Man of Fate: An African American Romance Novel (The Best Men, 3) - Softcover

Alers, Rochelle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0373831609 ISBN 13: 9780373831609

Verlag: Harlequin Kimani Arabesque, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

Close friends since childhood, Kyle, Duncan and Ivan have become rich, successful co-owners of a beautiful Harlem brownstone. The one thing each of them lacks is a special woman to share his life with—until true love steps in to transform three sexy single guys into grooms-to-be…

A fender bender seems like a stroke of lousy luck, until attorney Kyle Chatham glimpses the woman who just put a dent in his vintage Jag. The fact that gorgeous social worker Ava Warrick wants little to do with him only piques his interest. What starts out as simple friendship gives way to cozy dinners and blissful, breathless nights…until Ava brings their relationship to a screeching halt. Kyle's sure she's his soul mate. But now that the confirmed bachelor is ready to commit, can he convince a woman who's learned never to trust in love that a connection this real, this passionate, is anything but an accident?

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Hailed by readers and booksellers alike as one of today's most popular African-American authors of women's fiction, Ms. Alers is a regular on bestsellers list, and has been a recipient of numerous awards, including the Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing and a Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award.  Visit her Web site www.rochellealers.com  

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Kyle Chatham downshifted, maneuvering into an E-ZPass lane on the Robert F. Kennedy Triborough Bridge. Several cars ahead of him, traffic came to a standstill as a car stalled at the toll booth, eliciting a cacophony of horns and profanity-laced invectives from other motorists on the toll plaza.

A smile spread across Kyle's lips as he listened to the bawdy comments and watched as drivers flipped each other the bird. This was his city and he'd expected no less from New Yorkers. His motto when it came to his hometown was Either Love It or Leave It. His relatives from down South couldn't understand how he could live in a place that was so noisy and filled with throngs trying to navigate through crowded sidewalks and city streets. Even the brusque and sometimes rude manners of New Yorkers—who usually go about their business without even making eye contact or greeting others with a polite "good mornin'" or "evenin'"—takes some getting used to. He had lost track of the number of times he had to explain to visitors that New Yorkers didn't have time to dawdle or chitchat because they would never get where they were going. One thing he couldn't explain was the colorful language peppered with four-letter words that was uniquely a part of New York.

Kyle loved the city, and if someone offered him tens of millions of tax-free dollars to move, he would turn them down without batting an eyelash. He was Harlem—born and raised—and at thirty-eight years old, he still lived there.

There had been a time when he'd worked an average of eighty hours a week for a prestigious New York law firm handling high-profile cases ranging from corporate fraud to capital murder before he realized he was dangerously close to being burned out. He'd given Trilling, Carlyle and Browne—affectionately nicknamed TCB for "taking care of business"—ten years of his life, but had finally decided that if he had to work that hard, then it would be for Kyle Elwin Chatham.

Although he'd spent hours in his Park Avenue office overlooking the Waldorf Astoria and Grand Central Station, Kyle still found time to unwind with a very active social life. He dated, had a few long-term relationships and always set aside time to hang out with his closest friends, Duncan Gilmore and Ivan Campbell. The three had grown up together in the same public housing complex and they'd never lost touch with each other.

Faced with the most important decision he'd had to make, he tendered his resignation and spent the entire summer in Sag Harbor, Long Island, at a bed and breakfast, lying on the beach during the day and partying at night.

A fling with a local divorcée capped off what had become quite a memorable summer. He'd returned to his Harlem brownstone reinvigorated and ready to start practicing law again—this time for himself.

A year ago, he'd contacted Duncan and Ivan, offering to go in with them on the purchase of the brownstone. They planned to renovate the building and use it as professional office space for Kyle's law practice, Duncan's financial-planning services and Ivan's psychotherapy practice. Eight months later they toasted one another with champagne after the brass plate bearing their names and titles were affixed to the front of the three-story brownstone in Harlem's Mount Morris Historic District.

