Two of a Kind (Harlequin Hqn) - Softcover

Mallery, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 037377768X ISBN 13: 9780373777686

Publisher: Hqn Books, 2013

Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery welcomes readers back to Fool’s Gold, where a one-time fling could become the real thing.…

Felicia Swift never dreamed she’d hear a deep, sexy voice from her past in tiny Fool’s Gold, California. The last time Gideon Boylan whispered in her ear was half a world away…on the morning after the hottest night of her life. Her freaky smarts have limited her close friendships, and romance, but she came to Fool’s Gold looking for ordinary. Gorgeous, brooding Gideon is anything but that.

Black Ops taught Gideon that love could be deadly. Now he pretends to fit in while keeping everyone at arm’s length. Felicia wants more than he can give—a home, family, love—but she has a lot to learn about men…and Gideon needs to be the man to teach her.

As these two misfits discover that passion isn’t the only thing they have in common, they just might figure out that two of a kind should never be split apart.

About this title

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery has entertained millions of readers with her witty and emotional stories about women. Publishers Weekly calls Susan’s prose “luscious and provocative,” and Booklist says “Novels don’t get much better than Mallery’s expert blend of emotional nuance, humor and superb storytelling.” Susan lives in Seattle with her husband and her tiny but intrepid toy poodle. Visit her at www.SusanMallery.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Two of a Kind

By Susan Mallery

Harlequin Enterprises Limited

Copyright © 2013 Harlequin Enterprises Limited
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-373-77768-6

CHAPTER 1

Rational thought and a working knowledge of hand-to-hand combat were uselesswhen faced with the villainous power of the American house spider.

Felicia Swift stood immobilized in the corner of the warehouse, aware of theweb, of the arachnid watching her, no doubt plotting her downfall. Wherethere was one female American house spider, there were others, and she knew theywere all after her.

The logical part of her brain nearly laughed out loud at her fears. In her head,Felicia understood that spiders did not, in fact, travel in packs orscheme to attack her. But intelligence and logic were no match for a truearachnophobe. She could write papers, prepare flow charts and even doexperiments from now until the next appearance of Halley's Comet. She wasterrified of spiders and they knew it.

"I'm going to back away slowly," she said in a soft, soothing voice.

Technically, spiders didn't have ears. They could sense vibration, but with herspeaking quietly, there wouldn't be much of that. Still, she felt bettertalking, so she kept up the words as she inched toward the exit, always keepingher gaze locked firmly on the enemy.

Light spilled from the open door. Light meant freedom and spider-free breathing.Light meant—

The light suddenly blacked out. Felicia jumped and turned, prepared to do battlewith the giant mother-of-all-spiders. Instead she faced a tall man withshaggy hair and a scar by his eyebrow.

"I heard a scream," he said. "I came to see if there was a problem." He frowned."Felicia?"

Because the spiders weren't enough, she thought frantically. How was thatpossible?

Fortes fortuna adiuvat.

She tried to rein in her unwieldy brain. Fortune favors the brave? That washelpful how? She had spiders behind her, the man who took her virginityin front of her, and she was thinking in Latin?

Felicia sucked in a breath and steadied herself. She was a logistics expert.She'd never met a crisis she couldn't organize her way out of, and todaywould be no exception. She would work from big to small and reward herself bydoing the Sunday New York Times crossword in less than fourminutes.

"Hello, Gideon," she said, bracing herself for her hormonal reaction to thisman.

He moved closer, his dark eyes filling with emotion. She had never been all thatgood at reading other people's feelings, but even she recognizedconfusion.

As he approached, she was aware of the size of him—the sheer broadness of hisshoulders. His T-shirt seemed stretched to the point of rippingacross his chest and biceps. He looked lethal but still graceful. The kind ofman who was at home in any dangerous part of the world.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

By here, she assumed he meant in Fool's Gold and not in the warehouse itself.

She squared her shoulders—a feeble attempt to look larger and more in control.Similar to a cat arching its back and raising its fur. But she doubtedGideon was going to be any more intimidated by her than he would be by a hissingtabby.

"I live in town now."

"I knew that. I meant what are you doing in this warehouse?"

"Oh."

An unexpected response, she thought, suddenly less sure of herself. A result ofthe spider encounter. Their powers were far-reaching. She'd plannedto avoid any contact with Gideon for several months. Here it was less than fiveweeks into her plan and they'd run into each other.

"I'm working," she said, returning her attention to his question. "How did youknow I was in town?"

