Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Mini Book Review for A COWBOY THISCHRISTMAS: A Sweet Romance Anthology which includes novellas by Roxy Boroughs, Victoria Chatham, Amy Jo Fleming, Raine Hughes, Lawna Mackie, Shawna Mumert, Jan O’Hara, A.M. Westerling, and Joanie Wilde.
Below you will find a book blurb, my mini book review, and the authors bios and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
At Christmas, even the loneliest cowboy can find true love, whether it arrives with the subtle fragrance of evergreen or the kick of a wild stallion. Celebrate the holiday season with these nine short, sweet, and heartwarming contemporary romances.
“The Cowboy’s Comeback Christmas” – by Jan O’Hara – USA Today Bestselling Author
The woman formerly known as Shrinking Violet is back, bearing a new no-nonsense attitude and a deadline for leaving town. Five Christmases ago, Russ broke both their hearts. Can he prove he’s a changed man and convince her to stay?
“Capturing the Christmas Cowboy” – by Roxy Boroughs, Amazon Bestselling Author
To secure her job with an advertising company, an L.A. photographer travels to the wilds of Montana, searching for a rugged cowboy to peddle cheap cologne. There she meets a down-on-his-luck, camera-shy rancher, who wants to give his little brother a homespun Christmas – just like the ones they knew before they lost their parents.
Recovering from a life-changing injury, a bronc buster drives across Canada with his young sons to work as a ranch foreman. Heart-sore owner, Sally, hides a wariness of being touched with a warm, hopeful smile. Will the miracle of Christmas help them find true healing love?
Mandy Robinson, a server in a country diner is puzzled when her encounters with the new short order chef, injured bull rider, Chay Burton, seem to mirror events as chronicled over a hundred years ago in her great grandmother’s diary. Romance blossoms as Christmas approaches but should she trust the journal that hints of eventual heartbreak or a cowboy who only has his love to offer?
“All I Want for Christmas” – by Victoria Chatham, Books We Love Bestselling Author
Rancher Luke Evans expects to spend Christmas alone. When a snowstorm strands Kate Cooper and her five-year-old daughter Alice, that changes. While the child’s smile warms his heart, will widowed emergency nurse Kate dare to love again? Could she and Alice become the family Luke always wanted?
“Come Home for Christmas, Cowboy” – by Amy Jo Fleming
Jolene, a young widow, needs to sell the ranch that she loves. It’s the only home her son Cody has ever known. There’s a catch. Her late husband’s cousin owns half the property. Devon will be home for the holidays and Jolene needs to convince him to sell before Christmas. Will those old feelings that Jolene and Devon once shared ruin her plans?
“Silver Belle’s Christmas Cowboy” – by Lawna Mackie
Being the caregiver to nine reindeer in Alaska has many challenges, including a promise Silver Belle Delaney intends to fulfill. Granted, there are a few hiccups. Steal her employer’s reindeer…oh, and his truck and trailer, drive through a blizzard, then hope and pray the handsome, wealthy rancher doesn’t throw her in jail on Christmas Eve.
“My Cowboy, Until Christmas” – by Shawna Mumert – Debut Author
Desperate to keep her ranch, Caroline Bailey, a young widow, hires Trace Morgan, a drifter, to help her until Christmas Eve, when the final ranch payment is due, but working together changes their dreams and their lives.
“A Heart Creek Christmas” – by Joanie Wilde – Debut Author
A kind-hearted equine osteopath lands her dream job – and possibly the love of her life in a broken-down cowboy. Can they move past their personal barriers to find love in time for Christmas?
This anthology is the work of nine independent-minded women who live in or near cattle country, Alberta.
A COWBOY THIS CHRISTMAS: A Sweet Romance Anthology is a charming and heartwarming collection of nine sweet contemporary cowboy romances all set around finding true love and HEA around the Christmas holidays. These are the perfect lengths to pick up and read individually around a busy holiday schedule or to curl up with a hot drink and Christmas music in your favorite chair and get pulled into several romances in a row.
As with any anthology I found some novellas more compelling than others, but since they are short you can quickly move on to one you favor more. All the authors were new to me, so it was great to find which I preferred, and I plan on trying out their other published books. All the novellas are sweet contemporary romances so there are no sex scenes. The main characters in all the stories were believable and all the varying tropes were well written for the short length of each.
I recommend this enjoyable and varied Christmas collection of contemporary Cowboy romances.
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About the Author
Before launching her writing career, the multi-talented Roxy Boroughs was an accomplished stage and film actor who appeared in the TV series “Degrassi Junior High,” and top-rated movies such as “It Must Be Love,” starring Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen.
Look for her romantic comedy “Crazy for Cowboy,” her suspense series “Psychic Heat,” featuring the award-winning novel “A Stranger’s Touch,” and the popular “Frost Family Christmas” series, marrying sweet romance with cozy mystery. Other holiday titles include “The Sprite Before Christmas,” published in the sweet romance anthology “Hugs, Kisses and Mistletoe Wishes” (An Amazon Bestseller), and “A Christmas Carole,” featured in “Christmas Romance Digest 2021: Home for the Holidays,” edited by Tracy Cooper-Posey. Watch for “A Cowboy This Christmas” coming in the fall of 2023.
Roxy is married to her first love, so she not only writes romance, she lives it! If she’s not typing away at her desk, she’s reading, quilting, playing her purple ukulele, whipping up a fabulous new recipe, or hiking around the Rocky Mountain village she calls home, where mule deer and bighorn sheep roam the streets.
Victoria was born in Clifton, one of the oldest areas in Bristol, England. As a small child she lived in various places in South Wales and England and now divides her time between Canada and visiting with her family in England.
Her very first attempts at writing, in crayon on a wall, were not appreciated but in everything she later came to write she tried to bring a sense of place, of putting her reader in the environment she created so they could see it and feel it.
Now retired, she has the luxury of writing full time. When she’s not at her keyboard she’ll have her nose in a book or her Kindle. She’ll read anything that catches her interest, from Regency and contemporary romance to thrillers. Victoria loves horses and dogs, daily walks and gentle yoga and especially loves being an author with Books We Love Ltd.
Amy Jo Fleming writes romantic suspense and she loves a story that leaves you wondering about the characters after you read the final page. Amy Jo has always been a writer. In university, she wrote poetry when she should have been studying. She loves to read a good mystery or legal thriller.
In another life, Amy Jo was a lawyer. Now she is a free-lance writer. Amy Jo loves to hike all over the world, from Calgary to Australia, and from Scotland to Spain. Her favorite place to hike is in the Rocky Mountains just a few miles up the road from her home.
She lives in Calgary with her husband David (an engineer) and their dog, Abbie.
