Playing By The Rules

Beverly Bird

RULE#1: POSITIVELY NO FALLING IN LOVE ALLOWEDSam Case had a killer smile and a laid-back charm that had women swooning at his feet and crying their hearts out over his playboy ways. Suave on the outside, but vulnerable on the inside, Sam wanted out of the dating game….But as a single mom, I, Mandy Hillman, had given up on Mr. Right, until my smooth-talking neighbor, Sam, proposed…something more than friendship. I agreed to his no-strings-attached affair, and my best friend became my lover. But then I ruined everything when I broke the rules and fell in love with Sam. Suddenly, anything less than happily-ever-after felt like losing….And I always play to win!

“Let me get this straight.

“We’ll do things together for a while—uncomplicated things—while we swear off dating until such time as one or both of us feels up to plunging back into the dating pool?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, looking relieved. “We could swear off chasing the opposite sex while we keep each other company. We could assuage all those male-female urges without the issue getting too complicated,” he explained excitedly. “So, what do you think?”

“Not so fast,” I said. “First, define uncomplicated.”

“I don’t know. Dining, drinks, companionship. Sex.”

He shoved the last part in quickly, and the air stopped somewhere midway in my chest.

“That’s the whole point of this,” he said when I didn’t answer immediately. “Without the sex, we’re right back to bashing our heads against the wall looking for the whole enchilada!”

The more I thought about it the better it sounded.

“This could be a mutually gratifying situation,” he continued.

“Okay,” I said. I was breathing again, but just barely.

Then he smiled.

“When do we start?”

Dear Reader,

Make way for spring—as well as some room on your reading table for six new Special Edition novels! Our selection for this month’s READERS’ RING—Special Edition’s very own book club—is Playing by the Rules by Beverly Bird. In this innovative, edgy romance, a single mom who is sick and tired of the singles scene makes a deal with a handsome divorced hero—that their relationship will not lead to commitment. But both hero and heroine soon find themselves breaking all those pesky rules and falling head over heels for each other!

Gina Wilkins delights her readers with The Family Plan, in which two ambitious lawyers find unexpected love—and a newfound family—with the help of a young orphaned girl. Reader favorite Nikki Benjamin delivers a poignant reunion romance, Loving Leah, about a compassionate nanny who restores hope to an embittered single dad and his fragile young daughter.

In Call of the West, the last in Myrna Temte’s HEARTS OF WYOMING miniseries, a celebrity writer goes to Wyoming and finds the ranch—and the man—with whom she’d like to spend her life. Now she has to convince the cowboy to give up his ranch—and his heart! In her new cross-line miniseries, THE MOM SQUAD, Marie Ferrarella debuts with A Billionaire and a Baby. Here, a scoop-hungry—and pregnant—reporter goes after a reclusive corporate raider, only to go into labor just as she’s about to get the dirt! Ann Roth tickles our fancy with Reforming Cole, a sexy and emotional tale about a willful heroine who starts a “men’s etiquette” school so that the macho opposite sex can learn how best to treat a lady. Against her better judgment, the teacher falls for the gorgeous bad boy of the class!

I hope you enjoy this month’s lineup and come back for another month of moving stories about life, love and family!

Best,

Karen Taylor Richman

Senior Editor

Playing by the Rules

Beverly Bird

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

BEVERLY BIRD

has lived in several places in the United States, but she is currently back where her roots began on an island off the coast of New Jersey. Her time is devoted to her family and her writing. She is the author of numerous romance novels, both contemporary and historical. Beverly love