Secret Confessions: Down & Dusty - Frankie (Novella) (5 page)

BOOK: Secret Confessions: Down & Dusty - Frankie (Novella)
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***

Frankie stared at him, her heart thudding hard, searching those amazing golden eyes of his. He seemed to be saying … No. Surely not. It didn’t seem possible, it didn’t seem real.

She’d stupidly let slip the truth while she’d been his arms, and yet he hadn’t run. In fact, it seemed as if he was almost … trying to tell her the same thing.

Her throat closed up. ‘I meant it,’ she croaked. ‘I really did.’

Wonderfully, incredibly, he smiled. ‘Say it, Francesca.’

And this time the words were really easy to say and came out without a single stutter. ‘I love you, Mac.’

His thumb moved on her chin and a small silence fell, his mouth curving in that gorgeous, sexy way. ‘I love you too, Frankie.’

Bloody hell. It was real. He
did
mean it.

‘And I don’t want you to go,’ she whispered, all the words she’d been keeping inside tumbling out, her heart filling up like Red Creek itself when the rains came. ‘I want you to stay. I just couldn’t bear you being around, knowing you didn’t feel the same way about me, so I thought that if I could buy you out—’

His finger came down gently on her mouth. ‘Shut up, Frankie.’

Then he took away his finger and he kissed her.

And Frankie finally shut up.

Thanks for reading Down and Dusty: Frankie. I hope you enjoyed it.

If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage http:
www.jackieashenden.com
, follow me on twitter
@JackieAshenden
, or like my Facebook page
www.facebook.com/jackie.ashenden

You can also follow me through my publisher’s page here
www.escapepublishing.com.au

Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.

You’ve just read a book in the Down and Dusty series. The other books in this series are

You’ve just read a book in the
SECRET CONFESSIONS: DOWN & DUSTY
series. The other books in this series are
CASEY
,
LUCKY
,
KELLY
,
BROOKE
,
CLARISSA
,
SKYE
and
MAREE
.

This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.

BESTSELLING TITLES BY ESCAPE PUBLISHING…

Secret Confessions: Down & Dusty — Casey
Rachael Johns

They say that no one has secrets in a small town—these women prove them wrong.

Eight brand-new stories from some of Australia’s hottest writers in Australia’s hottest genre. From the bar stools of the local pub to the wide open plains of the biggest stations in the world, these tales travel the dusty roads to the heart of Australia and the women who understand how to work hard—and play even harder.

In the latest in the wildly successful Secret Confessions series from Escape Publishing, the women of Down & Dusty invite you into their lives—and their bedrooms.

Casey Cooper left her husband and the small town of Milpinyani Springs in her dust a year ago, vowing never to return. But a favour to a friend finds her back in town—and back in her husband’s garage, where he offers her a proposition too sexy to refuse. A naked Joel has always been the one thing Casey can’t resist—but can her heart handle the heat?

 

Secret Confessions: Backstage
The Complete Collection

An All-Access pass to Sex, Love, and Rock ‘N Roll. Because what happens on tour doesn’t always stay on tour…

From Australia to the world…

Chicago.
The last stop of their wildly successful US tour sees Australia’s biggest rock band, The Screaming Tuesdays, in sultry, summertime Chicago to play two sold-out shows. But the stage is not where the action is, and no one knows what goes on behind the scenes...

1. Chase—K.M. Golland

2. Josh—Eden Summers

3. Yanis—Lexxie Couper

4. Theo—Zaide Bishop

5. Kelly—Shona Husk

6. Jet—Rhian Cahill

 

Honour Bound
M.A. Grant

The Lawmen of the Republic: fierce, honourable, soldiers, men. But what happens when all that they’ve been told turns out to be lies?

The wars to establish the Republic are over. The families of the Ton have risen from the blood and ashes to claim the new aristocracy. Their prodigal son, First Lieutenant Alexander Cade, is the Lawmen Academy’s youngest and most successful graduate. However, his muddied bloodlines force his exile to the Northern Wastes, the last unclaimed territory of the Republic.

Lailian scout Natalia Volkova knows that her survival in a rebel labour camp rests entirely on her iron will and killing prowess. Her fierce quest for freedom is tempered by only one thing: conflicting memories of the young Republic lieutenant who helped liberate her camp, and then returned to the fold of her people’s oppressors. She never expects that their paths will cross again—under very different circumstances.

Cade’s honour limits his choices to one: take his band of specialised Lawmen into the Wastes, and protect it and its people. There, he meets Talia, a tough, resilient refugee who holds little respect for the Republic and its laws. But as a deathly outbreak leads to a desperate race for a cure, Talia and Cade will find themselves on uncertain ground: What is right is not always obvious, and what is honourable is not always right.

 

Secret Confessions: Sydney Housewives

You’ve never met housewives as hot as these...They’re wealthy and glamorous. The elite of society. But appearances can be deceiving.

Eleven women are members of the influential Double Diamond Dinner Club. They are wealthy, elegant, poised and constantly in the public eye. But what goes on behind closed doors, in the private homes and parties where the cameras and paparazzi aren’t welcome?

Each woman has everything to lose if their fellow members learn of their needs, desires, and bedroom inclinations.

Eleven stories from eleven of Australia’s hottest authors — a scandalous, sexy collection that uncovers the privileged lives of Sydney’s affluent housewives: their work, their families, their friends and their men. Nothing is hidden, nothing is forbidden — and nothing will ever be the same.

Featuring: Rhian Cahill, Cate Ellink, Cathleen Ross, Tamsin Baker, Lexxie Couper, Shona Husk, Keziah Hill, Viveka Portman, Christina Phillips, Mel Teshco and Tracey O’Hara!

Secrets Revealed! Bonus four epilogues, exclusive to this digital bind-up!

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ISBN: 9780857992987

Title: Secret Confessions: Down & Dusty—Frankie

Copyright © 2016 by Jackie Ashenden

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Limited, Level 13/201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

BOOK: Secret Confessions: Down & Dusty - Frankie (Novella)
7.14Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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