You’re too smart and too talented not to.” Tiffany could claim she wasn’t going to college, but her grade point average argued otherwise.
Instead she said, “Well, if you don’t go to college, I can use the money to redecorate your room. I’ll turn it into a boudoir where I’ll throw home parties and recruit new Lady Bianca reps. Yep, we’ll destroy the earth, one Fiesta Mocha eye shadow at a time.”
“Oh, Mother.”
Toni swiveled away from the computer. “Why don’t you and I go shopping? We haven’t gone for ages. We could check out the new summer fashions. Maybe get your hair cut?”
“Can’t. I’m meeting Tish and Jenn. We’re doing a project for the enviro club. Can I borrow the car?”
“The car?” Toni opened her eyes so wide her mascara-coated lashes poked her upper eyelids. “What about global warming?”
Her daughter’s voice dripped disdain. “We’re, like, carpooling.”
Toni knew her daughter had been well-trained behind the wheel. She’d paid for the driver’s ed courses. But it was still difficult for her to hand over the sparkly key chain without a pang. “Drive carefully, okay? Don’t let those girls talk you into anything foolish.”
“Nah. We won’t get wasted until after the meeting.” Then she cracked the grin that always melted Toni’s heart, and left.
Toni brewed herself a cup of coffee in the single-brew machine she’d won for hitting the top sales mark in her region last quarter. She knew herbal tea was better for her health and her skin, but she’d accepted long ago that she was never going to be perfect. She was doing the best she could.
She carried the hot, steaming brew up to her office and resettled herself at her desk. She took another moment to stare lovingly at the excellent sales numbers.
When she checked her email she wasn’t at all surprised to find that most of her team had responded to her message with enthusiastic congratulations and excitement. Of course, the fact that they’d all answered their emails so fast suggested that they were also working on a sunny Saturday, one of the reasons why her team did so well.
Knowing that if she spent too long gloating over last month’s results she’d waste this month, she closed the window and began strategizing on ways to market the newest line of lip glosses. It seemed to Toni that these would interest young mothers. “Little League,” she mumbled as she made some notes for herself. “Must infiltrate Little League.”
Her phone rang.
Immediately, before picking up, Toni swiped fresh lipstick over her mouth, inhaled positive energy and smiled. Whoever was on the other end of her phone could without doubt use a makeover, would like to host a home party, or, even better, wanted to sell Lady Bianca cosmetics.
“Hello,” she said in her most welcoming tone. “Toni Diamond speaking.”
“And don’t you sound as pretty as a summer’s day,” a deep, sexy male voice replied.
Her smile fell off her face and dread clenched her stomach. “Who is this?”
“Oh, honey, don’t you know?”
She did, of course, but she willed the caller to be a telephone marketer, a politician fishing for votes, an obscene caller. Anyone but— “Your own husband?” His voice was still warm and sexy. A woman could lose herself in Dwayne Diamond’s voice — and many a woman had — only to find herself abandoned when something newer and shinier came along.
“You haven’t been my husband for sixteen years, Dwayne.” He’d left her shortly after their daughter was born. Besides their daughter, the only thing he’d left her with was his fancy last name.
In a second she was plunged back to those early months after he’d left. She’d had no money, no skills. Barely more than a child herself, she’d had to figure out how to raise a baby on her own, keep some kind of roof over their heads and pay for food. She’d done it, too. Stubborn pride and a desperate need to keep her baby safe and healthy had driven her. Her mother had helped out where she could, but Toni had refused to become that sad cliché, the teenaged single mom living in her own mother’s basement. Besides, her mom didn’t have a basement. She lived in a trailer.
When a well-dressed woman had offered the young Toni a makeover while she picked over bruised apples in a discount supermarket, she couldn’t have known then that she was Toni’s fairy godmother, but so it had turned out.
Toni had embraced Lady Bianca and home sales with an energy that came partly from need and partly from discovering that she was a natural born saleswoman. She loved people, she loved makeup and she really, really loved watching her income increase from a few dollars that first month to more than a hundred the second month.
She was on her way.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t still care about you.”
And no two-bit charmer was going to hurt her now. “What do you want, Dwayne?”
“I wanted to congratulate you, honey. I got this here glossy magazine in front of me, and it says you’re a real successful business woman.” Her smile might have dropped to the floor but his was plastered all over his face. She could hear it oozing over the phone line, as fake as his protestations of love had been.
“Thank you. Now I’ve got to g—”
“Whoa! Not so fast there, honey. We’ve got some catching up to do. When I saw that picture of you in the magazine, and saw you were as pretty as ever, I figured it was time we got reacquainted.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Toni, you used to be a lot softer.”
