PERFECT MATCH
As far as former NFL star Jake Masters is concerned, dreams are risky
propositions. Years ago he came achingly close to achieving his ambition
of playing in the Super Bowl--before a spinal injury ended his career.
Confined to a wheelchair, unwilling to take a chance on another risky
surgery that could restore his mobility, Jake now stays cocooned behind
the imposing gates of his lavish home.
But his twin sister, Beth, has no intention of letting him languish
there forever. After years of flitting from one failed business idea to
another, all fueled by Jake's generosity, she now owns a highly
lucrative matchmaking service. And she's gifting the business to
Jake--whether he likes it or not--while she follows her dreams of making
it as a singer in Nashville.
Though Jake had plenty of women falling all over him at the peak of his
success, he knows nothing about matchmaking. He's willing to try for his
sister's sake, and it's soon clear that he needs an assistant. Enter
Gracie Sweet, whose slender frame belies a take-no-charge toughness that
would put any linebacker to shame. Grace begins by revamping the
business and soon she's overhauling Jake's entire life--and to his huge
surprise, Jake's enjoying it. But when their clients become victims of
theft, Gracie and Jake must reconcile their very different outlooks if
they're to have any chance of saving the business...and if Jake is to
make another play for the life he thought he lost....
FANCY DANCER
On his thirty-fifth birthday, Jake St. Cloud inherits a fortune--and
learns the whereabouts of his mysterious half-brother. On her deathbed,
Selma St. Cloud revealed that Jake had a sibling, a product of his
father's affair. At last, Jake is in a position to track down Alex
Rosario and make amends for their father's past neglect.
At least, that's the plan. When their initial meeting goes badly, a
distraught Jake crashes his car and is sentenced to community work--
with Alex as his parole officer. Jake must spend a year helping Angelica
Dancer and her daughter, Fancy, at the Dancer Foundation for neglected
children. Fancy, scarred within and without by the accident that ended
her ballet career, is even less happy with the arrangement than Jake.
Yet as they're thrown together, Jake, Alex, Angelica, and Fancy make
unexpected connections. And as he unravels the painful truths of his
past, Jake realizes that his mother's greatest gift to him lies not in
his inheritance, but in the future, and the family, he's slowly piecing
together....
