Always Valentine's Day

Always Valentine's Day
Kristin Hardy

Had his ship finally come in?Tall, dark and handsome bachelor Christopher Trask’s holiday was looking promising, especially once he met beautiful “it” girl Larkin. She seemed suspicious of Christopher from the start – and her father falling for his aunt was certainly complicating matters!Still, a cruise ship wasn’t real life…so what was the harm in a holiday romance? Surely her common sense would return once she was back on dry land…

Excerpt

“So I’m a hustler now, is that it?”

Too caught up in her own fury, Larkin missed the gathering tension. “I don’t know, are you? Kind of funny how things changed. One minute, you’re just some guy flirting. Then you see me with my father, the futures trader, and suddenly you go all continental on me, with the hand kissing and the heavy stares and…” She swallowed, remembering the flare of heat and need, noticing for the first time the palpable tension that hung around him.

“And?” Christopher bit off, a dangerous flash in his eyes.

She flushed. “And nothing. If you’re going to try to get alongside my father through me, you’re going to have to do a lot more to convince me than just kiss my hand.”

“Gladly.” And before she knew what he was about, he’d dragged her to him, lips coming down hot and possessive on hers.

Kristin Hardy has always wanted to write, and started her first novel while still in grade school. Although she became a laser engineer by training, she never gave up her dream of being an author. In 2002, her first completed manuscript debuted in the Mills & Boon

Blaze

line; it was subsequently made into a movie by the Oxygen network. Kristin lives in New Hampshire with her husband and collaborator. Check out her website at www.kristinhardy.com.

Always Valentine’s Day

By

Kristin Hardy

MILLS & BOON®

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/)

To the usual suspects for doing what they usually do (you know who you are), to Least Goat, for daring to dream, to Harlequin, for giving us happily ever after for sixty years, and to Stephen, for giving me happily ever after for eleven years. And counting.

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u6767fd46-a4a4-5004-a24b-d79dfcd22d5b)

Excerpt (#u20747770-78c5-59f2-8630-3769f4dac0cf)

About The Author (#ud8e13368-b5ac-5710-bca9-025d9477794e)

Title Page (#u68fa0627-e75f-57a0-be95-417cc8c6798c)

Dedication (#ud4dff013-b1db-518b-82c9-c9c048f8bc61)

Acknowledgements (#u603dbb36-6de1-5370-a367-0eabe67c7e76)

Chapter One (#uef596f5d-dec3-59c4-92ea-d95b8e4a3213)

Chapter Two (#u6cdb049d-3c13-5e37-998f-b042a10105b9)

Chapter Three (#u08d00bbe-ea6c-520d-beeb-9955a7bcdd09)

Chapter Four (#u404b455a-0ed1-5339-af49-2e6f93809743)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Preview (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements Thanks go to Laini Fondiller of Lazy Lady Farm, and Kristan Doolan and Layla Masant of Doe’s Leap Farm (www.vtcheese.com) for teaching me about goat dairying, and to Andy and Jenny Tapper of Via Lactea Farm (www.vialacteafarm.com) for introducing me to their goats and showing me what life on a working farm is like.

Chapter One

Larkin Hayes looked across the glassed-in lido deck of the Alaskan Voyager to Vancouver Bay beyond. When she’d left L.A. that morning, the mercury had been headed for the mid-nineties. Here in Vancouver, it hadn’t even cracked sixty degrees.

A snatch of the Lost theme song had her pulling her BlackBerry from her pocket.

“Hello?”

“I’m just leaving the airport,” a voice said without preamble.