Emma Lea

Her Side of the Story... A reclusive billionaire who gives away millions of dollars worth of toys every year at Christmas? It sounds like a fairytale... I shouldn't be here. I should be in Bora Bora, lying on a secluded beach, soaking up the sun, swimming in the surf and indulging in a bit of R&R with my boyfriend (if you know what I mean). Instead, I am now boyfriendless (so much for that jewellery store receipt I found) and headed to the frozen tundra that is New York City. I don't do winter. I'm Aussie born and bred and quite happy with our Christmas days being celebrated in searing forty degree (that's Celsius for you people still dealing in the old money) heat with a barbecue around the pool and a couple of ice cold beers. New York City in winter just doesn't do it for me. And it's Christmas...did I tell you I hate Christmas? And it's just my luck that in the middle of a crowded Sydney airport I have a luggage malfunction and a really cute guy gets an up close and personal look at my pink polka-dotted panties. An auspicious beginning that doesn't bode well for the rest of my trip. So why have I been exiled to the frozen north? Because my boss hates me, she tells me she loves me, and I'm the only one who can get the story on the mysterious Mr Toys, but this feels a whole lot more like purgatory. I know I'm the best damned investigative reporter that our magazine (Iconoclast) has, but really, Mr Toys? It sounds like a puff piece and not at all like the usual hard-hitting stuff I do. But I'm a professional, and I have twelve days to find this reclusive billionaire and convince him to spill his guts to me...it should be a snap His Side of the Story... I have too many secrets, and she has made a career of exposing them. Twelve days before Christmas and I've been lucky enough to be christened by the press as 'The Executioner'. Everybody hates me. I'm the most despised man in Australia, and my face has been splashed over every news channel in the country. Thank God I'm heading to New York for the next few months, at least I'm not so well known over there. Bumping into Isobel (literally) was like fate. I couldn't believe she didn't know who I was, and that very fact, plus the fact that she was gorgeous, made me want to get to know her better. When I found out that she was 'the press' it was too late, I was already addicted to her. But my real identity isn't the only one I'm keeping secret, and the other secret is so juicy that if she ever found out, there's no way she wouldn't feel obligated to share it with the world. But in doing so, she would destroy everything my family built for over seventy years. We may have been fated to meet, but there's no way we could ever make this work, there are too many secrets.

Hana Park has had enough. She has worked with Carter for nine years but she is absolutely done with his demanding ways. The payout she got for the apps she sold went a long way to helping her make the decision, but Carter doesn't need to know that.Carter Beckett, CEO of The Playbook, cannot believe his right-hand-person could just up and leave him. Even an offer for a bigger pay check did nothing to sway her. His last resort is to get her to fall in love with him. She wouldn't leave him if she loved him, right?It started out as an air-tight if stupid plan but then those darned feelings got involved. It was a classic case of her falling first but him falling harder.*The final book in The Playbook Series is a spicy workplace romance where the guy who thinks he has it all together slowly unravels as he experiences all the feels.

I want to set the record straight. Everything you've heard about my stepmother is wrong. Okay, she did have a magic mirror of sorts, but that is about the only truth in the tale you've heard. For a start, she wasn't my stepmother, she was my mother. The victors write the history, or at least the ones with the pen do. My mother gets a bad rap because she stood up to some powerful people and those people were the ones who got to dictate the 'truth.'The story you've heard, or read, tells of a woman twisted by vanity who couldn't stand that her stepdaughter was more beautiful than she was. Such utter crap. Only a man could write something so asinine. I'm pretty sure that men purposely pit women against women so that we can never unite because every man knows if women could come together, they wouldn't stand a chance against us...but I digress.According to the 'history', my stepmother-mother-was so jealous of me that she commanded a huntsman to take me into the woods and kill me. Apparently, my stepmother wanted to eat my heart so she could become immortal-insert eye roll here. Of course the valiant man did not kill me-insert another eye roll here-but rather helped me to escape my evil stepmother's clutches.If you haven't guessed already, I'm not exactly happy with the way things have turned out.Let's not forget about the multiple attempts to kill me-all blamed on my mother, of course-or the fact that a complete stranger stole my body while I was in a coma...yeah, we'll get to that. This entire story has been nothing but propaganda. A blatant attempt by a neighbouring king to marry me off to his son, take over my homeland, and dethrone my mother.Well, I've had enough. I'm writing this down to document the truth. This is truth as I experienced it...the real truth. This is the full and unabridged tale of my own life. Me, Snow White, the Poisoned Princess.