Raine Hughes was born in central Canada, growing up on a dairy farm in a prairie province. She milked cows in the lands down under (Australia and New Zealand) as well as in Canada before settling down with her husband and assorted livestock and exotic birds. With a favorite TV show being the I Dream of Jeannie series, naturally Hughes thought of writing something similar and started her own Down to Earth Magical Romances in sub-genres including paranormal, fantasy and contemporary. She likes to write on the ‘sweeter’ side rather than ‘dark’ because the world needs more ways to lighten the mood. As a member of a Canadian chapter of the Romance Writers of America, as well as having membership in other writing groups, she enjoys reading most any romance along with books in a variety of the other genres. Now she’s part of a Christmas Anthology titled Hugs, Kisses, and Mistletoe Wishes, where she wrote a contemporary romance in the sweet mix of eight other authors, no genie’s involved (as has been her books published to date).
Lawna Mackie is a highly acclaimed fantasy and romance author known for expertly weaving together love, suspense, and fantasy in all of her captivating stories. Her skillfully developed characters and thought-provoking plots have earned her a devoted fan base around the world.
Born in Jasper, Alberta, Lawna is Canadian through and through and draws much inspiration from the stunning natural beauty of her home province. With a passion for animals, Lawna ensures that every one of her novels includes at least one of these beloved creatures.
She invites fans to connect with her and learn more about her writing journey on her website at www.lawnamackie.com. With a belief in the power of true love, Lawna writes various forms of romance, from contemporary and paranormal to fantasy and erotica.
Shawna Mumert has lived most of her life in Southern Alberta then moved with her husband to a farm in Central Alberta. Now, instead of working as a training facilitator, she spends her summer days gardening with some of their five cats, four of whom were rescue kittens, and her winter days writing, reading, learning to paint and enjoying the snow.
A former family physician and academic, Jan O’Hara left the world of medicine behind to follow her dreams of becoming a writer. These days she confines her healing tendencies to paper—after making her characters undergo a period of delicious torture, naturally.
She writes love stories (and biographies) that move from wackadoodle to heartfelt in six seconds flat.
Jan lives in Alberta, Canada. A columnist for the popular blog Writer Unboxed, she loves to hear from readers.
Join Jan’s mailing list for updates on her forthcoming books, exclusive content, and access to reader giveaways ➜ http://janohara.net/newsletter
“From vikings to viscounts, join the adventure, live the romance.”
Living by the motto “You don’t know unless you try”, A.M. Westerling started writing historical romance because she couldn’t find the kinds of stories she enjoyed. After all, she thought, who doesn’t enjoy a tasty helping of dashing heroes and spunky heroines, seasoned with a liberal sprinkle of passion and adventure?
Westerling, a former engineer, is a member of the Romance Writers of America and active in her local chapter. As well as writing, she enjoys cooking, gardening, camping, yoga, and watching pro sports. She lives in Calgary, Canada.
Joanie Wilde has dreamed about writing romance every since she read If This is Love by Anne Weale in 1972. Years went by and she fell in love with romance all over again watching Hallmark movies. She is finally ready to share her romance and cozy mystery stories. Her first romance novella A Heart Creek Christmas is included in the Calgary Association of Romance Writers of America (CaRWA) anthology A Cowboy for Christmas: A Sweet Romance Collection.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BLACK FOX ONE (Project 613 Series Book #3) by Elyse Hoffman on this Black Coffee Book Tour.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
Jonas Amsel and Avalina Keller, devoted Nazis and best friends, have a bright future in Hitler’s Third Reich. Ava, a talented gymnast, wants to serve Germany in the Olympics, and Jonas, who has loved Ava since they were children, wants nothing more than to marry her and start a family. When he is about to propose, however, Ava and her entire family vanish without a trace.
Jonas blames the Jews for Ava’s disappearance and throws himself into a career in the Nazi Party. He serves the Reich under the ruthless Chief of the Gestapo, Reinhard Heydrich. Jonas becomes particularly good at capturing members of the Black Foxes, an anti-Nazi resistance group, earning Heydrich’s respect and the moniker of “the Fox Hunter.”
Impressed by Jonas’ skills, Heydrich gives him his most difficult task yet: capture the elusive Black Fox One, the Black Foxes’ most deadly and mysterious operative. No Nazi who has pursued Black Fox One has returned alive, but Jonas is determined and confident. Capturing Black Fox One might bring him one step closer to finding Ava.
But while he is hunting Black Fox One, Jonas makes a shocking discovery, forcing him to make an agonizing decision. He must choose between his love for the Reich and his heart, torn between the lies he has been taught all his life and the new truth before him.
Black Fox One is a thrilling World War II story of lost love, bravery, and the hard road to redemption.
BLACK FOX ONE (Project 613 Series Book #3) by Elyse Hoffman is a historical fiction/romance in the Project 613 series which features diverse stories of intrigue, love, and redemption during WWII. This story features a romance between childhood best friends to lovers with several life altering twists of fate. I feel these books are best read in order due to carry over characters and underlying themes.
Jonas Amsel and Avalina “Ava” Keller have grown up from childhood best friends to lovers in a changing Germany. Hitler is in power, and both believe in his vision. As they become young adults, Ava is set to represent her country in the Olympics as a gymnast and Jonas is going to follow his father into the ranks of the SS. When Ava returns, Jonas is ready to propose and start a family with the love of his life, but when he goes to Ava’s house, her entire family has disappeared.
Jonas throws himself into his SS career and becomes “The Fox Hunter” who is dedicated to capturing all the Black Foxes, who are members of a resistance group. He is especially determined to capture Black Fox One who is the most mysterious and deadly of their group. When he comes face to face with Black Fox One, he must make agonizing decisions.
This is a unique WWII historical romance. Both protagonists, Jonas and Ava, go through life altering events and emotional upheaval throughout their lives that kept me turning the pages. Their choices and decisions are the powerful pivotal points of the story. I also found the author’s depiction of the SS officers’ choices they made regarding their families and their loyalty to the Party throughout this series disturbing. This entire series has been fascinating so far due to the author’s character depictions and their moral choices.
I highly recommend this unique historical fiction/romance and I am anxiously waiting for the next book in this series.
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About the Author
Elyse Hoffman is an award-winning author who strives to tell historical tales with new twists. She loves to meld WWII and Jewish history with fantasy, folklore, and the paranormal. She has written six works of Holocaust historical fiction: the five books of The Barracks of the Holocaust and The Book of Uriel.
Inspired by true events, Naomi Ragen’s The Enemy Beside Me is a powerful, provocative novel about two people fighting for reconciliation over unforgivable crimes of the past.
Taking over from her father and grandfather as the head of the Survivor’s Campaign, an organization whose purpose is to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, Milia Gottstein has dedicated her life to making sure the voices of Holocaust victims will never be silenced. It is an overwhelming and heartbreaking mission that has often usurped her time and energy being a wife to busy surgeon Julius, and a mother and grandmother. But now, just as she is finally ready to pass on her work to others, making time for her personal life, an unexpected phone call suddenly explodes all she thought she knew about her present and her future.
