“Is this restaurant a step down for you?” Allison asked sweetly. She
twirled the tip of the cleaver in a circle. “Is my kitchen not up to your usual
standards?”
Luke appeared to have more balls than brains. He stood firm. “A kitchen
can always be improved. Yours is no exception.”
He was giving her an ulcer. Allison’s stomach grumbled in complaint, and
she knew just how it felt. There were some things that just weren’t done, and
criticizing your boss’s kitchen was one of them. “Hasn’t anyone ever taught you
not to piss off a woman holding an eight-inch blade?”
“That’s a solid piece of advice,” Delilah said in agreement.
Luke threw his hands in the air. “Fine. I think you’re making a mistake,
but it’s your restaurant.”
“I’m glad you remember that,” Allison said.
Luke’s lips twitched, and he rocked back onto his heels. “I’d heard your
nickname was the Tyrant, but I couldn’t see it till now.”
Allison spluttered.
“I mean it as a compliment,” Luke said. “You don’t let anyone push you
around. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”
Luke traced a finger along the slick metal surface of the counter, his
eyes hot, and Allison felt it as though his finger danced along her spine. She
could see in his expression that he meant it. He did find her take-charge
attitude a turn-on. And damn if that didn’t make her go a little weak in the
knees. Still, she couldn’t let that claim go unchallenged.
“My name is n—”
“No?” Delilah jumped in.
Luke chuckled.
Allison’s jaw grew stiff. If she could incinerate people with the heat
of her glare, her restaurant would be down two cooks. They’d be nothing but
little piles of dust. “Not no. And not Tyrant. My employees love me.”
Peals of laughter rang through the kitchen.
Allison wagged the knife in the air. “Delilah, that advice about being
nice to the woman holding a knife? It goes for you, too.” Spinning, she
hammered the cleaver into her cutting board, the blade plunging a quarter inch
into the wood. She stepped back, and the cleaver stood upright, quivering in
its new slot. With a pointed look at her cooks, she stormed to her office.
The hoots of amusement behind her back rather diminished the effect of
her exit.
BLURB:
Allison
Stuart has always been the odd-woman-out of her family. She wears her jeans a
little too tight, colors her hair a little too blonde, and instead of going
into medicine and law like her sisters, she runs a diner. She’s also the only
single sibling left. And while she won’t change her style, and her meatloaf is
to die for, thank you very much, she wouldn’t mind her share of wedded bliss.
So she makes an early New Year’s resolution: No more meaningless flings.
Drop-dead
sexy Luke Hamilton is everything Allison has sworn off. His only serious
relationship has been with his five-star restaurant, Le Cygne Noir, in Chicago.
When he’s threatened by a lawsuit, Luke decides to hide out in Pineville,
Michigan, until the statute of limitations runs out. The small town is filled
with Christmas charm, but he can’t imagine living there. Heating things up with
the hottie who owns the local diner would make his exile bearable—if he can
convince her to give up her ridiculous resolution . . .
Buy links for THE CHRISTMAS
WEDDING SWAP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Allyson Charles lives in Northern
California. She’s the author of the "Pineville Romance" series,
small-town, contemporary romances published by Lyrical Press. A former
attorney, she happily ditched those suits and now works in her pajamas writing
about men’s briefs instead of legal briefs. When she’s not writing, she’s
probably engaged in one of her favorite hobbies: napping, eating, or martial
arts (That last one almost makes up for the first two, right?). One of
Allyson’s greatest disappointments is living in a state that doesn’t have any
Cracker Barrels in it.
Sign up for Allyson’s newsletter
at www.allysoncharles.com/newsletter
You can find her at www.allysoncharles.com
Twitter @1allysoncharles
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