Briarwood Cottage Read online

Although she was vaguely aware of the couple leaving the snug, and the pub, his steady male gaze was holding her hostage. She could not look away.

  “You don’t.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” he said on that deep, gravelly voice that set off vibrations like a tuning fork inside her.

  Conn ran his hand down her throat, his thumb skimming over her pulse, which leaped beneath his touch, before cupping her jaw. “Because I’ve never been comfortable fenced into boundaries.”

  And growing up in a world of near-absolute freedom, Sedona had never been comfortable without them. “There’s something you need to know.”

  “And that would be?”

  “I’m not into casual sex.”

  “And isn’t that good to hear.” He lowered his mouth to within a whisper of hers. “Since there’d be nothing casual about how you affect me.”

  She drew in a sharp breath, feeling as if she were standing on the edge of the towering cliff where J.T. and Mary’s wedding had taken place in a circle of ancient stones.

  “I’m taking you back to your room.”

  Somehow, her hand had lifted to his face. “Your flight…”

  He parted her lips with the pad of his thumb. “It’s my plane. It takes off when I’m ready.” His other hand was on her leg, his fingers stroking the inside of her thigh through the denim of the jeans she’d put on after returning to her room after the reception. “I’ll ring up the pilot and tell him I’ll be leaving in the morning.”

  Then his mouth came down on hers and Conn was kissing her, hard and deep, setting off a blind-blinding supernova inside her.

  They left the pub, running through the soft Irish rain into the inn next door. As the old fashioned gilt cage elevator cranked its way up to her floor, he continued to kiss her breathless, making Sedona forgot that she’d never, ever, been attracted to bad boys.

  Other books in the Castlelough series:

  A Woman’s Heart

  Fair Haven

  Legends Lake

  The Shelter Bay (Castlelough’s sister city) series:

  The Homecoming

  One Summer

  On Lavender Lane

  Moonshell Beach

  Sea Glass Winter

  Castaway Cove

  Christmas in Shelter Bay (Cole and Kelli’s pre-novella in A Christmas on Main Street)

  You Again, coming November 11, 2014

  The Shelter Bay spin-off Murphy Brothers Trilogy:

  River’s Bend

  About The Author

  When New York Times bestselling contemporary romance author JoAnn Ross was seven years old, she had no doubt whatsoever that she’d grow up to play center field for the New York Yankees. Writing would be her backup occupation, something she planned to do after retiring from baseball. Those were, in her mind, her only options. While waiting for the Yankees management to call, she wrote her first novella—a tragic romance about two star-crossed Mallard ducks—for a second grade writing assignment.

  The paper earned a gold star. And JoAnn kept writing.

  She’s now written around one hundred novels (she quit keeping track long ago) and has been published in twenty-six countries. Two of her titles have been excerpted in Cosmopolitan magazine and her books have also been published by the Doubleday, Rhapsody, Literary Guild, and Mystery Guild book clubs. A member of the Romance Writers of America’s Honor Roll of best-selling authors, she’s won several awards.

  Although the Yankees have yet to call her to New York to platoon center field, JoAnn figures making one out of two life goals isn’t bad.

  Currently writing her Shelter Bay and River’s Bend series set in Oregon, where she and her husband grew up, and her Castlelough Irish series—from where her grandparents emigrated and one of her favorite places to visit—JoAnn lives with her husband and two rescued dogs (who pretty much rule the house) in the Pacific Northwest.

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