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Textbook Ebook The Whole Package Harte Marie All Chapter PDF
Textbook Ebook The Whole Package Harte Marie All Chapter PDF
The Donnigans
A Sure Thing
Just the Thing
The Only Thing
Happy reading!
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Acknowledgments
A Sneak Peek of Smooth Moves
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
About the Author
Back Cover
To D&R, as always, I love you.
And to all those who have served and are serving our country, thank
you!
Chapter 1
***
Naomi Starr stared at the television and could almost feel the
hamster in her brain running in his big wheel pick up pace. The little
bugger was racing like mad.
She tried to thread a hand through her hair, but it got caught in
the tangled mass. A glance down at her holey sweatpants only
confirmed the sloth of her rare day off. God, she had so much to do.
What had she been thinking to take a day to herself? Especially
since her self-care of yoga and a smoothie had devolved into
chocolate and couch lounging while she channel surfed.
Doubts that her business would ever rocket out of its current orbit
as boutique and “good for its size” returned.
Rex, the cat, gave her a baleful look, as if reading her mind. Then
he set to ignoring her and licked himself, not even deigning to flick
an ear her way.
She tugged at her tangles. “Look, you have no room to judge. You
sleep twenty hours a day. I’m entitled to relax.” So why do I feel so
guilty?
She ate another square of chocolate and forced herself to enjoy
every bit of it. On TV, she watched some behemoth of a hunk single-
handedly stop two burglars in broad daylight while his equally
muscle-bound friend stopped a third.
The hamster in her brain shot off the wheel as inspiration struck.
Vets on the Go! had “opportunity” written all over it.
Quickly googling the company, she took inventory of all its website
did and didn’t show her. It looked like a small company. But her sixth
sense told her it was sitting on a gold mine and didn’t know it.
Yet.
She felt a spark in the embers of her enthusiasm that had cooled
since getting screwed over—both literally and figuratively—by her
ex-boss. No. Not going there again. She was done dwelling on
Tanner. And good riddance.
Instead, Naomi jotted down a few ideas and made notes.
She just needed a boost to take her business to the next level. She
used to be a marketing and PR high roller who’d rubbed elbows with
the bigwigs in Seattle. She’d helped professional athletes, CEOs, and
celebrity chefs launch their brands. And she’d assisted with
marketing strategies, advertising, and public relations solutions for
her clients and left them satisfied with success.
An executive at Paulson, Pierce & Ryan, Naomi had worked her tail
off to be seen as an intelligent go-getter, not just a great face for the
company. As a leggy redhead with boobs, she was used to attention.
It took hard work to be seen as more than a pretty girl who had a
nice smile.
She’d been smart, never mixing business with pleasure. Then her
older sister had scored one more victory in the family tally, putting
Naomi way behind on the chart to success. Not that she ever
thought she might catch up to her older siblings. She didn’t save
lives or defend people from going to jail. She helped businesses
grow for a living. As did her sister, Harley. But with Harley’s huge
coup over some stupid account, Naomi had once again been left in
the dust.
So Tanner’s attention had been welcome, a boost to her flagging
ego. She’d known sleeping with the boss would be a bad idea. And
she’d been right.
It had been a year and a half since she’d left PP&R and all that
went with it. She dated sparingly, just to prove that she could.
Mostly she poured all her effort into her new firm, Starr PR. She
worked eighty-hour weeks since it was just her, Liz, and Leo doing
everything. Fortunately, Naomi still had friends and contacts, and
she used them to her advantage.
Word had spread. Starr PR was getting a reputation as thorough
and easy to work with. They got results. Liz, her assistant, and Leo,
their IT specialist, worked their tails off as it was. Naomi planned on
adding a marketing expert to her tiny team soon. She had the funds
to do it, but she needed to continue finding new clients to keep the
momentum rolling.
She already had her eye on a cash cow, one that would put her
fears of fading into oblivion to bed. Chris Jennings, CEO of a new
and rising tech company, was her ticket back into the big leagues. A
friend had clued her in that Chris was looking for someone to help
him reach the next level. He’d been vocal about serving proudly in
the Marine Corps, so she knew he had a soft spot for veterans.
Helping to make Vets on the Go! the huge business she had the
feeling it could be would be just the thing to get Chris Jennings’s
notice. Naomi had a nose for potential. Hunky men who’d served
their country and stopped crime would be her ticket to the top.
She’d make them into a huge business, grab Jennings’s attention,
and get the funds she needed to expand Starr PR into the
powerhouse it should be. Then she’d take back the clients Paulson,
Pierce & Ryan had stolen from her.
Because yes, she was petty in her need for revenge. And hell, she
needed to prove herself. Sometimes she hated being the youngest in
a family of overachievers. Ignoring another call from her mother
checking in, she threw off her proverbial mantle of sloth and jumped
on the treadmill in her spare room. Sweating out her frustrations,
she planned.
And knew just how she’d introduce herself to the hunky vets, long
legs and all.
Another random document with
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ikävää, ettei siitä mitään tullut. Sanoit sulia olevan kaksi veljeä.
Missä ne ovat?
— Ovatko ne kuolleet?
— Arvaa!
— Hän osaa, luulen ma, kaikkia, siis latinaakin, vaikk'en ole sitä
häneltä kysynyt. Ei, ei hän sitä mulle opettanut. Etkös arvaa?
— En, mutta osaan minäkin latinaa. Kuules nyt! Amabo, amabis,
amabit, amabimus. Keltä luulet minun sen oppineen!
— Rakastitko häntä?
— Minä tiedän sen. Olen nähnyt sen näyissä. Olen nähnyt sen
Noitakedolla. Minä olen kaukosilmäinen, se on sukuperintöä
pakanuuden ajoilta. Minun suvussani on ollut suuria tietäjä-naisia.
Isäni tietää sen myös. En minä ollenkaan sure, että täytyy kuoltani
nuoruuden ijässä. Mutta ennen kuolemaani tahdon äitinä saada
pojan, jossa on yhtynyt minun esi-isäini ja Gunnarin esi-isäin jalo
veri. Sitä tahtoo isänikin. Margit, Margit, miksi itket? Iloisena ja
hyvänä ihminen kuolemaa odottakoon!
XXIV.
SLATTE.
Lokakuu oli käsissä. Oli ehtoo pimeä ja tuuli kävi. Iso valkea palaa
loimotti takalla Skyttetorpin maalarimajassa. Pöydän ympärillä
istuivat Gudmund mestari, Margit, Joulf Slatte, Dagny ja Fabbe.
Gunnar oli Dagnyn käskystä äsken vastahakoisesti käynyt vuoteelle,
istuttuaan kauvan tarkasti kuunnellen Joulfin juttuja. Vanhat kaapit
olivat entisestä maalarimajasta siirtyneet uuden seiniä koristamaan.
Ne oli mestari itselleen pidättänyt sekä myös entisen lastenkamarin
huonekalut. Kaikki muu irtain tavara hänen talontilallaan oli myyty tai
piti kohta myytämän. Seinällä riippui "Kirkastus Taborilla" komeissa
kehyksissään — Gunnar oli saanut sen omakseen — ja alla oli
hyllyllä pienoiskuvilla sievistetty kokoelma harpunsoittajan lauluja.
NOITAKETO.
— Mitä niin?
*****