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    The Makeover Mistake
    The Makeover Mistake
    The Makeover Mistake
    Ebook122 pages1 hour

    The Makeover Mistake

    By Kathy Lyons

    2.5/5

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    About this ebook

    After losing a bet, successful publisher Michael Chang is "pretending" to play the piano in a Vegas lounge in order to spy on his less-than-trustworthy employee. His espionage is quickly derailed after meeting Thea Danelle, an editor who's been wronged by Michael's company. She's smart and unpredictable...and clearly hiding a naughty side that tempts Michael to distraction.

    Thea has gone from frumpy librarian to the young, wild thing she used to be-all thanks to the promise of sensuous delight in the piano player's eyes. And frankly, after losing yet another author to the competition, Thea is ready to forget her professional problems and explore those sexy promises thoroughly. With Michael, she can finally be herself...until the moment Thea learns who he really is.

    The complete 'What Happens in Vegas’ series (All standalones which can be read out of order)

    Tempting Her Best Friend by Gina L. Maxwell
    The Makeover Mistake by Kathy Lyons
    A Change of Plans by Robyn Thomas
    Masquerading with the CEO by Dawn Chartier
    Just One Reason by Brooklyn Skye
    Tamed by the Outlaw by Michelle Sharp
    Tempted by Mr. Write by Sara Hantz
    Gambling on the Bodyguard by Sarah Ballance
    Seducing Seven by M.K. Meredith
    Calling Her Bluff by Kaia Danielle
    Her Secret Lover by Robin Covington
    Betting on the Wrong Brother by Cathryn Fox
    Accidentally in Love with the Biker by Teri Anne Stanley
    Loving the Odds by Stefanie London
    The Seduction of Kinley Foster by Lisa Wells
    Hot on His Heels by Margo Bond Collins

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateMar 24, 2015
    ISBN9781633752443
    Author

    Kathy Lyons

    A USA TODAY bestselling author, Kathy Lyons has made her mark with sizzling romances. She adores unique settings, wild characters and erotic, exotic love. And if she throws in a dragon or a tigress here and there, it’s only in the name of fun! An author of more than 30 novels, she adores the fabulousness that is Blaze. Kathy loves hearing from readers. Visit her at www.kathylyons.com or find her on Facebook and Twitter under her other penname, Jade Lee.

    Read more from Kathy Lyons

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    Book preview

    The Makeover Mistake - Kathy Lyons

    TMM_1600.jpg

    In Vegas, nothing is what it seems…

    After losing a bet, successful publisher Michael Chang is pretending to play the piano in a Vegas lounge in order to spy on his less-than-trustworthy employee. His espionage is quickly derailed after meeting Thea Danelle, an editor who’s been wronged by Michael’s company. She’s smart and unpredictable…and clearly hiding a naughty side that tempts Michael to distraction.

    Thea has gone from frumpy librarian to the young, wild thing she used to be—all thanks to the promise of sensuous delight in the piano player’s eyes. And frankly, after losing yet another author to the competition, Thea is ready to forget her professional problems and explore those sexy promises thoroughly. With Michael, she can finally be herself…until the moment Thea learns who he really is.

    title.pngauthor.png

    Table of Contents

    Chapter One

    Chapter Two

    Chapter Three

    Chapter Four

    Chapter Five

    Chapter Six

    Chapter Seven

    Epilogue

    Message from Kathy Lyons

    Deleted Scene

    Acknowledgments

    About the Author

    Also by Kathy Lyons…

    Dream Nights with the CEO

    Two Week Seduction

    One Night at the Spa

    Find love in unexpected places with these satisfying Lovestruck reads…

    Love, Technically

    Composing Love

    Merger of the Heart

    Love Thy Neighbor

    The Wedding Hoax

    This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

    Copyright © 2015 by Kathy Lyons. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

    Entangled Publishing, LLC

    2614 South Timberline Road

    Suite 109

    Fort Collins, CO 80525

    Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

    Lovestruck is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

    Edited by Liz Pelletier & Robin Haseltine

    Cover design by Heather Howland

    Photography by DepositPhotos

    ISBN 978-1-63375-244-3

    Manufactured in the United States of America

    First Edition March 2015

    Lovestruck_full.png

    Chapter One

    In Vegas, even the pianos were fake.

    Michael Chang stared at the rigged grand and flicked on the iPad that controlled it, but couldn’t bring himself to start playing.

    This is never going to work.

    Sure it is, his brother said as he pushed Michael to sit. Just pick a song and fake it.

    I’m a numbers guy. We don’t fake stuff. He glared at Jonathan. That’s left to you creative types. Which is why Michael was CFO of his family’s publishing business. He could manipulate dollars to pounds to yen in his head, but was clueless on anything that couldn’t be boiled down to raw digits.

