Courting Mandy

Mandy Thompson moves to east Texas fleeing the big city life of Dallas--a life where she couldn't resist temptation and couldn't settle down. Working as the librarian in Scottsville, Texas, she tries to keep herself from standing out, wears the frumpiest clothes she can, and has definitely relegated all of her fancy shoes to her hidden spare bedroom. Sure, she sometimes misses her the wilder side of life, but she now knows how destructive that side can be.

Case Gardner roars into Scottsville on his Harley with plans to help out his aunts for a while (one of them suffered an injury and is temporarily unable to work in the bakery they own together), and then move on. He's exactly the kind of man Mandy needs to avoid--and exactly the kind of man she has the most trouble resisting. She's certain that she'll be invisible to him--a frumpy librarian can surely slip beneath the radar of the hottest guy she's ever seen. Mandy doesn't count on the match-making skills of Case's aunts, however, nor of Case's own stubornness. Because he can see that she's hiding something beneath those layers of shapeless clothes and her sensible shoes. Case decides he badly wants to figure out exactly what Mandy is hiding--even though he's not sure what he'll do once he succeeds. And he will succeed--Case isn't good at taking no for an answer, and Mandy is a regular at the bakery where he'll be helping out.

Author Victoria Chancellor writes a fun and sexy romance. Mandy and Case are obviously right for each other, but each has to work through their own issues before they can commit to a relationship that will last longer than Case's three weeks in town. Mandy, in particular, is a sympathetic and likable character. Her 'wild' past might not have been quite as wild as she imagined, but which of us doesn't wish we could slip away and start a new life. For Mandy, that new life has a lot going for it... and she doesn't dare risk everything for a quick romance no matter how hot and dangerous Case might be. Or does she.