In the midst of this personal turmoil, Milia receives an invitation to be the keynote speaker at a Holocaust conference in Lithuania from Dr. Darius Vidas, the free spirited, rebellious conference head. Despite suspecting his motives—she is, after all, viewed as a ‘public enemy’ in that country for her efforts to have them try war criminals and admit their historic responsibility for annihilating almost their entire Jewish community, including her own family—she nevertheless accepts, having developed a secret agenda of her own. But as Milia and Darius begin their mission, shared experiences profoundly alter their relationship, replacing antagonism and suspicion with a growing intimacy. However, this only ramps up the hostile forces facing them, threatening their families, livelihoods, and reputations, and forcing them into shocking choices that will betray all they have achieved and all that has grown between them.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Enemy Beside Me by Naomi Ragen makes the Holocaust come alive again through the characters’ journeys. On the heels of the brutality of what Hamas did in Israel it is important to keep the Holocaust atrocities alive. Based on real facts, this book shows how some countries in Eastern Europe, specifically Lithuania, made their own horrible imprint on Holocaust history. The Lithuanians brutally persecuted the Jews who were also their fellow citizens.
The story begins with Milia, an Israeli Jew, whose organization’s purpose is bringing Nazi war criminals to judgement. Darius, a professor at a college in Lithuania invites Milia to speak at a conference in Lithuania. Her speech tells the story of families tortured, raped, and killed by their former neighbors. The Lithuanians had the audacity to claim that they were providing aid to the Jews, subsequently becoming heroes, a complete untruth.
This book is a must read for those who need to remember what happened. Ragan does a good job of showing through her characters the brutality. But she also allows readers to understand the characters through their personal stories. As Milia and Darius begin their mission, shared experiences profoundly alter their relationship, replacing antagonism and suspicion with a growing intimacy.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?
Naomi Ragan: This story came to me when I was walking down a street in Jerusalem, minding my own business during Covid. I ran into an old friend, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel, Efraim Zuroff. He tells me about a story that flabbergasted me. He co-authored a book titled Our People with Lithuania’s famous author, Ruta Vanagaite. She invited him to be a keynote speaker in Lithuania about Nazi War Criminals. This was the starting point for this story. I wrote a dialogue between the Nazi hunter, and the son of those living during World War II. This is a story about the here and now.
EC: The book is based on facts?
NR: Yes. Ruta and Efraim traveled around Lithuania to gain eyewitness testimony. Instead of her convincing him that Lithuania did not commit war crimes, the situation convinced her. They became very close on this trip and fell in love, just as in my book. I never thought Ruta, a child of a preparator and Efraim, a Nazi hunter could get close.
EC: There are many details about Lithuania and the Holocaust?
NR: Lithuanians killed over 96% of the Jewish community. It was neighbors, teachers, and doctors, self-appointed policemen who shot and murdered Jews. They killed as a percentage more of the Jewish community than any other country, including Germany. Today, they are one of the chief Holocaust distortionists. They are trying to falsify what happened to cover their tracks. They are attempting to use a Double Holocaust theory. They say everybody suffered, look at what Stalin did to us.
EC: The Lithuanian executioners were brutal?
NR: They killed with such sadism, ferocity, joy, and enthusiasm. They held public parties to give out the spoils after indiscriminately murdering men, women, and children. I based the facts from first person history and testimonies.
EC: The story speaks of acknowledgement. Can you explain?
NR: There can be reconciliation and forgiveness. But on what basis? First, there must be a recognition of the truth. There must be respect for the mass graves that are being treated like garbage dumps. The mass graves have not been marked in any way. They must stop painting over Jewish cemeteries and building shopping malls. This story is not going away because there has not been any justice and a final meeting of minds.
EC: Everyone has sympathy for what is going on in Ukraine. Do you agree many do not know how the cruel the Ukrainians were to the Jews during WWII?
NR: They joined mobile killing units. There were squads made up of Lithuanians and Ukrainians. I wrote the book now because people are being honored that were Holocaust perpetrators. Just look at what just happened in Canada where they tried honoring a Ukrainian who was in the Waffen SS unit of Hitler.
EC: How would you describe the hero, Dr. Darius Vidas?
NR: Unpredictable, impulsive, organized, and a novelist. He is someone who wants to seek justice. He starts out thinking justice would clear the Lithuanians of the terrible things they were accused of doing. As time goes on, he realizes his country was involved in such savage brutality. He becomes a true partner to the heroine, Milia, the Nazi hunter. He has guts as he became a true Lithuanian patriot. He has a lot to lose, everything he has accomplished, if he agrees with Milia.
EC: How would you describe the heroine, Milia Gottstein-Lasker?
NR: She has a dark view of the world, a cynic, with an endless quest for justice. She compartmentalizes because she is a Nazi hunter. She is based on my friend’s experiences, Efraim. She confronts the truth about what happened to her namesake. To make her character whole I had her deal with a lot of things: a marriage breaking down and someone who questions her own self-worth as a woman. She has a lot of insecurities and is losing her sense of purpose. She is trying to figure out where her life is going personally and professionally.
EC: How would describe their relationship?
NR: The two of them are in mid-life crisis. But more importantly, they are on a journey together. They want to accomplish something important in both their lives. They start out as enemies because he wants to prove everything she has said about the Lithuanian atrocities is false. But then he realizes she is speaking the truth. They learned to respect each other and to have compassion. They now trust each other. Their relationship was a symbol for the rest of the world. Both are honest enough to accept the truth.
EC: What do you want readers to get out of the book?
NR: I want them to understand what must be done to honor the victims and to expose all these bogus distortions by countries like Lithuania. They are putting forward Holocaust distortions to erase, cover-up, and rewrite history and silence the voices. I wrote this book quote, “It was not the Jews gripping the past, it was the past gripping the Jews. It will never let them go until there is some kind of reckoning.” This is exactly how I think and feel. These countries in Europe must tell what happened and return the spoils they took. The quote in the acknowledgement summarizes my feelings, “Milia and Darius are both fictional characters. Their spirits are real and live in all people whose histories have made them enemies. It is up to us, the living, to make peace with one another.” As Milia says in her speech, there are five things that must be done: mainly Lithuanians need to stop lying about their past, stop honoring the perpetrators, tell the truth to their children, compensate the victims, and make Holocaust education important.
EC: Next book?
