The last thing they're looking for is love …

Laura Matheson is a natural at avoiding romance, so when she is drawn to mystery guest Daniel Stone while helping out at her friends' hotel in Portugal, she assumes all she needs is a little extra willpower.

Daniel is at the hotel on business. The demands of work and a manipulative ex-girlfriend mean he doesn't have the time or energy for romance, but Laura is a distraction he finds hard to ignore.

As they negotiate a minefield of misunderstandings and mutual attraction, will they both continue to hold back? Or will they finally allow love into their lives?

Excerpt Chapter One:

"Excuse me. You've picked up the wrong bag."

Deep and decisive, the voice startled Laura from behind as she loaded her luggage onto her hard-won airport trolley.

"No, I don't think so." She swung round to confront the voice's owner. Unnerved to find him towering over her, she took a step back, stumbling over her trolley in the process.

With lightning speed, he reached out to catch her arm, his grip strong as he helped her regain her balance. When she was upright again, she took in piercing blue eyes, thick dark brown hair, a hint of stubble on a tanned face—and felt an immediate jolt of attraction.

Laura ignored it. "I can manage, thank you," she snapped, thinking she wouldn't have tripped if he hadn't surprised her like that.

He released his hold and raised an eyebrow. "As I said, you have my bag."

Pushing away long strands of chestnut-brown hair that had dared escape their ponytail, Laura returned his gaze.

"No, this is definitely mine." She was hot, harassed, and late. The last thing she needed was a futile argument over her own luggage!

"Would you mind if I check?"

"Help yourself." Unable to disguise her impatience, Laura waved at it, adding, "But I am in a hurry." She winced at the hostile tone in her voice, but she really didn't have time for this. Tapping her foot in irritation, she waited to be proved right as he crouched over her trolley.

"Would you care to look?" he asked.

Laura's foot stopped tapping. Recognizing undisguised triumph on his face, she read the label over his shoulder with trepidation, but there it was in black and white—Daniel Stone, London Gatwick to Porto. The heat that rose in her cheeks seemed to burn right through her skin.

"But it's the same as mine!" she blustered, watching with embarrassment as he hoisted the heavy bag from the trolley with ease.

"It's hardly a unique design," he commented, shrugging broad shoulders. "If you weren't in such a tearing hurry, you might have spotted your own on the carousel."

Laura spun around to see her bag riding forlornly around with the few that were left. Mortified, she opened her mouth to apologize.

But he spoke first. "Personally, I would advocate that old saying 'More haste, less speed.'" His tone softened a little as he added, "I'm sorry, but you're not the only hot, tired person whose flight was delayed, you know." And off he strolled through the terminal, his bag flung over his shoulder, without a backward glance.

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About Helen:

Helen Pollard writes contemporary romance with old-fashioned heart. She believes there will always be a place for romantic fiction, no matter how fast-paced and cynical the world becomes. Readers still

A Yorkshire lass, Helen is married, with two teenagers and a psychotic cat. When she's not working or writing, it goes without saying that she loves to read. She also enjoys a good coffee in a quiet bookshop, and appreciates the company of family and close friends.

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Have you seen the performance of Lady Gaga singing at the Oscars? If you had to guess which movie Lady Gaga would sing a medley from, would you have picked Sound of Music?

Probably not…and yet she did sing “The Hills Are Alive” and “Climb Every Mountain” …and in the process blew everyone away.

It might surprise you to know that I’ve been a fan of Lady Gaga for years. Yes, she’s weird, and yes she wears even weirder outfits. She’s like that person who gets up on Open Mike Night or a poetry reading. However, to me all that stuff is just window dressing. It’s costumes and staging and drama, which are calculated to do one thing. GET ATTENTION. (Like Katie Perry deciding to “Kiss a Girl” or Megan Trainer being “All About That Bass”.) Sure, wearing red lace over your face gets you noticed, but there has to be something more, otherwise people just get tired of the shtick. But Lady Gaga is more than the costumes and staging. She is a brilliant artist. Her songs (at least the early ones) are catchy. Have you ever really watched her play the piano? She’s fantastic! She’s got a great voice too. Have you heard any of her duets with Tony Bennett? Amazing.

I’ve always thought that the only thing Lady Gaga could do at this point to “shock” people would be to appear as herself (without the costumes and wigs and the “SHOW”) and just sing.

Which is what she did at the Oscars. She blew the roof off of what was otherwise a “ho hum” Oscar telecast. Julie Andrews recognized that, and so did the rest of the country.

Here's the performance....

So it’s 2015 and time for a fresh start. It’s a time two make new goals. For me it's writing goals. Whether I success in those goals...well that's another matter. Last year, I had the grand idea that I would write FOUR books in 2014.

Confession…I did not come close.

I finished one book BY CHRISTMAS, which I ended up self-publishing as part of a holiday box set with 13 other authors. Then I put it out as a single book. It was my first foray into the world of indie publishing so there was a big learning curve, meaning everything took longer to accomplish. I did have the benefit of working with 13 other fantastic authors from this group on the box set and learned SO MUCH.

So what about those other three books I was supposed to complete? Book two was supposed to be the fifth installment in my Covington Falls Chronicles series. However, somewhere along the line it became not Book 5 in that series, but Book 1 in a WHOLE NEW SERIES. It’s set in another fictional town, only this one is in Florida. It centers on a prized pig named Matilda who inherits a fortune from her eccentric owner. Oh yes, there are also three women competing for custody of the pig (and control of the money, of course) as well as a trio of sexy men who might win their hearts.

The other two books are part of another series. This one is a contemporary romance/women’s fiction. It’s also set in Florida (different town) and it follows three former childhood friends who return to their hometown and become involved in rehabilitating an old dinner theatre called The Paradise. I finished the first book a couple years ago, but book 2 and 3 still need to be put down on paper.

The third idea is another series that is perhaps the craziest concept I’ve ever come up with. My heroine is a spoiled heiress who dies and then gets recruited as a celestial matchmaker, helping soul mates find their One True Love before it's too late. It’s crazy and weird and hilariously funny…It is also so far away from anything else I’ve ever written. A little scary.

So…yeah…that’s a lot of books. And I have a demanding full time job. I don’t know how I will possibly do them. I need a plan. I need help. I need to find that impossibly rich tycoon so I can quit the day job and write full time.

Hmmm…okay...writing all those books might happen first.