Restless (Harlequin Blaze) (Mass Market Paperback)

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Product Description

Straitlaced lawyer Lizzie Gilbred has had it with being a good girl. This Christmas, she's going to be naughty—very, very naughty. And lucky for her, she knows just the guy to help her….

Patrick Gauge, a footloose musician with a body to die for, is exactly the type of man Lizzie's got on her holiday wish list. What better way to take the plunge into the official world of "bad girl-dom" than jumping right into his bed! Gauge makes her body sing…and it's a wickedly seductive tune.

Lizzie can't believe what a wildcat she becomes in his arms. But it's clearly just a physical thing between her and the restless guitarist….

That is, unless she can find a new song for them to play—one with more permanent lyrics!

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The week-old text message read: Gone back 2 Jen. Been nice. Sorry.

Lizzie Gilbred sat on her family-room sofa, clicking the cell phone to reread the message from her boyfriend—scratch that, her ex-boyfriend—Jerry, her thumb hovering over the delete button. It had been seven days. Surely the words were burned forever into her brain by now. She saved the message instead, then sighed and tossed the cell to the leather cushion next to her, where she knew she'd just pick it up again in two minutes.

She took a hefty sip from her wineglass, leaned her elbow against the sofa back and stared out the window at the snow swirling in the yellow security light over her driveway. The weatherman was calling for three inches of the white stuff to fall again tonight, casting a festive glow on the two-week countdown to Christmas.

Blizzard Bill the weatherman's words, not hers. As far as Lizzie was concerned, they could cancel Christmas this year and she wouldn't even notice.

She took another sip of her wine, feeling a blink away from jumping out of her skin. She'd returned late from the law offices of Jovavich, Williams, and Brent-wood, Attorneys-at-Law, as was usual for a Wednesday, and fought to stick to routine even though she'd felt anything but normal since receiving Jerry's cold text message goodbye. She'd kicked off her shoes at the door, removed her suit jacket, cranked up the heat, poured herself a glass of her favorite Shiraz, started a fire in the family-room grate, then sat on the rich leather sofa she and Jerry had picked out together. Usually at this point she went through her mail or reviewed the briefs or depositions she'd brought home from the office. Tonight it was a brief she'd had one of the junior attorneys write up for her. But damn if she could make it through a single sentence, much less comprehend the entire ten-page document.

She thought about making herself dinner. She hadn't had anything since the bagel with jelly she'd half eaten at the office meeting this morning. But she couldn't seem to drum up the energy to reach for the television remote, much less that required to actually rise from the sofa and go into the kitchen to either heat a frozen dinner or open a can of soup.

So she sat staring out at the snow instead, wondering what her ex-boyfriend, Jerry, and his once-estranged wife, Jenny, were doing right then.

She groaned and rubbed her forehead.

She hadn't thought of Jenny as Jerry's wife in a long time. More specifically, for the past six months—ever since Jerry had left Jenny and appealed for a legal separation. One that had ended with his surprise text message and virtual disappearance from her life a week ago when she'd come home from work after retrieving the missive to find he'd taken everything he'd had at her house, including the waffle maker he'd bought her for her birthday last month.

What did he want with a freakin' waffle maker? Had he taken it to Jenny and said the equivalent of, Something for you, honey, to show how serious I am about sharing Sunday-morning waffles for the rest of our lives? Or, See, I even took back every gift I ever bought her.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Because to take back every gift, he'd have had to go back six years, when he and Lizzie were the established couple on the verge of an engagement and Jenny had been the other woman.

God, she couldn't believe she'd let him do this to her again. Six years ago, it hadn't been a text message; rather, he'd left a quickly scribbled note on her car windshield, secured by the wiper: "It's over. Sorry." With it had been the announcement of Jenny and his engagement from that day's newspaper.

The cell phone chirped. Lizzie scrambled to pick it up, punching a button and answering.

"Hello?"

"Lizzie?"

She sank against the cushions and pulled the chenille throw up to her neck. Not Jerry.

"Hi, Mom. How are you?"

"Okay, considering."

