what REVIEWERS are saying...
I really enjoyed reading Seducing Tabby. It isn’t every day that the full-figured girl gets the hot, gorgeous guy. Seducing Tabby is funny and sweet, and Ms. Monroe has done an excellent job with this short story. -
FAR
"Every story in this terrific six-pack sizzles. Who wouldn’t want these bad boys for her own beach blanket?"
Blue
Ribbon Reviews
"Sit back and devour six fabulous stories." - Romance Reviews
Today
"These authors have written six of the yummiest Bad Boys ever!! I enjoyed each and every one of these stories and
this is a Keeper for me. Don’t let anything keep you from reading this book!!!!" 5 Stars -
A Romance Review
"Beach Blanket Bad Boys brings together six of today's hottest authors and combine them into one extraordinary
book." - The Romance Studio
"All six tales are hotter than a summer sun romances starring strong bad boys and the women who can match their
ardor." - Harriet Klausner
READER COMMENTS
"I wrote to you before about how much I enjoyed Ready. Then I tracked down a few of your other books. I LOVE
'Seducing Tabby'. It is by far my favorite even if it is shorter than most your stories. I cannot thank you enough for
the gift of enjoyment your books give me. A million thanks!!!!!!!" - Lee Ann
"Hey Lucy, I just read your story in Beach Blanket Bad boys. Oh, I loved it." ~ Judy
"Lucy, While I haven't read Ready yet... I am sure I will love it also. Your books are always so good. Intense characters who just draw you in and you don't want the book to end. I read Tabby's story in BBBB and it was so good I had to read it again the next day. It just makes you smile. As long as you keep writing them, I will keep buying and reading them..." ~ Thanks, Lynda
"Hi Lucy, I know you are busy writing, and I am very happy to hear that <g> but I just had to tell you how much I enjoyed Seducing Tabby. After reading it, I think all women will wish they were shy, reserved bookstore owners who were lusted after by sexy English spies! It was a lovely story, and the sexual tension between the two was incredible. How you manage to convey so much emotion and attraction in such a short medium is evidence of your true talent. Thanx for the story, and for all the ones yet to be written. Now I'm off to start "Ready" which I found at B&N." ~
Stacy
Excerpt
Seducing Tabby
CHAPTER ONE
“Secret
Service? Really?”
“Jane
said her dad said he heard it from Tom Crane, the realtor.”
“Well, Patty Lane said her mother heard from her hair dresser that he’s nobility,
like an earl or something.”
“Maybe
he’s both.”
Tabby’s
friends spoke in low undertones laced with breathless curiosity.
Wearing identical expressions of titillated speculation,
the only two women in Port Diamond shyer than she was turned to
face Tabby.
“Do
you know anything?” asked one.
“He’s
got a boat docked here at the marina,” the other added.
“A luxury cruiser.”
“My
dad runs the marina, not me,” Tabby reminded them.
“But
you’ve got to have heard something.”
Tabby
had spent most of her adult life being pumped for information
about her gorgeous, thin sister, Helene.
So, this was nothing new.
She was adept at sidestepping answers she did not want to
give, but at least when it came to Helene, she could answer
the inquiries when she wanted to.
However,
Tabby knew nothing more than the other women about the mysterious
Englishman who had so recently moved to Port Diamond.
Nothing
except that despite the fact she’d never said more than ten
words to Calder Maxwell, he sparked a desire in her that fried her
nerve endings and froze her vocal chords.
She’d woken up pulsing from a dream induced climax for
the first time in her life the night she’d met him.
“I
can tell you he’s not Secret Service.
He’s from
England
, not
Washington
.”
“Well,
you know what I mean. He
looks like he could give James Bond a run for his money.”
Tabby
looked across the room at the gorgeous man standing with her dad
and Helene and had to agree. A
cross between Timothy Dalton and Carry Grant, he was every fantasy
she’d ever had rolled into one perfect package - the only flaw
being, his obvious interest in Helene.
Just
like every other male who came into contact with the Payton
sisters, he found Helene’s sweet nature and gorgeous looks
irresistible. Tabby
had seen them talking on the pier near his boat house a couple of
times, but hadn’t been able to nerve herself up enough to join
them. Helene
wouldn’t have minded. She
was always happy to see her sister.