Traffic in his lane had come to a complete standstill. Either someone was in the wrong lane, had engine trouble or had run out of gas. Kyle reached over and pushed the volume button on the dashboard of his sports car and started singing at the top of his lungs. Not only did he know the lyrics to every Stevie Wonder song, but he also did a very good imitation of the blind singer-songwriter.

"Sing it, gorgeous!" a woman called out from the open window of a sport utility vehicle in the next lane.

Nodding, Kyle winked at her as he continued to sing. "Superwoman" and "Living for the City" were his favorites. His musical taste was eclectic, running the gamut from blues and classic jazz to R&B, and he had to thank his father and uncles for that. Every time there was a family gathering, the Chatham men engaged in their favorite pastime: comparing the latest additions to their growing music libraries.

Kyle had surprised his father one Christmas with an MP3 player with selections he had converted from his father's record collection and cassettes. Elwin Chatham— a highly decorated Vietnam vet—sat stunned as his eyes filled with tears after he plugged the MP3 player into a tuner to hear the music of his youth.

The honking increased as Kyle glanced up at the rearview mirror to gauge if he had enough room to maneuver around the vehicle in front of him to get into another lane. It took a full three minutes before he was able to make it through another toll booth and onto the roadway that would take him into Manhattan.

It was a warm Saturday night in June and the sidewalks and roadways in East Harlem were as crowded as if it were Monday-morning rush hour. Neither the bumper-to-bumper crosstown traffic nor the pedestrians ambling across the wide avenues, oblivious to the traffic lights, could dispel Kyle's good mood. He'd spent the evening in Mount Vernon, a guest at the wedding of Micah and Tessa Whitfield-Sanborn.

As a graduate of Brooklyn Law School, Kyle had been a mentor to NYPD Lieutenant Micah Sanborn when he attended law school as a part-time student. Micah had graduated at the top of his class, passed the bar on his first attempt and went on to work as a Kings County assistant district attorney. Kyle had offered Micah a position in his private practice, but the former police officer declined, saying he didn't have the temperament to work in the private sector.

No one was more surprised than Kyle when he received the wedding invitation, since Micah never seemed to be serious about any woman, certainly nothing that would lead to marriage. But when he was introduced to Tessa Whitfield he knew why Micah was marrying the wedding planner. Tessa was intelligent, elegant and stunningly beautiful.

Tessa had everything Kyle was looking for in the women he'd dated over the years. As a teenager and in his early twenties, it had been sex. But as he matured he realized sex was only one aspect of a satisfying relationship. It was important, but not as important as communicating with each other out of bed.

He never took a date with him to a wedding because he didn't want to send the wrong message. He wasn't anti-marriage or commitment-phobic. It was just that he hadn't found that certain someone, a woman who complemented him.

Kyle was ambitious, generous and fun-loving, but he was also moody, possessive and, at times, irritable and tactless. He was waiting for the time when he'd be able to balance his career and personal life, and he was close to achieving that.

Thankfully there was no pressure to have grandchildren. Between his younger sister and brother, Elwin and Frances Chatham had two grandsons and two granddaughters. Life was good, and he intended to enjoy it to the fullest.

Ava Warrick didn't know what else could go wrong. Her week had begun badly when she'd overslept— something she rarely did. She'd missed an important meeting with the mental health agency's medical director, and now it was her weekend to be on-call and she'd gotten a call from a social worker at Harlem Hospital that one of her clients had been admitted to their psychiatric unit.

"Don't you dare stop!" she screamed at the driver in the convertible sports car in front of her own. He'd slowed within seconds of the light changing from green to yellow. "Dammit!" Ava hissed between clenched teeth.

Her attempt to go around the two-seater was thwarted when a Cadillac Escalade came out of nowhere and she was forced to hit the brakes,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Harlequin Kimani Arabesque
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0373831609
• ISBN 13: 9780373831609
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Product Safety Manager; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; HarperCollins, Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper; Dublin 1; D01 C9W8; Irland