Tempted Again
Praise for the novels of Cathie Linz
Luck Be a Lady
“You can always count on Cathie Linz to create a feisty, non-stereotypical librarian in her stories…Linz has written another fast-paced romantic comedy with just the right amount of heartfelt emotion.”
— Booklist (starred review)
“Filled with an assortment of odd yet engaging characters, this funny, madcap adventure is lively, sweetly sexy entertainment that fans won’t want to miss.”
—Library Journal
“If you’re looking for a book that will make you laugh out loud and allow you to walk away feeling completely satisfied, then this is the perfect story for you to pick up!”
—Night Owl Reviews (4 stars)
“Once again Cathie Linz gives us a character that just can’t be stereotyped. Wisecracking, well-endowed and smart to boot, with Megan West she broke the librarian mold. Luck Be a Lady is a fun romp filled with some bizarre, lovable, quirky and endearing folks.”
—Fresh Fiction
Mad, Bad and Blonde
“For lighthearted contemporary romance, it’s hard to beat Linz. Filled with believable characters and witty dialogue, her books never fail to entertain.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Lively pacing, a pair of magnetic, thoroughly appealing protagonists and well-defined secondary characters…make this sexy story sparkle with humor and pizzazz, while great geographic and cultural Chicago detail, an intriguing mystery and a dash of Romeo-and-Juliet add complexity.”
—Library Journal
Smart Girls Think Twice
“The brainy girl and hunky guy have never been so much fun. No need to think twice about grabbing this book when you’re looking for pure entertainment.”
—Susan Wiggs
“Readers will be captivated as they watch the introverted academic get in touch with her inner warrior and realize her true potential. Funny and poignant by turns, Linz’s latest is sure to charm.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“A prim heroine with a fiery core and a haunted, searching hero who thrives on the rush of adrenaline join with an abundance of quirky characters to drive the classic plot of this funny, spicy romance to a satisfying conclusion.
—Library Journal
Big Girls Don’t Cry
“The characters spring to life, and readers will be thrilled to find that individuals from Linz’s earlier novels pop in and out like old friends. And kudos to Linz for creating a heroine who looks and acts like a real woman.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“[A] sweetly charming, splendidly funny and supremely satisfying contemporary romance.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Another keeper.”
—Contemporary Romance Writers
“A must-read. Top pick!”
—Romance Reader at Heart
Bad Girls Don’t
“Cathie Linz gives her beautifully matched protagonists lots of sexy chemistry and some delightfully snappy dialogue, and the quirky cast of secondary characters gives Bad Girls Don’t its irresistible charm.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Linz, known for her fast-paced, snappy romantic comedies, once again sparkles in this heartwarming, funny tale. And her secondary characters…make an already excellent story exceptional.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Linz’s characterizations are absolutely wonderful. I fell in love with the protagonists from the first page…It has always been a pleasure to read her books, but I must say that this one is a fantastic novel!”
—Rendezvous
“Totally delightful.”
—Fresh Fiction
Good Girls Do
“Humor and warmth…Readers are going to love this!”
—Susan Elizabeth Phillips
“Cathie Linz is the author that readers of romantic comedy have been waiting for. She knows how to do it—characters with depth, sharp dialogue and a compelling story. The result is a charming, offbeat world, one you’ll hate to leave.”
—Jayne Ann Krentz
“Sometimes even good girls need to take a walk on the wild side. Linz deftly seasons her writing with her usual delectable wit, and the book’s quirky cast of endearing secondary characters adds another measure of humor to this sweetly sexy, fabulously fun contemporary romance.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Sexy, sassy and graced with exceptional dialogue, this fast-paced story is both hilarious and heartwarming, featuring wonderfully wacky secondary characters and well-developed protagonists you will come to love.”
—Library Journal
“Lively and fun, and you won’t be able to put it down.”
