Too Good To Be True

by Kristan Higgins

• ISBN13: 9780373773558
• ISBN10: 0373773552
• Edition: Original
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-01
• Publisher: HQN Books

Summary

When Grace Emerson's ex-fiance starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she's seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right? Someone...exactlyunlikeher renegade neighbor Callahan O'Shea. Well, someone with his looks, maybe. His hot body. His knife-sharp sense of humor. His smarts and big heart.Whoa. No. Callahan O'Shea is not her perfect man! Not with his unsavory past. So why does Mr. Wrong feel so...right?

Excerpts

"And so with this one act, Lincoln changed the course of American history. He was one of the most despised figures in politics in his day, yet he preserved the Union and is considered the greatest president our country ever had. And possibly ever will have."My face flushed... we'd just begun our unit on the Civil War, and it was my favorite class to teach. Alas, my seniors were in the throes of a Friday afternoon coma. Tommy Michener, my best student on most days, stared longingly at Kerry Blake, who was stretching so as to simultaneously torment Tommy with what he couldn't have and invite Hunter Graystone IV to take it. At the same time, Emma Kirk, a pretty, kindhearted girl who had the curse of being a day student and was thus excluded from the cool kids, who all boarded, looked at her desk. She had a crush on Tommy and was all too aware of his obsession with Kerry, poor kid. "So who can sum up the opposing viewpoints? Anyone?"From outside came the sound of laughter. We all looked. Kiki Gomez, an English teacher, was holding class outside, as the day was mild and lovely. Her kids didn't look dazed and battered. Dang. I should've brought my kids outside, too."I'll give you a hint," I continued, looking at their blank faces. "States' rights vs. Federal control. Union vs. secession.Freedom to govern independently vs. freedom for all people. Slaves or no slaves. Ring a bell?"At that moment, the chimes that marked the end of the period sounded, and my lethargic students sprang into life as they bolted for the door. I tried not to take it personally. My seniors were usually more engaged, but it was Friday. The kids had been hammered with exams earlier in the week, and there was a dance tonight. I understood.Manning Academy was the type of prep school that litters New England. Stately brick buildings with the requisite ivy, magnolia and dogwood trees, emerald soccer and lacrosse fields, and a promise that for the cost of a small house, we'd get your kids into the colleges of their choice--Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown. The school, which was founded in the 1880s, was a little world unto itself. Many of the teachers lived on campus, but those of us who didn't, myself included, were usually as bad as the kids, eager for the last class to end each Friday afternoon so we could head for home.Except this Friday. I'd have been more than happy to stay at school this Friday, chaperoning dances or coaching lacrosse. Or heck, cleaning the toilets for that matter. Anything other than my actual plans."Hi, Grace!" Kiki said, popping into my classroom."Hi, Kiki. Sounded like fun out there.""We're readingLord of the Flies"she informed me."Of course! No wonder you were laughing. Nothing like a little pig killing to brighten the day."She grinned proudly. "So, Grace, did you find a date?"I grimaced. "No. I didn't. It won't be pretty.""Oh, shit," she said. "I'm so sorry.""Well, it's not the end of the world," I murmured bravely."You sure about that?" Like me, Kiki was single. And no one knew better than a single woman in her thirties that hell is going to a wedding stag. In a few hours, my cousin Kitty, who once cut my bangs down to the roots when I was sleeping over at her house, was getting married. For the third time. In a Princess Diana-style dress."Look, it's Eric!" Kiki blurted, pointing to my eastern window. "Oh, thank you, God!"Eric was the guy who washed Manning Academy's windows each spring and fall. Though it was only early April, the afternoon was warm and balmy, and Eric was shirtless. He grinned at us, well aware of his beauty, sprayed and squeegeed."Ask him!" Kiki suggested as we stared with great appreciation."He's married," I said, not taking my eyes off him. Ogling Eric was about as intimate as I'd been with a man in some time."Happilymarried?" Kiki asked, not above wrecking a home or two to get a man."Yup. Adores his wife.""I