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Shrek meets Pollyanna in:

not precisely pregnant, holly jacobs
Not Precisely Pregnant
by Holly Jacobs
originally published by
Harlequin Duets, 01/03

More Than Magic Comedy Finalist

Paige Montgomery is known in certain circles as Pollyanna Paige. She's lives by the station's motto, Nice News Matters. When she gets in trouble she's rescued by an unlikely hero...Riley Calhoon. He's more known for his cynical columns in the paper than for playing white knight, yet this time he rides to the rescue and saves Paige's life. Now she wants to tell the world that he's a hero, but Riley prefers to keep that news to himself.

Whether or not he thinks of her as a real reporter, Paige is going after this story with a real-reporter's tenacity. Unfortunately, Riley tends to find himself injured when Paige is around...hockey pucks, killer cats, run-away trucks that lead to falls into mud puddles and chronic heartburn. If the two of them don't end up killing each other, they may find what they've got is...love?

Book, Reviews, Excerpt

 

NOT PRECISELY PREGNANT Reviews:

Ms. Jacobs has done it again!...Her books are guaranteed to provide plenty of entertainment, and more laughs than should be legal." ~Kelley A. Hartsell, Love Romances Reviews

"Holly Jacobs returns with NOT PRECISELY PREGNANT, a wry, warm-hearted screwball comedy featuring an appealing pair of lovers...and an attack cat." ~Romantic Times

"...a romantic adventure between opposites; one sees a glass half empty while the other sees it half full...NOT PRECISELY PREGNANT is a warm, lighthearted joy to read. This story is much more sensual than any of Ms. Jacob’s former titles. It’s a short story you’re sure to enjoy and your spirit will be much lighter when you close the back cover. I highly recommend this one to you and look forward to more of the Perry Square series, which began with DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?" ~Carol Carter, Reviewer

"In “Not Precisely Pregnant”, Holly Jacobs spins a marvelously funny tale about love, ratings, sex and stubbornness. She gives Paige and Riley a wonderful cast of supporting characters, like matchmaker Aunt Annabelle, Pugsley the dog and Stephanie the open-minded news director. The banter is not to be missed." ~Sharon Wren, Women on Writing

"I picked up this book with the intention of reading the first couple of pages to see what it was about. I didn't have time right then to read it. Well, it got read sooner than I thought! Ms. Jacobs grabbed my attention and kept me reading. " ~Lydia Funneman, Writers Unlimited

Book, Reviews, Excerpt

EXCERPT

Not Precisely Pregnant
copyright Holly Jacobs

 

"And what are you doing here?" Riley Calhoon asked Paige Montgomery.

"Covering the mayor’s press conference."

"Why? I thought you only covered the nice news?"

"Well, the mayor is nice, and rumor has it his news is as well, so here I am."

Paige didn’t tell him that she’d begged Stephanie, her assignment editor, for the story. Or that Steph had been as surprised by her request as Riley obviously was. The look he shot her said he wasn’t buying her story. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that he decided to do the interview.

She wasn’t sure why it was so important to her that she get to tell the world that there was more to Riley Calhoon than his columns would indicate. That beneath the cynic he played, there beat the heart of a hero. Annoying, maybe. But a hero.

"It’s a free country, Calhoon. I can cover any story I want."

"You know, I haven’t seen you in six months, and suddenly I see you twice in two days? That’s a bit of a coincidence, isn’t it?"

"Is it?" she asked sweetly.

"You’re not following me in some misguided hope I’ll change my mind, are you? Because I won’t."

"...And here’s Mayor Aggers," the mayoral assistant said.

Riley pulled out his notebook and pen, poised to take notes on the press conference.

Paige stayed where she was. The cameraman would film the announcement, and then film her doing a little sound-bite when it was finished. She’d spend her afternoon editing the piece.

"Well," Paige said, "in order to change your mind you’d have to have one, so let’s just say I’m not overly hopeful, but I am persistent."