Tabby
doubted Calder would have been as appreciative, which is why
she’d stayed away...no matter how much she’d longed to simply
stand close enough to hear his voice.
Noticing
her gaze still fixed on Calder, Tabby’s friend gave a theatrical
sigh. “He’s yummy,
isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
At
that moment, the object of their speculation turned and caught the
trio of women gawking at him.
One corner of his mouth tilted, but it couldn’t quite be
called a smile and his dark gaze assessed them with cool regard.
“Oh,
my gosh, he’s looking this way.
Quick, turn around and pretend to be getting food at the
buffet.”
Tabby
rolled her eyes. “He’s
already seen us. I
don’t think he’ll be fooled.”
And she didn’t particularly want him thinking she was
interested in the buffet.
A
throwback to her paternal great-grandmother, she didn’t have the
willowy figure of her mom and sister, or anything approaching her
dad’s athletic build. Nope,
she was a little too round, a lot too curved, and slightly too
short for that.
“He’s
headed this way!”
And
suddenly she was alone, deserted by her gossiping friends.
He
stopped in front of her, his tall frame towering over her own
five-feet-five-inches. He
would fit in with the rest of her family just fine.
In fact, he and Helene made a striking couple, she
thought with an inner twinge.
“Good
evening, Miss Payton.”
Her
heart fluttered at the smooth English accent and her lungs refused
to issue forth enough air to power words of greeting.
It had felt like this the first time they met in her
bookstore too. He’d
come in looking for a book on home improvement of all things and
she’d barely said six words to him between recommending a title
and ringing up his purchase.
Feeling
crowded by his proximity though he wasn’t standing all that
close, she took an involuntary step backward and ran into one of
the buffet tables. She
grabbed for the edge to steady herself and got a handful of crab
salad instead.
Turning
to look, she stared in horrified stupefaction at the mess covering
her hand. Mom was
going to have a hissy fit. The
salad required a two-day prep and was her most recent culinary
pride and joy. Now an
entire buffet size bowl of it was good only for the garbage
disposal.
“I
can’t believe I just did that,” she muttered.
“Can
I help you?”
She
looked up at him then, too upset by her predicament to be her
usual tongue-tied self around him.
“Do you have any suggestions for hiding the evidence?”
“Perhaps,
we could take the bowl to the kitchen?”
“And
leave a gap on the table?”
He
took hold of her wrist and lifted her hand away from the bowl,
careful not to let the crab salad anywhere near his dinner suit or
her dress. “Go clean
up and I will take care of our small disaster.”
In
spite of her embarrassed chagrin, the feel of his fingers curled
around her wrist was surprisingly nice.
“It’s
not your disaster.” She
sighed self-deprecatingly. “It’s
mine and I can’t leave it to you.”
Even if she wished she could.
“Of
course, I’m at fault. I
startled you.” She
opened her mouth to argue, but he shook his head.
“Don’t let it concern you.
I have some experience in this sort of thing.”
“Rescuing
women from the wrath of their temperamental chef mothers?”
He
smiled, even white teeth flashing all too briefly.
“Hiding the evidence.”
Her
eyes widened in mock horror. “Oh,
my gosh, you’re a member of the British mafia and here everyone
was thinking you were some sort of displaced nobleman or spy, or
something.”
That
made him laugh and she felt the sound all the way to her toes.
“You
have a nice laugh.” She
couldn’t believe she’d said that.
Trust her to go from mute to uttering inanities.
What an improvement.
“And
you have a charming sense of humor, but you also have a hand that
is about drip crab salad on your lovely dress.”
She
extended her arm further from her body, having no desire to ruin
the dress it had taken four hours of shopping in San Diego to find. “I’ll
just go wash this off.”
She
took as long as she could in the ladies room, washing her hands,
tidying her appearance and wishing she could fall through a hole
in the floor rather than go back out and face Calder Maxwell.
She
got a moment alone with the focus of her fantasies and what did
she do?
Go
diving in a buffet bowl.
She
never had been all that handy in the kitchen.
