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      January’s menu

       BARONESSA GELATI

       in Boston’s North End

      In addition to all our regular flavors of Italian gelato, this month we are featuring:

       A six-foot-tall scoop of prime Italian man

      When his heart was broken two years ago, Nicholas Barone vowed never to fall in love again. But even the firstborn son of the Barone dynasty can’t control destiny.

       A cherry-topped dollop of all-American girl

      Gail Fenton had lived up to the moniker, but now she wanted to see how the other half lived. Armed with self-help magazines and faulty confidence, she set out to find the seductress living within.

       Deep, rich helping of Barones

      With their long, colorful history, the Barones are one of Boston’s most famous families. Their three-generation gelato business has attained Fortune 500 status, but for the eight Barone heirs, the family’s true legacy is love and honor.

      Buon appetito!

      Dear Reader,

      Get your new year off to a sizzling start by reading six passionate, powerful and provocative new love stories from Silhouette Desire!

      Don’t miss the exciting launch of DYNASTIES: THE BARONES, the new 12-book continuity series about feuding Italian-American families caught in a web of danger, deceit and desire. Meet Nicholas, the eldest son of Boston’s powerful Barone clan, and Gail, the down-to-earth nanny who wins his heart, in The Playboy & Plain Jane (#1483) by USA TODAY bestselling author Leanne Banks.

      In Beckett’s Convenient Bride (#1484), the final story in Dixie Browning’s BECKETT’S FORTUNE miniseries, a detective offers the protection of his home—and loses his heart—to a waitress whose own home is torched after she witnesses a murder. And in The Sheikh’s Bidding (#1485) by Kristi Gold, an Arabian prince pays dearly to win back his ex-lover and their son.

      Reader favorite Sara Orwig completes her STALLION PASS miniseries with The Rancher, the Baby & the Nanny (#1486), featuring a daredevil cowboy and the shy miss he hires to care for his baby niece. In Quade: The Irresistible One (#1487) by Bronwyn Jameson, sparks fly when two lawyers exchange more than arguments. And great news for all you fans of Harlequin Historicals author Charlene Sands—she’s now writing contemporary romances, as well, and debuts in Desire with The Heart of a Cowboy (#1488), a reunion romance that puts an ex-rodeo star at close quarters on a ranch with the pregnant widow he’s loved silently for years.

      Ring in this new year with all six brand-new love stories from Silhouette Desire….

      Enjoy!

      Joan Marlow Golan

      Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

      The Playboy & Plain Jane

      Leanne Banks

      Special thanks to Marilyn Puett

       for being the silver lining in a dark cloud.

      This book is dedicated to all the wanna-be girl jocks.

       I’m right there with you!

      LEANNE BANKS,

      a bestselling author of romance, lives in her native Virginia with her husband, son and daughter. Recognized for both her sensual and humorous writing with two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times, Leanne likes creating a story with a few grins, a generous kick of sensuality and characters that hang around after the book is finished. Leanne believes romance readers are the best readers in the world because they understand that love is the greatest miracle of all. You can contact Leanne online at [email protected] or write to her at P.O. Box 1442, Midlothian, VA 23113. A SASE for a reply would be greatly appreciated.

      Meet the Barones of Boston—

      an elite clan caught in a web of danger, deceit…and desire!

      Who’s Who in

       THE PLAYBOY & PLAIN JANE

      Nicholas Barone— An American through and through—but his Italian blood runs hot. Nicholas was raised to honor family and strive for perfection. But the successful bachelor’s not a gentleman 100% of the time, much to the delight of Boston’s eligible women….

      Gail Fenton— A virgin—but, she fears, not for long. Not when her new employer, Nicholas, oozes sensuality. She claims to be immune, but she’s soon caught between decadent urges and good sense….

      Carlo and Moira Barone— As parents of eight grown sons and daughters, they’re professional worriers. But when it comes to matters of the heart, no one knows better than these two, whose love defied all the odds.

      Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Prologue

      She’d been a blue-eyed beauty with a body that could send a man’s brains straight to his crotch. She’d also had a faithless heart of glass that could cut a man to ribbons.

      If Nicholas Barone had been a superstitious man, he would have admitted that the Valentine’s Day curse on his family continued. Almost two years ago, on February 14, he’d bought the ring and been prepared to propose to Danielle Smithson.

      He remembered using his key to enter her apartment, wanting to surprise her, only to overhear her boasting to a friend on the phone that she was going to “bag the big one tonight.” Justifiably confident of her allure, Danielle had feigned an attentiveness he’d later learned was purely calculated to achieve her goal. In this case, Danielle had been willing to pretend she adored Nicholas in order to get her hands on his family’s money.

      Bitterness still filled him at the memory of the ugly scene that had followed. When she’d been unable to deny her deception, she’d done her feminine best to placate him. Nicholas might be American through and through, but his Italian blood ran hot, and he’d sworn he would have nothing to do with her.

      Even at this moment, standing in the darkness of his daughter’s nursery on this January day, he felt anger roll through him with renewed strength. He looked down at the sleeping one-year-old daughter he hadn’t known existed until ten days ago. Just after Nicholas had broken up with Danielle, she’d found another man with a hefty bank account and had apparently tried to pawn Molly off as his daughter.

      He took a deep breath and exhaled a fraction of his bitterness. Drawing solace from the sight of Molly’s innocence and vulnerability, he heard footsteps from behind him. His mother and father, he suspected. His father would deny it, but when it came to his eight children, both of his parents were professional worriers. When Nicholas recalled the shenanigans he and his siblings had tried to pull over the years, it was a wonder his parents hadn’t been driven over the edge.

      Feeling his mother’s hand on his

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