Read an excerpt from The Marriage Arrangement by Jennifer Probst

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From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Probst comes a new story in her Marriage to a Billionaire series. The Book of Spells returns in this sparkling addition to the series! 

She had run from her demons… 

Caterina Victoria Windsor fled her family winery after a humiliating broken engagement, and spent the past year in Italy rebuilding her world. But when Ripley Savage shows up with a plan to bring her back home, and an outrageous demand for her to marry him, she has no choice but to return to face her past. But when simple attraction begins to run deeper, Cat has to decide if she’s strong enough to trust again…and strong enough to stay… 

He vowed to bring her back home to be his wife… 

Rip Savage saved Windsor Winery, but the only way to make it truly his is to marry into the family. He’s not about to walk away from the only thing he’s ever wanted, even if he has to tame the spoiled brat who left her legacy and her father behind without a care. When he convinces her to agree to a marriage arrangement and return home, he never counted on the fierce sexual attraction between them to grow into something more. But when deeper emotions emerge, Rip has to fight for something he wants even more than Winsor Winery: his future wife. 

**Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you'll enjoy each one as much as we do.**

Excerpt

Silence fell.

Rip spun away. His lungs emptied of air as he struggled to understand the betrayal of a man he’d trusted. The late afternoon sunlight streamed through the oversized bay windows, wrapping the room in golden light. He watched the effect the sunbeams had on the office. Swirling tendrils of pain and emptiness ripped at his insides, fighting to get out, but he forced them back, his many years of discipline winning over his temptation to let the emotions run rampant.

Odd that as angry as he was, he felt the bitterness more intently; that the past year as Edward’s right-hand man and friend meant nothing. Rip couldn’t take over the family business because he wasn’t family. All his work, care, and sacrifice to bring the winery back from bankruptcy didn’t matter. Blood mattered.

Once again, Rip found himself chasing a prize that danced just out of reach, like the shadow chased the elusive light of the sun.

And once again, he found himself back in the darkness.

So be it.

He swiveled on his heel and schooled his face to show no emotion. The ending was clear to him, and there was no doubt he’d win. He’d learned the lesson early, trapped in an abusive home, craving a life that was bigger and better and beyond reach. Sometimes, he believed he’d gotten there, only to realize it had only been a mirage—like now.

None of it mattered. He wanted Winsor Winery for himself. If the only way to do it was to marry a rich, spoiled heiress, he’d do it. If he had to make her fall in love with him, he would. If he had to lie, or deceive, he would. And by God, he’d have no blood on his hands because it was her own father who’d forced his hand.

“Where is she?”

“In Milan. I’ll give you her address.”

He gave a curt nod. “Don’t let her know I’m coming. I’d prefer to do this on my own, without any interference.”

Edward looked torn. “She deserves to hear the truth from me.”

“Then give me at least a week. Give me some time to get to know her before you bring up the idea of marriage. I’d like to see if we can even make this work between us.”

Slowly, the older man nodded. “One week. Then I’ll call and explain everything. If you both feel you can’t go through with it, I’ll accept your resignation.”

“Fine. I’ll go make the arrangements.” He swiveled on his heel but the sound of his name made him pause. “Yes?”

“I know you don’t believe me now, but I’m doing what I believe is best. For both of you.”

A thousand different responses rose to his lips, but Rip bit them all back, leaving Edward Winsor alone in silence.

It was time to go meet his future wife.

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About the Author

Jennifer Probst wrote her first book at twelve years old. She bound it in a folder, read it to her classmates, and hasn’t stopped writing since. She took a short hiatus to get married, get pregnant, buy a house, get pregnant again, pursue a master’s in English Literature, and rescue two shelter dogs. Now she is writing again.

She makes her home in Upstate New York with the whole crew. Her sons keep her active, stressed, joyous, and sad her house will never be truly clean.

She is the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of sexy and erotic contemporary romance. She was thrilled her book, The Marriage Bargain, was ranked #6 on Amazon's Best Books for 2012. She loves hearing from readers. Visit her website for updates on new releases and her street team at www.jenniferprobst.com.

