Susan Mallery - Accidentally Yours

Dear Reader,

I have a secret to share. Writing is magic.

I know, I know. If youve ever tried to write a term paper at four in the morning with it due for an eight-oclock class, it feels like torture. But writing a novel can be magic.

Some book ideas are born out of circumstances and some grow character by character, but some are gifts. They show up in a writers brain (a fairly scary place for anything to be, let alone an amazing idea) with all the possibilities in place.

So it was with Accidentally Yours. I was minding my own business, munching on takeout because my husband was out of town on business, contemplating which chick flick I would watch, when I had a thought. What if a mom was so determined to save her child that she pretended to be a superhero, so her son would believe he had superhero genes floating around in his body? Genes that would save him.

I put down my plate and fork and grabbed a pad of paper. The idea didnt particularly make sense to me at the time. Fake superheroes? Kids? What? But the ideas tumbled one after the other. A mom like that would do anything, risk anything. She was smart and determined and scared and funny and hanging on by a thread. She needed a great guy, but the man who popped into my brain was anything but great. He was difficult and stubborn and pretended he didnt care, because once hed cared so much it had nearly destroyed him.

I wrote and wrote on that pad. Somewhere around midnight I had the outline of the book youre holding in your hands. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me believe. I hope youll believe, too.

Susan Mallery

G IRLFRIEND , this is not your thing, Lance said as he passed over three napkins, then clucked his tongue.

Tell me about it, Kerri Sullivan muttered. There was liquid everywhere and a lot of it had come from a very expensive bottle of eighteen-year-old Scotch.

Balancing three drinks on a small tray should be easy, she told herself as she took a deep breath and carefully lifted the tray. The trick was to not think about what she was doing. Or somehow do it better, she added as the tray dipped a little.

This was her third lunch shift at The Grillan upscale lunch and dinner place in the financial district of Seattle. The decor was simple but elegant, the food totally recognizable. The Grill was the kind of restaurant that catered to the successful executive dining with his associates or an important client.

She was already on probation from an unfortunate incident the previous day. It had involved crab cakes, a large leather handbag jutting out into the walkway and an oil-based sauce landing smack on a shantung-silk jacket.

At least I can do hair, Kerri reminded herself as she delivered the drinks and took the mens orders. Give her some foil and bleach and she could make anyone look like a movie star. But serving food seemed to be a challenge she couldnt meet.

Shed gotten the job at The Grill by lying about her experience. Her glowing letters of recommendation had been printed out on her home computer.

Lance, a waiter here and in on her plot from the beginning, had saved her butt three times already. If she could just hang on until Nathan King showed up to claim his usual table, she could quit before she got fired. That was why she was hereto confront Mr. King and convince him to help her.

She had her speech prepared. Even more important, she had a DVD with a copy of a program from the Discovery Health channel she planned to flash at him. The small, portable DVD player was stuck down the front of her pants, the oddly shaped bulge hidden by her white apron.

For about the four hundredth time, she glanced toward the table in the corner. It had remained annoyingly empty. But this time when she looked, she saw activity. There were fresh flowers, a wine list and a bread basket.

She raced off to find Lance.

His tables ready, she murmured as she pulled her tall, model-esque friend into a corner. That means hes here, right?

Lance sighed heavily. He was pretty enough to be on a billboard and funny enough to make her want to have dinner with him. Just for the company, of courseLance wasnt into women and she wasnt into relationships.

Hes here, Lance confirmed. Youre going to get fired, you know that, right?

Thats okay. So we have a plan. Ill take their drink orders, then show Nathan King the DVD. Well talk, hell be charming and agree and all will be well. If it goes badly She glanced upward and offered a brief prayer that it not go badlyit couldnt. There were no other plans after this one.

She sucked in a breath. If it goes badly, you come running over and yell at me to get away from your table. Then you complain loudly to the manager that I presumed to take over your station. Ill slip out during the confusion.

With the DVD player.

Right. Because she had to return that puppy later. It was expensive and she was, as always, short on money.

This isnt going to work, Lance told her.

It has to work. Ill make it work. She would, too. By sheer force of will, she could move mountains.

She glanced back at the table and saw four men being seated. Based on her Internet research, she could easily pick out Nathan King. Tall, dark and rich, she thought grimly. A nice combination that made him extremely popular with women of all ages. If only her motives were that simple.

She waited until the men had settled down and were chatting before approaching. Random facts flashed through her mind. Nathan King, age thirty-eight. Hed come from a working-class family and had earned his money the hard way. He was divorced. He had a reputation for being so cold, he froze out the competition.

Hed also lost his son to Gilliars Disease six years ago. Of all the billionaires in all the world, shed chosen him specifically for that reason.