Ready for Love. Gwyneth Bolton

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      “You know what? I have often wondered what it would take to shut you up.”

      Maritza smirked and filled her expression with more brazenness than she felt at that moment.

      “Funny, I’ve often wondered the same thing about you. Unfortunately, Penny would miss you if I followed through on any of my ideas.”

      He chuckled again. It was masculine laughter at its finest. “Hmm… Good thing my idea will shut us both up for a while…then we both win.” His sexy face leaned in, further invading her space.

      She gulped. And willed herself to pull away, but she leaned forward instead. It was as if some magnetic force was moving her head, twisting and contorting it to find the right angle for his lips to meet hers.

      It couldn’t be of her own free will. Could it?

      She did not want this. Did she?

      His lips connected to hers and she sighed. It sounded like a contented kitten that had just lapped up the last bit of milk. More like a sigh and mewl mixed together, but nevertheless problematic….

      His tongue traced her lips and more shocks went through her. Her heart seemed as if it wanted to pound its way right out of her chest and into his hands.

      Stupid heart, she thought as she opened her lips and allowed her tongue entry into his mouth.

      She wasn’t letting her heart out but there was no reason her tongue couldn’t come out and play.

      GWYNETH BOLTON

      was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. She currently lives in Central New York with her husband, Cedric. When she was twelve years old, she became an avid reader of romance by sneaking books from her mother’s stash of Harlequin and Silhouette novels. In the ’90s she was introduced to African American and multicultural romance novels and her life hasn’t been the same since. She has a B.A. and an M.A. in English/creative writing and a Ph.D. in English/composition and rhetoric. She teaches college level classes in writing and women’s studies. She has won several awards for her romance novels, including ten Emma Awards and the Romance in Color Reviewer’s Choice award for new author of the year.

      When Gwyneth is not teaching or working on her own romance novels, she is curled up with a cup of herbal tea, a warm quilt and a good book. She can be reached via email at [email protected]. Readers can visit her website at www.gwynethbolton.com.

      Ready for Love

      Gwyneth Bolton

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      To all the readers who loved the Hightowers and have been asking for Terrill and Maritza’s story almost from the beginning… This one is for you!

      Dear Reader,

      Psssst. Psssst. Pssssst.

      Come closer…

      Okay… Terrill and Maritza have a secret. It is a secret that will shock all of their friends and family. And it will probably even shock you, dear reader!

      I wish I could share their secret with you but I am taking great risk telling you this. Okay, I’ll say this much, I think of the old New Edition song, “My Secret” whenever I think of these two enemies turned lov—

      Oops! I’ve said too much already. But let’s just say, when New Edition’s Ralph Tresvant sings “sparks begin to fly, lightening in the sky,” he could very well be talking about what happens every time Terrill and Maritza come within five feet of one another. And their secret has a lot to do with what happens when neither one of them can ignore all those sparks any longer.

      You’ll have to read it to find out the rest. But I hope you will enjoy finding out Terrill and Maritza’s secret as much as I enjoyed revealing it!

      Much love and peace,

      Gwyneth

      I want to offer a special thanks to my family: my husband, Cedric Bolton; my mom, Donna Pough; my sisters, Jennifer, Cassandra, Michelle and Tashina; my nieces Ashlee and Zaria and my nephew Michael.

      And I’d like to offer an extra special thanks to all the readers and book clubs that have read my books and have let me know that they enjoyed them. I can’t tell you how much your support has meant to me. I appreciate you all so much because the readers make up the heart of this genre that I love so very much! Thanks for all you do to make sure that the legacy of Black romance novels continues.

      Contents

      First Interlude

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Second Interlude

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Third Interlude

      Epilogue

      First Interlude

       If you stay ready, you won’t ever have to get

       ready…

      “Girl, you got some’s plainin’ to do!” Samantha Hightower did a halfway decent mimic of Ricky Ricardo. The dark chocolate beauty was a dead ringer for a pre–Weight Watchers Jennifer Hudson.

      Maritza rolled her eyes at Joel Hightower’s wife as she toyed with the ten-carat pear-shaped engagement ring on her finger and tried to figure out where it all had gone so incredibly wrong.

      Wrong man.

      Wrong ring.

      Wrong everything.

      Wrong like the way she was thinking about Terrill Carter—the man who was undoubtedly the love of her life—instead of Andrew “Speed-Lo” MacGregor, the man she had agreed to marry…

      “She doesn’t have to explain anything to me! Little mamacita was double dipping and trying to get her vanilla-chocolate swirl on! She wanted two men and then she got caught up in the mix. Shoulda asked an ol’ school playa like me how to play the game and not let the game play you. That’s the truth.” Carla, her best friend Penny Keys-Hightower’s mother, was stretched out on Maritza’s cream-butter leather sofa relaxing and popping off at the mouth—feet up and shoes on like she paid the mortgage or something.

      Maritza could only shake her head because there was no point in trying to get into it with Carla. The petite firecracker looked spiffy in a peach maxi sundress and matching sandals. But her spiffy behind was going to hear it from Maritza if she left just one scuff mark on the butter leather.

      The bright airiness of her downtown Los Angeles loft was cluttered with crowds of questioning people. The Hightower wives and their families, along with