NR: One never knows. At this point, we will see what happens.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Release day! Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BEFOREI’M GONE by Heidi McLaughlin on this Buoni Amici Press Release Blitz.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
Palmer Sinclair has never needed anyone’s help. A successful loan officer, she’s all work and no play. But when splitting headaches and blurred vision begin to affect her job, she begrudgingly sees a doctor and receives a diagnosis that leaves her shaken to her core and with little time left. Facing an uncertain future, Palmer makes a bucket list, determined to do the things she’d only dreamed of before she goes.
Kent Wagner has dedicated his life to helping others. An army medic turned paramedic, he’s a regular at Palmer’s bank who makes his monthly car loan payments in person just to see her radiant smile. After responding to not one but two 911 calls involving Palmer, he learns about her bucket list. Touched by her circumstances—and needing a distraction from his own—Kent offers to take Palmer to the places on her list.
Neither is prepared for the emotional journey ahead…or how little time they have left together, but the friendship they find in that brief time might be the most lasting legacy of all.
BEFORE I’M GONE by Heidi McLaughlin is an emotional romance/women’s fiction that left me swinging between beautiful and heartfelt to devastated and ugly crying. This is a story that reminds everyone to live life to the fullest because you never know what tomorrow will bring. (When you sit down to read this make sure you have a full box of tissues close at hand.)
Palmer Sinclair has always taken care of herself, from aging out of the foster care system to working her way up the corporate ladder in a bank. She begins to have terrible migraines and blurred vision which she tries to take care of on her own until she falls at work. Taken to the hospital, she has a cat scan that reveals the worst possible outcome. Now, with a limited future, she makes a bucket list but feels hopeless to accomplish it on her own.
Kent Wagner was an Army medic who is now a paramedic with the local fire department and a regular at Palmer’s bank. He is the responder when Palmer falls at the bank and in her home. He discovers Palmer’s secret when he accidentally pockets Palmer’s bucket list. Kent is having personal problems of his own and decides helping Palmer with her bucket list will help keep him from focusing on his life.
The connection they find in their time and travels together is an emotional journey you will not be able to forget.
What a tear-jerker, and yet hauntingly beautiful story with characters that I will never forget. This is an emotional rollercoaster that feels so real and raw, but you do not want to get off the ride and there are moments of humor to occasionally give you a break from the tissues. Palmer is a heroine that you want to wrap in your arms and Kent was the perfect hero for her. How many of us continually put off what we want, our bucket list, until it is too late? Even if you do not do something on a bucket list, this friendship/love story reminds you to live every day to the fullest.
I highly recommend this emotional journey!
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About the Author
Heidi McLaughlin is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of The Beaumont Series, The Boys of Summer, and The Archers.
In 2012, Heidi turned her passion for reading into a full-fledged literary career, writing over twenty novels, including the acclaimed Forever My Girl.
Heidi’s first novel, Forever My Girl, has been adapted into a motion picture with LD Entertainment and Roadside Attractions, starring Alex Roe and Jessica Rothe, and opened in theaters on January 19, 2018, and is now available on DVD & Digital.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for PRETEND WITH ME (Beacon Hill Book #1) by Emily Mayer on this AME blog tour.
Below you will find a book synopsis, my book review, an excerpt from the book, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Synopsis
One phone call was all it took to upend my entire life in completely unexpected ways.
Whoever said that you can’t go home again was a lair. After the senior year from hell, I had spent a decade trying to avoid Beacon Hill and its residents. My luck came to a sudden end after daddy had an incident with a rotted floor. In and out, I promised myself. I was just there to help my parents for a week or two tops.
Things in Beacon Hill hadn’t changed much since I’d been home last. Mama still worked at the hub of gossip known as Trixie’s, Mrs. Thomas still made the best chicken salad in all of Georgia, and my sister was still the devil in a pushup bra. And of course, the St. James family was still local royalty. Our very own version of the Kennedys.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that, not only is my sister back in town after a failed modeling career, she’s also engaged to Macon St. James. The golden boy of Beacon Hill, and the star of every single one of my teenage fantasies.
The biggest surprise of all was Holden St. James. I thought he would be one of the villains in this story, but I was learning that I had been wrong about a lot of things. And Holden just might be worth coming home for….
PRETEND WITH ME (Beacon Hill Book #1) by Emily Mayer is an enchanting contemporary romance with two people who should not have worked, but discovered they did. This is the first book I have read by this author, and it hooked me immediately and I fell right into the story.
Sutton grew up in the shadow of her older beauty pageant sister, Sissy. Sutton preferred jeans, tennis shoes, fanfics, and computers. As they grew older, they grew further apart with Sissy always having to be the center of attention and always get what she wanted. When Sutton found out her sister slept with her best friend’s boyfriend, Macon St. James and the boy Sutton secretly had a crush on, she confronted her and told her parents. Sissy got her revenge and Sutton ran from Beacon Hill after she graduated from high school.
Ten years later, Sutton is working as a coder for a gaming company in Savannah, when she gets called back home to help her father after a workplace injury. When she returns, she learns Sissy is back from L.A. and marrying Macon. She is expected to be in maid of honor and is paired with Holden St. James, Macon’s strait-laced older brother. What she discovers is that Macon and Holden are very different from her high school memories, and she begins to realize she may have dreamed about the wrong brother.
I absolutely love Sutton and Holden and loved to hate Sissy. This romance pulled me right into the story with its snarky and witty dialogue between all the characters. I laughed out loud so many times especially when Sutton and Max were together and when Sutton’s guinea pigs were discussed. (I had the same surprise guinea pig babies happen to me!) All the secondary characters are fully developed and realistic. The chemistry builds steadily through the romance plot and there is only one sex scene almost at the end of the book, which is explicit and smokin’ hot, but not gratuitous. Since this will be a series, I am very excited that I will be able to visit Beacon Hill and hopefully all these characters again in the future.
I highly recommend this delightful and entertaining contemporary romance!
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Excerpt
Once he was all settled, I got into the front seat and took a fortifying drink of my coffee.
“Okay, big guy, let’s set some ground rules for this drive.” I met his narrowed gaze in the mirror and smiled widely. “I don’t want to hear one single word about where my hands are on the wheel, the speed limit, the space between cars, or motion sickness. Got it?”
“Sutton Louise Buchanan, I was there for the day you took your first breath and I can — ”
“Good enough.” I turned the engine on and put the truck in reverse. “Why are you working on a Saturday anyway?”
“I want to make sure my crew stays on schedule while I’m laid up.” Daddy leaned forward and reached between the seats to grab his coffee. “It’s a real big job so I don’t want to fall behind right out of the gate if it can be helped.”
I nodded. “Makes sense. Where are we headed?” I came to a stop at the sign just at the end of our street.
“To the old Bradford place.”
My eyebrows rose in surprise as I turned the truck in the right direction, memory taking over. The old farmhouse had originally been built in the mid-1800s and had been renovated sporadically until the owners abandoned it in the 1980s. It was a beautiful old house — or it had been — with big porches and a sunroom that had been added on at some point. Something about that house had always called to me. I’d daydreamed about being the one to finally breathe life back into it, restore it to its former glory. Of course, all that was before Sissy had made staying here seem impossible.