Spotlight: Maybe Don't Wanna by Lani Lynn Vale

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Peter Parker Penn.
Unlike the superhero his mother named him after, Parker is no good guy.
In fact, if there's a picture in the dictionary under anti-hero, it's his.
Parker's spent his life trying to get back on the right side of the tracks, but each step he takes forward, he takes two more steps back.
To save one, he hurts others. To make this good, he turns that bad.
For appearances' sake, he plays the part. He does what people expect him to do-mostly. And at the end of each day, he goes back to his lonely apartment and wishes he was a different person. One who could fix the things he's broken.
Then Kayla Nash forces her way into his life, and the world as he knows it is irrevocably changed.
Everything he thinks he has right is wrong. And everything he thinks is wrong is oh, so right.
One thing leads to another, and suddenly he's growing a conscience, and trying to prove to her that he's as bad as everybody says he is.
Yet she won't listen.
She's convinced that she can save him.
Little does she know, Parker isn't worth saving, and never will be.

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About Lani Lynn Vale

Lani Lynn Vale is a USA Today Bestselling Author of over thirty titles.  She is married with three children, two dogs, two cats, a donkey, and a couple (a couple also meaning over twenty) chickens.

When she’s not writing, you can find her curled up in her favorite chair reading.

Lani is married with three children, and lives in the Great State of Texas.

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Spotlight: Landslide by Melissa Leet

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Alternating between Jill’s childhood and adult life, Landslide is an adventure story that happens when life is lived full out, regardless of what comes. The adventure is as much sensual, emotional and philosophical as it is provocative, experienced as life causes Jill and Susie to continually confront the unknown. As the girls come of age, mature, and find love, the garden remains a powerful element, reverberating through their psyches and in their hearts. Teeming with poignancy, humor, and love, Landslide is ultimately the resplendent exploration of resurgence, and the truth that even death can reveal paths as wondrous as those uncovered by life.

Excerpt

Who are the designs for?” I asked Mom. I had found Mom in Garden’s little Monastery. As a surprise, Jay had shipped the Monastery in pieces to Mom from Romania, the place where the vampires roamed. Jay had saved it from the wrecking ball.

“My city clients,” Mom said, sketching.

“I like that one,” I said, comparing it with a glance to the other sketches on the table.

  Mom angled her head first one way and then the other, as she did when she thought in pictures. When Mom designed gardens, she worked in waves, drawing until her thoughts played out, hardly ever erasing. Mom added water colour after. Mom could water colour any time, but her first pencil designs had to be immediate. They were fleeting, like changing light, and had to be captured before they escaped.

  “Perhaps!” she said suddenly, taking another sheet. She sketched at high speed. Back were the trees, but the urns changed from pottery to metal and a trellis enclosed the space. Honey suckle, clematis and climbing ivy covered the trellis making it a living wall.  Now she was erasing. I looked more carefully. Into the trellis she made unevenly-sized rectangular windows which created city views like pictures framed in green.

“That’s good!” I said.

  “Mmm …” Mom answered, standing with sketch pad and pencil. She had her faraway look now. Absently, her fingers trailed the stone as she walked the Monastery’s four small walls, her fingers tickling the toes of each cherub as she circled. Suddenly, she dropped to the grass in the sunny courtyard. Her hand flew. Her faraway look cleared. A smile played across her lips. I knew she had it then: a garden to be treasured; a place where all were better just by being within.

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About the Author

Born and raised outside of San Francisco, Melissa Leet currently lives in Chicago with her husband Ken, her youngest son James, and their lovely Golden Retriever Neo. Her older children, Christopher, Dillon and William, are scattered across the U.S., attending university. When not in Chicago, Melissa is often out in the Wyoming wilds, listening to the quiet. Prior to living in Chicago, Melissa resided in London, and for shorter times, in Paris and Madrid. She loves geography, history and speaking other languages. Melissa holds a BA from Smith College, an MBA from Columbia University, and an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She is founder of Chinafolio, a think tank which conducts research on China.

Audio Spotlight & Excerpt: Forever & Always: Two Hearts, One Soul Duet: by London Saint James and Narrators: Tor Thom, Charley Ongel

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Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Two Hearts, One Soul Duet, Book 2
Release date: Mar. 1, 2018

From international best-selling author London Saint James comes the final installment of Two Hearts, One Soul, a breathtaking story of two people who have always been connected, forever tied together by fate, by destiny, by unbreakable love.

With the media hell-bent on exposing Winter’s once private life, Cayden will do anything to protect her. But there’s more than just the voracious paparazzi conspiring against them.

