To You.”
Joe’s words caused another flurry of electrical currents to ricochet through Elena’s body.
“And how, exactly, did you intend to do that?”
Joe turned so he was facing her. His gaze seemed to caress her, heating her body before he said, “I would like to take you to a private place where there would be no possibility of being interrupted. It would have a bed, and we’d have all the time we needed to explore each other. I would like to pleasure you, Elena, in every way I can think of.”
The image weakened her knees so that she could scarcely stand. “I don’t know what to say,” she finally whispered.
“Say yes, and we’ll find that place right now.”
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the world of Silhouette Desire, where you can indulge yourself every month with romances that can only be described as passionate, powerful and provocative!
Silhouette’s beloved author Annette Broadrick returns to Desire with a MAN OF THE MONTH who is Hard To Forget. Love rings true when former high school sweethearts reunite while both are on separate undercover missions to their hometown. Bestselling writer Cait London offers you A Loving Man, when a big-city businessman meets a country girl and learns the true meaning of love.
The Desire theme promotion THE BABY BANK, about sperm-bank client heroines who find love unexpectedly, returns with Amy J. Fetzer’s Having His Child, part of her WIFE, INC. miniseries. The tantalizing Desire miniseries THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS: THE LOST HEIRS continues with Baby of Fortune by Shirley Rogers. In Undercover Sultan, the second book of Alexandra Sellers’s SONS OF THE DESERT: THE SULTANS trilogy, a handsome prince is forced to go on the run with a sexy mystery woman—who may be the enemy. And Ashley Summers writes of a Texas tycoon who comes home to find a beautiful stranger living in his mansion in Beauty in His Bedroom.
This month see inside for details about our exciting new contest “Silhouette Makes You a Star.” You’ll feel like a star when you delve into all six fantasies created in Desire books this August!
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
Hard to Forget
Annette Broadrick
To Susan Plunkett, whose warm support and infectious sense of humor rescued me from the deep abyss of noncreativity. I miss our weekly lunches at Marie’s!
ANNETTE BROADRICK
believes in romance and the magic of life. Since 1984 Annette has shared her view of life and love with readers. In addition to being nominated by Romantic Times Magazine as one of the Best New Authors of that year, she has also won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best in its Series; the Romantic Times W.I.S.H. award; and the Romantic Times Magazine Lifetime Achievement Awards for Series Romance and Series Romantic Fantasy.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Prologue
Eighteen-year-old Joe Sanchez looked into the cheap mirror over his scarred dresser and blinked. He didn’t recognize the stranger he saw. Tonight was the first time in his life that he had worn formal clothes. They were rented, of course. It had taken him weeks to earn the money to rent the tuxedo he would be wearing tonight to the Santiago High School senior prom in Santiago, Texas, a small town on the Texas-Mexico border.
He grinned at the thought and was once again startled at the image in the mirror. He couldn’t remember ever seeing himself smile—either in a mirror or a photograph. He had a great deal to smile about tonight, though, because he was taking Elena Maldonado to their senior prom.
He was still amazed that she had agreed to go with him.
For the past few months she had been tutoring him in English and history. Thanks to her help, he was fairly certain he’d be graduating, after all. He’d be the first of his family to get a high-school diploma.
Last year, even last fall, he wouldn’t have thought that any of this would ever happen….
“Yo, Sanchez,” Coach Torres hollered at the end of football practice in late September. “Meet me in my office after you’ve showered.”
Joe gave him a brief nod and trotted with the other team members into the locker room. He went over to his locker and pulled off his football uniform. He knew what the coach had to say to him. His teachers had already told him his grades were dropping after the first round of exams.
So what? At least he’d been able to play on the varsity football team these past two years. That was worth a lot to him. Coach Torres had made him a wide receiver because he was fast and could handle the ball. In fact, he was getting the reputation of having magnets in his hands. He usually managed to snag the ball if the quarterback got it anywhere close to him.
His teammates chattered around him, but he tuned them out as he showered and dressed once again in his faded jeans and hand-me-down shirt. He walked out of the locker room down the hall to the coach’s office, knowing he was about to be dropped from the squad.
Coach Torres was on the phone when Joe walked in. Coach waved him to the chair in front of his desk. Joe slid into the chair and watched the coach, who sat with his ankles crossed on the desk. When he hung up, Coach dropped his feet and pulled his chair closer, placing his elbows on the desk.
“Tell me something, Sanchez,” he said in his gruff voice. “You planning to follow in Alfredo’s footsteps?”
Joe blinked. What did his older brother have to do with anything? He eyed the coach warily. “What do you mean?”
