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Personal Relations
HEATHER MACALLISTER
The Plot: Courtney Weathers desperately needs a date–for her older sister! Jeff Ryan needs a break from his workaholic stepbrother. The Personal Touch! brings the teens together as partners in But will it also make them family?Brooke Weathers is counting the days before Courtney goes to college. At least then, she might get a life–a sex life. Chase Davenport has been so busy climbing the corporate ladder and looking after Jeff, he can't remember ever having a sex life.But when the two kids decide to get married, Brooke and Chase have to team up to stop them. Too bad they can't keep their hands off each other long enough to do
Love in a limo?
Brooke scooted inside the car, to the far side of a padded bench seat. Chase slid in beside her and gave her hand a squeeze. Across from them, Reverend Bob took his place and pulled out some papers. Looking around the interior of the limo, Brooke was overwhelmed by the garlands of greenery, flowers and ribbons that decorated the small space.
“Since we have some time before the ceremony, I’ll just point out the special features of this particular limo.” Reverend Bob gestured to the opaque glass partition behind him. “Soundproof. We’ll lower it during the ceremony so the driver can be your witness, but once you begin the honeymoon, it will be raised.”
“Honeymoon?” Brooke asked.
“Yes. You’ve got the limo for two hours.” He gestured for them to move apart, reached between them and lowered the padded panel. “You pull that handle there, and the seat will fold down to make a bed.”
Brooke was dumbfounded. He expected…people actually…
“Cool,” Chase said, giving Brooke a wicked grin.
Dear Reader,
I thought I’d get right to the good stuff—aphrodisiacs. After all, this is a Harlequin Temptation, right? In researching the scene where Brooke’s sister and Chase’s brother are trying to kindle a romance between their siblings, I learned some interesting things. Did you know that through the ages, there were a lot of foods—not just oysters—that were considered to have erotic powers? So, of course, I had to mention them….
One of the aphrodisiacs I used in the book was pine nut soup. Would you believe that pine nuts have been used to inspire romance since 116 B.C.? Do they work? I’ll let you be the judge of that. Look below for a recipe.
In the meantime, sit back and have fun watching Chase and Brooke as they struggle to avoid being caught in the romantic snare set for them by their siblings—and find themselves caught up in love anyway!
Have fun,
Heather MacAllister
P.S. You can visit my Web site at HeatherMacAllister.com
Recipe for Pine Nut Soup
Puree 1/2 cup of pine nuts and 3 egg yolks in a food processor until you have a smooth paste. Put the mixture in a saucepan and add 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of cream. Add 1/8 teaspoon of saffron and heat gently, stirring consistently until the soup thickens. Don’t let it boil!
Serve immediately—and enjoy!
Personal Relations
Heather MacAllister
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Trudy and Bill Hanes.
And Pilgrim.
Contents
Prologue (#ua619d6e5-3c4d-5bdf-b81e-e5b0da069e07)
Chapter 1 (#u406206cc-64b0-56b7-aecf-b718149cd850)
Chapter 2 (#u3cec216d-a5f5-5a64-88b6-abf4d3ccee26)
Chapter 3 (#ub191c0cc-2f20-5a94-b066-e89ce9c09fc4)
Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
I’m a female West Houston High senior and am looking for a valentine for my overprotective older sister who’s cramping my style. She’s a babe-in-waiting, not a woofer. If you’ve got an available older brother who’s at least twenty-five, and isn’t a troll, call me and let’s hook them up. I’ll make it worth your while.
“HI, MY NAME IS Jeff Ryan and I’m calling about the ad you put in Additudes.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m glad my sister didn’t answer the phone. Hang on and let me kick my door shut…okay. I’m Courtney Weathers, by the way.”
“Uhm, I know who you are—you’re in South Pacific at school, right?”
“Yes, just the chorus, but I am the understudy for Nellie.”
“Is that good?”
“Well, not as good as being cast as Nellie, since that’s the lead, but better than not being the understudy. I mean, people can get colds, right? Anyway, you’ve got a brother?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, is he cute?”
“I’m a guy! I don’t know if he’s cute or not.”
“Do you look like him?”
“Not really. He’s my stepbrother, actually, my ex-stepbrother, but he never has a problem getting dates, if that helps.”
“So why doesn’t he have a girlfriend now? And I’m assuming he doesn’t or this call is so over.”
“He works all the time and they get mad when he bails on them. And when he’s not working, he’s bugging me.”
“I hear that.”
“I mean, he’s a great guy, and he’s letting me live with him while I finish up at West Houston, but he’s got this idea that I’m going to ‘follow in his footsteps,’ or some garbage like that. He’s got my whole life planned out to be just like his.”
