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    Lady Killer: Confessions of a Chick Magnet, #5
    Lady Killer: Confessions of a Chick Magnet, #5
    Lady Killer: Confessions of a Chick Magnet, #5
    Ebook118 pages2 hours

    Lady Killer: Confessions of a Chick Magnet, #5

    By Jenny Gardiner

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    About this ebook

    Don't go bacon my heart…

    Animal lover Coco Lovingston wants to recharge her soul after a bruising attempt to succeed as an actress in Los Angeles, so she returns home to Bristol, Montana to a simpler life, working at an animal rescue clinic to recharge her broken spirit. She's perfectly content filling her days caring for abandoned creatures, enjoying lone strolls in the mountains, and reconnecting with old friends, but soon learns how precious life is when she takes a wrong turn on a dense forest hike and can't find her way out.

    Elliott Barbour was seriously not looking for a pig in his life. In fact, the only reason he'd even stopped by the Second Chances rescue clinic was to get his mother a kitten for her birthday. Until he's talked out of it by a cute employee who argues that a cat can live a long, damned time, and his mom wasn't getting any younger. Which would mean he'd get stuck some day with a fusty feline: pure torture, what with his allergies. When he takes one look at Oink, the miniature pig batting her come-hither lashes at him, what's he to do but go in whole-hog and bring her home as the unusual pet his mother never knew she'd love? Too late he realizes that he's got an unwanted pig in a poke, since miniature pigs are a lot of work and don't remain so tiny after all, and his mom declines the porcine gift.

    No sooner is the feisty little porker making him crazy than he's tasked with spearheading the rescue of some dumb woman who's gone missing after foolishly heading off in the mountains without even a cell phone or a bottle of water. Elliott counts the minutes till he can give her a piece of his mind for her irresponsibility—that is, if he's even able to find her alive.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJenny Gardiner Books
    Release dateNov 26, 2019
    ISBN9781944763336
    Lady Killer: Confessions of a Chick Magnet, #5
    Author

    Jenny Gardiner

    Thank you so much for reading my books! I hope you'll find some that keep you from doing the dishes, or vacuuming, or maybe even cause you to stay up later than you'd planned to (although I covet my sleep, so I'd feel guilty if I was to blame for that too often!). I'm the author of SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER, winner of Romantic Times/Dorchester Publishing's American Title III contest, bestseller SLIM TO NONE, the IT'S REIGNING MEN contemporary romance series, including SOMETHING IN THE HEIR, HEIR TODAY GONE TOMORROW, BAD TO THE THRONE, LOVE IS IN THE HEIR and SHAME OF THRONES (book 6, THRONE FOR A LOOP, comes out in March); ANYWHERE BUT HERE; WHERE THE HEART IS; the memoir BITE ME: A PARROT, A FAMILY AND A WHOLE LOT OF FLESH WOUNDS; the essay collection NAKED MAN ON MAIN STREET;  two contemporary romances as Erin Delany: ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE, & COMPROMISING POSITIONS. I have a funny dog story in I'M NOT THE BIGGEST BITCH IN THIS RELATIONSHIP. And I've got many more novels in the works! I've had pieces appear in Ladies Home Journal, the Washington Post, Marie-Claire.com, and on NPR's Day to Day. I honed my fiction writing skills while working as a publicist for a US Senator. Other jobs I've held have included: an orthodontic assistant (learning quite readily that I wasn't cut out for a career in polyester), a waitress (probably my highest-paying job), a TV reporter, a pre-obituary writer, and a photographer (once being Prince Charles' photographer in Washington!). Oh I'm also the volunteer coordinator for the Virginia Film Festival, which is a great one!  I live in Virginia with my husband and a small menagerie; we have three grown children, one of whom lives in Australia and I dream of visiting her there. I love all things Italian, regularly fantasize about traveling to exotic locales, and feel a little bit guilty for rarely attempting to clean the house.  I hope you'll sign up for my newsletter so you can hear about upcoming releases and get special offers here: http://eepurl.com/baaewn Visit me at my website below and my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/jennygardinerbooks , or twitter http://twitter.com/jennygardiner Thanks again for your support! Jenny

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      Book preview

      Lady Killer - Jenny Gardiner

      What people are saying about Jenny Gardiner's books:

      Red Hot Romeo

      Awesome. So enjoyed the romantic chemistry between the two characters. Read it non stop into the wee hours. Highly recommend this book

      —Mrs. K

      Blue-Blooded Romeo

      Another brilliant, fun read from Jenny Gardiner. The book is fun to read and I thoroughly enjoyed every word. Jenny Gardiner has put the fun back into romance books and I look forward to each book in this delightful series.

      —Anne Blyth

      I had planned on only reading a few chapters at first but couldn't put it down. A terrific storyline, well-developed and extremely relatable characters, what's not to love?? Great read!