Riley stopped fiddling with his notebook and shot her a stern look. "That wasn’t a very Pollyanna-ish comment. I thought you live in Polly-World, a place where rose colored hues were the only colors permitted. That crack about my being brainless wasn’t very rosy. You made a crack at lunch yesterday, too. What would your viewers say if they knew you weren’t as sweet as they thought?"

"Let’s just say that you bring out the worst in me. And even my rose-colored, Polly-World view of the world dims when you’re around. And if my viewers knew you, they’d understand completely," she said with a small little smile.

"I bring out the worst in everyone, but I thought not even I could change your view."

"Oh, you haven’t. It’s only my view of you that’s not so rosy."

"I thought you said I was a hero," he said.

"You are. But you’re stubborn, opinionated and annoying, too. And wrong."

"...and it’s time to address what’s wrong with downtown..." the mayor said.

"Wrong?" Riley whispered to Paige.

"This interview would be good for you," she pressed quietly, "good for your career."

"I make my living as a columnist and reporter. How could being seen as a--" he stopped short, and frowned, as if whatever he’d been about to say left a bad taste in his mouth.

"White knight...hero?" Paige filled in the words Riley was obviously hesitant about using.

"Neither. I’m not either. That’s my point. Your saying I am wouldn’t be good for anything but a laugh. And I’m afraid the laugh would be at my expense, so I pass," he hissed.

"...And I think you’ll all agree, that this project is worth the expense and will move our efforts to revitalize downtown forward. I’ll take questions now."

Riley stared at the podium. "Questions?"

He turned to Paige. "It’s over? How can the mayor be done speaking? I missed it because of your incessant chatter. You did that on purpose. You distracted me so that I missed what he said, and now I can’t even ask a question."

"The mayor said that the city is going to receive that big state grant for revitalizing Parade Street. They plan on bringing it back to its old glory."

Riley scribbled notes and then looked up at her. "How do you know? You were busy arguing with me."

"I don’t argue. You argue. I’m just sort of the wall you toss your shots at. They tend to bounce back at you without my even trying. That’s not arguing, that’s volleying. And I heard what he said because I’m a woman. We multi-task. It all comes from being genetically programmed as the foragers and gatherers. We’re forced to concentrate on many things at once. Men are genetically predispositioned to be the hunters. They concentrate on one thing, and blot out everything else. I’m flattered you chose to focus on me and not the mayor."

"I didn’t choose that," he said quickly. Maybe too quickly.

Maybe she was getting to him? The thought made Paige grin.

"Of course you chose to, or else you would have heard the mayor’s announcement. And you’re still so focused on me that you missed Marcy, from WJTC, ask how the money was going to be allotted, and the mayor saying he was forming a committee, and then Martin, from your paper, asking if the mayor really thought we needed another committee."

Riley again scribbled wildly, then glared at Paige. "You think you’ve proven something?"

"I think I just stopped by to see if you’d changed your mind, and you started fighting, which is what you do best. And can I ask why you’re here if Martin is covering this for your paper?"

"I’m not writing the article, I’m writing a commentary in my column and wanted to hear the speech myself."

"But you didn’t hear it, did you?" she asked as sweetly as she could.

"Because of you."

"Hey, don’t blame me. Now that you’ve given me your answer, I’ll just go catch up with my cameraman and get some footage of me here, then head back to the studio to edit the piece. Great seeing you, Riley. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon."

"It’s no use," he said. "I won’t do the interview."

"Okay," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Whatever you say."

Paige raised her hand. Mayor Aggers pointed in her direction. "Paige?"

Riley glared in her direction, which for some perverse reason, made Paige want to smile. But even as she was noticing Riley’s annoyance, she was already formulating a question for the mayor.

Chalk another one up for multi-tasking females.

Book, Reviews, Excerpt

From the book: Not Precisely Pregnant
By: Holly Jacobs
Imprint and Series: Harlequin Duets
Publication Date: 1/03
ISBN: 0-373-44158-4
Copyright © 2003
By: Harlequin Enterprises
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher.
The edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
For more romance information surf to: http://www.eHarlequin.com

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