The Bachelor meets The Runaway Bride in this addictive romance novel about a reality TV producer falling for her would-be star: a Montana heartthrob who wants nothing to do with the show.
Jordan Carpenter thinks sheās finally found the perfect candidate for Jilted, a new dating show about runaway grooms: Luke Elliott, a playboy firefighter whoās left not one but three brides at the altar. The only problem? Luke refuses to answer Jordanās emails or return her calls. Which is how she ends up on a flight to Montana to recruit him in person. Itās not Manhattan but at least the locals in Lucky Hollow seem friendly . . . except for Luke, whoās more intenseāand way hotterāthan the slick womanizer Jordan expected.
Eager to put the past behind him, Luke has zero intention of following this gorgeous, fast-talking city girl back to New York. But before he can send her packing, Jordanās everywhere: at his favorite bar, the county fair, even his exesā book club. Annoyingly, everyone in Lucky Hollow seems to like herāand deep down, sheās starting to grow on him too. But the more he fights her constant pestering, the more Luke finds himself wishing that Jordan would kick off her high heels and make herself comfortable in his arms.
Damn. Charlie hadnāt been lying about the hot blonde.
The woman walking straight toward him was all tight jeans, high heels, and confidence. And hot. Very, very hot.
Charlie muttered something admiring under his breath, and Lukeās gaze flicked to the man beside the woman. Tried to place him. Couldnāt.
Not too many guys around here who wore light-purple shirts and white pants with the same easy comfort that Lucky Hollow residents wore jeans and flannel.
No doubt about itāneither was from around here. Not by a long shot.
The man was a half step behind the woman, and Luke assessed that the woman was calling the shots.
His eyes narrowed as he realized that she hadnāt once wavered in her approach.
She knew what she was after:
Him.
She got closer and Luke saw that the face matched the body. Wide blue eyes, full lips, sassy shoulder-length blond hair that was just tousled enough to make a man wonder how it had gotten that wayāto want to be the one to muss it.
Her gaze flicked over him, and Charlie whistled and muttered under his breath. āShe just checked you out, man.ā
She had indeed, but Luke was far from flattered. It hadnāt been the assessment of a woman checking out a man so much as a predator evaluating its prey.
As though she was evaluating him for . . . something.
Blondie stopped in front of him, and the second her blue eyes locked on his, Luke felt a little jolt of awareness and was irrationally annoyed. It had been a long time since heād been quite so aware of a woman.
Once, heād enjoyed the feelingāsexual chemistry was almost the perfect combination of pain and pleasure. A subtle punch in the gut that you wanted to experience again and again.
These days, though, he was having a hard time getting past the pain part. The shitty parts had outweighed the good parts just one time too many. Now he mostly settled for casual hookups with a divorcƩe a few towns over who was even less interested in com-mitment than Luke was.
He had zero use for attraction to a pretty, bold woman in high heels.
Luke noticed that for a sheer moment she had a slightly off-balance look, as though she too had felt the annoying zip of arousal when their eyes met, but she recovered quick-ly.
Pasting a sunny, generic smile on her face, she stuck out her right hand. āLuke Elliott. Iām Jordan Carpenter. This is my colleague, Simon Nash.ā
Good manners had him setting down his equipment and extending his own right hand toward hers even as his brain caught on her name. Familiar, and . . .
Shit. Shit!
He managed to stop from jerking his hand back, but just barely. Instead, he gritted his teeth, gave her hand a perfunctory shake, and then fixed her with a glare. āYouāre wasting your time, Ms. Carpenter. And mine.ā
Blue eyes narrowed. āAha. So you did get my emails.ā
Those. The voicemails. The letters.
āSure,ā he said with a nod, shoving his hands in his pockets. āJust like I suspect you got the message that I didnāt want to be a part of your show.ā
Charlie looked from the woman to Luke and back again. āShow?ā
Ryan ambled over, his shit-eating grin telling Luke that this damn woman had already spilled the beans on why she was here. āLukeās gonna be a national heartthrob.ā
āInternational,ā said the blond guy in the purple shirt.
Jordan Carpenter didnāt look at her companion, but all three firefighters did.
The other man gave the sort of easy smile that probably had him making friends easily. Luke didnāt want a new friend.
Especially not one who wanted to use his shitty romantic past for the sake of TV ratings.