He's the Banksy of the international theatre scene - daring, anonymous, renowned. So when playwright 'Draven' bequeaths his latest play to the rural Rivervue Theatre, the stage is set for drama. Props-maven Mackenzie Russell is no fan of the Larrikin, the subject of Draven's new play. But she is a big supporter of her hometown, Brachen, where the guy is a local legend. She would no more let Brachen's reputation be trashed than she would pull on a costume and perform in Draven's latest masterpiece. Her secret stage aspirations are strictly private.But someone needs to tell that to Dylan North, the enigmatic loner sleeping rough in Rivervue Theatre's fire-escape, after he catches her running lines in the props room.Dylan just wants to keep a low profile; he knows that his rough appearance and poor language skills make people uncomfortable. Except Kenzie - with her, Dylan feels more at ease than he's ever been before and he's fast becoming her...

Love…Belinda Rochester has fought to be a surrogate mother to her late sister's embryos. But, just as success seems certain, in bursts a tall Australian cowboy, gray eyes shadowed with emotion—he, too, has a claim on this precious life!Marriage…?This baby offers Flynn his only hope of redemption, and he'll do anything to win custody…even propose marriage!It's an extreme solution, and yet Belinda must admit her convenient husband-to-be is inconveniently gorgeous. But then comes not one but…Two babies in the baby carriage!

