An Irresistible Bachelor - Softcover

Bird, Jessica

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345458966 ISBN 13: 9780345458964

Publisher: Ivy Books, 2004

Synopsis

He was a confirmed bachelor—and a gorgeous work of art.

For struggling art conservationist Callie Burke, the chance to restore a world-famous painting is the opportunity of a lifetime—one that no one in her right mind would turn down. Call her crazy, but Callie has serious reservations about working with the painting’s owner. Warm and sexy, Jack Walker makes no attempt to hide the strong attraction he feels for Callie—even as she tries to keep their relationship professional. Now, cocooned in his studio in Boston, she will either have to learn to ignore the man and concentrate on the masterpiece, or give in to the kind of passion that can never be captured on canvas.

Jack Walker is a practical man who runs his life, his empire, and his fortune effortlessly. Yet from the moment he met Callie Burke, he wanted her with all the intensity of a first crush. As he gets to know her, the desire blossoms into something more—and Jack finds that for the first time in his life he is leading with his heart instead of his head. . . .

About this title

About the Author

Jessica Bird has been spinning tales since she could string sentences together. She is the author of Leaping Hearts and Heart of Gold. A graduate of Smith College, Jessica is an attorney who is admitted to practice in two states. She much prefers writing love stories, however!

Email the author at jessica@jessicabird.com and visit her Web site at www.jessicabird.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

chapter 1

The woman came to him from the shadows and he knew her by the red of her hair. She moved slowly, deliberately, toward him and he released his breath with satisfaction. He wanted to ask her where she’d been because he’d missed her.

But the closer she got the less he felt like talking.

As she stopped in front of him, he reached out and ran a finger down her cheek. She was achingly beautiful, especially her eyes. They were spectacular blue, a shade that perfectly complemented the auburn waves that fell past her shoulders. He wanted her. No, he needed her.

Her smile deepened, as if she knew what he was thinking, and she tilted her head back. Staring at her upturned mouth, at her parted lips, a wave of urgency shot through his body. Giving in to the hunger, he put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her close, wanting to take what she was offering quickly before she disappeared again.

Bending down, he felt anticipation and something else, something that made his heart pound with more than lust.

Jack Walker’s eyes flipped open. Caught up in the raging hunger in his body, he wasn’t sure whether he was truly awake. Or where the hell he was. He knew the bed wasn’t his own, but not much else.

He looked around at the dark shapes in the room. After a few deep breaths, the patterns made sense to him. He was at the Plaza Hotel in New York, in the suite he always used when he was in town.

And the woman he still wanted so badly it hurt had disappeared into thin air. Again.

He stared up at the ornate ceiling in frustration. He hadn’t slept well the last two nights and he needed some sustained shut-eye soon. He didn’t have much patience to begin with and lack of sleep wasn’t getting him any closer to Mother Teresa territory.

The dream was driving him crazy.

Every time it was the same. Just as he was about to kiss her, right before he knew what she would taste like, he’d wake up slick with sweat and in a hella- cious mood.

Jack pushed a hand through his hair. Without a suitable target for his frustration, he seethed in the darkness.

He’d only met the woman once and he hadn’t thought she’d made that big an impression on him.

Restless, he had to fight his way out of the sheets that had gotten tangled around his naked body. When he was finally free, he walked over to a bank of windows and looked outside. The view was characteristically New York. Skyscrapers reaching toward the heavens, taillights flashing in a maze of asphalt down below. It was late at night, but the city was still hopping.

A couple of days before, he’d come down from Boston expecting to meet with his college roommate, who was now a top-notch political consultant, and to buy back a family painting. Picking up a subconscious sexual obsession had sure as hell not been on his itinerary.

But at least the meeting had gone well. And he’d gotten the portrait.

Last night he’d been the successful bidder at the Hall Foundation’s lavish gala. The painting was John Singleton Copley’s masterful rendering of Nathaniel Walker, a Revolutionary War hero and one of Jack’s most prominent ancestors. He’d paid almost five million dollars for it, but he’d have gone higher. The painting should never have left the family and he was the only one who could afford to get it back.

Which would have been a surprise to anyone other than his immediate relatives.

Since the day his father had gone discreetly bankrupt, Jack had been shelling out his hard-earned money to protect and fortify his family’s legacy. To be properly sustained, the proud heritage and luxurious lifestyle of the Walkers required a tremendous, unceasing river of cash. Among the gene pool, however, there was a dearth of earners and a plethora of spenders. Jack was on the short list of the former.