Lizzie made a face. Ever since her parents had announced their impending divorce, the War of the Roses Revisited had begun at the Gilbred house. Both of them, it seemed, were all for the separation. But neither was willing to give up the house. So her father had taken up residence in a downstairs guest room, and her mother went about life as if he wasn't there, up to and including a candlelit dinner with some guy she'd picked up at the country club last month.

Her father had had a fit and nearly clunked the guy in the head with one of his golf clubs, which her mother had tossed into the driveway after he'd taken advantage of an unseasonably warm day and gone out for a few rounds, missing an appointment with their divorce attorneys.

The clubs had gone completely missing the following day and Lizzie had gotten a call from her father asking her to help him find them since he'd had the set specially made. They'd finally hit pay dirt at a Toledo pawnshop, where they found them with an abominably low price tag…until the new owner figured out that they must be worth more and jacked up the price while her father fumed.

But maybe her mother was beginning to come to her senses. Usually she began conversations with whatever outlandish thing her father had done that day. That she was actually quiet and appeared pensive was a positive sign. Wasn't it?

"How about you? How are you doing?" her mother asked.

"I'mjust sitting in front of the fire with a glass of wine."

"That's nice, dear. And Jerry? Is he there with you?"

She had yet to tell her mother that she and Jerry were no longer a couple. In all honesty, she had never told her parents that he was still married, even though he was legally separated at the time.

What a tangled web we weave, she thought. "Yes. Yes, he is," she lied.

"Hmm? Oh. Yes. Well, tell him hello for me."

"I will."

Lizzie squinted through the window, making out a shadowy, familiar figure in the falling snow.

Gauge.

She instantly relaxed against the cushions. Her hot tenant of the past four months was walking up her driveway, toward the garage and the apartment above it that he was renting. She craned her neck to see around a large evergreen in order to follow his movements until he disappeared.

The voice at the other end of the line sighed.

"Are you okay?" she asked her mother. "You sound… distracted."

Could it be that Bonnie Gilbred was rethinking her situation? That the reconciliation Lizzie, her sister, Annie, and brother, Jesse, hoped for was just around the corner? Just in time to make Christmas feel somewhat like Christmas again?

"Me? Yes, yes. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Lizzie nearly dropped the phone when she heard a male roar on her mother's end. She absently rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes, wanting to hang up yet straining to hear her father's words.

"What in the hell did you put in this, Bonnie? Are you trying to kill me, for God's sake? You are, aren't you? Is it arsenic?"

Her mother's voice sounded much too joyful. "No, it's not arsenic, you old fool. I fixed the meat loaf the same way I always fix it. Your taste buds must not be what they once were."

"Don't hand me that b.s." There was a clatter of plates and then her father cussed a blue streak.

She heard a door slam.

"Mom?" Lizzie said.

"Hmm?"

Apparently Bonnie still had the phone to her ear, but wasn't much paying attention to the fact that she was having a conversation with her daughter.

"What did you put in the meat loaf?" Lizzie asked.

"Salt. Lots of it."

Lizzie smiled in spite of the exasperation she felt. "You know Dad's watching his sodium intake."

"I know. Why do you think I did it?"

Lizzie rested her head back against the pillow. "So is there a reason you called? I mean, other than wanting someone to witness your evildoing for the night?"

"I'm not doing evil. I cooked him meat loaf."

"Sure, Mom. Is there anything else?"

She could imagine Bonnie thinking for a moment. "Nope. I figure that about covers everything."

"Good. Oh, and next time you want a buffer between you and Dad, call Annie," she said, referring to her younger sister.

"Will do, dear."

"Good night, Mother."

"Good night, Lizzie."

She punched the button to disconnect the call and checked for any missed messages. None. So she read Jerry's text message before tossing the phone to the sofa again.

God, but she really was a sorry sack, wasn't she?

A sound drew her attention back to the driveway. Gauge had reappeared. He was wearing the same hooded sweatshirt and denim jacket he'd had on minutes earlier. She thought maybe he was leaving again. Only he wasn't carrying his guitar case; he was shoveling her walk.

She found the action incredibly hot.

All thoughts of her mother, Jerry and her missing waffle maker drifted from her mind. Replaced by ones related to the sexy drifter who had taken up residence in her garage apartment in August.

