Samara Layton needs a pot of gold. Her community outreach organization in Washington, D.C. is in dire financial straits. As executive director, it's up to Samara to rescue the non-profit organization from bankruptcy, and time is running out. As a last-ditch resort, she seeks help from her estranged mother, world-renowned fashion designer Asha Dubois. In exchange for her mother's financial assistance, Samara agrees to model in Asha's spring fashion show in New York City. She gets more than she bargained for when she steps onto the runway and into the smoldering gaze of the sexiest man she's ever seen. Life has taught Samara to be skeptical of all men, so she's convinced Marcus Wolf is up to no good when he asks her out after the fashion show. When she rudely turns down his dinner invitation, she has no idea that she will soon need his help to rescue her business. And little does she know that Marcus is the man who will take her body to heights of ecstasy, and ultimately claim her heart and soul... Prominent civil rights attorney Marcus Wolf is in New York City on an important business trip. Attending a fashion show is not on his itinerary, until a friend talks him into it. From the moment Samara Layton steps onto the runway in a breathtakingly sheer gown, Marcus is captivated. When their eyes meet, the electricity between them is enough to light up all of Manhattan. But while Marcus would like nothing more than to seduce the exotic beauty, he has no interest in pursuing a serious relationship with her. All his life, women have brought him nothing but heartache-starting with his very own mother, who betrayed him in the worst imaginable way. This confirmed bachelor definitely isn't looking for love. But when Samara comes to him for help, she makes him an offer he can't possibly refuse....
Maureen Smith is the author of seventeen novels and one novella, including the award-winning novel With Every Breath. She writes romantic suspense for Kensington (Dafina) and contemporary romance for Harlequin (Kimani). She received a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland (Go Terps!) with a minor in creative writing.
As a former freelance writer, Maureen's articles were featured in various print and online publications. While working as a freelance writer following the birth of her second child, Maureen penned her first novel. To her delight, Ghosts of Fire was nominated for a Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewers' Choice Award and an Emma Award for Favorite New Author, and won the Romance in Color Reviewers' Choice Awards for New Author of the Year and Romantic Suspense of the Year. Maureen's second novel, With Every Breath, was also nominated for a Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewers' Choice Award, and garnered four Emma Award nominations in the categories of Favorite Hero, Favorite Romantic Suspense, Author of the Year and Book of the Year. Maureen's novel, Secret Agent Seduction, won the 2010 Emma Award for Best Romantic Suspense. To date, Maureen has received four Romantic Times nominations and fourteen Emma nominations.
Maureen lives in San Antonio, TX with her husband, two children, and a beloved miniature schnauzer named Pippin.