"Two broken people didn't make a whole one. The friendship we had, it just worked. We were kindred spirits. We had shit in common. We were both running from the same demons. That didn't mean we could make a romantic interlude work, in fact, it almost guaranteed that we would be a complete bloody disaster."DarcyI liked Cole from the moment my best friend introduced us, and if I hadn't been seeing someone at the time, we might very well have hooked up. But, instead, we became friends, good friends, and I came to value that friendship more than I'd ever imagined. Cole just got me. When I was around him, I could let all my defences down and just be me. Sure, he was hot, and I knew if we ever went beyond friends, we would rock each other's world, but our friendship was too important to me to throw it away for one perfect night between the sheets. I didn't do long term relationships, so one night was all we could ever have, and that just wouldn't be enough. Cole and I would be spectacular, and then we would self destruct. Neither of us was emotionally available to deal with the fallout. Maybe if things were different, if I wasn't so broken, but they're not, and I'd rather have Cole as a friend for life than just a sweet memory.ColeDarcy knocked me on my arse the first time I met her. She was gorgeous; a tiny little thing that I'd like to pick up and carry around in my pocket. But she was also smart and funny and a great wingman. Except that I'd rather sit at the bar talking to her all night than go home with the women she picked out for me. And now my body had gotten on board, and it wanted more, much more. But Darcy was my friend, and the relationship I had with her was probably the healthiest male/female relationship I'd ever had, and I just didn't want to screw it up. She was too important to me to be a one night stand-even though I knew it would be amazing-and I'm a one night stand kind of guy. That might be an awful thing to admit, but I'm not whole, and I didn't think it was fair to lump my baggage onto someone else. So having Darcy as a friend was the only way to keep her in my life, and I definitely wanted to keep her.

Sara was a cliche, the third wheel, the one who didn't get the guy...and the whole town knew about it. But with Christmas coming, Sara was determined to turn over a new leaf and shake off the dust of the past. Her heart may be broken but that didn't mean it wouldn't mend and what better way to get over her unrequited crush than to get under someone new.Mitch was the fun guy, the side-kick, the comedic relief. He was fine with that...sort of. He knew he was to blame for the way the town saw him, and it honestly didn't bother him that much. Mitch knew he would never be the leading man.Then he started to see Sara in a new light.He could never compete with her life-long crush, but maybe they could have a bit of fun over the Christmas season. He could help her get over Archer and maybe she could help him get over...that thing that happened.

NoelleI was having a very bad day. The worst day of my life. With only eight weeks left until my thirtieth birthday (oh, and Christmas) I was determined to cram every last ounce of fun into my life before I officially became an 'adult'. But my pursuit of the perfect lead-up to my thirtieth birthday was ruined when I turned up at work to find out I no longer had a job. Then I got home to find my boyfriend in bed with someone else. I didn't hang around for his explanation, instead packing my stuff and walking out, leaving him and the apartment we'd shared behind.Now I was jobless, homeless, and broke. Things couldn't get much worse.LoganI was having a very bad day. With less than an hour before I was due to address the board of investors about the next round of funding for my medical research, I couldn't find a damn thing. My PA had abandoned me for marriage, leaving me high and dry (well, not really, she did arrange for a replacement, but apparently I was impossible to work for) so now I was stuck with an office that looked like a tornado had torn through it and no report to give the investors and the very possibility of being refused the money I needed to make the medical breakthrough I knew was within my grasp.I was a genius-my mother had me tested-but I really sucked when it came to filing.One drunken online ad later and Noelle walked into my life, turning it upside down and leaving me wondering how I ever survived without her. But being a PA is just a temporary solution for Noelle, and she has no intention on staying permanently. No matter how good we are together.This is a sexy office romance set at Christmas time in Australia where things get hot and steamy (and I don't just mean the weather).

