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Restless
Kimberly Raye
Paige Cassidy is on a major self-improvement kick. Divorced from a man who swore she could do nothing right, Paige is making it her business to learn how to be a woman…in every sense. And sexy, restless Jack Mission is just the man to give her a few lessons in love….Texas bad boy Jack Mission is tired of being a drifter. He's ready to find a good woman and settle down. And beautiful Paige Cassidy is definitely good–in bed and out. But Paige only considers their erotic interludes "research." She's not looking for a commitment. And it's up to Jack to convince her that she's already all woman–his woman!
“Don’t turn off the lights. Please.”
Jack put the video camera aside. “Okay,” he said. “For now.” He stared at Paige for a long moment. “Close your eyes.”
“What?”
“Trust me, remember? I’m the teacher, you’re the student. Now close your eyes.”
She drew in a shaky breath and fought to calm her beating heart. “I don’t understand what this has to do with—”
“Sex appeal comes from the inside. You want to learn all about sex, then you need to realize your own sex appeal. You need to feel it, Paige. That’s what it’s all about. Feeling, not seeing or understanding. That’s why I want you to close your eyes. So you’re not distracted.”
She drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”
When her eyelids had fluttered closed, his voice suddenly seemed deeper, huskier. She could sense his nearness, feel the heat emanating from him. Suddenly, she was in a world where all that mattered was desire.
“That’s it, Paige.” He picked up the video camera again. “Now undress for me…”
Dear Reader,
I’m back again this month with another bad boy to heat up your nights! Jack Mission is a sexy, restless, love-’em-and-leave-’em type who returns home to Inspiration, Texas, for his brother’s wedding. Temporarily, of course. No way is Jack trading his wandering ways to settle down. At least, that’s his intention until prim-and-proper Paige Cassidy turns his world upside down.
It’s bold, it’s provocative, it’s a BLAZE! I love writing for such an ultra-sexy line! And it looks like I’ll be writing many more of these seriously sexy books. Look for my short story in the new BLAZE anthology, Midnight Fantasies, available in June 2001. And then watch for the launch of Harlequin’s newest—and hottest—series, Harlequin Blaze, also in 2001.
I love to hear from my readers. Please drop me a line c/o Harlequin books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9, or you can visit me online at www.kimberlyromance.com.
Enjoy, and have a deliciously sinful read!
Kimberly Raye
Books by Kimberly Raye
HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION
728—BREATHLESS
791—SHAMELESS
Restless
Kimberly Raye
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Curt
I love you very much
Contents
Chapter 1 (#u3812ac8d-7957-5381-bd03-3d532e254b2c)
Chapter 2 (#u349ca5c9-095e-5ab6-9986-659ff426d6c8)
Chapter 3 (#litres_trial_promo)
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)
1
SOME MEN WERE JUST made for sex.
The thought struck Paige Cassidy the moment she spotted the man through the lens of her video camera at the crowded wedding reception.
It wasn’t so much the way he looked, though he was handsome enough to make even devout manhater Imajean Strickner adjust her bifocals and smooth her heavy-duty girdle.
Tall and muscular and tanned, he stood just over six feet tall, his broad shoulders filling out the black tuxedo jacket to mouthwatering perfection. His ragged sun-streaked blonde hair caught the light and his strong jaw, sensuous lips and rugged air made her think of open prairie, wild horses and hot nights beneath a stardusted sky.
But it was more than his appearance that screamed HOT STUD ALERT!
It was the way he moved.
She blinked and adjusted her focus, her gaze fixed on his lean tanned fingers stroking up and down the long neck of his beer bottle. Up and down, slow and steady, again and again in a sensuous stroke she could practically feel along her spine.
And the way he smiled.
She watched as he leaned toward the blonde, blue-eyed woman standing next to him at the bar. She whispered something in his ear. His lips tilted at the corners, lifting in an enticing, suggestive grin that made Paige’s heart shift into overdrive.
And the way his liquid gray eyes seemed to deepen when his gaze snagged hers and—
He was looking at her.
Her hands went limp on the camera and she would have dropped it had she not been wearing the safety strap around her neck. He’d already turned back to the blonde, leaving Paige to wonder if she’d only imagined that brief, heart-stopping moment of eye contact. The intensity of his gaze, the heat…
“Say, there, Paige, how about cuttin’ up the dance floor with me?”
