Two brand-new stories in every volume…twice a month!
Duets Vol. #35
Featured authors are Liz Ireland, who creates “sassy characters, snappy dialogue and rip-roaring adventures…” says Romantic Times, and popular historical writer Cheryl Anne Porter, who always delivers “a funny ride—a roller coaster of fun and adventure.”—Romance Communications
Duets Vol. #36
Voted Storyteller of the Year twice by Romantic Times, Silhouette writer Carol Finch “presents her fans with rollicking, wild adventures…and fun from beginning to end.” Also making their Duets debut is the writing team of Selina Sinclair, who writes “a fast-paced, funny and spicy…novel.” —Women’s Fiction Exchange
Be sure to pick up both Duets volumes today!
Fit to be Tied
Carol Finch
The Lyon’s Den
Selina Sinclair
Contents
Fit to be Tied
Carol Finch
“Are you trying to spy on me?” Jessica shrieked
“Uh, calm down a minute, blondie,” Devlin called out from the balcony. “I’m only trying to be neighborly. Let me come in so we can—”
“No!”
“I’m not leaving till we talk, Porter.”
“Then I’m calling the cops, Peeping Tom!”
When he saw her lunge for the phone, Devlin tried to open the door. Unfortunately his foot went through the rotted board on the balcony. Staggering backward, he howled in alarm when the rickety railing gave way behind him.
Devlin cartwheeled across the sloped roof and took a header downward. He landed spread-eagled in a myrtle bush.
“Are you all right?”
Devlin looked up to see Jessica standing on the broken balcony, staring down at him with a mixture of amusement and concern. He lay there, dazzled by the effect of her smile, wishing something besides his clumsiness was the cause of it….
Dear Reader,
I’m delighted to make my debut in Duets! There is nothing I enjoy more than writing romantic comedy, because I firmly believe love and laughter go hand in hand.
Unfortunately, it takes Devlin and Jessica, the hero and heroine of Fit To Be Tied, a while to realize what they’re missing. Devlin is too busy fuming over the fact that his kooky female neighbor has established an exotic animal sanctuary across the fence from his ranch and his cattle are stampeding. He wants Jessica’s squawking, roaring animals gone, pronto. And Jessica along with them! But nobody tells headstrong Jessica what to do—especially not her blustery, domineering neighbor.
The feud festers, but something more complicated and compelling than temper flares between these two spirited individuals. And what could be more confounding than falling in love with someone from the wrong side of the fence, and the opposing side of the feud? Devlin and Jessica are about to find out that love flagrantly disregards boundaries.
I hope Fit To Be Tied brings you a smile and a few hours of reading pleasure.
Enjoy!
Carol Finch
This book is dedicated to my husband Ed and our children—Christie, Jill, Kurt, Jeff and Jon—with much love. And to our grandchildren, Brooklynn, Kennedy and Blake. Hugs and kisses!
1
THIS IS THE LAST STRAW! Devlin Callahan fumed as he buried the needle of the speedometer on his pickup and barreled down the gravel road, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. He did not have to put up with this nonsense! And he wasn’t going to, either. He intended to confront this problem the same way he handled every other problem—head-on—even if he had to deal with that female kook who bought the forty acres bordering the west fence of the Rocking C Ranch.
The zoo—as Devlin referred to the menagerie of exotic animals housed next to his cattle and sheep—was a constant disturbance. The zookeeper was about to get an earful, because Devlin had had it up to his eyeballs! He and his brother had spent the whole cursed day on horseback, rounding up frightened cattle and repairing broken fences. Damn it, there was enough to do on the Rocking C without unscheduled roundups.
Devlin hadn’t met his new neighbor, but he disliked her, and her zoo, sight unseen. The frustrated old biddy probably filled the emptiness in her meaningless life by surrounding herself with exotic animals that had no business whatsoever being housed in cattle country.
Slamming on the brake, Devlin skidded sideways in the loose gravel, hung a left, then smirked when the zookeeper’s antiquated two-story farmhouse came into view. The house was screaming for a coat of paint. The yard begged to be spiffed up. Devlin grudgingly admitted that the colorful flowers surrounding the foundation and gushing from