Forced to retire due to injury, ballet star Quinn Markam returns to his hometown to choreograph an up and coming group of dancers. And he's not happy about it. Bitter because of his untimely retirement and depressed because the only job he can get is with the B Company, Quinn is not in the least prepared to deal with a young upstart like Beth who is determined to become the next big thing.Bethany Reynholm has lived and breathed ballet and dance since she was old enough to walk. Nothing feels better to her than letting go and letting the music flow through her. And now she is on the brink of achieving her dream, she just has to impress the one dancer she has idolised for years, except that he is nothing like she expected. Quinn Markam, the dancer she has looked up to for so long, turns out to be a big disappointment. He is bitter, rude and impossible to please and despite all that, she's attracted to him, much to her own disgust.Beth wants Quinn to see that he still has an amazing opportunity in the world of dance, if he can just get over himself. And if he can do that, then there might be a chance for the two of them as well.

Lord Evan Anastas has lived as a recluse most of his life...with good reason. He shares the same surname as the country's worst traitors. But the king has decided it's time for him to stop hiding. It's time for him to step into his royal duties and that means getting up close and personal with the press.But the king probably didn't mean this up close and personal.On a diplomatic trip to Lemnos, Evan meets Brooklyn and unbeknownst to him, she is a member of the very press he has been avoiding.To be fair, Brooklyn doesn't know who he is at first. She is a struggling travel blogger from New Zealand and reluctantly agreed to do a job for her previous employer. She didn't know it would lead to her spending a month in a castle on an island she had never really heard of. Or that meeting the reclusive count would upend her life.

Parker Grey, gossip columnist and author of The Locker Room blog had an unwanted houseguest. Well, not unwanted, exactly. In fact, there were a lot of people who wanted her...Parker included, but she was off-limits. Talia Jane was definitely someone Parker should not get involved with, especially while she was hiding out in his apartment.Natalie Beckett, better known as Talia Jane, actress and Australia's favourite girl-next-door, was on the run. Okay, not on-the-run in a criminal sense, but she is definitely staying on the down-low for the foreseeable future. In a desperate attempt to get out of a contract, she did something stupid and now she was paying the price of fame. Hiding out in a journalist's apartment while hiding from the media? Not the best plan she'd ever had, but then again, it wasn't her plan. Now that she was there, she didn't have much choice but to stay put until the media storm died down. But that wasn't as easy as it seemed because not only was Parker Grey a gossip-monger who could potentially blow up her career, she was also a teenie, tiny bit attracted to him...not exactly an ideal situation for her to find herself in, but what choice did she have?

AITA for turning up out of the blue and demanding that he marry me because of some teenage promise we made fourteen years ago?Emma St. James needed to get away. Her career, her impending marriage, her...mother. Birch was just...a convenient excuse, a soft place to land, a...very...bad...idea. Those pesky unrealised teenage fantasies were such a pain in the butt.Seeing Emma again was a dream come true for Birch Forest, although he knew the proposal was a sham. She was hiding something, and if he had to go along with the ridiculous wedding pact in order to find out her secrets, then he would. He wanted nothing more than to fix whatever was wrong.But living together and pretending to plan a wedding suddenly felt a little too real and neither one of them wanted the fantasy to end. This book uses Australian/UK English

Willow had done everything she could to escape her past...not that it was tragic or anything, just, well, emotionally scarring. Growing up in an 'alternative community' always made her feel so out of step with the rest of society. All she'd ever wanted to be was normal. Now jobless and with no prospects, she was headed home for the first time in six years. Back to the 'wholistic community' she had fought so hard to leave behind.Harrison Henry James III always did the right thing. As the eldest child of a prominent Sydney family, he strived to live up to the expectations of his parents and be the role model to his younger siblings. But when the stress of trying to be perfect leaves him clutching his chest and thinking he was going to die, he knew it was time for a change. Heading to the health retreat on the north coast of NSW, Harrison hoped to find some balance in his life. What he didn't expect was to find a woman that turned his world upside down.*This book uses UK/Australian spelling