The voice came from behind her and she turned to find Shelby Hoover standing there, his straw hat in hand. He stared at the worn tips of his Justin boots peeking from beneath the hem of a pair of starched Wrangler jeans and rubbed a hand over the top of his burred black hair. His black mustache twitched at the corners as he chewed his bottom lip and waited for her answer.
Unfortunately Shelby didn’t rouse her hormones into an orgasmic frenzy, but the man did know his left foot from his right. What’s more, he was ready to settle down. And he didn’t go around flirting outrageously with pretty blondes.
Shelby wanted more. He wanted a house and kids and forever.
Just like Paige.
She glanced down at the bridal bouquet she’d caught and smiled. In Paige’s mind, she and Shelby were a perfect match, even if he hadn’t yet worked up his nerve to ask her out on a date. She wasn’t giving up hope. Shelby was just quiet. Shy. Insecure.
Qualities Paige had known all too well. Up until six months ago when she’d walked away from Cadillac, Texas, and a failed marriage. She’d headed straight for Inspiration and a brand-new improved life.
She’d been determined, but scared. Until she’d met Deb Strickland, the owner and editor of the town’s only newspaper and now, the prettiest bride Paige had ever seen.
She shifted her attention to Deb who stood across the room beside her new husband. The woman had given her a job and some much-needed help, which was why Paige had been more than willing to use her newly learned video skills to record her friend’s wedding to Jimmy Mission, the most handsome man in the county.
Unwillingly, Paige’s attention shifted back to the bar. Better make that one of the most handsome men in the county. Jimmy definitely had some competition for the title since his younger brother had rolled back into town, and straight into Paige’s line of vision.
She would have known Jack Mission anywhere. He was a legend in town. The cool, elusive drifter who wandered into Inspiration on occasion and then right back out. According to Deb, who knew everything about everyone in town thanks to her gossip columnist, Dolores Guiness, Jack was a legendary heartbreaker and not a man Paige should be wasting her thoughts on.
Her mind should be on Deb and making the best wedding she could. The woman had helped her so much. With Deb’s encouragement, Paige had managed to trade her shyness for a little sass, her quiet demeanor for a more outspoken one, and her insecurity for some much needed self-confidence. Deb had been one of the few people to help her when her sorry ex-husband had walked out on her, leaving her the new girl in a small, close-knit town.
Woodrow. His name popped into her head and before she could stop herself, she lifted a self-conscious hand to check for any wayward strands of hair. Woodrow had always hated her flyaway mane. It had always been too long or too short. Too straight or too curly. Too…wrong.
Her gaze collided with a pair of liquid gray eyes and her hand stopped a heartbeat shy of making contact. Heat bolted through her, pushing aside a lifetime of insecurity, until she felt only the beat of her own pulse and a fierce expectancy in the pit of her stomach.
He was so handsome. Those eyes and those lips…slightly large for a man, but just right for kiss—
“Paige?” Shelby’s voice drew her back around and heat rushed to her cheeks. She’d forgotten all about him! “Are you okay? You look a little flushed.” He eyed her. “Maybe we should just forget the dancing and try it some other—”
“No,” she blurted. Flushed or not, she wasn’t about to discourage Shelby when he’d finally worked up his nerve to ask her to dance.
“Don’t be silly.” She put on her brightest smile. “I’m just tired of lugging around this video camera. I’d love to dance. It’ll give me a chance to ditch this thing for a little while.” She dropped the camera onto a nearby table and, with the bouquet clutched in one hand, took Shelby’s with her other, determined to ignore the pull of the man who stood several feet away.
A few seconds later, she was moving across the dance floor as if she’d been born to it. Ironic considering she’d been the worst dancer in two counties up until a month ago when she’d enrolled in Earl Sharp’s Dancing for Beginners.
Paige Cassidy had been the worst at everything.
It’s all in the past.
She’d turned over a new leaf, started a new chapter of her life, and she wasn’t looking back. She had been naive and clueless way back when, but she was changing things. She was rising above her background and bettering herself by taking several self-improvement classes.
The past was over and done with and Paige was looking toward the future.
