The Invitation

Jackie O'Neill was a daredevil pilot and a true American heroine...a woman so beautiful men stopped in their tracks to watch her walk down the street, her long confident strides eating up the earth. After years of nonstop excitement -- of traveling around the globe in a chaotic rags-to-riches-to-rags whirl with her late husband, Charley -- Jackie had returned to Eternity, Colorado, near her hometown of Chandler. She wanted to put down roots, start a business, maybe someday fall in love again. But she never dreamed that the man who might make all her wishes come true was William Montgomery...little Billy, the lovesick boy who dogged her every step when she was a teenager...little Billy, who was now definitely a man, handsome, sexy, rich, and still madly in love with Jackie O'Neill.... From Publishers Weekly. In the three novellas collected here, bestselling romancer Deveraux ( Sweet Liar ) explores some of the limits of the genre she knows so well, indicating she may be as spunky as her heroines. In 1934, Jackie O'Neill returns to her hometown of Chandler, Colo., an accomplished pilot and a lonely widow. Developing her air transport business can keep her happy as a pilot, and her new partner, William Montgomery, promises to make very cozy company--until Jackie realizes he is the same little Billy she babysat for many years ago. In the second story, Kane Taggert, who reluctantly agrees to guide four New York City women on a Colorado trail ride, may be enchanted by Ruth Edwards, a calculatingly charming widow, if only he can make it through the two-week trip without throttling Ruth's friend, bestselling author Cale Anderson. Experiments in shifting perspective and an outrageous soliloquy by Cale give the traditional plot some pizzazz. The last story, a historical piece, finds Dorie Latham enlisting Cole Hunter, "an aging gunslinger with no visible means of support and the beginnings of a paunch," to play husband and help her elude her sister's matchmaking scheme. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author. Jude Deveraux is the author of more than forty New York Times bestsellers, including Moonlight in the Morning, The Scent of Jasmine, Scarlet Nights, Days of Gold, Lavender Morning, Return to Summerhouse, and Secrets. To date, there are more than sixty million copies of her books in print worldwide. To learn more, visit JudeDeveraux.com.