Treasured by Thursday

Bybee’s seventh and final Weekday Brides contemporary (after Seduced by Sunday) is an exquisitely written and complex story brimming with pride, passion, and pulse-pounding danger. Hard-hearted businessman Hunter Blackwell approaches Alliance, an exclusive matchmaking service, in hopes of finding a wife and ending the barrage of mail from fortune hunters. Gabriella “Gabi” Masini is assigned to evaluate him, and she declares him not up to Alliance’s standards. Furious, Hunter decides to blackmail the sexy and sassy Gabi into being his temporary wife. Though Gabi is still traumatized by her dead husband’s abuse, she accepts—and in turn demands $1 million a month for 18 months, to be followed by automatic divorce. Despite this inauspicious beginning, Gabi and Hunter soon begin to see around each other’s public personas. Trust, revelations, and smoldering desires begin to crack the armor around their hearts, revealing wonderfully complex, flawed characters. Readers will gladly make time to savor this winning finale to a wonderful series. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Sept.)