Being rejected is one thing. Being rejected live on radio takes it to a whole new level!After her on-air proposal is turned down by her commitment-phobe boyfriend, Georgia Stone must learn to survive singledom. Unfortunately, thanks to a clause in her contract, she has to do it under the watchful gaze of brooding radio producer Zander Rush.And so begins the Year of Georgia! Lurching from salsa classes to spy school, Georgia discovers a taste for adventure. Her biggest thrill so far? Flirting with danger—aka the enigmatic Zander. But admitting she's ready for more than just a fling…? Definitely Georgia's scariest challenge yet!Next month, look for the second book in this duet: The Guy To Be Seen With by Fiona HarperAbout the AuthorNikki Logan lives amongst a string of wetlands in Australia with her partner and a menagerie of animals. Her stories are full of romance in descriptive, natural environments. She believes the richness and danger of wild places perfectly mirror the passion and risk of falling in love. Nikki has written for a living for most of her life and authored her first romance on a sabbatical from work, determined to be published by forty, her first book came out in February 2010, her fortieth year Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Valentine's Day 2012Close. Please just close.A dozen curious eyes followed Georgia Stone into Radio EROS' stylish elevator, craning over computer monitors or sliding on plastic floor mats back into the corridor just slightly, not even trying to disguise their curiosity. She couldn't stand staring at the back of the elevator for ever, so she turned, lifted her chin……and silently begged the doors to close. To put her out of her misery for just a few blessed moments.Do. Not. Cry.Not yet.The numbness of shock was rapidly wearing off and leaving the deep, awful ache of pain behind it. With a humiliation chaser. She'd managed to thank the dumbfounded drive-time announcers—God, she was so British—before stumbling out of their studio, knowing that the radio station's output was broadcast in every office on every floor via a system of loudspeakers.Hence all the badly disguised glances.The whole place knew what had just happened to her. Because of her. That their much-lauded Leap Year Valentine's proposal had just gone spectacularly, horribly, excruciatingly, publicly wrong.She'd asked. Daniel had declined.As nicely as he could, under the circumstances, but his urgently whispered, "Is this a joke, George?" was still a no whichever way you looked at it and, in case she hadn't got the message, he'd spelled it out.We weren't heading for marriage. I thought you knew that…Actually no, or she wouldn't have asked.That's what made our thing so perfect…Oh. Right. That was what made it perfect? She'd known they were drifting in a slow, connected eddy like the leaves in Wakehurst's Black Pond but she'd thought that even drifting eventually got you somewhere. Obviously not.'For God's sake, will you close?'She wasn't usually one to talk to inanimate objects—even under her breath—but somehow, on some level, the elevator must have heard her because its shiny chrome doors started to slide together obligingly.'Hold the lift!' a voice shouted.She didn't move. Her stomach plunged. Just as they'd nearly closed.A hand slid into the sliver of space between the doors and curled around one of them, arresting and then reversing its slide. They reopened, long-suffering and apologetic.'You mustn't have heard me,' the dark-haired man said, throwing her only the briefest and tersest of glances, his lips tight. He turned, faced the front, and permitted them to close this time, giving her a fabulous view of the square cut of the back of his expensive suit.No, you mustn't have heard me. Making a total idiot of myself in front of all of London. If he had, he'd have given her a much longer look. Something told her everyone would be looking at her for much longer now. Starting with all her and Daniel's workmates.She groaned.He looked back over his shoulder. 'Sorry?'She forced burning eyes to his. If she blinked just once she was going to unleash the tears she could feel jockeying for expression just behind her lids. But she didn't have the heart for speech. She shook her head.He returned his focus to the front of the elevator. She stared at the lights slowly descending toward 'G' for ground floor. Then at the one marked 'B', below that—the one he'd pressed.'Excuse me…' She cleared her throat to reduce the tight choke. He turned again, looked down great cheekbones at her. 'Can you get to the street from B?'He studied her. Didn't ask what she meant. 'The basement has electronic gate control.'Her heart sank. So much for hoping to make a subtle getaway. Looked as if the universe really wanted her to pay for today's disaster.Crowded reception it was, then.She nodded just once. 'Thank you.'He didn't turn back around, but his grey eyes narrowed. 'I'll be driving out through the gates. You're welcome to slip out behind me.'Slip out. Was that just a figure of speech or did he know? 'Thank you. Yes, please.'He turned back to the front, then, a heartbeat later, he turned back again. 'Step behind me.'She dragged stinging eyes back up to him. 'What?''The door's going to open at Reception first. It will be full of people. I can screen you.'Suddenly the front-line of the small army of tears waiting for a chance to get out surged forward. She fought them back furiously, totally futile.Kindness. That was worse than blinking. And it meant that he definitely knew.But since he was playing pretend-I-don't, she could, too. She stepped to her left just as the doors obediently opened onto the station's reception. Light and noise filled the elevator but she stood, private and protected behind the stranger, his big body as good as a locked door. She sighed. Privacy and someone to protect her—two things she'd just blown out of her life for good, she suspected.'Mr Rush…' someone said, out in the foyer. The big man just nodded. 'Alice. Going down?' 'No, up.'He shrugged. 'I won't be long.'And the doors closed, leaving just the two of them, again. Georgia sagged and swiped at the single, determined tear that had slipped down her cheek. He didn't turn back around. It took only a moment longer for the elevator to reach the basement. He walked out the moment the doors opened and reached back to hold them wide for her. The frigid outdoor air hit her instantly.'Thank you,' she repeated and stepped out into the darkened parking floor. She'd left her coat upstairs, hanging on the back of a chair in the studio, but she would gladly freeze rather than set foot in that building ever again.He didn't make eye contact again. Or smile. 'Wait by the gate,' he simply said and then turned to stride towards a charcoal Jaguar.She walked a dead straight line towards the exit gate. The fastest, most direct route she could. She only reached it a moment or two before the luxury car. She stood, rubbing her prickling flesh.He must have activated the gate from inside his vehicle, and the large, steel lattice began to rattle along rollers towards her. He nudged his car forward, lowered his window, and peered out across his empty passenger seat.She ducked to look at him. For moments. One of them really needed to say something. Might as well be her.'Thanks again.' For sanctuary in the elevator. For spiriting her away, now.His eyes darkened and he slid designer sunglasses up onto the bridge of his nose. 'Good luck' was all he said. Then he shifted his Jag into gear and drove forward out of the still-widening gate.She stared after him.It seemed an odd thing to say in lieu of goodbye but maybe he knew something she didn't.Maybe he knew how much she was going to need that luck.Hell.That was the longest elevator ride of Zander's life. Trapped in two square metres of double-thickness steel with a sobbing woman. Except she hadn't been sobbing—not outwardly—but she was hurting inwardly; pain was coming off her in waves. Totally tangible.The waves had hit him the moment he nudged his way into her elevator, but it was too late, then, to step back and let her go down without him. Not without making her feel worse.He knew who she was. He just hadn't known it was her standing in the elevator he ran for or he wouldn't have launched himself at the closing doors.She must have bolted straight from the studio to the exit the moment they threw to the first track out of the Valentine's segment. Lord knew he did; he wanted to get across town to the network head offices before they screamed for him to come in.Proactive instead of reactive. He never wanted someone higher up his food chain to call him and find him just sitting there waiting for their call. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction. Or the power.By the time he got across London's peak-hour gridlock he'd have the right spin for the on-air balls-up. Turning a negative into a positive. Oiling the waters. The kind of problem-solving he was famous—and em-ployed—for.The kind of problem-solving he loathed.He blew out a steady breath and took an orange light just as it was turning red in order to keep moving. None of them had expected the guy to say no. Who said no to a proposal, live on air? You said yes live and then you backed out of it later if it wasn't what you wanted. That was what ninety-five per cent of Londoners would do.Apparently this guy was Mr Five Per Cent.Then again, who asked a man to marry her live on radio if she wasn't already confident of the answer? Or maybe she thought she was? She wouldn't be the first to find out she was wrong…the hard way.Empathy curled his fingers tight on the expensive leather of his steering wheel. Who was he to cast stones?He'd recognised that expression immediately. The one where you'd happily agree for the elevator to plunge eight storeys rather than have to step out and face the world. At least his own humiliation had been limited to just his family and friends.Just two hundred of his and Lara's nearest and dearest.Georgia Stone's would be all over the city today and all over the world by tomorrow.He was counting on it. Though he'd have preferred it not to be on the back of someone's pain and humiliation. He hadn't got that bad…yet.He eased his foot onto the brake as the traffic ground to a halt around him and resisted the urge to lean on his horn.Not that he imagined a girl like that would suffer for long. Tall and pale and pretty with that tangle of dark, short curls. She'd dressed for her proposal—that was a sweet and unexpected touch in the casual world of radio. Half his on-air staff would come to work in their pyjamas if they had th...