“I understand Al was convicted of drug smuggling a couple of years after he dropped out of school. He’s how old now?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Uh-huh. And been in and out of jail for most of the past five years, right?”
“So?”
“Is that what you want for your life?”
Joe shrugged.
Coach Torres didn’t say anything. Just looked at him. And kept looking at him.
Joe shifted in his chair, placed his foot on his opposite knee and began to pull at the sole where it was coming loose. He kept his attention on the shoe.
Finally Coach said, “I’m going to offer you an alternative to Al’s life, Joe, if you’re willing to consider it.”
Joe looked up in surprise. Coach was still studying him. It was as though he’d never taken his eyes off him.
“You’re intelligent, Joe. You learn the plays quickly. You’re a natural leader. You’ve got every guy on the team following your lead. You’ve got everything it takes to make it big in the world, except the drive to do it.”
“You calling me lazy?” Joe asked, his expression sullen.
Coach smiled. “Nope. You’re just not motivated. And I’d like to help you to change that.”
“How?”
“By getting you a scholarship to go to college next year.”
Joe’s foot fell off his knee and he straightened in surprise. “College? For me?”
“That’s right. At the rate you’re going, you’re going to be ready to play college ball in another year. If you can get your grades up, that is.”
Joe slid back down in the chair. “Yeah. Right.”
“You think that’s so impossible?”
He shrugged again.
“How much time do you spend on homework every day?”
He shrugged again.
Coach Torres looked down at a piece of paper in front of him. “Obviously not enough if your present grades are any indication.”
Joe didn’t see a need to respond to that comment, either. He went back to worrying the sole of his shoe, wondering where he was going to get the money to buy a new pair.
“You don’t believe you can do it, do you?” Coach asked.
Joe shook his head without looking up.
“Then I’ve got more faith in you than you do. As a matter of fact, I found someone who would be willing to tutor you if you want to put some effort into bringing those grades up.”
Joe looked up from beneath his brows. “Who?”
“Elena Maldonado.”
Joe frowned. He’d never heard of her. He started to shrug once more when he suddenly remembered a girl in several of his classes named Elena. “Is she that skinny nerdy girl with glasses and all that hair?”
“That’s the one.”
Joe laughed. “She said she’d help me with my classes?”
“Yep.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding. She don’t—doesn’t give anybody the time of day. She’s like a mouse—creeps into class and sits there taking notes all the time.”
“Well, those notes may make the difference between your graduating from school and going on to college, or someday ending up in jail alongside your brother. Your choice, my friend.”
Joe wouldn’t admit it for the world, but the thought of actually getting to go to college electrified him. A chance to get away from the poverty of his home life. A chance to make something of himself. A chance to be able to provide for his mother, who had worked all her life to support him and his brother.
“So what do you think?” Coach asked as the silence lengthened. “Are you willing to work at bringing those grades up so you can continue to play ball? Because if you are, I’ll do what I can to place you in a college next year with a full scholarship. You’ll have to earn it in class, though.”
Joe started to speak, but his voice broke. He cleared his throat. “If you’re sure Elena won’t mind, I’d like to work on getting my grades up.”
“Good choice, son,” Coach Torres said with a big grin on his face. “I’ll let her know. The two of you can work out the arrangements of when and where you’ll work together.”
Joe left the coach’s office that day feeling bewildered. He and a few of his friends spent most of their time chasing around town at night, raising hell. If he was going to start working on his grades, his time was going to be taken up with things other than hanging out with his buddies.
The thought of college made him smile. It might even be worth it.
The truth was, he was ashamed of what Al had done, even though he didn’t blame him. Al had never done much in school. He’d dropped out in the middle of his sophomore year because he’d convinced his mom he would get a job. He hadn’t bothered to tell her that the job wasn’t exactly legal. When you lived on the border, there were all kinds of ways to make money, as long as you didn’t get caught.
He waited until the end of his history class the next day to approach Elena. He’d watched her in English earlier in the day. She’d kept her head down and never looked his way. It was only after he almost ran into her in the hall and saw her blush a fiery red that he knew Coach Torres had spoken to her.
He walked up to her desk as she was placing her books into her backpack.
“Hi,” he said.
She didn’t look up. “Hi.”
“Coach tells me you’re willing to help me bring up my grades.”
She nodded.
“So where do you want to do this—your place or mine?”
Her head jerked up and she stared at him, eyes wide. “I can’t do it at home. My, uh, dad doesn’t like it when I have anyone over.”
He knew that was a crock. He’d asked around about her and found out that her dad rarely worked and spent most of his time in one of the three bars in town. She just didn’t want him there if her dad came home drunk.
Not that he blamed her. But at least she had a father. His dad had left when he was five. He barely remembered him.
