Fun with Schmarlequins!
They never fail to fill my girlish heart with glee, but I lack the patience and discipline to actually write one. But that's what story summaries are for! nos4a2no9 was kind enough to indulge me with lonely widowed rancher RayK and kind, no-nonsense school marm Fraser in the Old West. Fraser can mother Ray's rowdy children and be a salve to Ray's lonely heart! And Jack/Ianto is, of course, already a Harlequin.
Won't you join us? Let your imagination run free and write a few sentences summing up the Schmarlequin of your dreams... mild mannered secretary or overworked nanny and gruff employer, kings and commoners, exes with tortured pasts forced to work together as sparks fly, baby makes three, Old West, dark secrets, marriages of convenience, evil twins, vows of revenge, bitter divorcees with hearts of gold... I wanna hear them all! Maybe something like this?
Barista Ray Kowalski can brew the perfect cup of Joe, but all he really wants is to dance on Broadway. When well-known producer Benton Fraser stops by to order a cup of bark tea, Ray will stop at nothing to procure the rare beverage--it could be his ticket to the big time. Impressed with Ray's moxie, Benton hires him to be his full-time barista--at his Broadway offices! Tea soon leads to passion, but Ray's pride keeps him from using his new lover to get a leg up in showbiz. So close to his dreams, but so very far away, falling ever more in love with the polite but distant employer whose passion is revealed only in the bedroom, will Ray ever be able to unite his two loves? The answer may lie with temperamental theater director Ray Vecchio, who catches Kowalski practicing the chorus line choreagraphy for the new Zorro musical and convices him to audition under a false name, wearing Zorro's signature black hat and mask. Will Fraser see through the Rays' deception? Or will Kowalski get his chance to dance?
***
All his life, Benton Fraser has longed for one thing, and one thing only. To crush childhood rival and current business competitor Ray Kowalski. And now, the opportunity has presented itself in the form of Ray's soon-to-be-ex-wife, Stella. No one knows Kowalski better. If Fraser can persuade Stella to see things his way, KowalskiCorp will be decimated, and Fraser will at long last have set to rights the terrible international feud Robert Fraser and Damian Kowalski set in motion all those years ago. But when Fraser finds out a little too much about the real Ray, will he be able to follow through with his plans?
***
Robert Fraser was determined to have the last word, even from beyond the grave. His will specifies that his son, Benton, is to lose the entire Fraser fortune and control of the Fraser family Stetson manufacturing empire unless Benton is wed before the year is out. But Benton has shied away from love ever since Victoria broke his heart, and all the Stetsons in the world wouldn't be enough to persuade him to give love another chance. Only another broken soul, like his recently divorced friend Ray Kowalski, grief-stricken and in dire financial straits, could possibly understand how Benton feels. But when a marriage of convenience starts to turn into something more, will these two heartbroken men be able to trust in love again? Or will romance tear them apart forever?
***
Sensitivity training expert Dean Winchester always knows the right thing to say, the right thing to do, the right time for a hug. But when his new client turns out to be troubled tax accountant Castiel, the last thing Dean can think about is helping the other man deal with his father issues. Because the enigmatic blue-eyed man seems to be the very specter that has haunted Dean's dreams ever since that one night of passion in the Australian Outback. They had found each other Down Under, but circumstances forced them to let go. Now Dean has to know if Castiel also remembers that long-ago night, remembers the fire between them. And if so, can they rekindle the flames? Or will the heat be too much to handle?
Won't you join us? Let your imagination run free and write a few sentences summing up the Schmarlequin of your dreams... mild mannered secretary or overworked nanny and gruff employer, kings and commoners, exes with tortured pasts forced to work together as sparks fly, baby makes three, Old West, dark secrets, marriages of convenience, evil twins, vows of revenge, bitter divorcees with hearts of gold... I wanna hear them all! Maybe something like this?
Barista Ray Kowalski can brew the perfect cup of Joe, but all he really wants is to dance on Broadway. When well-known producer Benton Fraser stops by to order a cup of bark tea, Ray will stop at nothing to procure the rare beverage--it could be his ticket to the big time. Impressed with Ray's moxie, Benton hires him to be his full-time barista--at his Broadway offices! Tea soon leads to passion, but Ray's pride keeps him from using his new lover to get a leg up in showbiz. So close to his dreams, but so very far away, falling ever more in love with the polite but distant employer whose passion is revealed only in the bedroom, will Ray ever be able to unite his two loves? The answer may lie with temperamental theater director Ray Vecchio, who catches Kowalski practicing the chorus line choreagraphy for the new Zorro musical and convices him to audition under a false name, wearing Zorro's signature black hat and mask. Will Fraser see through the Rays' deception? Or will Kowalski get his chance to dance?
***
All his life, Benton Fraser has longed for one thing, and one thing only. To crush childhood rival and current business competitor Ray Kowalski. And now, the opportunity has presented itself in the form of Ray's soon-to-be-ex-wife, Stella. No one knows Kowalski better. If Fraser can persuade Stella to see things his way, KowalskiCorp will be decimated, and Fraser will at long last have set to rights the terrible international feud Robert Fraser and Damian Kowalski set in motion all those years ago. But when Fraser finds out a little too much about the real Ray, will he be able to follow through with his plans?
***
Robert Fraser was determined to have the last word, even from beyond the grave. His will specifies that his son, Benton, is to lose the entire Fraser fortune and control of the Fraser family Stetson manufacturing empire unless Benton is wed before the year is out. But Benton has shied away from love ever since Victoria broke his heart, and all the Stetsons in the world wouldn't be enough to persuade him to give love another chance. Only another broken soul, like his recently divorced friend Ray Kowalski, grief-stricken and in dire financial straits, could possibly understand how Benton feels. But when a marriage of convenience starts to turn into something more, will these two heartbroken men be able to trust in love again? Or will romance tear them apart forever?
***
Sensitivity training expert Dean Winchester always knows the right thing to say, the right thing to do, the right time for a hug. But when his new client turns out to be troubled tax accountant Castiel, the last thing Dean can think about is helping the other man deal with his father issues. Because the enigmatic blue-eyed man seems to be the very specter that has haunted Dean's dreams ever since that one night of passion in the Australian Outback. They had found each other Down Under, but circumstances forced them to let go. Now Dean has to know if Castiel also remembers that long-ago night, remembers the fire between them. And if so, can they rekindle the flames? Or will the heat be too much to handle?