      —Samantha Reeves

      Big O Romeo

      "I could not put this book down. Warning don't start this book late at night as you will not want to stop reading.

      —Di

      Sleeping with Ward Cleaver

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      Lady Killer

      (Book Five of the Confessions of a Chick Magnet series)

      by Jenny Gardiner

      Copyright © 2019 by Jenny Gardiner

      Cover art by Kim Killion, The Killion Group, Inc.

      All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

      All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

      http://jennygardiner.net/

      Chapter One

      Coco Lovingston was sorely tempted to bring home the adorable pink teacup pig with the black spots that some cruel person had left in the mailbox at the Second Chances Animal Rescue Clinic where she worked. Her landlord would kill her though, not to mention her apartment neighbors, especially if the little porker turned out to be a squealer. She’d retrieved the pig with the day’s mail and hadn’t set the animal down for the past hour, instead cuddling and kissing that sweet baby pig face.

      As much as she adored animals, her living situation didn’t lend itself to taking on a pet. A short time ago, she’d moved back to Bristol, Montana from LA following a disillusioning stint trying to break into acting jobs there. Although she hated slinking home with her tail between her legs, if she were honest with herself, she was happy to be back. She’d spent more years than she’d liked in a too-large city dealing with downright predatory industry types who demanded sexual quid pro quos for jobs. Enough was enough.

      If one more rotten man told he she had to give him a blow job to land a pitiful little commercial spot as the girl with herpes virus or girl with joint pain in a pharmaceutical ad, her head was going to explode. She was damned if she was going to advance her career on her knees. Hell, if she was going to have a career that entailed spending a lot of time bent over, it would be to hug sweet, homeless dogs and cats that people brought into the clinic, thank you.

      One condition of her return home, though, was that she would not encamp in her parents’ ranch outside of town. It would’ve been too much of a step backward to live at her folks’ place as though she were still back in high school. After being out of the house all these years, she knew her mom and dad enjoyed their empty-nest freedom and besides, she didn’t want to deal with them monitoring her every move. Instead, she’d taken a small apartment in town above Vertical Drop, the ski shop on Main Street, and enjoyed walking most everywhere she needed to go. Her best friend from high school, Emma Hamilton, had recently moved back to Bristol, which meant she now had a burgeoning social life. Things were looking up. Now if only she could find a home for this adorable little piglet.

      You planning to do anything other than cuddle that chunk of bacon? Tippy O’Brien, a tiny sixty-something woman with shoulder-length frizzy gray hair and bright blue eyes, said with a grin.

      Hush, she said, covering the pig’s ears. Little Oink here will get scared.

      I hate to tell you, Coco, but Oink’s not going to be long for this place—we don’t have the room for a pig right now. We’re already at capacity. She frowned.

      Coco held the pig up right in front of the director’s face. Look at this little snout, she said, making kissy noises as she held the pig’s face between her hands. How could you ever dream of getting rid of this sweet little nugget?

      Believe me, I’d bring in ten of them if I could, but we’re not set up for pigs to begin with, and she’s going to take up the space that several dogs could occupy. She looked at her watch and tapped the face. Clock’s ticking on Oink’s time here, Coco. I’m terribly sorry about that.

      Coco thrust out her lower lip in a pout. Give me a day or two and I’ll see if I can find a good home for her.

      Tippy nodded. We’ll do what we can, but please, make her adoption your priority.

      Here—hold my pig. Coco passed the pig to her boss, then pulled her long, newly blond hair back into a ponytail. Now that she was back in the area, she’d changed the color of her hair and had it professionally straightened to go along with her new-old life in Bristol. She gave her a wink, her green eyes sparkling, and grabbed the little pig back. I think I’ll be able to do that, no problem.

      BY EARLY AFTERNOON, Coco had fielded six no’s and about four are you crazy’s, not to mention Mommy said I can’t from one little girl. She could barely suppress her failure-to-adopt dismay when in walked a tall, brown-haired man with striking aqua-blue eyes that reminded her of the water at Grinnell Lake in nearby Glacier National Park.

      As he approached, Coco was seated at the counter mindlessly braiding the front strands of her hair. She jumped up, her hair falling into her face, and threw on a baseball cap to hide the mess as she greeted him. If only she’d put on makeup and made half an effort to look good. Instead, she’d taken a long run and showed up to work sweaty, looking as if she’d rolled out of bed. So much for making a decent impression on the first good-looking man to step foot into the clinic since she started working there.

      Welcome to Second Chances, she said, ushering him into the lobby. If you have any questions, I’m happy to help. Are you here to adopt a pet?

      He nodded. I’m looking for a kitten for my mom’s birthday, he said.

      Oh, fun. Kittens are the best. Has your mom kept a cat before?

      He shook his head. Actually, no. My father passed away last year and he would never let her have a cat and she always wanted one.

      So sorry about your dad. She frowned. "I

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