That New York Minute

Abby Gaines

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“You said you don’t do chicken soup. You didn’t say you don’t do kissing.”

Rachel’s mouth was no longer quivering … her lips were full and nicely shaped and more tempting than he could believe.

“I don’t do kissing, either,” she said firmly. “Not with you.”

Too bad Garrett couldn’t get the idea out of his head.

“I don’t think you should write off the possibility. I already like your legs.” It wasn’t her legs he was eyeing right now … he found the V of her yellow blouse. “Maybe I’d like the whole—”

“Don’t you dare say hog,” Rachel warned.

“Shebang,” he said, grinning.

Dear Reader,

Last year, I visited New York City. I’d forgotten how incredible it is, how its streets make you feel so alive. Yet despite being frenetic, it’s easy to get around, and friendly.

New York is the setting for some great movies—An Affair to Remember, Sleepless in Seattle, Two Weeks’ Notice. The city has also inspired many books … including That New York Minute.

In That New York Minute, Rachel Frye and Garrett Calder, rivals in a Manhattan advertising agency, are complete opposites—such fun for the writer, helping them find their way to each other!

But they have one thing in common: each needs someone who’ll stick with them no matter what.

My visit to NYC will stay in my heart forever … but not for the obvious reasons. You see, I’d planned to travel there with two of my best friends and fellow authors, Sandra Hyatt and Karina Bliss. We were particularly excited because Sandra was up for an award at the conference we would attend. But a volcanic ash cloud forced the cancellation of my friends’ flight; to our mutual devastation, they never made it to NYC.

A few weeks later, Sandra died suddenly of a brain bleed. It was a terrible shock to her family and friends, and a reminder to us all to make time for those we cherish (as, indeed, Sandra always did). I will never get to visit the Big Apple with Sandra, but she will always be in my heart.

You can read more about Sandra, and the Trust established to honor her memory, at www.sandrahyatt.com.

I hope you enjoy That New York Minute. To share your thoughts, please e-mail abby@abbygaines.com. To read an After-the-End scene, visit the For Readers page at www.abbygaines.com.

Sincerely,

Abby Gaines

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABBY GAINES writes contemporary romances for the Mills & Boon

Cherish

line, and Regency romances for the Love Inspired Books Love Inspired Historical line. Those might sound like two completely different genres, but Abby likes to say she writes “stories that leave you smiling”—wherever and whenever they are set. Her Mills & Boon Cherish novel The Groom Came Back won the 2010 Readers Crown Award, and her novella One in a Million won the 2011 Readers Crown. That New York Minute is Abby Gaines’s eighteenth book for Mills & Boon.

Abby loves cooking, reading, skiing and traveling … though not all at once! She lives with her husband and children—and a labradoodle and a cat—in a house with enough stairs to keep her semi-fit and a sun-filled office whose sea view provides inspiration for her writing. Visit her at www.abbygaines.com.

That New York

Minute

Abby Gaines

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

To the memory of

Sandra Diane Hyde

(1965–2011)

As Sandra Hyatt, a wonderful writer of romance

As a wife and mother, the heart of her family

As a friend…irreplaceable

CHAPTER ONE

HE’S BREAKING UP WITH ME.

Rachel Frye took a swig of champagne. No longer the appropriate drink for the occasion, but she needed something to do with her hands. Something other than clasping them together on the table while she begged Piers not to end it.

Given they were sitting in one of Manhattan’s coolest bars, a little dignity was called for.

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re really attractive and smart. I enjoy spending time with you.” Piers leaned for