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       “Actually, it’s you who owes me,” Gavin said. “And I’m here to give you a chance to make good on the debt.”

      Oh, Violet didn’t like the sound of that at all. “I beg your pardon? You want me to go to this fundraiser with you?” she asked incredulously.

      “No, I don’t want that,” he told her. “But I don’t have much choice. No other woman in town will be seen with me, thanks to you. And going to this thing alone would only illustrate that fact to everyone there.”

      “Well, sorry, but I already have plans for the evening,” she said. “Maybe next time you could call first. Surely if you can figure out where I live, you can locate my phone number. Both are unlisted, after all.”

      “I don’t think you understand, Ms Tandy,” he said. “You seem to think you have a choice in the matter. Like me, you don’t. You owe me,” he said again. “And I’m not leaving until you pay up.”

      About the Author

      ELIZABETH BEVARLY is a New York Times bestselling, RITA® Award-nominated author of more than sixty books and novellas, and she recently celebrated the twentieth anniversary of seeing her first book in print! Before writing, she worked in a variety of jobs, from retail to restaurant work to editorial assistant (never let anyone tell you a degree in English makes you unemployable), but now she happily makes her living writing full-time. She’s lived in places as varied as San Juan, Puerto Rico and Haddonfield, New Jersey, but now makes her home in her native Kentucky with her husband and son and two cats of questionable sanity. (But then, aren’t they all?)

      Dear Reader,

      When I read an article in my local paper about how women are beginning to rent high-end fashion for special occasions instead of buying it, I was intrigued. Women haven’t traditionally been big renters of clothing. Women traditionally want to own their clothing—especially high-end fashion. (Okay, okay. If they’re like me, they want to own it for the lowest possible price, but that’s beside the point. It’s also part of the fun. But I digress.) I figured women renting expensive clothing and jewelry must have an interesting reason for doing so. I also figured such women must have some interesting stories to tell.

      Violet Tandy is the first of three women who will visit my fictional Chicago boutique, Talk of the Town, to rent expensive clothing she can’t afford to buy. And her reason is certainly innocent enough. What isn’t innocent is Gavin Mason’s reaction to her in those rented duds. And boy, does that guy know how to make sparks fly …

      Happy reading!

       Elizabeth Bevarly

      One

      All Violet Tandy had ever wanted out of life was a place to call home. A home of her own, not a foster home like the myriad ones where she grew up. The kind of home people had in old movies, with white clapboard and black shutters and full-grown sugar maples canopying the front yard. And a picket fence. Had to have a picket fence. And a broad front porch with a wicker swing where she could reread all the books she’d loved as a child—Jane Eyre and Judy Blume, Lassie Come Home and Louisa May Alcott. Only she’d own the books and not have to return them to the library every week.

      Roses and lilac bushes would grow lush and fragrant around the perimeter of her house, morning glory would zigzag up the chimney and wisteria would drip from the eaves of the back porch. She would crochet wispy sweaters and bake cheerful pastries to support herself. She would live and let live and be content with her solitary existence. And she would never, ever harm another living soul. Yep, a tranquil, unsullied life in a comfy, uncluttered cottage all to herself was the only thing Violet Tandy had ever wanted.

      Which was why she wrote a memoir about being a high-priced, high-society call girl.

      Not that Violet had ever actually been a call girl, high-priced, high-society or otherwise. And not that her memoir was actually a memoir—it was a novel written to read like one, a trend she had noticed was becoming more and more popular with readers these days, herself included. Gracie Ledbetter, her editor at Rockcastle Books, had been so swept away by the story, that when she called Violet to make an offer on the book, she had admitted that if she didn’t know better, she would have thought Violet actually was a call girl, and that her novel—and that was how Gracie had said it, as if she were italicizing it—was actually a novelization—again with the italics—of her real life experiences.

      In fact, now that Violet thought about it, Gracie continued to do that—speak of the novel in italics, as if she’d never quite been convinced that the book was complete fiction. Even now, a year after Violet had signed the contract on the completed manuscript and a few weeks after the book’s debut, Gracie still asked things like, “Does the Princess Suite at the Chicago Ambassador Hotel really make you feel like a princess when you’re lying on the bed staring up at the castle mural on the ceiling?”

      Well, how would Violet know? The only reason she’d even seen the Princess Suite at the Ambassador was because she’d worked there as a housekeeper and had changed the sheets on the bed. Whenever she reminded Gracie of that, however, her editor would reply, “Oh, riiight. Of cooourse. You worked there as a housekeeper. Not as a … you know,” in a way that wasn’t quite as convincing as Violet would have liked.

      And once, Gracie had asked if the croque monsieur with truffle sauce at Chez Alain really could fill up a person for three days as the review of the five-star restaurant had claimed.

      Well, how would Violet know? The only reason she’d even tasted the croque monsieur with truffle sauce at Chez Alain was because she’d worked there as a hostess, and all the employees had had a bite or two of new dishes every time the menu changed. Whenever she reminded Gracie of that, however, her editor would reply, “Oh, riiight. Of cooourse. You worked there as a hostess. Not as a … you know,” in a way that wasn’t quite as convincing as Violet would have liked.

      No matter. She was certain that the reason Gracie asked such questions was simply because she got so carried away by the—quite fictional—prose. With any luck, the reading public would react similarly, and the book would soar to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, something that would earn Violet enough money to buy the snug little Norman Rockwell house in the Chicago suburbs that she’d always dreamed about.

      Her initial advance for the book had actually been rather modest, but thanks to the reaction Gracie’s executive editor had had to the revisions

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