—Fresh Fiction
Berkley Sensation Titles by Cathie Linz
GOOD GIRLS DO
BAD GIRLS DON’T
BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY
SMART GIRLS THINK TWICE
MAD, BAD AND BLONDE
LUCK BE A LADY
TEMPTED AGAIN
Tempted Again
Cathie Linz
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
TEMPTED AGAIN
A Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley Sensation mass-market edition / January 2012
Copyright © 2012 by Cathie L. Baumgardner.
Cover art by Shutterstock.
Cover design by George Long.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
ISBN: 978-0-425-24454-8
BERKLEY SENSATION®
Berkley Sensation Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY SENSATION® is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
; PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
This book is dedicated to the incredibly brave Andrea Markell, her husband, Vic, and her kids, Katie and Victor, as well as all those affected by the terrible tornadoes in the South and in Joplin, Missouri, in the spring of 2011. My thoughts are with you all.
Special thanks go to Amy Alessio for her help regarding Young Adult librarians. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all you readers who have been there for me over the years, as well as the hundreds of librarians and booksellers who have given me your support. Please know how much I value each and every one of you. You are simply the best!
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter One
When in trouble seek shelter. Marissa Bennett had learned that lesson at an early age. She’d had to. Seek shelter from the storm. And there was no safer haven than her hometown of Hopeful, Ohio.
Or so Marissa hoped. Not that hoping, wishing or even praying had helped her out much lately. The bottom line was that her life had completely fallen apart over the past year. And now here she was, heading back home in a used and dented lime-green VW Bug. The eyesore of a car was a necessity not a choice.
Hopeful hadn’t changed much since Marissa had left to go to college more than a decade ago. As she traveled along Washington Street, the main highway into town, she drove past the oak tree–filled campus of Midwest College. The ivy-covered brick buildings glowed in the May sunshine. It was Saturday afternoon so the campus wasn’t as bustling as a weekday when classes were in session, but groups of students sat out under the trees enjoying the fine weather.
Her father was a history professor at the college and had been for years. One of her earliest memories was of him carrying her on his shoulders to touch the abundance of crabapple blossoms lining the entrance to Birch Hall, where he had his office.
Marissa’s parents had wanted her to stay and attend Midwest College, but Marissa had her heart set on attending Ohio State. She’d been eager to spread her wings and fly, excited about the world of possibilities open to her.
No, Hopeful hadn’t changed much…but Marissa had. Divorce and disillusionment did that to a woman. Knocked the stars from her eyes and turned her dreams to dust.
How different would her life be right now if she’d stayed in her hometown instead of leaving?
She wouldn’t have met and fallen for Brad Johnson. Wouldn’t have married him. Wouldn’t have caught him in their bed with another woman.
The humiliating memory cut clear through her and Marissa shoved it out of her mind for the time being. She’d been doing that a lot lately: shoving thoughts away and locking them up somewhere deep inside her as if they were radioactive waste. It was the only way for her to cope with the fact that she’d lost the life she’d built. Living a mere hour outside of New York City had given her the best of both worlds—the culture and excitement of the big city and the suburban lifestyle. But that was all over now. Gone.
Infidelity had ended her marriage. Budget cuts had ended the job she loved at the local library. The divorce had ended her ability to stay in the compact English-style cottage home of her dreams she’d shared with her husband. Her situation had started to seem hopeless before she’d been given this second chance in her hometown.
“What makes you want to return home?” library director Roz Jorgen had asked during Marissa’s interview at the Hopeful Memorial Library several weeks ago.
“The fact that my life is a mess” was not a suitably professional response, so Marissa had come up with an alternative statement about not realizing the value of something until you were away from it for a while.
Marissa must have said something right during the lengthy interview with Roz and the library board, because they’d eventually offered her a job and in doing so offered her a lifeline when she desperately needed one.
So now she had a position at her old hometown library, where she’d gone to Story Hour as a kid and worked as a page shelving books while in high school. She slowed as she drove past the library building on the corner of Washington and Book Streets.
