Playing With Matches
by Sabeeha Johnson, Cathy Yardley, Katherine Greyle, Karen Harbaugh

Sabeeha Johnson's story, THE SPICE BAZAAR, is about Nalini, a marketing executive born in the U.S.A. of Indian parents. She chooses to have a match made for her after dating blonds and realizing she wants a husband who shares her traditions and values in raising a family. She goes to THE SPICE BAZAAR, an Indian grocery store/restaurant to meet the Indian accountant the matchmaker and her parents have selected for her, as they said, to balance her whimsical, freewheeling spirit, with a quiet, deliberate personality. When she meets Lokesh, sparks fly. She doesn't know that he's not the accountant. And he's reluctant to 'fess up for more reasons than the fact he's fallen instantly in love with her.

Sabeeha Johnson's Bio

Sabeeha Johnson is the author of a Harlequin Temptation, The Better Man, under the pseudonym Sabrina Johnson. An immigrant from India who got her master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University, she lives in Flint Hill, Virginia, on a farm with her American husband, seven horses, cats, dog, and extensive butterfly gardens.

She's written for major newspapers and magazines and most recently, was columnist for the Gannett newspaper--the Democrat and Chronicle--in Rochester, NY.

Being part of PLAYING WITH MATCHES, a cool frolic through four Asian communities in the U.S., where romance brings secret smiles and blushes to young faces, she says, is a thrill. Matchmaking is a strong tradition in Asian cultures around the world. Sabeeha's parents had a very successful arranged marriage and like Showla Aunty, the matchmaker in THE SPICE BAZAAR, Sabeeha loves to introduce friends but so far, zero matches have resulted. Well, perhaps next week, Rowena and Justin will fall instantly in love...

Nalini, the heroine of THE SPICE BAZAAR, was born in the U.S. She's a modern, strong woman, who is following her cultural tradition by choice so she can raise a family with a man who shares her values. The story is set in Washington, D.C. and Vienna, Virginia.