After Scarlett Morgan-aka pop star Ruby-collapses on stage, she doubts whether she will ever be able to sing again. So she heads to the small town of Hope Springs-her safe place, the place where she found her voice all those years ago-in the hope of saving her career. Scarlett doesn't even know who she would be if she could no longer be Ruby.Archer Paterson recognised Scarlett the moment he saw her. He'd been following her career for years and he knew that behind the wig and the makeup was the same girl who'd won the Hope Springs talent quest all those years ago. But the last thing he expected was for her to pretend that she wasn't the mega-popular recording star everyone knew as Ruby. He went along with it, because why not? She wanted to be incognito and he didn't want the status quo of his small town to be disrupted by a horde of media.But then things got complicated.*This book is set in Australia and uses Australian/UK English

Duchess Sophia Dellis, Archontissa of Kalon, needed a date for the upcoming Kabiero Royal Ball. The man she planned to take as her date just dropped her for someone with a higher social media profile. Not that Sophia was heartbroken. Nico was a sweet guy, or at least he was until he turned into a fame monster-something that wouldn't have even happened if Sophia never gone out with him in the first place. Now she was left with six weeks to find someone to fill his place on her dance card and no prospects in sight...that was until she saw Ethan across a crowded club. He was completely unsuitable, but her best friend, Frankie, dared her to turn him into a Duke Incognito.Ethan Samuels was minding his own business, working behind the bar in the hottest new club on Kalopsia when two members of the new Kabiero Royal court approached him with an outrageous proposal. How could he turn down a duchess? Plus, he would get an adventure that a simple guy from Australia would never have even dreamed of; learn how to navigate the world of wealth and royalty, attend a royal ball on the arm of a beautiful woman, and get a foot in the door of a new career on a super yacht. It was a no-brainer as far as he was concerned.They both knew what the deal was. Sophia would teach Ethan everything he needed to pass as a duke, and Ethan would get the experience he needed to break into a new career. It was a business arrangement. No one was supposed to fall in love.

No one ever got a second chance to make a great first impression. That was something Jack Daniels knew all to well. (Yes, that was his real name. No, he was not related to that Jack Daniels). Jack wouldn't normally care what someone else thought of him, but when it impacted his job? That was another matter entirely. It wasn't even his fault, not really. If anyone was to blame for Jack making an absolute fool of himself in front of his new neighbour it was his 'friend' Carter. But now Jack had to make things right...or he would miss out on the biggest coup of his career. Dianna Fletcher was just trying to live her best life. Yes, she suffered with chronic pain and no, it wasn't all in her head. It made getting in to the office every day a bit of a challenge, but that was what the internet was for, right? Working from home was a legitimate way to do her job, even if some people didn't agree. Besides, she was currently experiencing one of the highest points of her career as a game designer...the launch of a game she conceptualised and ran point on from design to production...and the biggest game to come out of Black Sheep Software and Gaming ever. She was living the dream and it should have been the best time of her life if not for the little snag of the grumpy DILF living next door. Dianna would have quite happily gone on ignoring Jack for the rest of eternity, but her boss had other ideas. Now Dianna and Jack had to work together in order to promote her game launch. Dianna would have been quite happy to work with anyone else at The Playbook, but that wasn't an option. Jack-the grumpy DILF next door-was the guy who could take her game launch from good to great. Working with Jack would be a game changer...if only she didn't hate him so much.

