Hide From Evil (45 page)

“Be back at my place by midnight,” Talia called to her sister’s disappearing back. She sighed and turned to Jack, whose usual poker face had cracked to reveal a faint sheepishness.

“I’m sorry if that was out of line,” he began.

Talia waved him off as she went back behind the bar. The crowd was thinning out and it didn’t take her long to refresh a handful of drinks. “It’s okay. Kevin is a jerkoff but he’s mostly harmless. But I can’t say I don’t wish she could find someone more motivated, not to mention someone who’s actually nice to her,” she said as she rejoined Jack where he was leaning against one end of the bar.

His full lips quirked into a rueful smile, revealing the flash of a dimple in his lean cheek. “Why is it the good ones always go for the assholes who don’t deserve them?”

“I don’t know,” Talia said and sighed with a tired smile. “But with my track record, I’m hardly in a position to question her judgment.”

Jack’s eyes darkened. “Don’t tell me you’re still blaming yourself.”

Talia felt like a fist was squeezing her insides as the guilt and the shame over her own bad decisions tried to claw free from the dark corner where Talia had shoved them. “I really don’t want to get into this right now,” she said, faking a smile at a customer a few seats down. God, five minutes in Jack’s presence and she was already back there, scared and powerless.

Guilty.

“Shit, Talia.” Jack reached out a hand, stopping short of actually touching her. “I didn’t mean to…I didn’t come here to upset you. I’m looking after you too, Talia.” There was something in his face that made her swallow hard and made her feel…something…she couldn’t quite pinpoint. An ache, a curiosity—

“Hey, who’s your friend?”

Whatever it was got pushed away in a wave of perfume and blond hair striding across the room, a glint of interest in her blue eyes and a toothpaste-commercial-worthy smile on her face.

“This is my, uh, this is Jack Brooks,” Talia said. “And Jack, this is Susie Morse, the owner of Suzette’s and my boss.”

Talia watched Jack’s huge hand swallow up Susie’s much smaller one. She grabbed a rag and gave the bar a vigorous wipe down so she wouldn’t see the inevitable flare of attraction on Jack’s face. Who could blame him? With her thick, honey-colored hair, blue eyes, and tall, athletic body, Susie was a dead ringer for Christie Brinkley in her
Sports Illustrated
days. Normally, Talia didn’t pay enough attention to her own looks to let the contrast bother her, but suddenly she felt like a small dark mouse in the shadow of Susie’s blazing sun.

“Nice to put a face with the name,” Susie said, though the way her eyes were raking up and down Jack’s body, she was appreciating a lot more than just his face.

Something was odd though. “Why would you know Jack’s name?”

Something flickered across Susie’s face that looked suspiciously like guilt, but then her smile was back in full force. “Oh, Alyssa told me all about you.”

Alyssa was Alyssa Taggart, married to Derek Taggart, who worked with Jack at Gemini Securities. Alyssa and Susie were childhood friends, and when Talia had moved to Palo Alto, Alyssa had hooked her up with Susie, who happened to be in the market for a new beverage manager at her popular restaurant. While Talia hated feeling like a charity case, she’d been happy for the introduction and had worked her ass off to make sure Susie never regretted the decision to hire her.

“Last time she and Derek were in, she said I had to meet you the next time you came to town, and I can see exactly why she was so insistent.”

In her time at Suzette’s, Talia had come to like and respect Susie a great deal and counted her as one of the few people she trusted enough to call a friend. But right now, watching as Susie looked at Jack like he was a juicy piece of meat, Talia had to squash the urge to smack her friend’s hand away from where it lingered in Jack’s.

Talia wasn’t positive in the dim lighting of the bar, but she was pretty sure Jack was blushing. “Uh, thanks. It’s, uh, nice to meet you too,” he said and gently disengaged his hand.

“Dinner service is wrapping up,” Susie said, “but I’m more than happy to set up a table for you and have the chef put something together—”

Jack silenced her with a raised hand. “Thanks, but I’m fine. I’ll just sit here at the bar, if that’s okay?” He quirked a thick brow at Talia as if asking for permission.

Which struck her as odd. In her short but intense interactions with Jack, he never asked her approval for anything. “Fine with me. What can I get you?”

Jack settled into a stool as she slid the requested beer in front of him. Talia saw another customer signaling her from the corner of her eye. “I need to—”

“Go right ahead,” Jack said. “I’m good.”

Talia got the customer his check, and as the crowd thinned, that sensation of being watched came back, ten times stronger now. But it didn’t creep her out, having Jack’s intense gaze track her. Instead of prickles on the back of her neck and between her shoulders, she felt a strange ache, almost like a yearning.