There were always lots of rumors circulating about why the Bradfords had abruptly moved away after living and farming on the land for centuries, but no one really knew the reason. Beacon Hill loved its gossip. A local favorite was that one of the Mr. Bradfords had killed his entire family, and their ghosts haunted the house. Every Halloween, high schoolers would break in and try to spend the night inside. I had never been invited.
“Someone finally bought that old place?”
“Sure did, and it’s a total gut job. There were structural issues.” Daddy sounded practically gleeful at the prospect. I pictured dollar signs floating around his head like little cartoon hearts.
“I’m really happy to see that house get the love it deserves, but whoever bought it either has too much money or is an idiot.”
Daddy was silent, his fingers playing a rhythm on his Thermos.
“Well, I’d say it’s probably the former.” Daddy paused. “I don’t think anyone can call Holden St. James an idiot.”
“What?” I screeched, whipping my head around to look at him and jerking the steering wheel in the process, causing us to briefly veer off the road and onto the shoulder.
“Eyes on the road, Sutton!” Daddy yelled, bracing himself. “Jesus remember me, how many times can a man almost die in one week?”
Car in the proper lane, I took a deep breath.
“Did you just say Holden St. James bought the old Bradford place?”
“If I answer that question, are you going to be able to maintain control of the vehicle?”
I rolled my eyes, but kept them facing forward — both for safety and so Daddy wouldn’t see it.
“You’re getting dramatic in your old age. I was just surprised. It doesn’t seem like someplace Holden St. James would be interested in living. I pictured him in a sterile, ultra-modern penthouse where every single piece of furniture makes a statement and is uncomfortable.”
“Think highly of the boy, do you?” Daddy drawled, his voice thick with sarcasm.
I shrugged, reaching for my coffee. Daddy cleared his throat pointedly, and I immediately returned my hand to the wheel.
“I’d be a better driver if I was fully caffeinated,” I mumbled. “Oh! I bet he’s going to flip it. That makes sense. The property value on that place will probably be insane once you’re done with the renovation, especially with all the land it sits on.”
***
Author Bio
Emily Mayer is a part-time lawyer, full time storyteller, and an aspiring writer. She lives in Central Ohio with the two loves of her life; her husband and her dog. If she isn’t working, you can usually find her somewhere with a book in her hand.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post for WYOMING PROUD (Wyoming Men Book #12) by Diana Palmer on this HTP Books Romance Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book summary, an excerpt from the book, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
Businesswoman Erianne Mitchell falls hard for entrepreneur Ty Mosby and they quickly get engaged. But their whirlwind romance ends quickly when he gets faulty information that she betrayed him in business. They part ways, leaving both heart-broken, confused, and Erianne secretly pregnant, not to mention blacklisted for every company in town.
Erianne has to start over and she goes to Wyoming to care for her growing child. Even though furious that Ty didn’t believe in her, she can’t help missing the man she loves. She builds a life with her child and by cleaning houses.
By accident, as she’s rushing to the doctor with her baby, she and Ty see each other. He knows she never deceived him, but can ever get Erianne to trust him again?
Ty Mosby was bored out of his mind. He could have been home with his sister, Annie, watching that dragon drama on cable. Even that would be better than this stupid office party with two women drooling over him. One was recently divorced. The other was married. Women!
He turned around and almost fell over Erianne Mitchell. Well, her name was Erianne. Nobody called her that. She was just Erin to Ty and his sister, Annie. He glowered at her.
“It’s not my fault that you’re gorgeous,” she teased. “Mary over there has forgotten her ex-husband in her fever to get you into a dark room. And Henrietta—” she nodded toward a gan- gly woman with wild dark hair who was sighing into her drink as she studied him over it “—hasn’t given her husband a thought all night. Just as well,” she added under her breath, “because he’s running around with the Tarver woman.”
“What are you, the town crier?” he chided.
“It’s a nasty job, but somebody has to do it,” she replied with sparkling gray eyes. She laughed and half turned away, her dark hair in an elegant chignon at the back of her neck. “And there’s
Grace. Didn’t you date her last year?”
“Oh, God,” he groaned.
“There, there, she hasn’t noticed you. She’s too busy trying to get Danny Barnes to notice her. He just inherited his grandfather’s ranch over in Comanche Wells.”
“I’ve had my fill of social climbers,” he muttered. He was giving her the once-over with black eyes. “On the other hand, there’s you.”
“Oh, don’t be absurd, I’m not your type,” she murmured, her mind on something else altogether. It was a lie. She’d loved him forever, but Ty couldn’t see her for dust. And why should he? She was plain compared to the women who chased him. He was absolutely gorgeous. He had jet-black hair and black eyes, and light olive skin that made him look even more gorgeous in that spotless white shirt he was wearing with his dinner jacket and slacks. No wonder women drooled over him. Erin had drooled over him for years and hid it so carefully that not even his sister realized it.
“Why not?” he asked, really curious.
“I don’t run around with men.”
He blinked. “You run around with women?”
“I don’t run around period.”
“You’re what, now, twenty-five? You’d better run around with somebody or you’re going to get left behind.”
“You’re thirty-one and you’re already left behind. Besides, I work for you,” she added. “I don’t get involved with people that I work for.”
“We could make an exception,” he pointed out.
She glared at him. “Tyson Regan Mosby,” she said, exasperated. “If you keep this up, I’m calling Annie.”
“God forbid!” he groaned.
“She loves you. She’ll protect you from predatory females.”
“I’ll give you a great job recommendation if you’ll find my sister a husband,” he coaxed.
“Annie doesn’t want to get married yet,” she said. “Any more than you do. And I don’t need a job recommendation unless you have in mind firing me tonight.”
He made a face. “I don’t have enough people as it is. Other San Antonio businesses keep luring our best people away. Even the ones I fire.” He didn’t like firing people, but he sometimes had to. Even though his company was headquartered in San Antonio, people from Jacobsville worked for it. Mosby Construction Company had grown under Ty’s management. He’d taken a little construction company owned by his father and built it into a major contender. He had a degree in architecture. He loved to build things.
He had inherited wealth, he and Annie, and he didn’t really need to work. But he loved his job. And San Antonio was the best place for his company headquarters, although he and Annie still lived in Jacobsville. Ty and Annie were direct descendants of the town’s founder, Big John Jacobs, who’d talked his father-in-law into putting a a railroad through Jacobsville and built it into a cattle shipping center in south Texas back in the nineteenth century.
“Well, isn’t that just like you,” she said, exasperated. “I brought you a brand new human resources manager just last week!”