Her gaze strayed of its own volition to the handsome man standing at the bar before she gave herself a great big mental kick in the butt.
Men like Mr. Made For Sex had only one thing on their minds when it came to women, and it wasn’t the future. While he might be good for a wild, hot romp in bed, he wasn’t a forever kind of guy, and that’s the only kind Paige was interested in at this point. She’d fallen for his type before and found nothing but a world of heartache.
The next time she slid between the sheets, it was going to be with someone who would be there the morning after and the morning after that. Someone who wouldn’t take the best years of her life, then roll out of town one day with MaryJean Wallaby, the customer service clerk from the Piggly Wiggly with the biggest pair of boobs in the county.
Not a notorious love ‘em and leave ‘em type like Jack Mission.
No matter how her heart pounded every time she glanced his way.
AFTER THIRTY YEARS of living, there were only two things in life Jack made it a point never to do.
He didn’t stand within stomping distance of a newly broken horse, even one that appeared as calm as the Gulf on a hot summer afternoon.
And he didn’t dance.
Of course, it wasn’t the dancing itself he had a problem with. That was the fun part. Bodies touching. Rubbing. Feeling.
His gaze went to the redhead two-stepping her way around the dance floor, a full arm’s length of space between her and her partner, and he couldn’t help but smile. The way he moved to a sultry George Strait tune involved two bodies getting to know each other, but not everyone seemed to have the same notion.
She danced the same way she did everything else—prim and proper. Like the way she’d held the video camera, her back stiff and straight, a serious look on her face as if she were filming a late breaking news story rather than a wedding reception. Or the way she’d held her back so stiff and straight when she’d caught the bridal bouquet. Or even the way she’d eaten her slice of wedding cake—her napkin on her lap, her mouth firmly closed after each mouthful, not a crumb falling on her cover-everything-up floral print dress.
His gaze roved from her shoulders down to her waist—where there would have been a waist if the dress had been a little more flattering. It wasn’t. It hung like a sack, making her look shapeless from her shoulders to her trim ankles. His gaze snagged on the ankle bracelet glistening below her calf and his fingers itched to trace the path the gold followed.
Crazy. She wasn’t his type. She was like all the other women here who’d practically fallen over each other to catch his new sister-in-law’s bouquet. Marriage-minded. Every single one of them.
And dancing with such a woman, especially in a small town like Inspiration, was like courting. One led to two. Two to three. Next came dating and before he knew it, he’d find himself trussed up in another monkey suit, only he wouldn’t be standing in as best man this time. He’d be taking the vows himself.
He’d made that mistake before. He’d never make it again.
“How about it?” An attractive blonde motioned to the dance floor. “You want to prove you know how to use those boots you’re wearing?”
“I really appreciate the invite.” He smiled and held up his bottle. “But I’m still nursing this beer, sugar.” He touched the rim to his lips and downed a minimal swallow of the gold liquid.
“Later then?”
The refusal was there on the tip of his lips, but she looked so hopeful. Before he could stop himself, he nodded. “Later.”
He watched as she walked back to the cluster of women who hovered near the cake table, at least half of whom had already asked him to dance.
His gaze went to his beer. He had all of three swallows before later arrived and he had to make good on his word to all of them. Then again, if he took small sips, he could stretch it out to a good six or seven.
“Come on, stud. Let’s dance.”
“Sorry, darlin’, but I’m still working on this—” The words died as Jack turned to find his new sister-in-law smiling up at him, looking every bit as beautiful in white as he’d imagined when he’d gotten word that Jimmy was finally tying the knot. She had long, dark hair, bright blue eyes and a figure that had undoubtedly lured his brother like a bee to honey. But Jack had no doubt it had been her intelligence and the sympathetic glimmer in her gaze that had caught ole Jimmy for good.
“It’s a law,” Deb told him. “You have to dance with the bride, particularly if the groom is busy talking new breeding techniques with his new stepdad at the bar.”
Jack’s gaze went to the trio standing a few feet away—Jimmy, his mother and an older man with a gray handlebar mustache. The man slid his arm around Jack’s mother and she smiled.
“She’s had a permanent smile on her face since the two of them walked down the aisle a few months back. She looks happy, doesn’t she?” Deb asked, her gaze following Jack’s.