There were so many memories here. Her father had taken pride in telling her that the white Doric columns guarding the library’s front entrance were the same style found on the Parthenon in Greece. She wondered if her dad was proud of her now that she’d returned home after messing up so badly. Beyond the words “Good luck,” he hadn’t said much when she’d come for the library interview several weeks ago.
Marissa had felt so stupid and useless after the divorce. Signing the divorce papers on her one-year anniversary hadn’t helped. She couldn’t even stay married for twelve months. How lame was that?
“You are not falling to pieces,” she fiercely ordered herself. “Not in front of the library’s book drop. It’s been six months. Your falling-to-pieces days are done. You’re starting over. Focus on that. Your new life. New job.”
Yes, the pay was low, but it was a job and Marissa was grateful to have it. And yes, she’d have to stay at her parents’ house for a week or two until she got her act together and her first paycheck. But there were worse things, right?
The threat of tears came suddenly and intensely as it often did since walking in on Brad in their bedroom doing the nasty with a female intern from his office. Blinking frantically, Marissa turned on to Book Street and found an empty parking place along the curb. Needing a moment to collect herself, she put the demon VW into park. She missed her Ford Five Hundred, but she hadn’t been able to afford the car payments so she’d had to trade it in. This rust bucket was the only thing in her price range. She’d told the car dealer, “Any color but green.” Yeah, right.
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Marissa muttered, glaring at the rusty lime-green car hood.
“Are you lost?” The question came from a woman leaning on the open passenger-side window. “Do you need help?”
Yes, Marissa wanted to reply to both those questions.
“Marissa, is that really you?” the woman asked.
That was the question. Was Marissa really sitting there staring at her high school guidance counselor, Karen Griffith, who always described her as “smart and perky”? Or had Marissa fallen into some kind of parallel universe? Was this all just a bad dream and she’d wake up to find herself in her sleigh bed with her husband…her totally committed, non-adulterous husband?
Not gonna happen, her inner voice told her.
“Are you okay?” Karen was staring at her with concern. In high school, she’d always invited the students to call her by her first name and cared about their well-being.
“Yes, I’m okay.” Marissa wished she sounded a little more confident.
“Are you sure? You look a little pale.”
“I’m sure.” Not really, but Marissa had become a fairly good liar. Sometimes she could even lie to herself. “Are you still working at the high school?” She’d learned that diverting attention away from herself was a useful tactic.
“Yes. I saw your mom at the grocery store the other day and she was bragging about how you’re coming home to work at the library. I remember you were an avid reader in school. You always had a book in your hand. You
knew early on what you wanted to do with your life. You had a plan. Not many students do.”
Yes, Marissa had had a plan but it certainly hadn’t included a failed marriage or ending up broke.
“Well, I’d better get going. It was nice to see you again. Welcome home.” Karen waved and walked away.
Before Marissa could put the car in drive, her cell phone rang. The ringtone of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” let her know her mom was calling. At fifty-two, Linda Bennett was a huge Bon Jovi fan and a self-confessed worrywart. She’d called Marissa every hour since she’d set out very early this morning from just west of New York City, her former home.
“Where are you?” her mom demanded.
“On Book Street by the library.”
A souped-up Camaro pulled alongside her VW with rap music blaring at rock-concert decibels, making it hard for Marissa to hear what her mom was saying. “What?”
“…go around the barricade.”
“What barricade?” Marissa asked.
No answer. Marissa’s phone was dead. She’d forgotten to charge it before heading out. No big deal. She was only a few blocks from home…her safe haven.
* * *
Connor Doyle surveyed the crowd gathered for Hopeful’s Founders’ Day Parade. As the town’s sheriff it was his job to make sure that things remained peaceful. Not that Hopeful was a hotbed of trouble or crime. Coming from Chicago, where he’d been an undercover cop in the narcotics division, he knew all about trouble and the worst that humanity had to offer. The brutal murders, the gang violence.