The ultimate walk of shame! After a party to celebrate her career freedom--aka telling her arrogant boss exactly where he can stick his job--Izzy should be waking up with just a hangover. Instead she finds herself in bed with said boss: Harry Mitchell. Just. Great. Harry doesn't sleep with employees, and waking up with Izzy is not the start to the day he imagined. But having her sprawled beneath him feels like heaven. Even better is the fact that, since Izzy's resigned, Harry can break his own rule--over and over again!

Tempted by trouble...The moment Tash Sinclair sets eyes on family rival Aiden Moore she knows she's in trouble. His vendetta against her is bad enough, but the fact that she finds Aiden outrageously attractive makes everything a million times worse!Tash and Aiden clash immediately, but everyone knows that the line between love and hate is paper-thin. As the fireworks fly will Tash and Aiden spontaneously combust--or will Tash do the unthinkable and fall for her own worst enemy? After all, you should keep your friends close, but maybe your enemies the closest of all...!

One big secret When Lea became accidentally pregnant she decided that she would go it alone. Rodeo star Reilly wasnt the sort of man whod want to be tied down. But five years later she needs to tell him her secret One tiny blessing Learning hes a daddy is bittersweet for Reilly, because his little girl is fighting to survive. Her only hope is a new brother or sister. Can he and Lea create a newborn miracle and a future together?