"Justice told me."

"He did?" Something her business associate hadn't mentioned to her. "When?"

"A few weeks ago." Gideon's mouth curved into a smile. "He told me to stay awayfrom you."

His voice, she thought, trying not to get lost in the memories of what the soundmeant to her. While olfactory recollections were thought to be thestrongest, a sound or a phrase could also shift a person back to another time.Felicia had no doubt she could easily be transported by Gideon'sscent; right now she was most concerned about his voice.

He had one of those low, sexy voices. As ridiculous as it sounded, thecombination of tone and cadence reminded her of chocolate. Now his voicewas a vibration she was sure the spiders could get behind. She should—

Her chin came up as her brain replayed his statement.

"Justice told you to stay away from me?"

Gideon raised one powerful shoulder. "He suggested it was a good idea. Afterwhat happened."

Outraged, she planted her hands on her hips, then thought hitting Justice was afar better idea. Only, he wasn't there.

"What happened between you and me isn't his business," she said firmly.

"You're his family."

"That doesn't give him the right to get in the middle of my personal life."

"I didn't see you trying to find me," Gideon pointed out. "I figured you werecomfortable with his ... intervention."

"Of course not," she began, only to realize she had been avoiding Gideon, butnot for the reasons he thought. "It's complicated."

"I'm seeing that," he told her. "So you're okay?"

"Of course. Our sexual encounter was over four years ago." She had no idea ifhe'd guessed she'd been a virgin or not and didn't see any reason tomention it now. "Our night together was ... satisfying." An understatement, shethought, remembering how Gideon had made her feel. "I'm sorryJustice and Ford broke down the hotel room door the following morning."

Gideon's expression changed to one of amusement. It was a look Felicia was usedto seeing, and she knew it meant she'd somehow missed anobvious social cue or taken a joking comment literally.

She held in a sigh. She was smart. Scary smart, as she'd often been told. She'dgrown up around scientists and graduate students. Ask her aboutthe origins of the universe and she could give a fact-based lecture on thesubject without having to prepare. But interpersonal interactions wereharder. She was so damned awkward, she thought glumly. She said the wrong thingor sounded like a space alien with bad programming, when allshe wanted was to be just like everyone else.

"I meant are you okay now," he said. "You screamed. That's why I came in."

She pressed her lips together. For possibly the thousandth time in her life shethought how she would gladly exchange thirty IQ points for just a smallincrease in social awareness.

"I'm fine," she said, offering what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Couldn'tbe better. Thank you for coming to my rescue—however unnecessarythat was."

He took a step toward her. "I'm always happy to help out a beautiful woman."

Flirting, she thought, automatically monitoring his pupil dilation to see if itwas real or simply politeness. When a man was sexually interested, hispupils dilated. But it was too dark in the warehouse for her to be sure.

"What made you scream?" he asked.

She drew in a breath. "I saw a spider."

One eyebrow rose.

"It was large and aggressive," she added.

"A spider?"

"Yes. I have issues with them."

"Apparently."

"I'm not stupid. I know it's not rational."

Gideon chuckled. "You're many things, Felicia, but we're all aware that stupidisn't one of them."

Before she could figure out what to say to that, Gideon turned and walked away.She was so caught up in the way his jeans fit his butt that shecouldn't think of anything to say, and then he was gone and she was alone withlittle more than her mouth hanging open, a herd of American housespiders and their plans for her.

Gideon Boylan knew the danger of flashbacks. They could come on suddenly anddisoriented him. They were vivid, engaging all his senses, andwhen they were gone, a man had no way of knowing what was real and what wasimagined. After being held captive for two years, he'd been readyto give in to madness. At least it would have been an escape.

His rescue had come just in time, although too late for the men who had beenwith him. But even being out of the hands of tormentors hadn't givenhim any sense of freedom. The memories were just as painful as the imprisonmenthad been.

Focus, he told himself as he loaded the CD and checked his playlist for the nextthree hours. He had put his past behind him. Some days he evenbelieved it. Seeing Felicia earlier had been a kick in the gut, but he wouldtake a flashback of a beautiful woman in his bed every time. Still, he'd hadto take a five-mile run and then meditate for nearly an hour before he'd feltcalm enough to head to the radio station.

"We're doing it the old-fashioned way tonight," he said into the microphone."Just like we always do."

Beyond the control room, the station was dark, the way he liked it. He didn'tmind the dark. If it was dark, he was safe. They'd never come for him inthe dark. They'd always turned the lights on first.