Involved in an unprecedented web of strange events, and wound in a string of lies about to break with devastating consequences, Winter must battle ghosts from her past that threaten to harm the man she loves.

Faced with a choice she always knew would be inevitable, and a secret of her own, can the fairy tale Winter’s been living with Cayden beat the odds of their reality and really come true?

Listen to Excerpt

Excerpt

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About the Author: London Saint James

London Saint James has lived in many places, but never felt “at home” until she met the real-life man of her dreams and settled down in the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. London lives with her husband and their fat cat who thinks he owns them.

As an award-winning, international bestselling author, London is living her childhood dream. She knew all the scribbling she did, that big imagination of hers, and all those clamoring characters running around in her head would pay off someday.

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About the Narrators: Tor Thom & Charley Ongel

Tor Thom and Charley Ongel are a happily married couple who have been narrating and producing audiobooks for the past year and a half.

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Audio Spotlight & Excerpt: Every Rose by Nancy Warren

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Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Take A Chance, Book 4
Release date: Jun. 18, 2015
Synopsis: Every Rose has its thorns....

Rose Chance is a dedicated Portland physician who loves shoes, clothes, and the finer things in life. Her colleagues call her Dr. Vogue, and she won't even look at a man unless he's rich. And preferably titled.

Her colleague, Matt Vasilopolous, is a Greek immigrant made good. He dresses like a schlep, always needs a shave, and doesn't seem to own a comb.

Rose can't stand a man who looks like a tramp. Matt loathes a woman who looks down at him. But when they're thrown together to save a life one day, and find themselves in the same wedding party the next, Rose and Matt can no longer deny the attraction between them.

With an English baronet and his stately home in the offing, though, will Rose choose the man she's dreamed of her whole life or the one her heart craves?

This is the fourth novel in the Take a Chance series of romantic comedies. All the books can be heard independently, but are also connected.

Audio Excerpt

Every Rose

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About the Author: Nancy Warren

To stay updated on all things Nancy including new releases, recipes and bonus extras please sign up for Nancy Warren's newsletter at nancywarren.net. Nancy's a USA today bestselling author of more than 60 novels. Nancy's originally from Vancouver, Canada but she tends to wander. She currently lives in an 18th century house in Bath, England where she loves to pretend she's Jane Austen, or at least a character in a Jane Austen novel. When she's not writing, she's hiking, skiing, traveling or sipping wine. She's appeared on the front page of the New York Times (when her book, Speed Dating launched Harlequin's NASCAR series), has been a clue in a crossword puzzle (National Post, Canada) and she's been a finalist for the RITA award three times, honored by Romantic Times Magazine and often shares her love of writing in her popular workshops.

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Teri Schnaubelt is an award-winning audiobook narrator and actor who has voiced nearly 200 audiobooks as well as many commercials and corporate videos. She mainly works from her home studio in the north Chicago suburbs and keeps in touch with the rest of the world via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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Spotlight: The Only Thing by Marie Harte

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What do you do when a "fake" relationship is so much better than the real thing?

Hope Donnigan is finally getting her life together. She's working a job she likes, has some amazing friends, and is steering clear of Mr. Wrong. Now if only she could get her mother to understand that. Maybe a hot tattoo artist from the other side town is just the ticket to teach her mom a lesson.

J.T. Webster fell for Hope months ago at his sister's wedding. So when she propositions him to be her fake boyfriend to get her mother off her back, he's all in. The only problem is J.T. had no idea their pretend relationship would be better than anything real he's ever had…

Excerpt

Hope lost herself in J.T. He smelled like an invitation to sex and tasted like honeyed caramel. Good Lord, but the man knew how to kiss.

The moment he’d touched her lips, she’d forgotten her own advice to steer clear of men and latched onto him. And now she could do nothing but enjoy a real man concentrating on her.

He moaned, slanted his mouth at an angle that gave him deeper access, and followed her tongue with his, dipping into the recesses of her mouth and stimulating every damn cell in her body.

He was hard. All over. His broad chest swelled. Arms that she could barely fit her hands around tightened. As did the rest of him when he drew her into his body.

She felt caged in his embrace, totally controlled by a man much more powerful than herself. But she sensed nothing but arousal and safety, oddly enough. Nothing overbearing, like what she’d experienced with a few of her exes.

