#DFRAT: By Hook or By Crook by Lynda Morris

Heiress Ivy Smithson is determined to keep her flaky sister from making the worst mistake of her life: marrying the wrong man. Clearly, the guy is just after the family’s money. To stop her, Ivy teams up with her father’s gorgeous, wisecracking, and supremely difficult security consultant, ex-cop Joe Dunham.

Ivy’s way too uptight to be his style, but she’s had his attention from the first — maybe because Joe always pays attention where women are concerned. Bickering all the way, off they go on a mission to Vegas to track down Ivy’s sister and stop the wedding. When Ivy and Joe anger the wrong people, their lives get dangerous, but guns and gangsters aren’t the only threat they face. Ivy knows Joe isn’t her type, so why does falling for the wrong guy feel very, very right.

EXCERPT:

“Have you considered meeting with Dad’s lawyer?” she ventured after a beat.

“Mr. Anderson?” Daisy snorted. “Why would I need to talk to him? We’re not interested in a civil ceremony. We’re getting married by a shaman. But don’t worry. He’s legally licensed to perform weddings in the state of Nevada.”

“Shaman? Nevada?” Ivy repeated blankly, and then shook her head to clear it. “I’m not talking about the officiant. Wendell Anderson is a lawyer, not a judge.”

“Oh.” Her sister paused a moment to take this in. “So he can’t perform wedding ceremonies? Why would I want to talk to him, then?”

Honestly, Daisy could be so dense sometimes, especially where men were concerned. No wonder she’d been taken in by this Pock person. How could Ivy explain this delicately to her firebrand sister? “I’m asking if you’ve considered a prenuptial agreement.”

“No! And I’m not going to, either!” Daisy’s eruption was predictable, but still unpleasant. “You think everyone is after my money. You don’t think anyone might want me for myself, do you?”

“Now, that’s not true,” she began in a soothing tone. “I just wonder about this guy—”

“Pock! His name is Pock. He’s not ‘this guy,’ you know.”

“Now, don’t get upset—”

“You think that because of what happened to you, that it’s going to happen to me, too!” Daisy charged. “Well, it won’t! Pock loves me, and I love him! Nothing is going to keep us from being together.”

The reference to Daniel still hurt, after all these years. Leave it to her sister to throw that back in her face. “Daisy, I didn’t say—”

“God!” her sister interjected, as if she had never spoken. “I would have expected this from Dad. That’s why I haven’t told him, but I would have thought you would be more understanding.”

“You haven’t told Dad?” Ivy echoed. She rubbed the bridge of her nose between two fingers. Could this get any worse?

“No, because I know exactly what kind of reaction I’ll get from him. He’s even worse than you are. No wonder you two get along. You’re just alike.”

“Now, wait a minute.” Daisy loved their father, but she obviously didn’t intend the remark as a compliment. Both sisters’ relationships with him were too strained for that.

But her sister barreled on like a runaway train on a downhill track. Nothing could stop her. “Pock and I are getting married this weekend. We’re in Vegas. He’s been flying out here a lot, trying to get a break on the mixed martial arts circuit here. He’s got a fight in Vegas at the Bellisimo tomorrow night, so we’ll be here anyway. It’s the big break in MMA he’s been waiting for. It’s a huge opportunity!”

“Why Vegas? Can’t Pock fight in Chicago?” Ivy asked, alarmed by the thought of her sister on the loose in Vegas, land of twenty-four-hour wedding chapels, with her thug boyfriend in tow. If ever she’d heard a recipe for disaster…