Hero of the Month: Kenny Traveler.

It’s not very often that an author can write a hero that you should probably hate because he’s so damned lazy and self serving that it should probably be unattractive but it’s not.

And you’re perplexed because he’s everything that you didn’t think you’d fall for but you do anyway.

A hero who grates on your nerves and can pull off a scene like this:

Kenny Traveler was lazy. That explained why he’d fallen asleep in TWA’s Ambassador Club at Dallas–Fort Worth Airport instead of promptly meeting British Airways Flight 2193 at the gate. Pure laziness, plus the fact that he didn’t want to meet Flight 2193.

Unfortunately, the entrance of a noisy pair of businessmen awakened him. He took his time stretching, then yawned for a while. A nice-looking woman in a short gray suit smiled at him, and he smiled back.

He glanced at his watch and saw he was half an hour late. He yawned again. Stretched.

See? Pure laziness. And then he does things like this that should drive me absolutely bat shit crazy and yet, still my heart sighs whenever I think of Kenny Traveler.

He continued to stare into the window.

With a sigh, she marched back to join him. “Is something wrong?”

“Wrong?”

“We need to get my luggage.”

He looked up. “I was thinking I might like a new key chain.”

“You wish to buy one now ?”

“Maybe.”

She waited.

He sidled six inches to the left to get a better view.

“Mr. Traveler, I really think we should carry on.”

“See, I’ve got this Gucci key chain a friend of mine gave me a couple years ago. But I don’t much like things with other people’s initials on them.”

“You received this key chain a fewyears ago?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She remembered a sermon she’d once heard about the way God sometimes compensated human beings who were born handicapped in one area by richly endowing them in another. Someone who was born with exceptional good looks, for example, might be dull-witted. A pang of compassion struck her, along with a sense of relief. His denseness would make the next two weeks so much easier. “Very well. I’llwait.”

He continued to study the display.

Her arms were beginning to ache from the combined weight of her carry-ons. She finally extended her carry-all. “Would you mind taking this for me?”

He regarded it doubtfully. “It looks heavy.”

“Yes. It is.”

He nodded vaguely, then returned his attention to the window.

She switched the carry-all to her other arm. Finally, she couldn’t stand it any longer. “Would you like some help?”

“Oh, I can pay for it myself.”

“That’s not what I meant. Would you like some help making your selection?”

“Now, see, that’s what got me into trouble in the first place. I let somebody else choose my key chain.”

Her shoulders had begun to scream in protest. “Mr. Traveler, we really have to be going now, don’t we? Perhaps you could do this some other time?”

“I s’pose I could, but the selection might not be as good.”

Her patience frayed. “Very well, then! Get the one with the cowboy on it.”

“Yeah? You like that one?”

She forced her jaw to unclench. “Iadore it.”

“The cowboy it is.” Looking pleased, he walked into the shop, paused on the way to admire a display of tea towels, then took forever to chat with the attractive young woman behind the counter. Finally, he emerged with a small package, which he immediately deposited in her cramped fingers. “Here you go.”

“What’s this?”

He looked exasperated. “The key chain. You said you liked the cowboy.”

“The key chain was for you!”

“Now, why would I want a key chain with a cowboy on it when I’ve got a perfectly good Gucci in my pocket?”

Doesn’t sound like someone you’d love, right? I mean, he’s not your typical chivalrous hero. He’s not that kind of hero but that is why I loved him. He wasn’t like any hero I’d ever read before (this was before I read Linda Howard’s Heart of Fire and met Ben Lewis) he was the exact opposite of what heroes are like. He’s lazy, he’s selfish and he doesn’t lift a finger to help ANYONE, let alone helpless women.

And yet, I love Kenny. I loved seeing him fall in love with Emma and I hecka enjoyed seeing him trying to think of what Emma was going to do next so that he could step in and clean things up. He was frickin’ hilarious and very creative in the things he did to try to sidestep Emma, to try to get her to stay out of trouble so he could stay out of trouble with Dallie.

My favorite thing that Kenny “did” for Emma was the tatoo thing. You see, Emma came to the states to do irreparable damage to her reputation. She wants to sully her reputation so bad that the Duke that fancies himself engaged to Emma will drop his suit for her and she’ll be able to go back to her regular life. Now, to Kenny Traveler who is doing his friend Francesca a favor by babysitting her friend and trying to stay out of trouble and keep his nose clean (not of drugs but of trouble) so that he could be put back on the tour this spells horrible trouble.

One’s hell bent on ruining her reputation while the other needs to keep his reputation squeaky clean to save his career.

Emma decides she wants a tatoo and Kenny gets her rip roaring drunk and then takes her to get her tatoo and man the comedy that surrounds that scene never fails to make me crack the hell up. I would post that scene for you but trust me, you’ve got to read this book to find out about the tatoo all on your own, it’s totally worth it.

Kenny Traveler is totally worth getting to know by reading his book, Lady Be Good. He’s funny, charming and extremely hot and I promise that your sides will be hurting something fierce after reading this book and Kenny will be a huge part of that. He’s a fantastic hero and I promise that you’ll love him as much as I do, give him a try will ya?

And just to make sure you do, here’s one of the many reasons Kenny Traveler is October’s Hero of the Month:

He shook his head. “Not this time, baby. Please. I only have so much self-control. And this has to be perfect for you.” He pulled off her robe and renewed his sensual dallying.

Deep, lazy touches.

The tip of a finger. A dabble.

Nibble.Nibble. Nibble.Nibble. Nibble.

And then . . . A long sloooow lapppp . . . with his tongue.

It was too much!

He smiled as she cried out again. “The luckiest man in the world,” he repeated.

You’ll have to read the book to finish off that scene but seriously….KENNY TRAVELER IS HAWT!

*EDITED TO ADD: You can read Kenny’s book, Lady Be Good by Susan Elizabeth Phillips!

Until next month…

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