A smart woman would put a stop to the kiss. Especially when he put his large hand at the small of her back and pulled her closer still, allowing her to feel the impressive bulge between his legs. Their disparity in size was evident, especially that big part of him she felt all too clearly when he rubbed against her belly. She gasped, caught between his kiss and his shocking dimensions.

He trailed his lips down her cheek to suck at her neck.

She moaned, tilting her head back, doing her damnedest to find the will to push him away. But her body had other plans.

Her breasts ached. The place between her legs throbbed. And the rest of her tingled, every part of her needing to lie down on the nearest horizontal surface so she could spread her legs in welcome…

“No.” She pushed weakly at his chest.

J.T. froze, panting. “No?” he choked out.

“Yes. I mean, no. We can’t do this,” she managed between large intakes of breath.

He slowly put her away from him and stared at her from under hooded lids. All she could think was that he looked kissable.

“Stop.”

“Huh?” She shivered.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

She licked her suddenly dry lips, and he glanced away and swore.

“L-like what?”

“Like you want me to… Never mind.” He blew out a harsh breath. “Yeah, um. Good idea to stop that. We’re just pretending, right?”

“Huh?”

“About dating. So we can fool your mom if we have to kiss in front of her to be believable.”

“Right. Yes. Uh huh.” Think, Hope. With more than your ovaries. “I’m sorry. I didn’t… I wasn’t trying to put out the wrong signals.” That I want you? That sex with you is on my must have list? “I told you I had some tough relationships in the past.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m trying to do better and be focused on me right now.”

“Sure. I get you.” He nodded and tucked his hands in his pockets, which did nothing to mask the raging hard-on under his fly. “Smart move. I met Greg. I feel you.”

She sighed. “Yeah.”

They all started out nice, then slowly morphed into monsters. J.T. seemed amiable, sexy, safe. What would he turn out to be in the end?

“Okay then.” He cleared his throat and guided her toward the front door. “We won’t do this again. But we know we can pull it off for your mom if we need to.”

“Right. I really do appreciate you doing this for me.” She stopped and faced him, feeling bad for pulling him into her mess. “You don’t have to, you know.”

“Um, yeah, I do. Where else will you find a tattoo artist with several baby mommas and jail time on his resume?”

She stared. “Really?”

“Well, no. That’s not all true.” He winked at her. “But to find out which parts I’m lying about, you have to buy me a beer at Ray’s.”

She gave him a smile, unable to help herself. Charming should have been his middle name. That and handsome. “It’s a date.”

“Wednesday at six work for you?” he asked. “It’s a little less crowded in the middle of the week, and less scary for a first timer.”

“I won’t be scared.” She’d heard from her brothers about the rough types who hung out around the place.

“Honey, I was scared my first time. And my second, my third…” They shared a laugh. “Ray’s is good people. Tough, but good. I’ll pick you up. Will that be okay?”

She thought about it and realized she didn’t care if he knew where she lived. “You’re practically family,” she teased. “I trust you.”

She couldn’t read the look he shot her as he walked her to her car and waited for her to belt up. Once all secured, she rolled down her window. “Okay. What’s with that look?”

“Just remember, Hope—we aren’t family.” He shook his head and bent to stare her in the eye. “Because I’m not down with kissing my family like I kissed you.” He stroked her cheek, sighed, and straightened. “Now go home before I forget why I shouldn’t give you what you’re asking for.”

Heck, she’d been the one to say no earlier. But when his eyes narrowed, she obeyed. Better to keep him happy since he’d agreed to help. Plus, she trusted what she knew of him. If he thought she should leave, she’d go. Because if she stayed any longer, she might assault the man and have her wicked way with him. And that would pretty much shoot her independent,  no-men stance all to hell.

Turning on the radio, she sang all the way home, feeling better about life than she had in a long time.

The next day, she arrived at work early, in a cheerful mood. She wore a business casual outfit of dress pants, heels, and a silk blouse. Even Linda would have trouble making an issue of her clothing, styled hair, and makeup.

Instead of annoyance at thoughts of her domineering mother, Hope smiled, recalling J.T.’s warmth, the feel of his firm yet soft lips guiding her. Melting her. She sighed as she took the elevator to the office on the second floor. “Dating” J.T. would prove to be a challenge, because everything in her wanted to be with the man for real. To see if he could make good on his reputation’s promise as a marvel in bed.

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