Blog Tour & Giveaway for Fiance by Friday by Catherine Bybee

Please join me in welcoming Catherine Bybee on her Fiance by Friday Blog Tour.  Please leave a comment or question to let Catherine know you stopped by.  You can enter her tour wide giveaway by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.  You can also follow Catherine’s tour here.  

FIANCE BY FRIDAY

by Catherine Bybee

The Weekday Bride Series, Book 3

Montlake Romance, Contemporary

August 13, 2013, First Edition

Paperback & Kindle

GWEN HARRISON:

The beautiful high-born daughter of an English duke came to America to take over her sister-in-law’s matchmaking business. But just because she’s the boss doesn’t mean she can’t fantasize about making her own perfect match with bodyguard Neil MacBain. Will the enigmatic man who haunts her dreams cost her more than she bargained for?

NEIL MACBAIN:

The retired Marine can’t deny the effect blue-blooded Gwen has on his troubled soul or his battle-hardened bodY. Bus as a client, Gwen is off-limits—until a threat from Neil’s past returns… and Gwen is caught in the crossfire. Now to keep her safe he will risk it all: his career, his life… and his heart.

PRAISE FOR FIANCE BY FRIDAY

“The hero and heroine come to life with each flip of the page

 and will linger  long after readers cross the finish line.

 –RT BOOK REVIEWS, TOP PICK, 4 ½ STARS

“Bybee takes an elegant titled lady, a dark emotionally guarded hero, a menacing stalker,

and a cast of distinctive characters mixing it all up into an unusual courtship tale

full of danger an sexual tension.”

–PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“The hottest love on mainstream paper…

Ms. Bybee does not disappoint.”

—TJ MACKAY, IND’TALE MAGAZINE, 5 STARS

Buy Links

Amazon │Barnes & Noble │BAM │ Book Depository

EXCERPT

Eliza flagged down a waitress and ordered a martini. “I see not a lot has changed,” she said after the waitress left.

“What do you mean?” Gwen asked.

“We’re sitting in a bar and your giant shadow is lurking in the back of the building.” Eliza tossed a peanut in her mouth.

“My shadow?”

Eliza looked o the right of the bar. “Yeah. The man who acts like you’re a job but can’t seem to leave you alone. If it was anyone other than Neil I’d be afraid he was a stalker.”

Gwen twisted around in her chair. Sure enough, perched at the edge of a seat on the far side of the bar, sat Neil.

“What’s he doing here?”

His eyes found hers for a brief moment before she looked away.

“I think that’s obvious.”

Her back teeth started to grind. “I don’t’ need a babysitter.”

“I don’t know, Gwen. The last time we sat in a bar I remember a certain someone getting drunk and a couple of other someones getting into a fight.”

She’d never live that down. Gwen and Eliza went to blow off steam in a Texas bar. The cowboys were full of “yes, ma’am” and “howdy, darlin’.” They danced and carried on…and yes, she drank a little too much. When one of the cowboys mistakenly took her smile as an invitation for intimacy, Neil erupted form the bar to teach the cowboy the meaning of the word no.

It was the first time Neil had defended her honor, and though she hated to admit it, she got a kick out of how ticked off he became when another man looked at her. “That was last year.”

“What’s changed since then?”

Nothing! It didn’t matter how much she flirted with the man, or how obvious she was about her attraction Neil didn’t bite.

“Everything.” Gwen stood, ready to put Neil I his place. “If you’ll both excuse me for a minute.”

She pushed her way through the crowd as if on a collision course with Neil. He kept his lips in a thin line as she approached and gripped the longneck bottle at his side. Slipping between the woman on the stool next to him and Neil’s massive frame, Gwen slapped a hand on her hip and growled. “What are you doing here?”

He blinked, once and picked up his beer. “Having a drink.”

She wanted to scream. “Having a drink,” she repeated.

He tilted the bottle back, took a swig.

“I know what you’re doing, Neil. And I don’t like it. I don’t want or need a bodyguard.”

“That’s debatable.”

If stomping her foot would knock some sense into him, she’d stomp better than a farm girl in a vineyard.

Poking a finger into his chest, she moved closer. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to have a love life with a two-hundred-thirty-pound bodybuilder standing in my way?”

A muscle in his jaw tightened. “Two hundred and fifty.”

“Ahhh!” She did scream now.

He lifted his beer again, but before he could take a swig, Gwen grabbed it from his fingers and tilted it back herself.

In a move that would make Eliza and Karen proud, she pushed the empty beer bottle back into his hand and slid between his thighs.

His jaw twitched again.

The strong musky scent that was pure Neil invaded her senses. She dropped one hand to his thigh and left it there. “This is how I see it, Neil. You have two choices. Either back off or step up.”

Gwen squeezed his thigh before vacating his personal space and marching back to the girls. A satisfied smile stretched over her face.

Add to Goodreads

CATHERINE BYBEE BIO:

New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee was raised in Washington State, but after graduating high school, she moved to Southern California in hopes of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full-time and has penned novels Wife by Wednesday, Married by Monday, and Not Quite Dating. Bybee lives with her husband and two teenage sons in Southern California.  

CONTACT LINKS:

www.catherinebybe.com

catherinebybee@yahoo.com

catherinebybee.blogspot.com

twitter.com/catherinebybee

My Review

A former special ops soldier suffering from PTSD more than meets his match in a woman who secretly arranges “temporary” marriages for the rich and famous in Fiancé by Friday, the third book in The Weekday Brides series by Catherine Bybee.  Well developed characters, a sexy romantic suspense plot and good pacing kept me turning the pages to discover what was going to happen next.  While a part of a series, this is a book that can be enjoyed on its own.

Taking over her sister in law’s business, Lady Gwen Harrison quietly arranges “temporary” marriages for the rich and famous.  While she may be a member of British “royalty”, Gwen is practical, likeable and understanding of her clients needs.  Her only problem is her attraction to Neil McBain, her bodyguard, who insists they maintain a business only relationship.  She can’t stop fantasizing about what it would be like if she could get him to see her as a desirable woman instead of as just his boss.

A retired marine, Neil McBain is content working as a private bodyguard.  Especially when he only has to guard Lady Gwen Harrison, his only client.  Determined to keep things just business between them, Neil can’t stop thinking and dreaming about Gwen as everything but his boss.  At least until something from his past requires him to put his life, and his heart, on the line for her.

The scenes between Gwen and Neil are well written, lots of fun and full of romantic tension.  While they’re both attracted to each other, Neil has trouble dealing with his emotions, he’s suffering from PTSD, and Gwen is a woman who’s just become comfortable in her own skin.  Ms. Bybee does an excellent job developing both of their characters and slowly fans their romance into existence.

When someone begins stalking Gwen, and Neil realizes it could be someone from a botched mission he was part of as a marine, they find themselves on the run.  Will Neil be able to keep Gwen safe from his past?  Will Gwen be able to break through Neil’s barriers and claim his heart as her own?  You’ll have to read Fiancé by Friday to find out.  I enjoyed it and can’t wait to go back and catch up on the rest of the series.  

My Rating:  4.5 out of 5 Crowns

FTC Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour.  I received no additional compensation for my opinion of the reading material provided. 

a Rafflecoptergiveaway