Title: The Valentine Wager, book 1 in the Lange Brothers series
Author: Nan Reinhardt
Genre: Sweet Contemporary Romance
Book Blurb:
He’s a notorious flirt, so she lays down a challenge she’s sure she’ll win.
When playboy police lieutenant Ryker Lange stops Kitt Boynton for driving on the wrong side of the road, his attraction to the feisty Irish lass is immediate. Yet, despite the sizzling chemistry between them, Kitt quickly turns him down.
Kitt has moved to River’s Edge for a fresh start and is ready to focus on her new marketing job at her cousins’ winery. She’s done with players, and vows she won’t let the local sexy cop distract her, but Kitt, a flirt herself, is definitely tempted. To keep her sanity as she prepares for several Valentine-themed winery events, she and Ryker make a bet: for the next three weeks, neither of them can flirt with the other.
The game starts out lighthearted, but when the town takes sides, Ryker and Kitt must choose between winning a wager or finding lasting love.
Excerpt:
“Don’t go gettin’ a big head, copper. I simply imagined you’d be driving some fancy sports car. You seem the type.”
He unbuckled his seat belt, twisted on the bench seat, and extended his arm across the back. One more simple movement and his fingers would be tangled in the braid that hung below her knitted cap.
He peered at her in the close quarters of the cab, his deep voice resonating when he asked, “What type is that?”
She shrugged, scooting farther away from him to the point that she was practically sitting on the door’s armrest. “You know, a fast-cars, fast-women kind of guy.”
He raised one brow. “And that’s who you think I am?”
“That’s who I’ve been told you are.”
“You can’t believe everything you hear, sweetheart.” He dropped his hand and then he was toying with a tendril of hair that had escaped her braid.
“Really? In your case, I think I can.” The heat in the cab wasn’t coming from the heater anymore. She tipped her head away from his fingers, longing to yank her scarf from around her neck and unzip her jacket. She didn’t because that would have been stupid and careless and surely misinterpreted.
He sighed deeply. “What can I do to prove to you I’m not some lecherous sleaze out to rob you of your virtue? Because, truth is, I really want to have dinner with you, maybe a stroll along the River Walk.”
“In this weather?” With an effort, she kept her tone light.
“Well, okay, not a stroll in this weather, but we could go to a movie or something.” He widened his eyes and his perfect teeth caught his lower lip in a gesture so sensual, it made her suck in a breath.
Damn the man for being too attractive for his own good. For her own good. “Tell me you didn’t just bite your lip, Ryker Lange. That’s so typical.”
His expression was all innocence. “Did I?”
She pointed one finger at him. “You did and you know you did.”
He grasped her finger and then laced his own fingers with hers. “So what if I did?” He grinned. “I’m trying to convince you to go out with me. I’m going to use whatever’s in my arsenal—typical, shady, and otherwise.”
She let her fingers stay linked with his for a moment, enjoying the feel of a warm male hand in hers. She’d missed that touch. But there was no way she was going to get involved with Ryker Lange. Not when his whole demeanor reminded her so much of the heartache she’d left behind in Ireland. She pulled away and folded her hands in her lap. “Have you ever been friends with a woman?”
He gave her an incredulous look. “What? Of course I have. I have lots of women friends.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m talking about being just friends. Not flirting, not trying to get a date, not trying to get into her knickers.” When he started to respond, she held up a hand to stop him. “And I’m not talking about women old enough to be your mother, and not your sister or your cousins either. I mean women like…well, like me.”
He gave her a dazzling smile, and for maybe the twentieth time since she landed in the United States, she thought Americans sure have perfect teeth. “You mean women I’m attracted to?”
She snorted inelegantly. “How could ye possibly know you’re attracted to me? We’ve barely exchanged an hour’s worth of conversation.”
He leaned closer. “Don’t you believe in love at first sight?”
She turned to face him. “No. As a matter of fact, I don’t. I don’t much believe in love at all, frankly.”
His warm cinnamon-scented breath mingling with hers made her a little dizzy, but she was damned if she was going to show a moment of emotion when he murmured, “What happened to you, Kathleen?”
“I was stupid once—well, more than once—but after the last disaster…let’s just say, now I’m smarter,” she replied, not backing away. No way was she going let this gorgeous hunk of male intimidate her into trusting him. Not again. Not ever again. Ryker Lange was nothing more than another snake trying to slither his way into her bed. An alley cat looking for an innocent mouse to toy with. Well, she wasn’t an innocent anymore. Ethan Craine had taken care of that.
She closed her eyes and when she opened them, he’d moved away and was leaning against the window, watching her. The look on his face had softened and she no longer felt like prey. However, the guy needed taken down a peg or two.
She pointed one finger at him. “I’ve got a challenge for ye, Lieutenant.”
Ryker raised one brow. “A challenge?”
“Aye.” Kitt nodded as she worked on a way to form the experiment she’d decided to put before him. “I’d like us to be friends. Just friends.”
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Flirty Valentine fun with heart and emotion. Not just romance, but also a story about family and the closeness of three brothers.
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Author Biography:
Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today bestselling author of sweet, small-town romantic fiction for Tule Publishing. Her day job is working as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader, however, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. She can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t writing—she wrote her first romance novel at the age of ten and is still writing, but now from the viewpoint of a wiser, slightly rumpled, woman in her prime. Nan lives in the Midwest with her husband of 51 years, where they split their time between a house in the city and a cottage on a lake.
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