More than ten years have passed since my first novel was published, and "Montana Match" has morphed into "Montana Matched." The new edition is about ten thousand words longer, updated and even more fun to read than the initial well-received contemporary romance was.
Attracting a woman has never been a problem for wealthy, handsome Montana rancher Jake Ruskin, but finding a woman to marry…that’s quite a different dilemma.
Fortunately, Chicago matchmaker Becky Montoya, whom many happy clients have called the best in the business, has promised Jake she can find him precisely the kind of woman he’d like to marry.
Becky’s been dreaming of expanding her business, and, once she finds Jake his perfect mate, she’ll be able to do just that with the windfall fee he’s promised her. Considering the amount of money involved, Becky flies to Montana to handle every detail of the Ruskin case personally.
To her surprise, she soon finds her personal dealings with Jake have become a bit too intimate, and, before long, sworn-single Becky is beginning to wonder--should she give in to her feelings for her handsome cowboy client or should she fly straight back to Chicago before she breaks every moral rule she’s ever believed in?
Excerpt:
Setup: Caught in a rainstorm, Jake and Becky spend the night in a country cabin.
Becky awoke as the first rays of light filtered through the windows. She didn’t know where she was at first, but it didn’t take her long to remember she was in the little cabin in the beautiful meadow--alone with Jake.
As she surveyed her surroundings she caught sight of her handsome host.
He lay cramped on the tiny sofa half naked and deadly asleep. Her gaze drifted from his handsome face to the black and gray curls covering his well-built, expansive chest. She watched his ribs expand and contract.
Her cheeks burned as she remembered the looks, the touches, the embraces she and Jake had shared over the last days. She thought about the first night she was with him and recalled how he’d engulfed her cheeks with his hands. They’d dropped the “Mr. Ruskin” and “Miss Montoya” titles as they’d gazed at the stars, the horses--and each other. They were Becky and Jake that night, not a matchmaker and a client, just a man and a woman.
She’d wanted him to hold her, touch her, kiss her. He almost had kissed her the very first night they were together.
He’d wanted to be with her too. He hadn’t tried to hide his interest in her.
Last night--Becky sighed and pulled the quilt to her chin.
She had no idea how they got through last night without getting close. Each of them half clothed, alone and vulnerable with nothing to keep them out of each other’s arms but their own restraint, she’d feared they’d get much closer than they should have.
She’d tried to shield her desire for him, but Jake was a very intuitive and intelligent man. She had no doubt he was as aware of her attraction to him as she was of his attraction to her.
If she hadn’t fallen asleep--passed out was more like it--on the sofa…
She bolted forward. She’d fallen asleep on the sofa!
Her cheeks began to burn again when she realized Jake must have carried her to bed.
She closed her eyes.
The thought of her half-dressed body being pressed into that magnificent, bared, masculine chest sent heat rushing through her.
A deep groan from the couch prompted Becky to gaze at Jake again. She watched him raise his arms over his head. He stretched and wriggled as his eyes slowly opened. “Becky?”
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"Montana Matched" is available in e-book at Amazon, B&N, I-Books, Kobo Books, Sony Bookstore and other places on the Internet. The paperback will be available in a couple of weeks at Amazon in a two-book edition along with its sequel "Montana's Magic."
I hope your April was good and your May will be even better.
Fran
Fran Shaff, Award-Winning Author
Fran's Web Page
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