Hot Buttered Yum Read Online Free PDF

Turtle Island Hotel. Come on
out any evening for some dancing. We do classes if you aren’t familiar with
line dancing. But even better, come for the Italian special of the night. My
husband’s recipes. And welcome to Turtle Island, Lucas. I hope you enjoy your
stay.”
    Lucas kept his expression polite with the bombardment of
words. She was a chatty one.
    After Savannah, he shook her sister Samantha’s hand, and
watched them exchange another look before Samantha informed him, “You know, Roni
is here too.”
    Nice. He didn’t even have to ask. He forced his smile to
remain polite when what he wanted to do was grin like a child who’d been let
out for summer break two weeks early.
    “Good to know.”
    “Who’s Roni?” Kelly asked.
    “A woman I met at lunch today.”
    Kelly shook his head as if impressed with the speed with
which Lucas had moved. He didn’t bother telling Kelly that he hadn’t even
managed to get her last name. He was losing his touch.
    Lucas tried not to look too anxious to find her, but
couldn’t keep his gaze from scanning the room once more, now looking for a
petite, black-haired woman who had large brown eyes, one of which had a dot of green
on the outside of the pupil.
    Samantha smiled behind her glass of champagne before sliding
her eyes off to his right. He followed her gaze.
    Bingo.
    Probably no more than five feet tall, the woman he’d barely
gotten the pleasure of meeting stood with her back to him, a slim black dress
hugging her curves, and he knew he’d recognize her anywhere. Her short, sleek
hair swept to one side, she stood with her back straight, polite but not stiff,
as she charmed several other contestants. He couldn’t blame their slack jaws
and goofy smiles. He’d been charmed in the few minutes he’d had her attention
too.
    He was suddenly in a hurry to finish the introductions and
move across the room.
    Fifteen minutes later, after too many polite conversations
and not nearly enough glances at Roni, he had a glass of champagne of his own,
and was crossing the plush carpet on the hunt. She’d shifted around the room
several times since he’d come in, talking with people who stood alone, pulling
them into larger groups. At the moment, she had the attention of three more
contestants, all wearing the same wowed look the earlier men had worn.
    Lucas’s blood kicked into a higher gear well before he got anywhere
near her.
    On the way over, he caught sight of the short-haired
brunette who’d taken Roni away from him earlier that day. She seemed just as
stressed as she had that afternoon, only tonight she held a clipboard in her
hand and was watching the crowd more than being a part of it. She tucked her
hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture and he had the thought that she might be
the Kayla that Savannah had mentioned. If so, she’d have the button indicating
he was a contestant.
    That would just have to wait.
    Right now he was five feet from Roni, and nothing was
changing his course.
    By the time he stopped at her side, the only person still talking
with her wore a button declaring him contestant number one. Roni didn’t stop
speaking, but she did glance Lucas’s way to politely include him in the
conversation. Only, when she caught sight of him, she did go silent.
    Her gaze flicked to his chest before returning to his face.
Then she visibly shook herself and returned, uninterrupted, to the sentence she’d
been in the middle of before he’d walked up. Contestant number one appeared
somewhat smug that he’d recaptured her attention.
    Good luck to him. Lucas knew he was about to take it away.
    In the first break of words, he took a half step closer. “Good
evening, Roni.”
    Her eyelashes dipped. They were so long they seemed to touch
her cheeks. And then they lifted and those brown eyes turned up to him. He was
lost.
    “You’ve met Ms. Templeman?” This came from number one.
    Confusion attached itself as Lucas, forcing his attention away
from Roni, searched