Be Mine: Valentine Novellas to Warm The Heart

by Nicole Flockton

  He let go for a moment to shake his hand, “Aahh you bitch. I never took you for a violent cow.” He managed to grab her arm again. She kicked him but with bare feet had little impact and let out another scream.

  “I’ll not go with you. Never. You will go to jail for this.” She screamed at him.

  “Caity…”

  “Harrison…” she screamed his name. She managed to glance around to see Harrison, Kale and her father racing toward them. She jerked her arm again to get out of James’ nasty grip.

  “Fuck you, bitch.” James yelled at her before pushing her to the ground and racing off into the forest. Kale and two other men took after him.

  Caitlynd rolled onto the grass, her skin burned at the impact. Harrison slid to a stop near her and knelt beside her. “Caity, are you hurt? Are you okay?”

  She cried in relief as his arms came around her. “Oh, thank God.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got you. He won’t get far with Kale chasing after him.” Harrison hugged her close to him. A crowd had formed around them including Luana and Elspeth. “Caity, are you alright. Did he hurt you?” He looked her over and saw the red welts on her arm. “Look what that bastard did. Can you stand?” With his arms still around her, he helped her up.

  Her father stood by, tears in his eyes. “Oh Caity, I’m so sorry. He must have followed me.”

  “No Dad, it wasn’t you. It was Louise who told him where I was.”

  “Louise? Are you sure?” Harrison sounded shocked.

  “That’s what James told me. Do you think she’s okay? Could he have hurt her?”

  Loud crude obscenities could be heard and they turned to see two men grappling James back toward them with Kale beside them.

  “Miss Caitlynd, I’d like to ask you a question.” Kale looked at her. “Is there a restraining order against his man to stay away from you?”

  She swallowed and nodded her head. “Yes. A court in Australia ordered it.”

  Kale nodded his head and shrugged. “I’m not sure if that makes a difference, but as far as I’m concerned, this man has broken the law.”

  Caitlynd looked at Harrison. “Yes.”

  Harrison nodded his head. “As I see it this man has two choices to make. He signs the divorce papers to sever the marriage and leave Hawaii immediately, never to return. Or, we beat the crap out of him and throw him into jail on some trumped up charges that will take a lifetime to prove different.”

  James looked at the men and for the first time, Caitlynd saw real fear in his eyes. She moved closer to the man that was her husband. The man that caused her so much pain. “I hate what you did to me. Sign the damn papers James and understand I will never go back with you. Never. You and me are done. Over. In front of all these people as witnesses, you need to agree to sell the house and pay me back every cent you took from me. I don’t care about the business. You’ve already run it to the ground. Agree to these terms, right now and you can go home. Or you face the alternative. I won’t stop them.” She stood her ground. It was easy to be brave with the support of so many around her.

  “No. I will not sign the papers. You can’t make me do anything. I’ve done nothing wrong.” James yelled, trying to yank himself free from the men’s arms.

  “Make no mistake, James. We will make your life hell. Make your choice.” Harrison towered over him.

  James glared pure evil and struggled to get loose. “This is bullshit. You’re threatening me. Let me go. You have no right to treat me this way.”

  Kale moved closer to him. “You clearly don’t understand what your alternative is.”

  “Wait, Kale. Allow me to explain it to him.” Harrison held a hand against his good friend to hold him back. He moved closer to James and tapped him hard against his chest. “Listen, if you want to walk away from here, intact, you will agree to Caitlynd’s terms. Don’t misunderstand my meaning.”

  Caitlynd watched as James winced at each tap that Harrison made against his chest. She felt the anger that raged within Harrison, it palpitated and sparked in the air around them.

  “You give me no choice. I agree, but only because you’ve forced me to it.”

  “You agree to what exactly?” Caitlynd heard the suppressed anger in Harrison’s tone.

  “I will sell the house and repay Caitlynd. I’ll sign the papers.”

  “And…”

  “I promise to never bother her again. Or return to Hawaii.”

  “Done. Kale, can you arrange to transport this man to the local lock-up while I arrange for a copy of the papers be sent through from Australia with the amendments? Once they’ve been properly dealt with, I’ll get your boys to arrange an escort party.”

  “Of course.” Kale agreed.

  “Oh hang-on, there’s one more thing.”

  “Oh, what’s that?”

  “Let him go.”

  “What”

  “Let him go for a second.”

  Kale nodded, looking at Harrison, uncertain at first but he seemed to know instinctively what Harrison was wanting. “Okay.” The two men holding James released him and stepped back slightly. Caitlynd watched on in confusion.

  “I want to do one thing before you disappear from our lives forever.”

  Caitlynd saw the look of fear cross James’ face as Harrison glared at him.

  With a swift action, Harrison pulled his fist and smacked it onto the side of James’ face, knocking him onto the ground. He shook his hand in the air. “Okay boys, take him away.”