He could look…and this time he can touch! Each year, Hong Kong's most kissable businessman Oliver Harmer allows himself one Christmas present: a lavish meal with off-limits Audrey Devaney. Keeping her at arm's length—quite literally!—is a battle of epic proportions for Oliver, but also an irresistible temptation. Until the year she doesn't come. Now the rules have changed! Because, this Christmas, Audrey is single, and Oliver must decide if he will let her run away at midnight for good, or fight for her to stay until morning!About the AuthorNikki Logan lives amongst a string of wetlands in Australia with her partner and a menagerie of animals. Her stories are full of romance in descriptive, natural environments. She believes the richness and danger of wild places perfectly mirror the passion and risk of falling in love. Nikki has written for a living for most of her life and authored her first romance on a sabbatical from work, determined to be published by forty, her first book came out in February 2010, her fortieth year Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.December 20th, four years ago Qingting Restaurant, Hong KongAudrey Devaney flopped a gainst the back of the curved sofa and studied the pretty, oriental-style cards in her hands. Not the best hand in the world but when you were playing for M&M's and you tended to eat your stake as fast as it accumulated it was hard to take poker too seriously.Though it was fun to pretend she knew what she was doing. Like some Vegas hotshot. And it wasn't too hard to imagine that the extraordinary view of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour stretching out behind Oliver Harmer was really out of the window of some casino high-roller's room instead of a darkened, atmospheric restaurant festooned with pretty lanterns and baubles in rich, oriental colours.Across from her, Oliver's five o'clock shadow was designer perfect and an ever-present, unlit cigar poked out of the corner of his grinning mouth—more gummed than smoked, out of respect for her and for the other patrons in the restaurant. It only felt as if he bought the whole place out each Christmas, it wasn't actually true. Though it was nice to imagine that they had the entire restaurant to themselves.'Thank you, again, for the gift,' she murmured, letting the fringed silk ends of the cobalt scarf run between her fingers. 'It's stunning.''You're welcome. You should wear more blue.'Audrey studied Oliver over her cards, wanting to ask but not entirely sure how to raise it. Maybe the best approach was the direct approach…'You know, you look pretty good for a man whose wedding just fell through.''Good' as in well. Not 'good' as in gorgeous. Although, as always, the latter would certainly apply. All that dark hair, long lashes and tanned Australian skin.He took his time considering his hand and then tossed three cards face down onto the ornate carved table. 'Dodged a bullet.'That stopped her just as she might have discarded her own dud cards. 'Really? Last Christmas it was all about how Tiffany might be "the one".'Not that she'd actually believed him at the time, but a year was the longest relationship she'd ever known him to have.Maybe she was just in denial.'Turns out there was more than one "one" for Tiffany.' The tiniest glimmer of hurt stained his eyes. Oh, no. 'Who called it off?' His answer came fast and sure. 'I did.'Oliver Harmer was a perpetual bachelor. But he was also Shanghai's most prized perpetual bachelor and so she couldn't imagine the average woman he dated being too fast to throw away her luxury future.But she knew from Blake how seriously Oliver felt about fidelity. Because of his philandering father. 'I'm so sorry.'He shrugged. 'She was with someone when I met her; I was foolish to think that I'd get treated any different.'Foolish perhaps, but he was only human to hope that he'd be special enough to change his girlfriend's ways. And if ever there was a man worth changing for… Audrey dropped two cards onto the table and Oliver flicked her two replacements from the top of the pack with confident efficiency before taking three of his own.'What did she say when you confronted her?' she murmured.'I didn't see any purpose in having it out,' he squeezed out past the cigar. 'I just cut her loose.'Without an explanation? 'What if you were mistaken?'The look he threw her would have withered his corporate opponents. 'I checked. I wasn't.''Checking' in Oliver's world probably meant expensive private surveillance. So no, he wouldn't have been wrong. 'Where is she now?'He shrugged. 'Still on our honeymoon, I guess. I gave her an open credit card and wished her the best.''You bought her off?' She gaped.'I bought her forgiveness.''And that worked?''Tiffany never was one for labouring under regret for long.'Lord, he had a talent for ferreting out the worst of women. Always beautiful, of course and—cough—agile, but utterly barren on the emotional front. To the point that she'd decided Oliver must prefer them that way. Except for the trace of genuine hurt that had flitted across his expression.That didn't fit with the man she thought she knew.She studied the nothing hand in front of her and then tossed all five cards down on the table in an inelegant fold.'Why can't you just meet a nice, normal woman?' she despaired. 'Shanghai's a big city.'He scooped the pile of bright M&M's towards him—though not before she snaffled yet another one to eat—and set about reshuffling the cards. 'Nice women tend to give me a wide berth. I can't explain it.'She snorted. 'It would have nothing to do with your reputation.'Hazel eyes locked on hers, speculative and challenging. Enough to tighten her chest a hint. 'And what reputation is that?'Ah…no. 'I'm not going to feed your already massive ego, Oliver.'Nor go anywhere near the female whispers she'd heard about Oliver 'the Hammer' Harmer. Dangerous territory.'I thought we were friends!' he protested.'You're friends with my husband. I'm just his SouthEast Asian proxy.'He grunted. 'You only agree to our ritual Christmas catch-up for the cuisine, I suppose?' 'Actually, no.'She found his eyes—held them—and two tiny butterflies broke free in her chest. 'I come for the wine, too.'He snagged a small fistful of M&M's and tossed them across the elegant, carved coffee table at her, heedless of those around them sharing the Christmas-themed menu sixty storeys above Hong Kong.Audrey scrabbled madly to pick them up. 'Ugh. Isn't that just like a squazillionaire. Throwing your money around like it's chocolate drops.''Play your hand,' he griped. But there was a definite smile behind it. As there always was. Christmases between them were always full of humour, fast conversation and camaraderie.At least on the surface.Below the surface was a whole bunch of things that she didn't let herself look at too closely. Appreciation. Respect. A great, aching admiration for his life and the choices he'd made and the courage with which he'd made them. Oliver Harmer was the freest human being she knew. And he lived a life most people would hunger for.She certainly did from within the boundaries of her awkward marriage. It was hard not to esteem his choices.And then below all of that. The ever-simmering attraction. She'd grown used to it now, because it was always there. And because she only had to deal with it once a year.He was a good-looking man; charming and affable, easy to talk to, easy to like, well built, well groomed, well mannered, but not up himself or pretentious. Never too cool to toss a handful of chocolates in a fine restaurant.But he'd also been best man at her wedding.Blake's oldest friend.And he was pursued by women day in and day out. She would be two hundred per cent mortified if Oliver ever got so much of a hint of the direction of her runaway thoughts—not the least because it would just inflate his already monumental ego—but also because she knew exactly what he'd do with the information.Nothing.Not a damned thing.He would take it to his grave, and she would never fully know if that was because of his loyalty to Blake, his respect for her, or because something brewing between them was just so totally inconceivable that he'd chalk it up to an aberrant moment best never again spoken of.Which was pretty much the right advice.She wasn't like the women he normally chose. Her finest day was the day of her wedding when she'd been called 'striking'—and by Oliver, come to think of it, who always seemed to say the right thing at the right moment when she was on rocky emotional ground. She didn't look as good as his women did in their finery and she didn't move in the same circles and know the same people and laugh overly loud at the same stories. She wasn't unattractive or dull or dim—she'd wager the entire pile of M&M's in front of her on the fact that she could outrank every one of them on a MENSA test—but she certainly didn't turn heads when she was in the company of the beautiful people. She lacked that…stardust that they had.That Oliver was coated-to-sparkling in.And in all the years she'd known him, she'd flat out never seen him with someone less beautiful than he was.Clearly some scientific principle of balance at work there.And when even the laws of nature ruled you out.'All right, Cool Hand Luke,' she said, ripping her thoughts back to safer territory. 'Let's get serious about this game.'That treacherous snake.Audrey clearly had no idea whatsoever of Blake's latest conquest. Her face had filled just then with genuine sympathy about Tiffany, but nothing else. No shadows of pain at the mention of someone's infidelity, no blanching. No tears for a betrayal shared. Not that she was the tears-in-public type, but the only moisture in those enormous blue eyes was old-fashioned compassion.For him.Which meant that either Blake had lied and Audrey had no idea that her husband considered their marriage open, or she did know and Blake had worn her down to the point that she just didn't care any more.And that awful possibility just didn't fit with the engaged, involved woma...

