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      Reviewers love New York Times bestselling author

       SUSAN ANDERSEN!

      “This start of Andersen’s new series has fun and interesting characters, solid action and a hot and sexy romance…. The introduction of the heroines of the future stories whets the appetite for more.”

      —Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Cutting Loose

      “Snappy and sexy…. Upbeat and fun, with a touch of danger and passion, this is a great summer read.”

      —Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Coming Undone

      “Deft characters, smart dialogue, laugh-out-loud moments and sizzling sexual tension (you might want to read Chapter 15 twice) make this hard to put down…. Lovers of romance, passion and laughs should go all in for this one.”

      —Publishers Weekly on Just for Kicks

      “Andersen again injects magic into a story that would be clichéd in another’s hands, delivering warm, vulnerable characters in a touching yet suspenseful read.”

      —Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Skintight

      “A classic plot line receives a fresh, fun treatment…well-developed secondary characters add depth to this zesty novel, placing it a level beyond most of its competition.”

      —Publishers Weekly on Hot & Bothered

      “Sassy, snappy and sizzling hot!”

      —New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich on Baby, I’m Yours

      “Lively and fun!”

      —New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips on Be My Baby

      “Sizzling, snappy, sexy fun.”

      —New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie on Baby, Don’t Go

      Dear Reader,

      I’m often asked which of my books I like best. It’s a question I can only shrug at and reply that’s like trying to choose your favorite kid. Each book owns a chunk of me, and I love them all equally.

      That’s the Scout’s-honor truth…as far as the big picture goes.

      In the narrower scope of things, I usually love the book I’ve just finished the best—primarily because it is finished, because it all came together despite my darkest midbook doubts when I was certain it never would, and because in the end my characters finally settled down long enough to let me write their story my way.

      Still, I have a sneaking fondness for this book in particular. I’ll even cop to feeling the teensiest sliver of favoritism. John Miglionni had been building in my mind for the past two books, and I truly knew this guy by the time I sat down to write him. He’s a former Marine with a troubled past and a bad attitude when it comes to relationships. Give them a week, he maintains, and they start to stink.

      Oh, boy. That’s just begging for a comeuppance, don’t cha think? So I gave him his worst nightmare in the form of Victoria Hamilton, the one woman to walk away from him before he was ready to see her go. Being thrown together with her again is blowing his ironclad notions about the interchangeability of women all to you-know-where and gone.

      I just adore John and Victoria and their assorted family, friends and foes. And when all is finally said and done, I’m tickled pink with the way their story turned out. If you are, too, and you want to know how things turned out with Jared and P.J. once they grew up, check out their story in Coming Undone, in stores now.

      Susan Andersen

      Hot & Bothered

      This is dedicated to that wild and zany,

       Whitey’s-territory wedding party

      To the bride and groom, David and Heather

      To John and Sam, Uncle Chuck, Mom

       and those dancin’ fools, Austin and David

      And especially to Colleen and Dave,

       for sharing it all with me

      It was crazy fun, and I love you all

      —Susie

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I’d like to acknowledge Marcine Egender, Co-Executive Director of StandUp For Kids in Denver, Colorado. Thank you so much for answering all my questions, and for your insight into life on the streets for today’s at-risk youth. I hope my interpretation of the facts you shared is in the ballpark. If not, the inaccuracies are mine alone.

Hot & Bothered

      CONTENTS

      PROLOGUE

      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 TWENTY

      CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

      CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

      CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

      CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

      CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

      CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

      CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

      CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

      CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

      EPILOGUE

      PROLOGUE

      FORD EVANS HAMILTON OPENED his eyes and blinked the blurry room into focus. Pain splintered through his skull and throbbed along his nerve endings, and he lifted a cautious hand to probe the back of his head. It felt like an overripe cantaloupe.

      What the hell had happened? Hearing muted voices, the clink of heavy crystal, he drew his eyebrows together. Was there a party going on?

      Images flickered and floated on the peripheries of his mind and his brow grew smooth. Ah, yes. That’s right. There was a party—the one he’d thrown to watch McMurphy squirm. Well, McMurphy and one or two others, but the point was he had guests and he’d come into the library for a box of cigars to go with the after-dinner brandy. And…Jared had been there, right? Ford scowled as bits of their argument came drifting back and he suddenly recalled the shove his son had given him as the boy had stormed for the door. Jared was nothing but a blotch on the Hamilton name. Both his children were big disappointments.

      The faint swish of fabric brushing against the Aubusson rug snagged his attention. He turned his head, wincing as fresh agony stabbed like a series of ice-pick thrusts from cranium to tailbone. He was going to make Jared rue the day he was born. Peering sourly at the slowly merging double image of the person kneeling by his side, he demanded, “What the hell are you doing here?” Then he pushed the question aside

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