“I wonder what toughened me up?”
“Listen, let me buy you a drink. A cup of coffee.”
“You’re in town?” Horror sharpened her tone. He’d left Dallas as well as her and moved to Austin, which she’d only discovered when a very pissed-off woman had called a few months later looking for him.
“I could be on the next plane.”
“Plane?” It was a three-hour drive, give or take, to Austin.
“Sure, babe. I’m a headliner in Vegas.” The only place she could imagine Dwayne being a headliner was at a lice convention. He was a country singer with a mediocre voice and songwriting skills that were derivative at best.
“No. Thank you. I don’t want to have a drink with you.”
“Darling, it would be worth your while. I’ve got a business proposition for you, you being such a top business woman and all.”
She refused to scowl. She wasn’t getting wrinkles for Dwayne D. “Dwayne, did you seriously call me up after abandoning me sixteen years ago to ask for money?”
“I’m not asking for a gift, sweat pea. It’s an investment.”
“An investment. In what? A new guitar?”
“I don’t just play country and western music.” He sounded stung. “I’m diversified.”
“I bet you are.”
“Look, if you’re not interested in an investment, I’ll take a loan.”
She didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or cry. “Dwayne, please don’t ever call me again.”
“Don’t hang up.” She heard a tone that hadn’t been there before. He’d dropped the smarmy tone and something sharp came through. “We haven’t talked about that sweet daughter of ours. How is she?”
Toni practically had to pry her teeth apart to get words out. “She’s fine.”
“You tell her hi and that I’m going to come and see her real soon. We’ve got lots of years to catch up on.” In the background, a woman called his name and he said, “I’ve got to go now, but I look forward to seeing you both real soon.”
When she got off the phone she found that the fingernails of her left hand had dented half-moons into her palms and one of the diamantes she had embedded into her nail tips had come out, leaving a small round hole in her nail like somebody had shot a bullet through it.
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Other Books by Nancy Warren
Kiss A Girl in the Rain
Take a Chance: Book 1
Evan’s Amazing Life List
1. Ride a motorcycle across Ameri
ca
2. Kiss a girl in the rain
3. Swim in every ocean…
When Evan Chance gives up a successful corporate law career to tackle the bucket list he wrote when he was twelve, he has no idea where the road will lead him.
Caitlyn Sorenson is a happily settled small town doctor. When a sexy drifter rolls into town after a motorcycle accident leaves him stranded in Miller’s Pond for a few days, she can smell trouble even as she’s drawn to a man who is only passing through town.
But some scorching hot nights and a blooming tenderness mean two people will have to face up to the challenges of love.
From USA Today Bestselling Author Nancy Warren comes the first in an exciting new series of sexy romances about a family named Chance.
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Iris in Bloom
Take a Chance: Book 2
Iris Chance is turning 33. She’s an independent woman, the owner of the Sunflower Coffee and Tea Company in Hidden Falls, Oregon. Hidden Falls boasts clean air, natural beauty, good neighbors. The only problem is that there are zero interesting single men and Iris wants a baby. She’d love the whole package -- the love story, the sexy romance with a hero who will sweep her off her feet, but she doesn’t have time to wait for Mr. Right. He may lose his way and never show up. She decides to start a family with the help of a sperm bank, knowing she’ll have her large family to support and encourage her as a single mom. When the new High School English teacher, Geoff McLeod, walks into her café and into her life he seems perfect. There’s only one problem…
In this contemporary romantic comedy about a small town girl who longs for a family, but has never entirely trusted she deserved a happy ending, two lonely people learn that sometimes love comes when you least expect it.
A sexy, humorous, contemporary romance, Iris in Bloom is the perfect beach read, or a romance novel to while away a rainy afternoon
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Love is a Mystery
Six bestselling authors’ romantic-mystery novels in one boxed set, featuring heroes and heroines who are fearless, funny, and very good at sleuthing out crimes.
In FROSTED SHADOW by Nancy Warren, there’s nothing pretty about murder. When a cosmetics sales rep is murdered at the annual convention, only Toni Diamond, a sleuth who understands how to make appearances deceiving, can see into the mind of this killer.
In SHE’S GOTTA BE MINE by Jennifer Skully, what better way to show her ex what he’s missing in the made-over Bobbie Jones than taking up with the local bad boy—who’s also reputed to be a serial killer. That is, until a real murder rocks the little town of Cottonmouth.
In THE HONEYMOON COTTAGE by Barbara Cool Lee, Camilla Stewart finds too late that escaping her past won’t be easy. Because local sheriff ’s captain Ryan Knight realizes that Camilla and her son Oliver may be the only people alive who can identify a serial killer... and they are next on his hit list.