  Caitlynd looked on as her ex-husband was bodily dragged away. She moved to Harrison, grabbing his hand kissing it. “Oh my God Harrison, you knocked him out with one punch.”

  He took her into his arms, concern written all over his face. “I’m okay. Thank you.” Relief washed over her.

  “I was coming to find you and when I heard you scream I went ballistic. You scared me half to death.” He placed his hands around her face and kissed her.

  Kale came toward them. “Well, that’s not a bad bit of excitement, but we have a celebration to finish…kalua pig is waiting to be eaten. Let’s eat and drink.” He called out and the group that gathered returned to the festivities.

  “Oh my darling girl, are you okay? That bastard, if I could have done what Harrison here did, I would have punched him too. Thank you my boy. That was well handled.” Frank gave Harrison a pat on his shoulder.

  “Oh dad, I’m okay. Honest.” Caitlynd gave her dad a hug. “I’m sorry for frightening you like that.” She looked at Elspeth and saw the concern cross her face, and gently took her into her arms, hugging her close. “I’m okay, honest. I’m so glad both you and dad are here.”

  “Well, all is well now. Like Kale said, we should get back to the party. Come on Frank, let’s leave these two for the moment and go eat some pork. I have been smelling it for ages and I’m suddenly very hungry.”

  Caitlynd smiled as her father gave her a wink. “Absolutely Elspeth, sounds marvelous and I must admit, I am a little hungry myself.” He took hold of Elspeth’s arm and walked her slowly back to the luau.

  Caitlynd could not help the relief she felt and began to shiver as her legs gave way. “Harrison…” her voice shook.

  “Hey, it’s okay, it’s the adrenaline taking over. You’re okay. Come on let’s get you into the house to rest for a little bit.”

  “I would like to get dressed please?”

  “Yes, of course, but I’m not letting you out of my sight.” He lowered his head to hers. “I’m happiest when I’m right next to you.”

  Her heart melted as tears pooled. “Thank you.” She was surrounded by blue sunshine as his eyes sparkled at her.

  8

  The early morning glow entered the room as they lay entwined. Caitlynd slowly stretched, gently rubbing her stomach. The smile she wore barely scratched the surface of her happiness.

  She heard the soft snore of her husband beside her and she lightly ticked his nose, watching as it twitched. “Good morning my love.”
<
br />   Harrison slowly opened his eyes and moved his lips to her throat, kissing the spot where her heart beat strong. He moved lower and kissed her swollen belly, “good morning little one, I see you’ve woken your mama early again.”

  She let out a soft giggle. “Bubba has been busy playing football into my ribs. I can’t wait to meet it.”

  He leant on one arm and looked at her, his hair ruffled and out of shape but he never looked so handsome and delicious. “Peanut will be here before we know it.” He bent his head and kissed her stomach before planting a kiss on her mouth.

  Caitlynd let out a smooth sigh.

  “I have an idea. How about we head over to our special place today for one last time before bub arrives.” Harrison nuzzled under her chin.

  “Oh, that would be wonderful, considering that’s where this one was conceived.”

  “Hhmmm, possibly. I think we need to make it a tradition for every Valentine’s Day too.”

  “Oh yes, that does sound perfect. Harrison, do you remember me telling you about seeing a fortune teller, Madam Mireille?”

  “Yeah, and she told you to wait for the perfect one to find you.”

  “She came to me during the night, in a purple haze and reminded me. It is you. It has always been you. You are the perfect one.”

  His eyes glowed. “And Madam Mireille was very right and I thank her. You are the perfect one for me too. Being with you makes every morning worth waking for.”

  She let out a contented sigh. There was nothing better than this.

  “Harrison, I love you so much.”

  “And I love you more.”

  About Ruby Rare

  Ruby Rare is a true believer of all things romance, from the tame and adventurous to the raunchy and risqué.

  To a small degree, she likens her life to a modern-day Cinderella, having met her principal man at a young age, a man of impeccable taste, who saved her from evil and whisked her off to a life of happy excitement ever after (slight exaggeration of course) but the man is pretty special in his own way.

  She's an avid reader of all genres, but romance in particular.

  Ruby writes Contemporary Romance Suspense, incorporating her love for travel to fabulous far off places across Australia and around the world, integrating her knowledge derived into her stories.

  Webpage - www.rubyrareauthor.com

  Unbreak My Heart

  Hope Springs Book 1

  Emma Lea

  Setting:

  Australia - uses Australian / UK English spelling.

  Heat rating - three chillies

  About Unbreak My Heart

  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 proves just how not over her he is and maybe, just maybe, she’s not over him yet either.

  Is it time for the two of them to find closure? Or is this a sign that they should try again and maybe finally get their happily ever after?

  1

  Almost Easy - Ward Thomas

  “Please wait until the plane comes to a complete stop before leaving your seat,” the flight attendant said as the plane taxied toward the Melbourne terminal.