As she gathered up glasses from an empty table, she heard Susie’s tinkling laugh from the main dining room and felt a sudden burst of envy. For the easy way her friend was able to smile at Jack, toss her hair, laugh, and make her interest clear.

Talia had been like that once. Friendly, flirty, ready and willing to use what she had to attract the attention of any man she set her sights on. She’d been normal once. She knew she had. Able to talk and banter and be attracted to a man as gorgeous and compelling as Jack.

But when she tried to remember what that was like, it felt as though she was parting the curtains on some distant, foggy past that belonged to another person. She’d tried to reclaim that part of herself in the past two years. She’d dated a few men, nice, normal men who took her out to dinner and
didn’t
expect her to sleep with them. But none of them had been able to wake her body from its apparent coma. No one made anything that felt remotely like attraction spark in her belly.

Until now.

Of course. Because no matter how much she longed for a normal life, of course her fucked-up past and twisted psychology would make her yearn for the one man who knew exactly who she was, what she’d done, and what had been done to her.

The one man who’d made it all too clear he didn’t want a damn thing from her.

The Dish

Where authors give you the inside scoop!

From the desk of Jill Shalvis

Dear Reader,

It’s been a fun, exciting year for my Lucky Harbor series. Thanks to you, the readers, I hit the
New York Times
bestseller list with
The Sweetest Thing
. Wow. Talk about making my day! You are all awesome, and I’m still grinning from ear to ear and making everyone call me “N-Y-T.” But I digress…

In light of how much you, the readers, have enjoyed this series, my publisher is putting
Simply Irresistible
and
The Sweetest Thing
together as a 2-in-1 volume at a special low price. CHRISTMAS IN LUCKY HARBOR will be in stores in November—just in time to bring new readers up to speed for book three,
Head Over Heels,
in December.

When I first started this series, I wanted it to be about three sisters who run a beach resort together. I figured I’d use my three daughters as inspiration. Only problem, my little darlings are teenagers, and they bicker like fiends. Some inspiration. But then it occurred to me: Their relationships are real, and that’s what I like to write. Real people. So I changed things up, and the series became about three ESTRANGED sisters, stuck together running a dilapidated inn falling down on its axis. Now
that
I could pull off for sure. Add in three sexy alpha heroes to go with, and voilà… I was on my way.

So make sure to look for CHRISTMAS IN LUCKY HARBOR, the reprint of books one and two, available both in print and as an ebook wherever books are sold. And right on its heels, book three,
Head Over Heels
. (Heels? Get it?)

Happy reading and holiday hugs!

www.jillshalvis.com

From the desk of Margaret Mallory

Dear Reader,

Bad boys! What woman doesn’t love a rogue—at least in fiction?

I suspect that’s the reason I’ve had readers asking me about Alex MacDonald since he made his appearance as a secondary character in
The Guardian
, Book 1 of the Return of the Highlanders series.

Alex is such an unruly charmer that I was forced to ban him from several chapters of
The Guardian
for misbehavior. Naturally, the scoundrel attempted to steal every scene I put him in. I will admit that I asked Alex to flirt with the heroine to make his cousin jealous, but did he have to enjoy himself quite so thoroughly? Of course, if there had been any real chance of stealing his cousin’s true love, Alex would not have done it. A good heart is hidden beneath that brawny chest. All the same, I told the scene-stealer he must wait his turn. When he laughed and refused to cooperate, I threw him out.

Now, at last, this too-handsome, green-eyed warrior has his own book, THE SINNER. I hope readers will agree that a man who has had far too many women fall at his feet must suffer on the road to love.

The first thing I decided to do was give Alex a heroine who was as loath to marry as he was. In fact, Alex would have to travel the length and breadth of Scotland to find a lass as opposed to marriage in general, or to him in particular, as Glynis MacNeil. Glynis’s experience with one handsome, philandering Highland warrior was enough to last her a lifetime, and she’s prepared to go to any lengths to thwart her chieftain father’s attempts to wed her to another.

Alex has sworn—repeatedly and to anyone who would listen—that he will
never
take a wife. So the second thing I decided to do was surprise Alex partway through the book with an utterly compelling reason to wed. (No, I’m not telling here.) I hope readers appreciate the irony of this bad boy’s long, uphill battle to persuade Glynis to marry him.

Helping these two untrusting souls find love proved an even bigger challenge than getting them wed. Fortunately, the attraction between Alex and Glynis was so hot my fingers burned on the keys. The last thing I needed to do, then, was force them to trust each other through a series of dangerous adventures that threatened all they held dear. That part was easy, dear readers—such dangers
abound
in the Highlands in the year 1515.