In STEAMED by Holly Jacobs, cleaning is murder on the manicure. Quincy Mac is a maid in LA—a maid who’s accidentally cleaned a murder scene. Now she’s a suspect with only one option—find the real murderer before she ends up in jail.
THE ZEN MAN by Colleen Collins is a 21st-century Nick and Nora tale. It’s just another ho-hum Christmas party until a murder lands private eye Rick Levine in the slammer on first-degree murder charges. Released on bond, Rick and his girlfriend Laura have 30 days to find the real killer.
In CAUGHT YOU LOOKING by Shelley Adina, when it comes to love and crime, who’s catching whom? Hot on the trail of a technology thief, PI Duncan Moore thinks he’s found him, but he needs proof. So he asks Mallory Baines if he can do surveillance from her upstairs bedroom—which would be great except her family thinks he’s moved in and wedding bells are imminent!
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Wild Ride
Changing Gears: Book 1
Duncan Forbes is a bad-boy adventurer, a motorcycle-riding art professor whose side hustle is tracking down stolen works of art, no matter what the danger, and restoring them to their rightful owners for a nice commission. When he rolls into the sleepy town of Swiftcurrent, Oregon, trouble rolls in with him.
Alexandra Forrest is a dedicated librarian. She’s also a sexy woman who loves to wear high heels and tight clothes while she’s shelving books. She dislikes the sexy drifter who saunters into her library on sight. When she stumbles over a dead body in her library the next day, she’s pretty sure it’s no coincidence. What follows is a Wild Ride that will challenge Alex and Duncan and shake up this sleepy town.
Nancy Warren is the USA Today Bestselling author of more than 50 novels. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s usually out hiking, twisting her body into strange yoga shapes, or traveling..
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Fast Ride
Changing Gears: Book 2
Wes Doman is a biker with amnesia. Part of a notorious M/C gang that’s terrorizing the town.
Or is he?
Nell Tennant is staying with her great Aunt Gertie in Harleyville. She’s a refugee from a fast life in LA looking for some peace and quiet.
Or is she?
Changing Gears is the world famous bike store in Harleyville where the owner, a wizened old biker, says some things that make no sense.
Or do they?
Fast Ride is a sexy, humorous romance where a bad boy biker may have amnesia but he hasn’t forgotten how to please his woman. Where the woman who he thinks is his isn’t, and where nothing makes sense but the scorching intimacy between these two.
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Crazy Ride
Changing Gears: Book 3
Who’s really crazy? Joe Montcrief is a hard driving workaholic corporate shark who rarely sees the light of day between the Manhattan highrises where he lives to work. When he arrives in the small town of Beaverton, Idaho with takeovers and profit in mind, he discovers the townspeople are eccentric to say the least and more interested in their slow pace of life than money. Sexy, gorgeous Emily Sargent runs the Shady Lady B&B, a former brothel where he’s forced to stay as it’s the only accommodation in town. The Shady Lady is so antiquated the only place he can get decent cell reception is in the middle of Emily’s rose garden. Still, he manages to keep his mind on work except when Emily’s around and he notices that this rose-growing, cookie baking, small-town girl has something about her that turns him inside out.
Fans of Kristen Higgins, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Barbara Freethy and Susan Mallery will enjoy this madcap romantic comedy that Lori Foster calls ‘sexy and wonderfully witty.
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Rich Bitch
Everything’s Going to the Dogs
Vince Grange is a tough-assed labor negotiator in New York who’s famous for being tough but fair. His nickname is Bulldog. He enjoys his work, his easy bachelor existence and his lack of ties. When his rich great aunt Marjorie dies to everyone’s surprise she wills her spoiled French toy poodle to Vince. To the dog she wills the bulk of her large fortune. All Vince has to do is keep Mimi happy and healthy and when the pooch dies of old age, Vince will get the cash. Vince is not thrilled with the arrangement. Neither is Mimi, the poodle who only understands French (or pretends to). How can he keep up his bulldog reputation if he’s seen walking a powderpuff on legs with a real diamond collar and pink-painted toenails! He can’t do it!
In this romantic comedy about a rich dog and a poor dog, a big American man and a petite Frenchwoman, nothing is quite what it seems. Family drama, mystery, comedy and some hot, sexy nights mean that life will never be the same for this collection of opposites.
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About the Author
Nancy Warren is the USA Today bestselling author of more than fifty novels. She continues to write for Harlequin Blaze as well as writing Indie books. Nancy is known for her sexy, humorous stories. She lives in the Pacific Northwest though she tends to wander. She is an avid hiker, a lover of good chocola
te, good wine, and good stories.
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