Brief Encounter by Alice Gaines

Author:Alice Gaines
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

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Like what you read?

Watch for Alice Gaines’s

Cabin Fever series

Three erotic novellas about

The mischief people get up to

When left alone in tight quarters

Keep reading for an excerpt from

HEAT RISES

Available June 2012

And watch for

STORM BOUND in July 2012

And

MATING SEASON in August 2012

Heat Rises

By

Alice Gaines

Chapter 1

So much for making it to her job interview. Laura Barber might as well have been looking at a moonscape rather than a deserted mountain highway. Still shivering, she gazed out the window of the country store as the falling snow covered the pavement and filled in the road completely. The storm had only started half an hour ago. What would this place look like by morning?

“You’re a mighty lucky young lady,” said the shopkeeper, handing her a Styrofoam cup with steam coming out the top. “If you’d gone off the road any farther from here, you’d still be out in that.”

She took a sip of the coffee and did her best not to grimace at the bitter taste. The man may be right about her luck, but she’d probably ruined her shoes on the trek here. The low-heeled pumps had cost a bundle, and she’d worn them just enough that her feet felt comfortable when she dressed for business.

“Yep,” the man said as he gazed out at the accumulating snow. “Nobody’ll be moving around in these parts for days.”

“Mister—”

“Beaumont,” he said, offering his gnarled hand.

“Mr. Beaumont,” she said, studying him as they shook hands. The twinkle in his blue eyes suggested more youth than the fringe of white hair did. If you called central casting for a country store owner, they’d probably send someone like this man.

“You’d be in a heap of trouble if you’d broken down farther away,” he said.

“Can someone come out and put me back on the road before things get worse?” she asked.

“You don’t understand storms in these mountains, Miss.”

“Ms.,” she said. “Ms. Laura Barber.”

“Well, Ms. Barber, won’t nobody get out of here until the plows come through.”

“When will that be?”

“Days,” he answered. “Probably not a week, though.”

“A week?” Darn it all. She was supposed to be at the bottom of this mountain by evening and at an interview in the morning. She’d planned carefully to get ahead of this storm, but her plane had landed late. Still, she ought to have been able to make her destination. She’d grown up in Connecticut and had driven in winter weather before. Snow was snow, wasn’t it? Apparently not.

“What am I going to do?” she asked. “I can’t stay here for days.”

“That you can’t. I’ll be closing up and heading home in a few minutes.”

“Is there a motel nearby?” she asked.

“Nope. We’ll have to find a family to put you up.”

“I can’t impose on strangers for days.”

He shrugged. “Don’t see that you have much choice.”

Wonderful. Not only would she not make it to her interview but she’d also have to spend days with people she didn’t know. She managed well enough in business situations where procedures and rules of engagement were clearly laid out. In someone’s home, she’d have to interact.

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