WeWriWa: Money Can’t Buy Me Love

Back in the ‘90s, I had a year of great fortune, contracting 11 books (2 of them novellas), and writing 7 of them! Four of the books were for Zebra/Kensington under my pen name Dana Ransom, writing for their new “Lucky In Love” imprint, a clever premise of what happens to ordinary lives and loves when an unexpected windfall drops in. LOVE’S OWN REWARD was book three in their launch featuring a conservative researcher with a sorta boyfriend/colleague who rescues a boy from a burning car and is given a half million by the grateful grandparents. Let the good times roll, right? Not so much as Charley’s staid life is turned upside down by those wanting a piece of the money pie. Enter a jaded journalist who witnessed her bravery and sees a cynical story in her act of heroism. Today, I’m sharing a peek . . . (creatively edited)

It was the bravest damn thing he’d ever seen. She was only a little bit of a thing, so delicate she might have been confused with a girl as she’d dashed in front of his stopped car. While others watched, himself included, she’d scrambled into that compact, heedless of the danger, to bring out the little boy, and if that wasn’t enough, she’d gone back toward certain death to save the kid’s parents, which she couldn’t, of course—Jess had known that the moment he saw the fuel ignite, but it hadn’t stopped her from trying. She’d fought him like a madwoman when he’d pulled her away, barely seconds before she’d have been engulfed in the same fiery ball that consumed the car, fought with such an amazing strength in such a tiny package, that he’d been awed by her. Until this event had played out before his disbelieving eyes, he’d shunned stories of heroism, and then he’d felt the frantic beat of her big, big heart against his chest, felt the helpless trembling of her despair as he held her in his arms, and never had anything touched him so strongly, so powerfully, so tenderly as that moment, as that woman. 

Why had she taken the money? 

He saw so much ugliness, so much greed, he’d wanted to believe unselfish goodness was possible, to believe the tears he saw on her face were genuine, in her anguish over others instead of her own pain, and he’d wanted to hold on to the emotions that filled his soul with such possessiveness as he’d cradled her close and tried to give her comfort. In that brief slice of time she’d reached inside him and torn out his heart . . . and then broke it by proving all his illusions false. Charlene Carter wasn’t a saint willing to throw down her life to save another’s. When she’d been quick to snap up the fee for her bravery, in his jaded eyes that made Miss Carter a mercenary, not a Samaritan, and Jess hated her for it . . . because he’d wanted to believe.

Fortune follows the bold. Twenty years later, BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books purchased all four books for reissue, and LOVE’S OWN REWARD was back on the shelves, both in print and e-formats with an updated cover! I’m sharing that good fortune through Dec. 15 with a special price for LOVE’S OWN REWARD at only $1.99!! (MIDNIGHT ENCHANTMENT is also still available at $0.99!)

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Books | AllRomance Books | Goodreads

Charlene “Charley” Carter risked her life to rescue a child from a burning car. Suddenly, the quiet research assistant becomes a media darling—and a half-million dollars richer, thanks to the boy’s grateful grandparents. But big money brings big moochers and bigger betrayals. Charley retreats, wounded and suspicious about the motives of even those dearest to her.

He doesn’t trust that she’s for real . . .

Jess McMasters exposes frauds for a living, and if it means using his charms as well as his tough skills as a journalist, no problem. What’s Charlene Carter trying to gain by refusing to be interviewed by the press? Is she angling for more money—or is she hiding secrets that prove she’s nobody’s hero?

Jess goes undercover to get close to her, but the closer he gets, the less he understands. Except this: the cost for his deception could be his own heart.

Happy Holidays!

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