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Fool's Gold Collection Part 2: Only Mine / Only Yours / Only His / Only Us: A Fool's Gold Holiday
Susan Mallery
Fool’s Gold Collection Part 2Four Stories from New York Times’ bestselling author Susan Mallery’s enormously popular Fool’s Gold series.ONLY MINE by Susan MalleryHer town’s lack of men may make headlines, but it isn't news to Dakota Hendrix. The beautiful blonde has bigger problems to deal with, such as overseeing the romance reality competition filming in Fool’s Gold. Screening eligible bachelors is a difficult enough task, but Dakota hits an unexpected snag when a sexy stranger comes to town.Finn Anderssen will do anything to keep his twin brothers—the perfect contestants—off the show. Despite Dakota’s better judgment, she finds herself drawn to the mysterious outsider but she doesn’t dare to hope for anything more than a fling. After all, finding true love is never as easy as it looks on TV.ONLY YOURS by Susan MalleryMontana Hendrix has found her calling—working with therapy dogs. With a career she loves in a home town she adores, she’s finally ready to look for her own happily ever after. Could one of her dogs help her find Mr. Right…or maybe Dr. Right?Surgeon Simon Bradley prefers the sterility of the hospital to the messiness of real life, especially when real life includes an accident-prone mutt and a woman whose kisses make him want what he knows he can't have. He avoids emotional entanglement by moving from place to place to heal children who need his skillful touch. Will he walk away, taking her broken heart with him?ONLY HIS by Susan MalleryWedding bells are ringing in Fool’s Gold…but not for chronically single Nevada Hendrix. Both her triplet sisters are engaged, and even her mother has a more active love life than she does. Determined to make a fresh start, she applies for her dream job, only to discover that her new boss is her first love. Maybe she could overlook the fact that they’ve seen each other naked, but she’ll never forget the way he broke her heart.Tucker Janack agrees to Nevada's "business only" ground rules. After all, love is a trap that the construction millionaire has avoided his whole life. But when great business partners turn out to be so much more, every rule gets broken!ONLY US: A FOOL’S GOLD HOLIDAY by Susan MalleryPet groomer Carina Fiore wants nothing more than to confess her feelings to the man she loves. She’s drawn to veterinarian Cameron McKenzie’s good looks, caring nature and especially his devotion to his young daughter. There’s just one problem—he’s her boss. Putting her heart on the line could cost Rina both her job and their friendship. But then a kiss under the mistletoe unlocks the simmering passion between them….
Fool’s Gold Collection Part 2
Only Mine
Only Yours
Only His
Only Us
Susan Mallery
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Only Mine
Praise for New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author
SUSAN MALLERY
“Mallery’s prose is luscious and provocative.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Susan Mallery’s gift for writing humor and tenderness make all her books true gems.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Romance novels don’t get much better than Mallery’s expert blend of emotional nuance, humor and superb storytelling.”
—Booklist
“Mallery sets up some very tough choices for her heroine, making this book compelling and intense.”
—RT Book Reviews on Finding Perfect
“[A]n emotional story with a beautiful happy ending! Another must read by Susan Mallery.”
—Good Choice Reading on Almost Perfect
“Warm, funny, and sexy, this lighthearted yet touching page-turner is a satisfying, rewarding read and the ‘perfect’ beginning for Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series.”
—Library Journal on Chasing Perfect
“As demonstrated in this compelling story, family doesn’t have to share blood, just emotions. Filled with emotional drama, devastating treachery and the power of love, this finale will delight fans.”
—RT Book Reviews on Hot on Her Heels
“One of the Top 10 Romance Novels of 2009!”
—Booklist on Straight from the Hip
To Marilyn, my sister of the heart.
You are sweet and generous and funny, just like Dakota. This one’s for you.
Only Mine
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
Chapter Twenty
CHAPTER ONE
“WHAT’S IT GOING TO take to get you to cooperate? Money? Threats? Either works for me.”
Dakota Hendrix looked up from her laptop to find a very tall, stern-looking man standing over her. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. What’s it going to take?”