  Trina sighed and pressed back into her seat, closing her eyes for a moment to gather the strength to stand. Thirty-four hours, two layovers, too many time zones to count, and she was exhausted. Thankfully she’d already done the customs thing when she landed in Sydney and had to change planes for Melbourne, but there was still another two hours in the car before she could collapse on her bed and slip into the sweet serenity of sleep.

  That was if her mother let her. Knowing Julia Farraday, Trina probably wouldn’t see her bed for another good six hours. The only saving grace was that maybe Julia would be distracted by Trina’s sister, Zoë, and the last-minute wedding preparations. Trina planned to sneak out as soon as the mother of the bride was preoccupied. Was there a word for mothers who were worse bridezillas than the bride?

  That was why she was coming home, although she’d been planning on coming home soon anyway. Her sister’s wedding was as good an excuse as any to make the long-haul flight home even if Trina wasn’t sure she was quite ready to deal with ‘home’ just yet.

  The plane came to a complete stop and the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign dinged off. Trina didn’t move straight away, she wasn’t in any rush to join the crowd of people trying to de-board the plane. Instead, she looked out the window to the tarmac. The summer heat shimmered off the ground as the airline baggage handlers and other support staff did what they had to do to unpack the baggage and get the plane ready for its return journey to Sydney.

  It had been minus four degrees Celsius when Trina boarded the plane in Italy, and she’d dressed accordingly. A day and a half later—which, with the time difference was really three days, despite the entire flying time only being about twenty-two hours (not including layovers), and which Trina still couldn’t get to make any sense in her own head even though she’d been the one to do the trip—and the pilot had helpfully informed them the temperature in Melbourne was in the high thirties. Hopefully Zoë would let her change clothes before they headed toward home.

  Home. Was Hope Springs still home? She didn’t know. There was a time when Trina never even considered leaving the small country town. She honestly thought she would live and die there, but now…she just didn’t know.

  The crowd in the aisle started to move and Trina waited until the plane was nearly empty before she got to her feet and grabbed her on-board luggage from the overhead compartment. She followed the rest of the stragglers off the plane, smiling her thanks to the flight attendants, and hit the tunnel that would take her inside the terminal.

  While she walked, she turned her phone on and waited for it to boot up. A message from her sister popped up on the screen and she groaned.

  Z: Running a little late. Text me when your flight lands and I’ll give you an ETA

  Trina didn’t bother replying straight away. Zoë and her fiancé, Blake, were either there already or not. If not, she would text them from baggage claim.

  Thankfully, the airport air conditioner was turned-up and Trina didn’t feel the need to immediately strip out of her jeans, boots, and long-sleeved silk shirt. She’d ditched the scarf and overcoat when she boarded the plane and now they hung heavily over her arm. Maybe she would head to the ladies’ room first and change before she went to grab her luggage. It always took them a while to put it all on the conveyer belt.

  Instead of heading directly to baggage claim, Trina detoured toward the bathrooms only to run smack bang into a wall of maleness. She bounced off and nearly fell, except a strong arm reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back toward that hard chest once more.

  When she had her feet, she stepped back and looked up to thank the stranger and her breath stalled in her chest.

  No words.

  There were no words even though she’d rehearsed this speech a thousand times or more in preparation for when she saw him again. She wasn’t ready, she was jet-lagged and they were in an airport and…shit. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. She was supposed to run into him in Hope Springs and she was supposed to be looking fabulous and not stinky with international travel funk.

  All the while she was thinking those panicked thoughts, her eyes were cataloguing him. He was the same and yet…different. Nine months wasn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things, but she could tell by the weariness around his eyes and the tightness of his jaw
that he’d changed. Gone was the happy-go-lucky guy she’d fallen in love with and in his place was someone harder.

  He had a touch of scruff on his face, and she remembered intimately how those spiky whiskers felt rasping against her skin. His blonde hair looked brighter, like he’d spent a bit of time in the sun, which would also explain the darkness of his tan. He was leaner, although she wouldn’t call him small. He was built like a brick shithouse, with wide shoulders and thick thighs, he just seemed more muscled now, with less meat to soften the hard lines.

  Trina supposed she looked different too. She hadn’t lost any weight—who can lose weight when they’re living in Europe surrounded by butter and carbs and chocolate? But she knew she’d changed in more subtle ways. She was more mature now, even by her own admission. Looking back at their five-year relationship, Trina knew she was more than half responsible for the way things ended. She’d been immature and so lacking in confidence that she’d expected him to fill up all her empty spaces.

  Now she knew that wasn’t how relationships worked.

  “Tony,” she said, finally finding her voice and able to make the words go. So what if her voice was a little breathy and her eyes were greedily eating him up like they were half-starved?

  “Trina,” he replied, his voice a deep, dark growl that set her blood on fire.

  They stood awkwardly, eyeing each other cautiously, each waiting for the other to say something.

  What the hell were you supposed to say to the guy who broke your heart?

  Holy fucking shit balls.

  Trina.

  Fucking Trina.

  God she looked good.