Sutton Sharp's life was perfectly fine, thank you very much. Maybe the entire town of Hope Springs treated her like a kid, but was it really that bad if people looked out for her?Okay, so maybe she could do without walking in on her brother and his girlfriend doing it on every available surface in the house she shared with them, but apart from that inconvenience (and frankly disturbing image) her life was great.She certainly didn't need her brother's best friend riding in on a white horse to offer her a place to live where she wouldn't be constantly confronted with her brother's bare backside. She had her own plans...and she had a secret that would be impossible to keep if she moved into Daniel's place.Daniel Forster had only ever thought of Sutton as Tony's annoying little sister...okay, there was that one time at the B&S ball where he kissed her, but that was just to shut her up. She'd been arguing with him at them time and he couldn't think of another way to make her be quiet. That was his story and he was sticking to it.Asking her to move in with him had come as a shock not only to her, but to him as well. Yes, he needed a new housemate to cover his mortgage payments, but Sutton was the last person he wanted to give an up close and personal look at his life...especially not after the incident in the warehouse behind the hardware store.Despite both of their aversions to living together, neither of them had any other choice. But it was only temporary and they both agreed they could do temporary. Neither one of them was prepared for what being 'up close and personal' would do to their relationship.*This is a hot and steamy best-friend's little sister/enemies to lovers romance with a happy ever after and lots of flying sparks and lacy lingerie along the way.**This book is set in Australia and uses Australian/UK English

Trina Farrady is coming home, although she doesn't know if the small town of Hope Springs is still home. After nine months on the other side of the world to heal her broken heart, the time has come to face her past and maybe, just maybe, she can finally get over the man who broke her heart. She even has a speech prepared for when she will inevitably run into him...she just wasn't supposed to run into him before she'd even stepped out of the airport.Tony Sharp knew he'd see Trina again one day, but he hadn't expected it to be this day. He wasn't ready and despite trying to convince himself otherwise, he wasn't over her either. Seeing her again proved just how not over her he was and maybe, just maybe, she wasn't over him yet either.Was it time for the two of them to find closure? Or was this a sign they should try again and maybe finally get their happily ever after?This is a 20k word Novella and also includes a 12k word bonus prequel

Lucas Andino had been summoned by the king...the only problem? He needed a wife...or at least a fianc e, which wouldn't have been a problem except...his girlfriend just broke up with him.In desperation, he turned to his best friend, Francesca-or Frankie as she was known to, well, everyone.Frankie needed a topic for her sociology dissertation, and she needed it yesterday. When Lucas suggested they become fake engaged so he could answer the summons of the king, Frankie saw the opportunity for what it was. Who else would have unfettered access to a monarch for their dissertation? Who else could do an up close and personal examination of an emerging nation? Besides, Frankie would do anything for Lucas. They were best friends for a reason and if he needed her, then she was his girl. So what if she had a tiny crush on him? They were both going into it with their eyes wide open. No one was going to get hurt.

Rivals.Neighbours.One hot night that changed everything.Layne Miller is all set to change her cafe, Delicious, into a cafe/cocktail bar. It's been in the works for months and top secret and now she's just a month from opening...that is, if Eli doesn't ruin everything.Eli Jackson, owner and brewer of the brew pub Brewed, is not too happy that Layne has decided to go head to head with him. Isn't owning the only cafe in town good enough? Does she also have to steal his customers too by opening a cocktail bar? If it's competition she wants then it's competition she will get.

Best friends.Too many years apart.Too much alcohol.One hot night that changes everything.Kaila and Jasper have been best friends since he had rescued her from a tree, but life and circumstance had meant that they'd spent the last five years apart. Of course they'd kept in contact, but it wasn't quite the same as seeing each other in person. But now Jasper is coming home to take up a position at the local fire station and things between them are about to heat up.

It was summer in Oxley Crossing and Christmas was fast approaching. The very last thing Millie Campbell needed was a speeding ticket from the new sheriff-err sergeant-in town. Millie had never actually been given a ticket, speeding or otherwise, and it was a point of pride that she could talk her way out of anything...until she met Sergeant Roman Jamieson.Roman had heard all about Millie and her speedster ways and as the newest member of the local police force, it was his job to show his constables how it was done. He was confident in his ability to withstand her supposed charms...he'd faced down hardened criminals in the past and didn't even blink...but he wasn't as immune to Millie's charms as he thought.Roman's fifteen year old daughter signs him up to play the local Santa Claus in the Oxley Crossing Christmas festival and who should turn up to be his ever-helpful elf? The one woman who has taken an instant dislike of him, Millie Campbell.