She’d been warned there would be plenty of crazies hanging around, but she hadn’t actually believed it. Apparently she’d been wrong.
“You have a lot of attitude for someone wearing a plaid flannel shirt,” she said, standing so she was at least something close to eye-level with the guy. If he hadn’t been so obviously annoyed, she would have thought he was pretty decent-looking, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes.
He glanced down at himself, then back at her. “What does my shirt have to do with anything?”
“It’s plaid.”
“So?”
“It’s hard to be intimidated by a man wearing plaid. I’m just saying. And flannel is a friendly fabric. A little down-home for most people. Now if you were in all black, with a leather jacket, I’d be a lot more nervous.”
His expression tightened, as did a muscle in his jaw. His gaze sharpened, and she had a feeling that if he were just a little less civilized, he would throw something.
“Having a bad day?” she asked cheerfully.
“Something like that.” He spoke between clenched teeth.
“Want to talk about it?”
“I believe that’s how I started this conversation.”
“No. You started by threatening me.” She smiled. “At the risk of sending your annoyance level from an eight to a ten, sometimes being nice is more effective. At least it is with me.” She held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Dakota Hendrix.”
The man looked as if he would rather rip off her head than be polite, but after a couple of deep breaths, he shook hands with her and muttered, “Finn Andersson.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Andersson.”
“Finn.”
“Finn,” she repeated, being more perky than usual, simply because she thought it would bug him. “How can I help you?”
“I want to get my brothers off the show.”
“Hence the threats.”
He frowned. “Hence? Who says that?”
“It’s a perfectly good word.”
“Not where I come from.”
She glanced down at the worn work boots he wore, then back to his shirt. “I’m almost afraid to ask where that is.”
“South Salmon, Alaska.”
“You’re a long way from home.”
“Worse, I’m in California.”
“Hey, you’re in my hometown. I’ll thank you to be polite.”
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Whatever. You win. Can you help me with my brothers or not?”
“It depends. What’s the problem?”
She motioned to the seat across from her small desk. Finn hesitated for a second, then folded his long body into a seated position. She took her chair and waited.
“They’re here,” he said at last, as if that explained everything.
“Here instead of back in South Salmon?”
“Here instead of finishing their last semester of college. They’re twins. They go to UA. University of Alaska,” he added.
“But if they’re on the show, then they’re over eighteen,” she said gently, feeling his pain, but knowing there was very little she could do about it.
“Meaning I don’t have any legal authority?” he asked, sounding both resigned and bitter. “Tell me about it.” He leaned toward her, his gaze intense. “I need your help. Like I said, they’re one semester from graduating, and they walked away from that to come here.”
Dakota had grown up in the town of Fool’s Gold and had chosen to return after she’d finished her schooling, so she didn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to live in town. But she would guess Finn was a lot more worried about his brothers’ future than their location.
He stood. “Why am I even talking to you? You’re one of those Hollywood types. You’re probably happy they’ve given up everything to be on your stupid show.”
She rose as well, then shook her head. “First of all, it’s not my stupid show. I’m with the town, not the production company. Second, if you’ll give me a moment to think instead of instantly getting angry, maybe I can come up with something that will help. If you’re like this with your brothers, I’m not surprised they want to get a couple thousand miles away from you.”
Given the little she knew about Finn from their thirty-second relationship, she half expected him to snarl at her, then disappear. Instead he surprised her by grinning.
The curve of his lips, the flash of teeth, wasn’t anything unique, but it hit her in the stomach all the same. She felt as if all the air had rushed out of her lungs and she couldn’t breathe. Seconds later, she managed to recover and told herself it was a momentary blip on her otherwise emotionally smooth radar. Nothing more than an anomaly. Like a sunspot.
“That’s what they said,” he admitted, returning to his seat with a sigh. “That they’d hoped being at college would be far enough away, but it wasn’t.” The grin faded. “Damn, this is hard.”
She sat down and rested her hands on the table between them. “What do your parents say about all this?”
“I’m their parents.”
“Oh.” She swallowed, not sure what tragedy had brought that about. She would guess Finn was all of thirty, maybe thirty-two. “How long ago…?”
“Eight years.”