“Oh, wow! You just described my sister! I’ve got a major case of goose bumps going here.”
“Hey, yeah?”
“I mean, Brooke, that’s my sister, she’s just so totally into this whole college thing and, like, I’m telling her I want to be an actress and she just so won’t listen.”
“And your parents are listening to her, right?”
“Oh, it’s so bad. My dad’s working in El Bahar, so they’re living overseas and they think that my sister is this perfect goody-goody, mainly because she is. They’re always taking her side. It’s like they think I’m still this little kid.”
“Well…I don’t think Chase—my step-bro—is the kind of guy to go for a goody-goody.”
“But that’s just it—she didn’t used to be. It’s this responsibility trip she’s on. It’s got her way too tightly wound. She needs a distraction.”
“Yeah…I’m thinking that’s what Chase needs. All he does is work—”
“Then is he going to have time to date my sister?”
“If your sister looks anything like you, he’ll make time.”
“Oh! Hey, thanks. That’s sweet.”
“Uh, yeah. See, here’s the thing. He’s trying to set this good example for me and so if he knows I’m watching how he treats your sister, then he won’t cancel out, or I’ll make a big deal out of it. You know, push the guilt button.”
“Okay. So we need to get them together. Do you have anything going on after school?”
“No.”
“Why don’t you volunteer to help backstage with the sets and props? We need more people.”
“I’ve never done anything like that before.”
“They’ll teach you and this way, I can introduce Brooke to your brother when they come to pick us up after rehearsal.”
“Uhm, I have my own car. Or right now, Chase’s.”
“Cool. So take it to get the oil changed or something.”
“Okay. I’ll think of something. So, when do you want to do this?”
“How about tomorrow?”
1
DOWNTOWN TRAFFIC had been worse than usual, so Brooke Weathers was later than she liked to be when she pulled her car into the West Houston High parking lot by the auditorium. Several teenagers gathered in clumps by the brick sign. It looked as though the South Pacific rehearsal had already finished.
She scanned the clumps looking for her dark-haired sister and finally found her draped against a silver Porsche as she talked to the occupants.
Some father had just had his midlife crisis, Brooke guessed, since the fancy car was out of the league of most of the students here.
She lowered her window. “Courtney!” she called just as Courtney spotted her. Her sister straightened and gestured for Brooke to come closer.
Talk about lazy. If Courtney could just be bothered to walk a few extra steps, then Brooke could exit now instead of being forced to drive the entire circuit of the parking lot. She shook her head, but Courtney beckoned again.
It had been a long day, a day in which Brooke should have stayed an extra half hour at work and would have, if she hadn’t had to pick up Courtney. In spite of the two cars behind her, Brooke shook her head again and gestured back.
Courtney was mad. She stormed over to the car, jerked open the door, then slammed it shut. “Why wouldn’t you come over there?”
Brooke got in line for the traffic light. “I didn’t feel like driving all the way around the parking lot just because you were in diva mode.”
Courtney jammed her shoulder belt into the clasp. “I only wanted you to meet Jeff’s brother.”
“Who’s Jeff?”
“You know, the guy who’s working on the sets. That was his brother’s car.” She gave Brooke a sideways look. “His single brother. I told him about you. He acted interested.”
“Interested in one thing.”
“Oh, come on Brooke! Lighten up and maybe you could go out with him.”
“Go out with him?” Brooke crossed her fingers in a warding-off-evil-spirits sign. “An older single man with a Porsche? Have I taught you nothing?”
“Yeah, how to spend weekends cleaning the house, then rewarding ourselves with microwave popcorn and a video. Whoopee.”
Brooke actually looked forward to Saturday nights with her sister. “You’re not dateless every Saturday.”
“You are,” Courtney said quietly.
“I’m too tired to date!” Brooke laughed.
Courtney didn’t. “I really wish you’d meet Jeff’s brother.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.”
The last thing Brooke needed right now was first-date stress, followed by will-he-call stress, and if he did call, and she did start going out with him, the should-I-or-shouldn’t-I stress. With Courtney watching her every move, it was darn well going to be shouldn’t. Besides, most men didn’t understand why a single woman in her twenties had a self-imposed midnight curfew. But Brooke couldn’t apply one set of rules to her dating life and another to Courtney’s even though Courtney was still in high school. Brooke shuddered just imagining the arguments. It wasn’t worth it.
What would be worth it was the satisfaction she’d feel when she got Courtney into a good college.
Then Brooke could enter the dating scene.
Until then, she didn’t need the stress.