His name wasn't really Gauge. Well, his last name was, but his first name was Patrick. Lizzie folded one arm under her chin and took another sip of wine, the alcohol beginning to work its magic by warming her a bit even as she watched Gauge out in the cold.

She didn't know much about him. Her brother Jesse's ex-girlfriend, Heidi, had recommended him; Gauge was part owner of the BMC bookstore café downtown where Heidi used to work. He was a musician. A guitar player, if the case he carried and the strumming she'd heard coming from his place when it was warmer were any indication.

Their paths rarely crossed. She found his rent—always cash—stuffed into an envelope in her front-door mail slot on the first of the month, and she made sure that any mail that was delivered for him was slid under his door.

That was basically it.

Well, that and the fact that he was exceedingly hot and she liked watching him come and go, with no particular preference for either, because both front and back views were worthy of a long glance and an even longer sigh.

She put her glass back down on the coffee table. Aside from a very brief crush on the drummer that had played at her senior prom, she'd never gone much for the artistic type. Career-oriented, driven guys were more her thing.

...

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (December 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373794436
• ISBN-13: 978-0373794430
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #158,252 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Restless, December 17, 2008

By	M. Nix "Joyfully Reviewed" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Gauge left town after almost costing the two people he cares most for in the world (Nina and Kevin) their fledgling love and relationship, all over a misunderstanding about one night of secrets that went too far. But, he comes back for their wedding and decides to stay. While he still loves Nina he has been back in town for a number of months. He is staying away from their joint business concentrating on his music.

When his straight-laced landlord Lizzie approaches him for some naughty holiday happenings he is all for it. This is what he knows best one-night stands are his specialty. The problem is, once doesn't seem to be enough for this pair. What will happen if someone starts to care for Gauge? Can he handle it or will his demons push him away?

Lizzie can't believe that she can't get enough of this footloose musician with a checkered past. But, this Christmas she has decided to have a little fun, especially with her parents threatening to divorce and her jerk of an ex-boyfriend dumping her for the second time with a text message this time. When spending time together seems to take on more of a sharing and bonding time Lizzie rethinks her views on what she really wants in the future.

Restless by Tori Carrington shows that this dynamic writing duo can take even the most troubled and heartless character and make him loved by all. Additionally, it helps to highlight that your best match in love might be just outside of your comfort zone. The authors did another great job in wrapping up a series by finally giving Gauge his happy ending. Restless has a great match in Lizzie and Gauge. Additionally, it gives the reader the opportunity to see the character of Gauge grow up and finally accept what is really in his heart and soul. Restless is another winner for the writing duo. I thoroughly enjoyed Restless and think you will to, especially in front of a fire with your beverage of choice.

Tanya
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific contemporary romance, December 5, 2008

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Her married boyfriend Jerry informs lawyer Lizzie Gilbred by text message that he is returning "2 Jen", his wife. She has remained upset since receiving his cold message seven days ago, but is now ready to take action. Tired of being a loser because she has been a caring good girl, Lizzie decides no more Ms. nice girl. She chooses her renter grunge garage musician Patrick Gauge as her bad boy target.

Gauge is Dion's Wanderer, who is "never in one place" as he "roams from town to town" but sadly "going nowhere". However his libido explodes when his landlady proves not to be a frozen tin Lizzie as she seduces him. They share what each thinks is the greatest sexual trysts of their respective lives. As they begin to fall in love, Gauge the "king of the road" considers fleeing; his normal response to any serious commitment since he went homeless, However this time he knows leaving will be more than sweet sorrow; it will be the hardest departure of all as his Lizzie makes him believe in him and them.

Gauge is the key to this terrific contemporary romance as his love for Lizzie and her encouraging nurturing enables him to begin to heal and return to what he once was; only greater now because of her. Lizzie is a bit more typical of the prim and proper good girl determined to test the bad girl waters, but Gauge brings out both sides. Team Tori Carrington provides a superior character driven tale as Lizzie, readers and even Gauge wonder if the boy is back in town fighting for love or picking flight.

Harriet Klausner