Showing results by author "Brenda Rothert" in All Categories

Nothing rattles me. Well . . . almost nothing. As the most even-tempered player on the Chicago Blaze, I take everything in stride—hockey, fame, and life in general. No one knows that deep down, even I've got a trigger. She's a tall brunette with a gorgeous smile and an iron will. The woman who crushed my heart long ago. I never plan to return to Greentree Falls, Wisconsin, and lay eyes on Allie Douglas again—until suddenly, I'm left without a choice.

When I wake up in the hospital after a DUI car crash, my new NHL team owner gives me an ultimatum—get sober or get packed for the minor leagues. So I talk the talk and go to rehab. I plan to breeze through, get sprung in thirty days or less and hit the road with my new team, the Chicago Blaze. All I have to do is charm my attractive, uptight rehab group leader into thinking I've changed—how hard could it be?

I'm done. Getting ditched at the altar is nothing compared to being humiliated there in front of three hundred shocked guests. Apparently I'm no good at spotting the signs your man's a cheating liar. So I set off solo on my honeymoon to Hawaii, where I realize I've got this life thing down just fine on my own. Friendships and laughter? Yes. Adventures? Absolutely. But relationships? Hell no. Never again.

I only have one love now - the home furnishings business I'm building into an empire. Maybe money and success can't love me back, but they keep what's left of my heart safe. One-night stands are my way of scratching the occasional itch I get for something more. And no one's better for that than a sexy as sin hockey player I'll never see again after one very hot night together.

"I want your sperm." Those were Shelby Grant's first words to me. Didn't even want me to buy her a drink first. See, Shelby isn't like other women. After researching Denver's most eligible bachelors in search of her ideal sperm donor, she chose me. As a pro hockey player, I'm used to women wanting things from me, but my swimmers? That's a new one. Somehow, though, with her color-coded parenting plan, sales pitch, and contract, Shelby sells me on the idea. After my donation, she doesn't want anything more to do with me.

I'd say I'm down on my luck, but that's an understatement. I'm flat on my ass. Homeless, hungry, and in hiding with my little sister at the age of 21, I've never been so desperate. I've hit rock bottom when I get an offer I can't refuse. Sell my body to save my sister? There's nothing I won't do to keep her safe. I make the rules, and I'm not afraid to defend myself if this rich guy crosses the line. But once I see beneath his cold, calculating façade, the lines aren't so clear anymore.

He's known as Father Anton to his teammates - the brooding, sexy captain of the NHL's Chicago Blaze has a reputation for...not having a reputation. Just like his diet and sleep routines, celibacy is part of Anton Petrov's on-ice mojo. Or so they say. Anton stays mum on the subject. If the world thinks he chooses to abstain from sex, so be it. Better that than the truth getting out: There is a woman he burns for, but he can never have her. She's his teammate's wife, after all.

After living her life in the shadows as the daughter of a congressman's secret affair, Kennedy Barnes joins "Project Greenlight" - a clandestine intelligence organization. She's out to prove she's more than her father's dirty secret. One of her first assignments is simple. Get close to Phoenix Ash, collect enough evidence to put him away for life, and get out unscathed. Phoenix Ash is a world renowned hacker. He's pulled off some of the biggest heists in modern history, but never leaves a trace.

Damn, she's sexy. Reagan Preston intrigues me from the moment I lay eyes on her. And speaking of laying...I want between those thighs. But I want to make her burn for me first. Every debate and stolen moment is foreplay for us. She claims she hates me, but her body tells a different story. I plan to win this election, but I also want to win the sharp, fiery Democrat who captures my attention like no woman ever has. Politics is filthy, just like all the things I want to do to Reagan Preston.

They call me the Ice Queen. I take it as a compliment, because owning a pro hockey team requires a certain ruthlessness. But my penchant for ball busting has made me political enemies, and one of them has the clout to get me deported back to my home country of Russia. There's only one solution: I have to get married, and fast.

When circumstance brings Kate and Ryke together, they discover they don't have to hurt alone. Bound by a grief that haunts them both, they must rely on one another to survive heartbreak. But that grief is more powerful than they realize, and the tie that binds them together may ultimately tear them apart.

I've met the best woman at the worst possible time. Miranda is the fire to my ice - a sexy, charmingly candid spark who breaks down my walls and reminds me what it's like to feel again. But I'm being forced to date my team owner's daughter to keep my job, so I can't be caught with Miranda. Still, we're getting closer - until Miranda finds out about my "girlfriend". And that's not the only secret I've been keeping. But Miranda's the one I want...even if she doesn't believe me.

One bad hit has left the career of young NHL center Luke Hudson in question. When he arrives for rehab with a minor league team, his injury has robbed him of the edge that made him great. Team trainer Adella Price's job is to help Luke get back in peak condition. But their one on one sessions shake her resolve to remain unattached. Dell is hands-off to all hockey players, even one as charming and successful as Luke.

I'm in no danger of being charmed by Ford Barrett. My new neighbor is a caveman—not remotely my type. He may be attractive, but he's also stubborn and permanently scowling. Even worse? He dropped a couch on my foot. The more we spar, though, the hotter my secret attraction to him burns. Once I give in to the possessive hockey player, lines get blurred.

They don't call me Belinda Boring for nothing. It's my name, after all. And for a 23-year-old with plain brown hair who still lives at home and gets tongue tied over nothing, it's a fitting one. I'm not even one of those quiet girls with a hidden talent, unless making a mean order of nachos at the NHL arena I work at counts. My life consists of working, reading, and harboring a secret crush on a hockey player who doesn't know I exist. At least, until we accidentally meet and become unlikely friends.

Now Emmaline Carson has settled into her career as a graphic designer, though she'd rather be painting or shopping with her sister Layla. But then - in the years before she went to art school in Paris - she was a shy, awkward teenager with frizzy hair, a flat chest, and a massive crush on the boy across the street, Cole Marlowe. Too bad her incredibly hot neighbor only had eyes for Layla.

Emma's with childhood crush Cole Marlowe, and Layla finally found Mr. Right in alpha cop Ben Montrose. But both couples face unexpected obstacles that will test their relationships. Layla and Emma find solace in each other as battle lines are drawn, and they rediscover the close friendship they lost over Cole. It's all on the line as the sisters struggle to find the answer to the most difficult question they've ever faced: Is the love they have now meant to last forever?

Sometimes appearances deceive. Take me, for instance. I look like a respectable doctor with his shit together, but the rural Montana mental hospital I work at is actually a sanctuary from my demons. At just 35 years old, I've already failed on an epic scale. Treating patients at Hawthorne Hill is part of my atonement. I've found peace when a new patient turns me inside out. Allison Cole is a beautiful, haunted survivor who fell into silence after witnessing a murder. But even without words, I'm drawn to her.

She spends her nights treating patients, but Dr. Jocelyn Drake's own wounds are unfixable. Her ex-husband and his younger, bouncier girlfriend work just a few floors away at Tulane Medical Center, and they serve as a constant reminder of what Joss lost. But a fierce determination to continue her research project and a shred of remaining pride keep Joss from transferring out of the Big Easy. Carson Stephens recently returned from a tour of duty in the Middle East, and though willing women present themselves at every turn, his closest companion is loneliness.

Two years ago, Jason and Kate Ryker were brought together by grief and bound to one another by love. Now married, they're confronting their fears together. But heartbreak finds them again, and the ties that bind Kate and Ryke are tested as she struggles against fear and sadness. As a grief counselor, Kate understands all too well the pain of her clients. And while her husband's career as an NHL forward is at an all-time high, he's coping with the frustration of feeling powerless as his wife's hopes slip away.