Hot City Nights - Sandra Marton

Hello, hello, hello! I’m thrilled to be here to see all of you again. It seems like forever but it’s been a busy winter and spring for me. I did a lot of writing: the final book in my brand new SHEIKH TYCOONS trilogy, coming in October, November and December. The launch novel for Harlequin Presents exciting new mini-series series, THE KAREDES LEGACY, which debuts a year from now with my book, BILLIONAIRE PRINCE, PREGNANT MISTRESS. And, of course, I completed work on the lead novella for HOT CITY NIGHTS, a collection of brand-new, sexy stories which has just hit the stands.

Isn’t the cover spectacular? Everyone loves the picture of the guy. His hair. His shoulders. The angle of his head. “He just looks gorgeous, and like somebody I think I should know,” a friend told me the other day. I looked at the cover again and thought, yes, she’s right. He does look like someone I might know, but who? The answer hit a couple of hours later. I phoned my friend and said, “The guy on the cover of my book. Does he look like—“ “George Clooney!” she said before I could, and both of us sighed and said, yeah, that was exactly right.

So there’s George, on the cover of my book. Well, maybe not—but you have to admit, it’s a cool idea.

The book, on the other hand, is hot. Extremely so.

As I mentioned, HOT CITY NIGHTS is an anthology from Harlequin, featuring three novellas guaranteed to turn up the summer heat. That’s the general idea behind it. It’s the kind of book you tuck into your beach tote, or curl up with on the terrace or the deck. Sip something cold and read something, um, something warm. The back cover blurb says it all.
“Love rules the night,” says, ‘but what will the daylight bring? Three sizzling reads in HOT CITY NIGHTS!”

My novella is titled SUMMER IN THE CITY. It’s the story of sexy bachelor Lincoln Aldridge and fiery Brazilian beauty Ana Maria Marques. Linc and Ana almost literally run into each other in the garden of Ana’s father’s sumptuous estate in Brazil. One thing leads to another and they end up in a passionate kiss. The outside world intrudes and there’s no reason these two should ever see each other again… until Fate steps in.

Linc’s beloved sister dies in a plane crash and Linc, the perennial bachelor, is jolted by the news that he’s now the guardian of a tiny baby. He tries to do the right thing by hiring the best nannies he can find to care for Jennifer but one after another, the nannies turn out to be bad news. Linc is desperate. That’s where Fate shows itself for a second time.

Ana turns up on his doorstep.

You’ll have to read the novella to find out why she’s come to New York and to Lincoln’s offices but, trust me, it isn’t because she’s hot for his body. If anything, she’d just as soon never seen him again. Still, Ana doesn’t want to go back to Brazil. She wants a shot at independence. Employment. Not just employment. A career. Manager? Administrator? Administrative Assistant?

What Linc offers her is a job as his niece’s nanny.

It’s not what Ana’s trained to do. It’s not what she wants to do. Add the fact that she absolutely doesn’t want to deal with Linc, much less move into a guest suite in his penthouse, and her answer surely will be “No.” But one look at baby Jennifer changes everything. Ana loses her heart to the child, grits her teeth and says “Yes.”

The problem is, she’s eventually going to lose her heart not just to Jenny but to Lincoln. And he… well, he’s going to have to do whatever it takes to gain custody of his niece. And if that means marrying Ana, even though he doesn’t want a wife, he’ll just have to do it.

I hope you enjoy SUMMER IN THE CITY and the other two novellas in HOT CITY NIGHTS. They’re by Sarah Mayberry and Emilie Rose, two wonderful writers, and I can honestly tell you that the three of us did our very best to bring you a collection of heart-touching, pulse-stirring, sexy and romantic stories for an enjoyable summertime read.