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Category: Romance
Description: Can a rogue find love with the girl next door? Not if his ex-girlfriends have any say in it! Bethany Briggs is a wallflower who's always looked for love in the wrong places. Rod Summers is notorious for the string of broken-hearted girlfriends he's left behind. Even when she sees a teddy bear beneath his wild exterior, she isn't sure she can trust her heart. But this shy girl-next-door is about to prove that the pattern for leather and lace can be tailor-made...
eBook Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory, 1998
Hard Shell Word Factory Release Date: October 2003

40 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [154 KB], ePub (EPUB) [154 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [122 KB], Portable Document Format (PDF) [620 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [136 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [290 KB], Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [175 KB], hiebook (KML) [325 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [195 KB], iSilo (PDB) [113 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [140 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [180 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [185 KB]
Words: 42332
Reading time: 120-169 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Portable Document Format (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

"Leather & Lace will certainly put stardust in your eyes and warm your heart. Karen Wiesner has penned a treasure chest full of love and given us a heart full of hope and happy endings! Bravo Wiesner!"--The Literary Times

"Ms. Wiesner writes a page turner that keeps the reader, not only panting, but on the edge of their seat, wanting the two to find happiness, but in sincere doubt of the outcome until the end of the book. It is a very delightful book, I might add. If you are looking for a sizzling read, one with flawed character, real situations, and a relationship that has to be, please reach for Leather & Lace and enjoy.. Recommended"--Under the Covers Book Reviews

"Karen Wiesner has crafted a decidedly erotic romance that won't let the reader go until the heart wrenching final scene. It is a pleasure to read a story that lets out all the stops by an author who isn't afraid to show a hero and heroine who are real human beings."--Affaire de Coeur

Chapter One

A WILD man just walked into the salon.

Though Bethany Briggs had always been shy, it had never gotten in the way of interacting with her customers. Most of her clients, however, were older ladies, professional women, or children. This man was first-glance intimidating. He was dressed in black leather pants, silver-tipped boots, and a tiger-striped vest. Maybe he hadn't seen the no shoes, no shirt, no service sign in the corner of the front door.

Setting down the supplies she was stocking her retail shelves with, Bethany straightened her skirt, then crossed the white and black checkered floor to the reception desk he leaned on.

His hair was blond, long and wild. Against his dark skin, it was shockingly light. When she realized that she found him attractive, despite his wildness, she blushed. To hide it, she glanced down at the appointment book, scanning it for his name though she knew it wasn't there. "You have an appointment?" Her voice was weak with nervousness.

"Nope."

It required all of her courage to look up at him, only to be slammed again with his attractiveness. His eyes were a breathtaking shade of deep brown. He grinned at her as if they'd known each other forever.

Blushing again, she lowered her gaze and asked quietly, "What can I do for you?"

"Whatever you got in mind, sweetness."

It wasn't as if a man had never come on to her before. She had even had wild men come on to her. But this was a business. No one came on to her in her salon, Beauty by Bethany.

"Do you need a haircut, sir?" she asked, glancing at him quickly, trying to pretend he hadn't said what he had.

"It's Rod Summers, and no. I just came to pick up my baby."

My...? Her gaze flew to his face in alarm, and then she knew he hadn't been referring to a child. "Oh. You must mean Nicole Martini." The other wild person in the salon.

Grateful to be able to look away, Bethany confirmed that her stylist Olivia was almost finished with Rod's 'baby.' "It'll only be a few minutes more, if you'd like to sit down and wait." She pointed to the little reception area near the front door where chairs, magazines, and coffee were available.

About to return to her shelf-stocking, Bethany was caught off-guard when Rod said, "Hey, what's your name?"

He was talking to her; she couldn't mistake that. "Oh. Um, Bethany."

"As in Beauty by Bethany?" He indicated the pink logo painted on the picture window next to the door.

"Yes. I own the salon." Clasping her hands, she waited for him to walk away so she could too.

"How long you been in business?"

For what possible reason would he want to know? "Two years now."

He nodded in interest, glancing around. "This building seems too small for a beauty shop."

Everyone had to notice that. The building was actually much larger; she rented the whole thing since it only came that way, but she couldn't afford to expand into the unused portion yet. That part had been blocked off with a temporary wall. After her first successful year, she'd lapsed back into the red when a chain salon had opened a few blocks from hers. "I know. I plan to expand later." Two, three, five years later, if everything got off the ground again. "Um, there's coffee if you--"

He moved around the reception desk, and her stomach did a somersault in panic as he came to stand near her. Too near. She could smell the wildness of his cologne, the leather he wore. His body was no longer shielded by the desk. He was at least six foot tall, five inches taller than she was, and he was solidly built. His biceps were golden brown, as was his hairless chest. She wondered if he had any Native American blood, or maybe it was that he wore animal hide and was almost bare-chested that he looked like an Indian warrior to her.

"Bethany. That's a real pretty name, sweetness. Almost as pretty as you are."

Her heart pounded like a tennis ball flying back and forth over a court. How could she be attracted to him? How could he be coming on to her while his "baby" was only a few feet away?

Gosh, he was attractive. All that glorious blond hair, those sexy eyes. Not to mention his mouth. It was as full and soft-looking as a woman's, but there was nothing feminine about it. Everything, everything was one hundred percent male here.

She blushed again, couldn't even begin to control it, when he reached out and touched the delicate lace that bordered the collar of her blouse. For a second, his fingers touched the skin of her chest. In that briefness, her nipples tightened eagerly, and she gasped.

A hint of a smile lit on his beautiful lips. "You suppose I could have your phone number, pretty Bethany?"

Oh goodness, she stood as though under a spell. His spell. She realized it when she heard Olivia approaching. Without answering, she broke away from whatever trance he'd put her under. Her gaze met Olivia's, and then Nicole Martini's as the two came to settle up at the desk.

Bethany glanced back once she returned to her stocking and saw Rod put his arm around his "baby" before they walked out together.

"God save women from playboys," Olivia said as a prayer, picking up the broom to clean her station. Bethany's other employee, Kimberly, joined the older lady in gossiping, first, about Nicole Martini, then about Rod Summers. Bethany pretended not to listen.

"I think he dated Cindy Crawford... or one of the supermodels," Kimberly confided.

"One? I heard there were a lot more than that! He's got a new flavor every week."

From her stocking position, Bethany couldn't help her blush. In a town the size of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, a man who'd dated... and broken up... with supermodels was definitely the center of gossip. Bethany had heard of Rod Summers before, from other customers. No one else in Stevens Point dressed like him, looked like him. Even among the city college students, who sometimes were a little off-beat, he didn't fit in.

"A friend of mine dated him awhile back," Kimberly said, and Bethany suddenly found herself straining to catch every word. "She said he was the most charming guy she'd ever met. In bed and out. He bought her all this expensive stuff, took her to these fancy restaurants and hotels... in fact, he broke up with her on what she calls "her dream date." One minute they're drinking champagne, eating caviar, he's giving her a diamond necklace, and the next he's saying 'it was fun, but that's all she wrote.' He had another girlfriend before the weekend was out -- that's the worst part. God save any woman from a womanizer like that."

While Olivia commented on the successful business he owned in town, Bethany thought, God save me. It'd been seven years since she'd been that attracted to a man. And she'd learned all she wanted to about playboys and their games.

Copyright © 1998 by Karen Wiesner