    Just smile pretty, roll your fingers over the keys, and listen. Everybody who’s anybody in publishing is here. They all wander to the bar. And they’ll definitely spill their guts to the piano guy.

    Bullshit.

    His brother grinned. Maybe. But you lost the bet, so you get to fake-play.

    You cheated.

    On a Knicks game? Please. You just took a sucker bet.

    Michael sighed and scrolled through a few selections on the tablet. At least the piano was angled into a corner. Hardly anyone could see his hands or the pad that controlled the huge instrument. There were seats along the curve of the grand and a large tip jar that would never get filled. Not with him playing. But all in all, the setup was decent enough to fool the average drunk.

    Just talk up anyone who comes by. Buy them free drinks. They’ll start spilling the beans easy.

    Then you do it, Michael grumbled.

    I play guitar, remember? I can’t fake keys to save my life. You, on the other hand, went to piano camp four years in a row.

    Does not a maestro make.

    Potato potahto. Just remember to get the goods on Chuckles.

    Michael sighed. They were in Las Vegas, at the publishing industry’s biggest conference event, and somebody had to investigate their suddenly brilliant editor Charles, aka Chuckles. Michael didn’t have a problem with the man. After all, he was bringing in business like never before. It was his brother Jonathan who was suspicious because, frankly, the middle-aged blowhard wasn’t that bright. Or didn’t seem to be. Which left everyone wondering how the man was coming up with such amazing young talent and innovative marketing campaigns.

    People are going to recognize me, he muttered.

    With your hair ragged and in a tight tee? Mom wouldn’t even recognize you. You were born in a three-piece suit.

    Jonathan—

    I gotta go, bro. You’ll be fine. Chuckles loves to preen, and he’ll do it near the bar. Which will bring people here to complain about him, too. Trust me, this is the spot to lurk.

    Actually, a dark corner with a parabolic microphone was the way to lurk, but that wasn’t going to be possible here. Next bet you lose, I’m putting you in a tutu on the front stage.

    Man up, bro. His brother laughed as he touched the opening song for Michael to play, then gave him a light punch on the shoulder and wandered away.

    The first notes rang out, and Michael had to scramble to put his fingers on the keys. What the— Oh, shit. The Who’s Pinball Wizard. Awesome piece. Impossible to fake-play. His hands started dancing across the keyboard, his fingers landing nowhere near the notes he was supposed to be pressing.

    Shoot me now, he said. Two pops, right in the head. I’ll go fast.

    No such luck. Instead, people turned and smiled at him while he tried not to sweat. In this tee, it would show right through.

    Next song was his selection, and he slowed it to a jazzy Coltrane. He relaxed when no one scowled at him or screamed fraud! Fake-playing wasn’t so hard when the lights were low and hardly anybody was there. But that was going to end quickly.

    Sure enough, the last of the workshops let out and a steady flow of professionals appeared. At least three of his employees hit the bar, but not one gave him a second glance. Good. Then, just as Jonathan had predicted, Charles sauntered in with a full posse. The man was pulling out all the stops. His hair was gelled smooth, his tweed jacket screamed fatherly editor, and he gestured as he spoke with a silver pipe. Seriously? Even Michael’s father had never been so pompous, and the elder Chang had lived to expound on the state of publishing today. And yet even Michael could see that the image worked. Charles’s smile was warm, his laughter genuine, and people flocked to him like he was the answer to all their editorial questions.

    Michael tried smiling at the group. He needed to lure them nearer the piano so he could eavesdrop. No such luck. They went straight for the bar. Now what kind of music would the blowhard like? He was pondering that when he heard a girlish voice right beside him.

    I’m so sorry, Thea. You’re an amazing editor and a really nice person, but Chang Smart Books offered me more money.

    Michael’s head snapped up at the name of his company. A young woman twisted her hair as she spoke to a frumpy woman who looked like she was getting sucker punched. He knew the feeling, and so his sympathies were immediately engaged.

    More money? the woman said. You know, I developed this whole marketing plan—

    Which is so sweet, the girl said with a nervous giggle. But he showed me this amazing plan. A rollout with these really creative ideas. And let’s face it, Charles just has more money to do these things. More clout, you know?

    Charles Dixon? the woman asked, her words choked off.

    Well, well, well. Maybe his brother wasn’t a total loser, because hanging out at the piano was definitely helping get the dirt on their employee.

    Yeah, the girl said with an awkward shrug. Um, he’s waving me over. Between you and me, he’s kind of a jerk, but he knows business, you know? And off she went to join Charles’s posse.

    He wanted to grab the girl and find out exactly what she’d been promised, but that wasn’t possible from

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