“He drinks vodka,” he said irritably. “I don’t trust men who drink vodka.”
“How do you know what he drinks?” she asked.
“I asked him.”
“Oh.”
“What are you looking for?” he probed.
“Clarence.”
“Excuse me?”
“Clarence Hodges,” she muttered, peering over a nearby woman’s shoulder. “He’s like my personal devil. I can’t turn around at a party without running into him.”
He didn’t like that, but he hid it. “What does he want?”
She looked up at him with raised eyebrows. “He wants me!”
“Why?”
She really rolled her eyes. “Annie needs to get you a book or something about human relationships.”
He grinned. “I think I can figure those out without self-help diagrams.”
“Can you, now?” she murmured absently, still looking for Clarence.
He’d known her for years. She was as familiar to him as her best friend, his only sibling, Annie. She’d spent weekends with them all through high school and through community college, where Erin got an associate’s degree in business education. She was great at cost estimates, which was her position in the company. She had a brilliant mind for math. She could do most anything on a computer, even rework spreadsheet programs that he used in his construction company. She was his right arm at work, perfectly capable of standing in for him at meetings because she knew the business inside out. Of course, why wouldn’t she, when she’d worked there part-time through high school and full-time during and after college. He trusted her. Well, on a professional basis. He wasn’t keen on thinking about anything more personal. Erin was standoffish. Once, just once, he’d teased her about going dancing with him and she’d mumbled something noncommital and shot out of the room.
He’d never admit it, of course, but it had bruised his ego. Erin wasn’t beautiful. She had pleasant features. Nice mouth, pretty complexion, gorgeous figure, sparkling eyes. But she dressed like an old woman most of the time, and she never seemed to date anyone. He’d wondered why. He’d even asked Annie, but all he got was a blank look and a smile.
He studied Erin while she looked around for the man she dreaded seeing. It wasn’t so much how she looked that made her attractive, he decided finally; it was her personality. She was warm and friendly to most people, outrageously funny around friends, and she loved animals. That last thing was important to him, because he bred and trained purebred German shepherds.
His dogs were like part of the family. They lived inside with him and Annie in their huge inherited mansion in Jacobsville, Texas. The puppies, when he bred them, had their own room and a caretaker who watched over them and kept their living quarters spic and span and odorless. He rarely had more than one litter a year and by a different female each year, from an outside stud male. No interbreeding at all, because it invited birth defects. He loved the pups when they came and had to be persuaded to give them up for adoption. Even so, he actually ran background checks on potential adopters, right down to requiring photographs of their yards and the pup’s living quarters. He was protective.
A recent adopter had taken a leather strap to his puppy when it made a mess on the carpet, and a neighbor had seen and heard what was going on. She’d promptly phoned Annie, who told Ty. He’d gone to the owner’s house that very day, accompanied by police chief Cash Grier and the local vet, Dr. Bentley Rydel, along with a search warrant that would give them access to the dog in question.
To say that the man was shocked was an understatement. He hemmed and hawed and tried to weasel them out of looking at the dog. Cash Grier glared at him. That was all it took.
Most everybody was scared of the town’s police chief, who was nice enough at public gatherings, but hell on lawbreakers of any kind. Cash loved animals as much as the vet and Ty.
The owner was forced to give them access to the puppy, which had been locked in a closet with bloody marks on its back.
Ty had slugged the man before his companions could react. He picked the pup up, gently, and after Cash took photos to document the abuse, walked out the door with Bently Rydel, to end up at his office where the poor little morsel was treated and sent home after an antibiotic shot and stitches. Cash had promptly arrested the owner. The pup’s owner went on trial, was convicted and sentenced to jail. Nobody in Jacobsville liked a dog beater. The jury had only deliberated for ten minutes, despite the harried public defender’s best efforts. All the District Attorney, Blake Kemp, had to do was put up a poster-sized photo of the abused puppy for the jury and the audience to see. It had drawn gasps and the pup’s owner had looked around at glares that felt like burns on his skin.
“What’s the matter with you?” Erin asked, glancing at his taut face.
“Puppy beaters,” he muttered.
Her expression softened. “The man got what he deserved. How is Beauregard, by the way?” she added.
He smiled. “He still whimpers in his sleep. I keep him with me at night. Rhodes isn’t enthusiastic about it, but I think he senses that the puppy needs to be spoiled for a few weeks.
Actually,” he added on a chuckle, “it’s Rhodes’s bed that they sleep in, curled up together. For an old dog, Rhodes is amazingly sweet.”
“You’ve had him a long time,” she remarked.
He nodded. “Thirteen years. I worry about him. Big dogs don’t have the life span that smaller ones do.”
“Rhodes is practically immortal,” she replied with a smile. “He’s pampered.”
“I guess so. Dad gave him to me as a Christmas present the year I graduated high school.”
“I remember your parents. They were so sweet,” she added. “Your mother and mine were best friends.”
“Hell of a shame, what happened,” he said stiffly.
She nodded. “It’s a rare thing, to have a tour bus go off the road and crash down a ravine. But those mountain roads in South America can be treacherous. Your parents were so much in love,” she added quietly. “It’s hard to imagine one going on without the other.”
“That’s what Annie and I thought,” he replied. “But it’s damned tough, losing them both at once.”
“I remember. At least you were both grown at the time,” she added softly.
He drew in a breath. “Didn’t help much,” he muttered.
“For what it’s worth, I know how it is. It was hard for Dad and me to go on, after we lost Mom.”
“Your mother had a hard life,” he said.
She sighed. “Yes. Dad’s hard to live with. He’s not mean or anything, he just makes stupid decisions and runs his mouth when he shouldn’t. Jack Dempsey won’t even speak to him.”
“That must hurt. They’re best friends.”
“They were,” she said sadly. “Dad was repeating some gossip that he’d heard about Jack’s wife running around on him. It got exaggerated, by Dad,” she muttered, “and Jack’s wife divorced him. It wasn’t even true. My father has a gift for saying things without thinking first.”
“A lot of people are like that.”
She grimaced. “I wish they’d had more kids than just me,” she confessed, looking up at him. “It would be easier to manage Dad if I had brothers and sisters to share the misery.”
He chuckled. “You do pretty good.”
She shrugged. “I could do better. I’d have to take away his phone though.”
His eyebrows arched.
“This guy called dad and said he could save ten dollars a month if he switched our long distance to their company. Dad said great, let’s do it. So I tried to phone one of our colleagues at home in Dallas last weekend and got told that we didn’t have long distance anymore. It was a scam. Dad had no idea what he’d done. I tried not to yell,” she added on a laugh. “Honestly, he’s like a little kid sometimes. Ten dollars a month.” She shook her head.