Hayden Tennant: beyond redemption? Shy teenager Shirley Marr fell for her mother's most brilliant student: the charismatic rebel Hayden Tennant. When her mother passed away, both vowed to keep her memory alive by fulfilling her 'bucket list' wishes. Ten years later, Shirley's nearly done - but Hayden has yet to begin. And Shirley wants to know why! Hayden is happily set on a path to self-destruction, and is not best pleased to find his late mentor's daughter judging his choices. The blushing girl he remembers was easy to resist, but this Shirley is older, curvier and - worryingly - far more formidable...

Is true love an endangered species?When city lawyer Grant McMurtie is forced to return to his coastal hometown, he discovers that conservationists plan to carve up the family farm! He furiously confronts the woman in charge--seal researcher Kate Dickson.Used to half--truths after years of making empty city deals, he finds Kate's passion for her precious seals mystifying, but slowly begins to trust this courageous, determined woman. For the first time, Grant's heart is touched and he wants to make a wholly personal contract. Will cautious Kate agree to his final clause--to be together forever?

Ex-ballerina Eleanor Patterson is the darling of Manhattan society--until she discovers her pedigree background is a lie. So she heads to sleepy Larkville for answers....Sheriff Jed Jackson never expected to rescue a stunning woman from a herd of cattle, or to be so fascinated by the vulnerability beneath Ellie's tough city veneer. Yet watching her unwind is irresistible, and as he helps her learn to dance again he wants to give both Ellie and himself a new beginning....

She didn't know she needed rescuing! Eve Read doesn't need help from anyone. She's searching for her missing brother and doesn't want any distractions. Yet sharing her burden with mysterious leather-clad biker Marshall Sullivan is a relief, and soon Eve can't resist the sparks igniting between them! Meteorologist Marshall spends his life on the road, but there's something about Eve that makes him want to stay put... Has Eve finally found what she's been searching for all along?

On the Secretary's Christmas List by Carole MortimerBree has landed an amazing job, but her new boss is a difficult, unreliable playboy—who is also infuriatingly gorgeous… When Bree looks after Jackson's son and energetic puppy, she realizes what she really wants this Christmas….The Soldier, the Puppy and Me by Myrna MackenzieChristmas is a difficult time for war hero Trey McFadden and it doesn't help that his neighbour, Ella Delancey, and her adorable puppy, Fizz, seem determined on spreading festive cheer.The Patter of Paws at Christmas by Nikki LoganIngrid has to spend Christmas with gorgeous zookeeper Gabriel Marque. They're keeping watch for the zoo's first litter of wild dogs. Will the patter of tiny paws bring them together, this time forever?

Is it strictly business…?  Laney Morgan may be blind, but she's no pushover. When Elliot Garvey walks into her life wanting to globalize her family business, she plans to make him work for it.  Work Hard, Play Hard may be Elliot's motto, but being around the irresistible Laney, he starts to see a new world through her eyes. But he's here strictly for business….  Until Elliot guide's Laney's hand to his face. They can't ignore the chemistry, especially the realization she's about to be awakened to a world she never knew.**