Make Mine A Marine. Candace Havens

      

      Subject: Lieutenant Colonel Matt Ryan

      Mission: Keep things professional...no matter how hard—or hot—it gets!

      Matt Ryan wants to settle down to a peaceful life as a helicopter instructor at the local base. When he meets free-spirited antiques dealer Chelly Richardson and finds out she’s homeless, well, he has to help. But her living in his pool house means the wild-at-heart woman who is stealing his dreams each night is just a bit too close...

      Chelly is determined to pay back the man who helped her during one of the toughest points in her life. She will also save the straitlaced Marine from the disaster that is her by keeping her hands off his hot, hot body. But the more she tries to stay away, the more fate seems to shove them together.

      “I’m having a hard time keeping this just business...”

      Matt leaned forward to kiss Chelly, lightly at first, his lips testing hers. Heat seared straight through her, settling in her core. Yes. She’d been wanting this from him for days. Since the first time she’d laid eyes on him in fact.

      But it was wrong, really wrong.

      Then his thumb stroked across her jaw so tenderly, she sighed and opened her mouth to his. Never in her life had a kiss done so much to her body. She thrummed from head to toe. And then she was lost in him.

      When they parted, they were both breathing hard.

      “That was—um, hot,” she said. “Amazing...and hot.”

      She wasn’t going to do this.

      Then he pulled her back to him and she was lost again.

Dear Reader,

      As I finish up the edits on this book, it’s Veterans Day, a time of remembering those who have and continue to fight for our freedom. And the book comes out around July Fourth, which is a big holiday for us to celebrate those freedoms in America. It isn’t lost on me that I can write my fun, sexy romances because of what these people have done for their country. I appreciate that freedom every day.

      I try to keep these books light and fun, and I sometimes take a bit of literary license with my characters and their jobs. But I never ever lose sight of the men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to protect us, whether they be Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, National Guard, Firemen or Police. There are those who always run toward the danger. They are a special breed. This book is dedicated to them.

      Much love to you all!

      Candace Havens

      Make Mine a Marine

      Candace Havens

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      CANDACE “CANDY” HAVENS is a bestselling and award-winning author. She is a two-time RITA® Award, Write Touch Readers’ Award and Holt Medallion finalist. She is also a winner of the Barbara Wilson Award. Candy is a nationally syndicated entertainment columnist for FYI Television. A veteran journalist, she has interviewed just about everyone in Hollywood. You can hear Candy weekly on New Country 96.3 KSCS in the Dallas–Fort Worth Area.

      MILLS & BOON

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      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

Dear Reader

       Title Page

       About the Author

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Chapter 18

       Chapter 19

       Extract

       Copyright

1

      CHELLY RICHARDSON ROLLED down the window of her beat-up truck and breathed in deep. And then she banged her head on the steering wheel three times.

      This is not happening.

      She tried the ignition again. Nothing. Her already awful twenty-four hours had hit a new low. After driving straight from Nashville to Corpus Christi, Texas, she was exhausted. When she couldn’t get her new roommate to answer she’d taken a long nap at a truck stop located just outside of town. When she still couldn’t get her friend to answer, Chelly picked up a paper and decided to hit some estate sales around town. That was what she did when she was nervous or upset. She went on a treasure hunt.

      That was how she’d ended up in front of this plantation home, complete with a picturesque wraparound porch, where Old Joe—her truck—had decided to quit on her.

      “I will not