His father’s poor asset management and the financial realities of keeping up the Walker Theme Park had helped to ensure that he didn’t turn into yet another useless blueblood. Instead, he was a hard-hearted, competitive SOB who had a reputation for winning at all costs. It had been an evolution his father, Nathaniel James Walker VI, had never approved of, but then the man’s opinions and choices had usually been poor in Jack’s opinion. Nathaniel Six, as he’d been known, was the epitome of the Old Guard philanthropist. He felt there was only one proper thing to do with money: Give it away. A gentleman simply didn’t tarnish his hands with the ugly business of making the stuff.

It was an entitled way of looking at life, and one that had resulted in his father being much celebrated by the universities, libraries, and museums that were the fortunate recipients of his largesse. Unfortunately, all that philanthropy had also landed him dead broke by the time Jack was twenty-five. The painting had been one of the first things sold to keep up the charade of limitless wealth.

Although Nathaniel Six had been dead for almost five years, Jack could clearly imagine how conflicted his old man would have been at the first Nathaniel’s return. The patriarch’s picture was back in the family, but thanks only to Jack’s dirty hands.

What a catch-22, he thought, thinning his lips.

Shaking himself free of the past, Jack figured he shouldn’t be quite so pleased with himself. He’d got the painting, all right. And the goddamn dream.

He’d gone to preview the piece at the Hall Foundation before the auction, expecting to quickly verify it was in reasonable shape and move along. He’d done the former, but in the process had met the art conservationist who’d been keeping him up nights ever since.

He’d first seen her as she’d been backing out of an office. She’d turned around, her deep red hair swinging over her shoulders, and their eyes had locked. He’d been intrigued, as any man would have been, but it wasn’t like she’d struck him dumb with her charms.

His old friend, Grace Woodward Hall, president of the Foundation, had introduced them. The woman, Callie Burke, was an art conservationist and on a whim, he’d invited her to come with them to view the painting. Standing over the canvas, he’d been struck by her thorough commentary on the condition of the painting and her assessment of what needed to be done to properly care for it. He’d also liked the way she’d looked at the portrait. Her eyes had clung to his ancestor’s face, as if she were utterly entranced. When he’d asked if she might like to conserve the work, though, she hadn’t seemed interested and they’d gone their separate ways. At least until his head had hit the pillow that night.

He’d laughed off the dream at first, pleased to find that at the age of thirty-eight his sex drive was as high as it had always been. With each passing night, however, he lost more of his sense of humor. He’d decided the one saving grace was that they’d never meet again, so eventually he’d forget about her.

But then last evening, after his successful bid at the auction, his friend Grace had brought up the woman again. Grace had urged him to follow up with this Callie Burke, stopping just short of asking him to do it as a personal favor to her. Evidently, Grace felt confident that Ms. Burke could do the work and pushed him to look into the conservationist’s background so he’d know just how talented she was. By the end of the evening, he’d agreed to play along though he still had no idea why it was so important to his friend.

Looking out over the city, he figured that he’d check into the conservationist’s background tomorrow, and then he’d go find her and ask her again. He wasn’t much for giving people second chances, but maybe now was a good time to give it a try. He had to admit he’d been rather touched by Grace’s ardent support of the woman.

And the dreams? He wasn’t going to worry about them. Hell, he didn’t even like redheads.

“Jack?”

He turned to the bed and looked at the dark shape of Blair Stanford. His fiancée.

“Sorry I woke you,” he said as she sat up on her elbows.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m all right.”

She reached a hand out to him. “Come back to bed.”

Jack slid between the sheets and felt Blair put her arms around him.

“You’re tense,” she said softly, stroking his chest.

He wove his fingers through hers. “Go back to sleep.”

“Is there something wrong?” she murmured. “You’ve been tossing and turning every night for the past few days.”

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

He stroked her forearm, trying to get her to relax, but she propped her head up on her hand.

“Jack, we know each other too well for secrets.”

“True. But who says I’m hiding anything?” He smiled at how her short, blond hair was sticking out at right angles. He reached up and smoothed the sides down, thinking she wouldn’t have stood for that kind of disorder if she’d known about it. Even in the middle of the night.

Blair stared down into his face for a long time. “Are you rethinking our engagement?”

“What makes you say that?”

She hesitated. “I was very surprised when you asked me to marry you and we haven’t really talked about it since.”

“We’ve both been busy. That doesn’t mean I’m having second thoughts.”

What he really wanted to say was that she should know by now that he didn’t do “second thoughts.” Having made the decision that it was time to get married, and having found a woman...

Edition details

• Publisher: Ivy Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0345458966
• ISBN 13: 9780345458964
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 384