Up Close and Personal

Maureen Child

The door was yanked open suddenly and there she stood.

Even in her worn jeans and button-down white shirt, she took his damn breath away and he resented that fact down to his bones.

Distance hadn’t helped. He’d thought of her. Dreamed of her, and awakened nearly every morning with his body tight and ready for her.

Even now, the lush, slightly floral scent of her reached out to him as if to tease every sense memory he had of touching her, tasting her, being inside her …

Jaw tight, he looked deeply into those calm blue eyes and wondered if she was as unaffected by him as she seemed.

Dear Reader,

I love Ireland. It’s my favorite place to visit, and every time I go, it’s harder and harder to leave. Everything about that country appeals to me, from the staggering beauty of the countryside to the bustle of the cities and especially the warmth of its people.

So writing this story was really fun for me. Ronan Connolly lives in Ireland, but he’s in California on business. His life gets complicated, though, when he meets Laura Page.

Sweeping her off to Ireland for a romantic visit is, Ronan thinks, the way to get her out of his system. But Laura isn’t the kind of woman it’s easy to walk away from. Soon enough, he realizes he doesn’t want to lose her. The problem is finding a way to keep her without engaging his heart.

I hope you enjoy Up Close and Personal as much as I did. You can visit me on Facebook, Twitter and at my website, www.maureenchild.com.

I wish you all great books and the time to relish them.

Maureen

About the Author

MAUREEN CHILD is a California native who loves to travel. Every chance they get, she and her husband are taking off on another research trip. An author of more than sixty books, Maureen loves a happy ending and still swears that she has the best job in the world. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two children and a golden retriever with delusions of grandeur. Visit Maureen’s website, www.maureenchild.com.

Up Close

and Personal

Maureen Child

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

For Patti Hambleton

That first trip to Ireland was the best

Because it was shared with you.

For all the years, for all the laughs,

I love you, my friend.

One

“Laura, I know you’re in there!”

Ronan Connolly pounded on the brightly painted blue front door a few more times, then paused to listen. Not a sound from inside the house, though he knew too well that Laura was in there. Hell, he could practically feel her, standing just on the other side of the damned door.

Bloody hardheaded woman. How had he ever thought that quality attractive? Now that attractive hardheadedness had come back to bite him in the ass.

Seconds ticked past and there was no sound from within, which only irritated him further. He glanced at the sunshine-yellow Volkswagen parked alongside the house—her car—then glared again at the still-closed front door.

“You won’t convince me you’re not at home. Your bloody car is parked in the street, Laura.”

Her voice came then, muffled but clear. “It’s a driveway in America, Ronan. You’re not in Ireland, remember?”

“More’s the pity.” He scrubbed one hand across his face and rolled his eyes in frustration. If they were in Ireland right now, he’d have half the village of Dunley on his side and he’d bloody well get her to open the damned door.

“I heard that,” she said. “And feel free to hop onto one of your private planes and go back to Connolly-land anytime you feel like it!”

If only he could, Ronan thought. But he’d come to California to open an American branch of his business and until Cosain was running as it should, he was going nowhere at all.

At the moment though, he was tired, on edge and in no mood to be dealing with more females. Especially one with a head as hard as Laura’s.

He had spent the past six weeks traveling across Europe acting as bodyguard to a sixteen-year-old pop star whose singing was only slightly less annoying than her attitude. Between the girl and her grasping mother, Ronan had been more than rea