"It's eleven o'clock in Fool's Gold and this is Gideon. I'm going to dedicatetonight's first song to a lovely lady I ran into today. You know who you are."

He pushed the button and "Wild Thing" by the Troggs started.

Gideon smiled to himself. He had no way of knowing if Felicia was listening ornot, but he liked the idea of playing a song for her.

A red light flashed on the wall. He glanced at it, aware someone was ringing thefront bell. After hours, the signal flashed back in the control room. Aninteresting time for visitors. He walked to the front of the radio station andunlocked the door. Ford Hendrix stood in front of the door, a beer in eachhand.

Gideon grinned and waved his friend in. "I heard you were in town."

"Yeah, back two days and I'm already regretting the decision."

Gideon took the offered beer. "Welcome home the conquering hero?"

"Something like that."

Gideon had known Ford for years. Although Ford was a SEAL, they'd servedtogether on a joint task force, and later, when Gideon had been left inhis Taliban prison to rot, Ford had been one of those who had risked his life toget him out.

"Come on back. I have to put on the next song."

They walked down the long corridor. "I can't believe you own this place," Fordsaid, following him into the control room. "It's a radio station."

"Huh. That explains all the music."

Ford took the seat opposite Gideon's. Gideon put on his headphones and flipped aswitch.

"This is my night for dedications," he said. "I apologize for going digital fora second, but it's the only way to cue up quickly. Here we go. Welcomehome, Ford."

The opening of "Born to be Wild" began.

"You really are a bastard," Ford said conversationally.

"I find myself an amusing companion."

Ford was about Gideon's size. Strong and, on the surface, easygoing. But Gideonknew that anyone who had been to the places they'd been anddone what they'd done traveled with ghosts.

"What brings you out so late at night?" he asked.

Ford grimaced. "I woke up and found my mom hovering over me in my room.Fortunately I recognized her before I reacted. I need to get out ofthere."

"So find an apartment."

"Believe me, I'm looking first thing in the morning. She begged me to wait, andI figured moving back home couldn't be too hard. You know, connectwith family."

Gideon had made the attempt once. It hadn't gone well.

"My brothers are okay," Ford continued. "But my mom and my sisters are stayingway too close."

"They're glad you're home. You were gone a long time."

Gideon didn't know all the details, but he'd heard Ford had left Fool's Goldwhen he was twenty and hadn't been back much in the past fourteenyears.

Ford took a long swallow of his beer. "My mom's already asking if I've thoughtof settling down." He shuddered.

"Not ready for a wife and the pitter-patter of little feet?"

"No, although I wouldn't mind getting laid." Ford glanced at him. "You're introuble, by the way."

"I always am."

His friend laughed. "Felicia went after Justice this afternoon. She said he hadno right to tell you to stay away from her. When she gets mad, it's quitethe show. Talk about a woman who can handle the big words."

"You know her?"

"Not well. The first time I met her was in Thailand."

When both Justice and Ford had interrupted Gideon's night with Felicia. Orrather the following morning. A polite way of saying they'd busted downthe door and Justice had insisted on taking Felicia with him. Gideon had triedto go after her, but Ford had held him back.

Gideon hadn't seen her again until today. When she'd been fighting maraudingspiders.

"She was pissed at Justice?" he asked.

Ford shook his head. "Leave me out of this. We're not in high school, and I'mnot passing notes in study hall or asking her if she likes you. You'll haveto do it yourself."

Gideon was tempted. That night had been memorable. She was an intriguingcombination of determined, sexy and geeky. But he knew he wasn't hertype—he wasn't anyone's. To the untrained eye he looked as if he'd healed, buthe knew what was underneath. He wasn't a good relationship risk.Of course, if Felicia was looking for something less serious and more naked, hewas all in.

Ford finished his beer. "Mind if I bunk in an empty office?"

"There's a futon in the break room."

"Thanks."

Gideon didn't bother mentioning it wasn't that comfortable. For a guy like Ford,a ratty futon was just as good as a four-star hotel bed. In their line ofwork, you learned to make do.

Ford dropped the bottle into the blue recycling bin, then headed down the hall.Gideon put in a CD, then searched until he found the right track.

"You Keep Me Hanging On" began to play.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Two of a Kind by Susan Mallery. Copyright © 2013 Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Excerpted by permission of Harlequin Enterprises Limited.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hqn Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 037377768X
• ISBN 13: 9780373777686
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 379