AN INTIMATE BARGAIN – Barbara Dunlop
A Perfect 10
Colorado Cattle Barons, Book 3
Harlequin Desire #2158
ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-373-73171-8
May 2012
Series Romance

Lyndon, Colorado – Present Day

Abigail Jacobs is putting off tomorrow as much as she possibly can.  When she meets a handsome stranger in a hotel bar, she allows him to take her to his hotel room and seduce her.  They agree not to speak their real names, nor tell about their businesses; they are just anonymous strangers acting in the heat of the moment.  Abby calls him Lucky, and he names her Doll-Face.  After a night of white-hot passion, she slips out of Lucky's bed in the wee hours of the morning.

Zach Rainer is in Lyndon to fix his business that is quickly losing money.  Craig Mountain Brewery sits high in the mountains above Lyndon, housed in an authentic British castle.  His company, DFB, has six breweries in six different states, but it's the Craig Mountain facility that brews their best seller, C Mountain Ale.  This one beer is integral to the success of their business, and Zach and business partner, Alex, are desperate.  They must be able to expand at Craig Mountain , but they can't get the building permit without a water license.  No water license means Zach will have to close DFB and lay off over 200 employees.  He refuses to put people out of work.  According to Alex, the only slim possibility is to talk to the Rancher's Association and their advocate, Abigail Jacobs.

Imagine Zach's surprise when he goes to the Jacobs ranch and finds, not Abigail, but the woman he knows as Doll-Face!  Zach means to solve this dilemma with or without Abigail's help.  And when she refuses to help, he has the advantage. He knows her deepest secrets, especially one major goody that she doesn't want her brothers to know.  So, he resorts to blackmail.

AN INTIMATE BARGAIN is what Zach holds over Abby as he threatens to tell her family the things she told him in confidence.  Abby melts whenever Zach is around; she‘s worried about helping him…it means betraying her family.  And how will she be able to work in his presence without falling into his arms once again?

Passionate and sizzling hot, Abby and Zach embark on an affair that is sure to end in disaster.  Her brothers, Seth and Travis, don't know anything about Zach's problems with his company.  But when Seth, newly elected mayor of Lyndon, finds out that Zach is blackmailing Abby, things get even more interesting as the story takes on an exciting twist.

The third novel in the Colorado Cattle Barons series , AN INTIMATE BARGAIN follows A COWBOY COMES HOME (January 2012) and COWBOY IN MANHATTAN (February 2012).  I hope there are additional books to this series; these are great stories!   All of the books stand alone, but you don't want to miss out on each and every story.

AN INTIMATE BARGAIN is another Perfect 10 for Ms. Dunlop!

Diana Risso