“My mother was like that,” he reminded her. “She got a call telling her the sheriff was coming over to arrest her for a bill she hadn’t paid. The man asked for pre-paid gift cards to save her from jail. She was halfway out the door on her way to town when I stopped her to ask what was wrong. Sadly for him, the scammer was still on her phone talking her through the process.”
She grinned. “I’ll bet his ears are still burning, wherever he is.”
“I imagine so. I was really mad.”
“Do you still have that jar your mother made for you? The one you had to put money in for every bad word you used?”
He laughed. “Yes. It doesn’t get fed, but I’ve still got it.” His eyes were sad with the memory. “She wanted to be a missionary, but Dad came along. She’d lived on a budget for so long that she almost ran away when she saw how much he was worth.” That was true. Her father had inherited a lot of money from his late mother, but he squandered it all on get rich quick schemes. He was still doing that, albeit on a very small shoestring. Erin wore herself out trying to save him from himself.
“A unique woman,” Ty continued. “She really didn’t care about money at all.” He studied her quietly. “Sort of like you.”
She sighed. “I like being able to buy food and gas and pay bills. That’s what money’s good for. There are lots of things it won’t buy.”
He nodded.
“Besides that, I work for this terrific manager who gives me raises,” she added with twinkling gray eyes.
“I don’t have to think too hard to do that,” he said. “I know how hard you work.”
“I’m just grateful to have a job. The economy is pretty bad right now.”
“It is,” he agreed. “Even this company has to be careful. You’re working on that bid now, the one we hope will get us the job just outside San Antonio in Bexar County; a whole retirement complex. It’s worth millions.”
“You’ll get it,” she said with supreme confidence. “You really do know how to undercut the other bidders. And I know how to price out almost everything,” she said, not bragging, just making a statement. She was a good cost estimator.
“We can undercut most of the major bidders,” he corrected. “But I’ve heard that one of them is Jason Whitehall. He and his son Josh have one of the best construction companies around south Texas.”
“His son’s a dish,” she mused.
“And how would you know?” he asked.
“I ran into him at that conference you sent me to, in Dallas, month before last. He looks just like his dad. All three of them were there, Jason and Amanda and Josh.” She sighed. “They’re just beginning to get over losing Jason’s mother, Marguerite. She was a lovely lady. So kind.”
“You know a lot about them,” he said.
“Well, one of our clients was trying to retool his public image and Amanda still owns that PR firm, so she was there getting information from him. She’s very nice. We keep in touch on Facebook.”
“Don’t keep in touch too closely,” he cautioned with snapping black eyes. “They’re competitors.”
“As if I’d ever sell you out,” she said, exasperated, as she stared up at him. “Get real! Annie would have me for breakfast, smothered in jelly!”
He relaxed. “Okay. Just testing the waters.”
She ground her teeth together. “Oh, no.”
He followed her irritated glance and saw a short, rotund man with thinning hair and a big smile headed toward them.
“I told you so,” she moaned. “I’ll go hide in the rest room… Ty!”
His arm was around her waist and he smiled down at her shocked expression. “Don’t give the game away. Smile.”
She did, trying hard to disguise the sudden acceleration of her heartbeat as she felt the strength and heat of his powerful body, smelled the spicy, clean scent of him. She’d danced with him at parties, rarely, and it had been just as problematic, to keep her headlong feelings for him from showing.
He felt a shiver go through her and his brows drew together just for an instant. Surely she wasn’t afraid of him?
Then he felt her heart race where her small, firm breasts were pressed close against him, and odd feelings stirred. Her breath was coming too fast. She was trying to disguise it, but he knew more about women than he ever let on in public.
She stiffened and started to pull back, but his arm tightened.
“What are you afraid of?” he asked in a slow, deep tone.
“Noth…nothing,” she faltered.
“Lies,” he mused. “Here.” He handed her his drink. “Liquid courage. Take a sip and we’ll ward off your would-be suitor.”
She took the glass, sniffed it, and made a face. “It’s whiskey. I hate whiskey!”
“Take a sip. It works better than it smells. Trust me.”
She took a deep breath, held it, and forced about a teaspoon of the vile-smelling liquid into her mouth. She choked it down, catching her breath.
“You could fuel trucks with this,” she muttered as she handed it back.
“This is the very finest aged Scotch whiskey,” he defended. “And now I’ll know not to share my most precious substance with those same people you don’t cast pearls before!”
She glared at him. “I am not a swine!”
“No, you aren’t,” he agreed. He cocked his head and his black eyes twinkled. “But I’ll bet you taste almost as good as a barbequed one,” he added in a slow, soft tone as his eyes fell to her pretty, soft mouth.
She actually gasped and her heart ran wild.
“My, my, is that the whiskey or me?” he asked, his eyes dropping to the fluttering of her heart, very visible under the thin bodice of her pale blue cocktail dress.
“Don’t you stare at me like that,” she said indignantly.
“Like what?” he asked, amused.
“Oh, hi, Erin,” Clarence Hodges said as he joined them. He looked crestfallen when he noticed Ty’s arm around her. “I was hoping you might like to talk to me about having your company do a remodeling job on my new house…?”
She forced a smile. “I’m truly sorry, Clarence, but that isn’t the sort of project we do,” she said in a gentle but professional tone. “We do big projects. Shopping centers. Apartments. Housing complexes. That sort of thing.”
“It’s a big house,” he persisted.
“Erin’s right, we don’t do small projects,” Ty told him, and the irritation he was feeling was visible in the tautness of his unsmiling face. “Even if we did, we’re already overbooked. Sorry,” he added. But he didn’t look sorry. He looked oddly threatening.
Clarence swallowed. Hard. His face flushed. “I see. Well…” He smiled hopefully at Erin. “Maybe you might like to come over and have coffee with me one morning?”
Ty’s chin lifted. His black eyes narrowed. He glared at the smaller man.
Erin just smiled.
“Oh, there’s Billy Olstead,” he said, looking past Erin’s shoulder. “I need to talk to him about my mother’s new car. I’ll see you later,” he added to Erin and smiled again, nervously, as he made a beeline toward the newcomer.
“Thanks,” Erin said with a heavy release of breath. “He’s not a bad man, but he can be annoying.”
“Annie says he’s started calling you two or three times a week.”
“He does,” she agreed sadly. “I can’t make him understand that I just don’t feel that way about him. I’ve never done a single thing that he could construe as encouraging.”
“It wouldn’t help,” he replied. “Men like that don’t take hints. They think they’re irresistible and it only needs persistence to wear you down.”
“He’d need more persistence than he’s got,” she said flatly.
He pursed his lips. “You could go out with me.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
He shrugged. “You could go out with me. Jacobsville is small. It would get all around town in no time that we were dating. Clarence would hear it from everybody.” He chuckled. “Even Clarence wouldn’t be able to convince himself that he’d be any competition for me.”
