An Offer He Can't Refuse

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Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Epilogue

"Ridgway's smart, peppy style is reminiscent of Jennifer Crusie, but her… heroines stand on their own/'

Publishers Weekly

"A sexy, sultry, can't-resist read."

New York Times
bestselliag author Carly Phillips

"Christie Ridgway satisfies like a dry martini on a hot night!
An Offer He Can't Refuse
is lusty, funny and filled with characters you won't forget.

Bottoms up!"

New York Times
bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson

"Ridgway rocks!"

USA Today
bestselling author Susan Andersen

"Christie Ridgway is delightful."

Rita* Award-winning author Rachel Gibson

"Christie Ridgway captures the very best of romance. Sexy, smart, sparkling…"

New
York Times
bestselling author Christina Dodd

Avon Contemporary Romances by
Christie Ridgway

An Offer He Can't Refuse The Thrill of It All
Do Not Disturb
Then Comes Marriage
First Comes Love
This Perfect Kiss
Wish You Were Here

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

AVON BOOKS

An Imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers

10 East 53rd Street

New York, New York 10022-5299

Copyright © 2005 by Christie Ridgway

Excerpts from
Return of the Warrior
copyright © 2005 by Sherrilyn Kenyon; "Lost and Found" copyright © 2005 by Savdek Management Proprietory Ltd.; "The Matchmaker's Bargain" copyright © 2005 by Elizabeth Boyle; "The Third Suitor" copyright © 2005 by Christina Dodd;
A Perfect Hero
copyright © 2005 by Sandra Kleinschmit;
An Offer He Can't Refuse
copyright © 2005 by Christie Ridgway

ISBN: 0-06-076348-5

www.avonromance.com

First Avon Books paperback printing: August 2005

Avon Trademark Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. and in Other Countries, Marca

Registrada, Hecho en U.S.A.

HarperCollins® is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Printed in the U.S.A.

For Cynthia De Nardi, who read my first romance stories
before we needed bras,
before we could wear makeup,
before we knew the first thing about boys.
Here's to us, old friend.

"Begin the Beguine"

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra Story in Music
(1946)

Téa Caruso had once been very, very bad. During a
morning spent closeted in the perfume-saturated powder room of Mr. and Mrs. William Duncan's Spanish-Italian-Renaissance-inspired Palm Springs home, discussing Baby Jesus and the Holy Mother, she wondered if today was the day she started paying for it. Toward noon, she emerged from the clouds—both heavenly and olfactory—with a Chanel No. 5 hangover and fingernail creases in her palms as deep as the Duncans' quarter-mile lap pool.

Standing on the pillowed-limestone terrace outside, she allowed herself a sixty-second pause for fresh air, yet still managed to multitask the moment by completing a quick appearance-check as well. Even someone with less artistic training than Téa would know that her Mediterranean coloring and generous curves were made for low necklines and gypsy shades, but her Mandarin-collared, dove-gray linen dress was devised to button-up, smooth-out, tuck away. Though she could never feel completely innocent, she preferred to at least look that way.