“Well, yes, but…”
“But, what?” he asked quietly, and he looked down into her eyes until she flushed. Her heart was trying to get out of her chest now.
She couldn’t even find words. It was like having every dream of her life come true unexpectedly, and all at once. She was breathless, giddy. But it was insane to even think of doing it, of going out with him. The gossip would be terrible. It wouldn’t matter that the company where they worked was in San Antonio; too many employees lived in Jacobsville, where Ty and Erin lived. It would be all over town in no time. When he didn’t go out with her a second time, it would be even worse. People would start wondering what was wrong with her.
“I don’t think,” she began.
“Good. Don’t. Thinking is responsible for most of the misery on the planet. We can go dancing. There’s a Latin club up in San Antonio.”
He knew she could do Latin dances. He’d taught her how, for a high school date. How many years ago that seemed now!
“Well…”
Amazing. She was reluctant. He’d never had any woman try to refuse a date with him. It was intriguing, especially considering how fast her heart was going right now. She was attracted to him. Was it new? Or had she always been attracted, but kept it hidden? He wanted to find out.
“Live dangerously. A little gossip never hurt anybody,” he teased.
It did, but he wouldn’t know, not with his spotless reputation. Well, hers was spotless, too. So spotless that she didn’t want to risk staining it, however lightly.
“People will talk. A lot.”
He just smiled. “Your friends won’t care. What your enemies think won’t matter.”
“Yes, but I hate gossip.”
He cocked his head and smiled at her with those black eyes making sensual promises. “There’s a sushi place just down the block from the Latin club,” he said. “They have ebi.”
Ebi was her favorite sushi dish. It was so expensive that she couldn’t work it into her budget. Her father did contribute a little to the family kitty, but never enough. They lived frugally because he was a spendthrift. Ty didn’t know and it would kill her pride to confess it.
She loved sushi, especially ebi. She couldn’t afford it.
“You’re weakening. Think about it. Chilled shrimp with rice. Wasabe and soy sauce and pickled ginger to go on it…”
“Stop! You’re torturing me!”
He chuckled. “I love it, too. Come on. Say yes.”
She drew in a long breath. “Okay,” she blurted out, against her own best interests.
He grinned. “Okay.”
When she got home that night, she could have kicked herself for agreeing.
Her father was watching television. A movie on DVD. They couldn’t afford cable or satellite. The only reason she had a high-end cell phone was that the company provided it for her, along with a company car. These would have been luxuries, even on her good salary.
“I’m home,” she said.
“Hi.” He grinned at her while the commercial was on. “Had fun?”
“It was a business party,” she reminded him.
“Easy enough to have fun and do business. Speaking of business, I saw this commercial on TV about how to invest in the stock market by doing day-trading…”
“No.”
“Now, Erin…”
“No,” she repeated. “We’re still paying off that course you took learning how to sell real estate,” she added pointedly.
He grimaced. “I didn’t know I was a bad salesman until I tried it.”
“Well, trying things is what got us into this financial mess, Dad,” she said, sitting down across from him. “I’m making a good salary. If we live on a budget, we can make it, just. But there’s no extra money. None at all. I can’t work two jobs.”
He studied her with the face of a child. “But it’s only two hundred dollars, this course, I mean.”
“I don’t have two hundred dollars. Not even in savings. That went to the online gambling website you found,” she added, trying not to sound as accusing as she felt.
He grimaced. “I guess I’m not as good a gambler as I thought, either. But, listen, this course,” he began again.
“I can get an apartment of my own and move out,” she said flatly.
He gasped. “Erin, no!”
“I can’t live with the way you spend money, Dad. Either you stop trying to spend it on things we don’t need, or I’m bailing out.” She felt a hundred years old. “I can’t keep bailing you out. We already owe more than I make in a year. I’m just one person.”
“I do help out,” he said stiffly.
“You do odd jobs and you spend what you make as soon as you get it,” she replied.
He flushed. He couldn’t deny that.
“I’ll try to restrain myself. I will.” He smiled. “But the man said that this course is foolproof.”
She ground her teeth together as she got up. “I’m going to bed.”
“If you’d just listen,” he said sadly.
She turned. “I’ve listened since Mom died,” she said. “And every single thing you’ve spent money on has cost us money without returning any. I’m so tired of debt, can’t you understand that? I’m being crushed by the weight of it, worried to death about it, and you just can’t seem to see what it’s doing to me.”
He blinked. He shifted uneasily in his chair. “I’ll do better next time. You’ll see.”
“Next time it had better be your own money that you’re betting,” she replied and toughened her stance. “Or I’m moving out.”
“You’re being unreasonable, Erin,” he retorted. “You don’t love me.”
“I do love you. And you’re the one being unreasonable. Good night.”
She went into her bedroom and closed the door, sick at heart. It was like trying to explain to a child. Her father had always lived in the clouds, but her mother had been able to manage him with supreme ease. Erin couldn’t.
“I’ll spend the rest of my life paying off his bills and then I’ll die,” she thought miserably. “I’ll never get away.”
Which was the one reason she could never let Ty Mosby see how she felt about him. Everybody knew her father kept them poor, but not how catastrophically. Ty would never be sure of her. Was she dating him because she cared for him or because he could pay off their debts.
It was an unrealistic thought, but she was almost panicked at the thought of dating Ty. She’d have to find some way to back out of it, a way that wouldn’t hurt his pride. All her life, her father had been a stone around her neck. Since her mother’s death, it had been much worse.
It would have helped if she had someone to talk to about it, but her only real friend was Annie, and she’d never be able to tell Annie the truth. It would just get back to Ty. Her pride wouldn’t take that.
She wanted that date with all her heart. It was just too risky. She was crazy about him. It might show. There were so many reasons that she didn’t dare let him see what she felt. Her father was the biggest one.
But there was another. Ty wasn’t a marrying man. He kept his liaisons very private, but he’d had relationships in the past. In a small town like this, they wouldn’t be able to hide one.
Erin had a spotless reputation. She wasn’t having it damaged to keep steady company with a man who only wanted one thing from a woman, and it wasn’t love.
So, better not to complicate her life any more than it was already complicated. Which left the problem of her father to solve, if it could be solved. She would never be free of him and his get-rich schemes that never paid off. She’d be in debt until she died.
She put on her gown and crawled gratefully under the covers. She’d think about it tomorrow, she told herself. Tonight, she was going to savor her memory of Ty’s arm around her, his deep voice sensuous as he teased her about going on a date.
It could never happen. But dreaming about it hurt nobody. Especially not Erin.
The prolific author of more than one hundred books, Diana Palmer got her start as a newspaper reporter. A New York Times bestselling author and voted one of the top ten romance writers in America, she has a gift for telling the most sensual tales with charm and humor. Diana lives with her family in Cornelia, Georgia.
