“I can’t believe you’re even suggesting this. We’re spread too thin as is,” a third voice chimed in.
This came from Katherine, or Kate, as she preferred. Third-born, just two years older than Grace. Together, they owned Romantique, a neo-Mediterranean restaurant located in an upscale strip mall on West Charleston Boulevard. Kate, an accomplished chef, ran the kitchen; Grace handled the marketing and bookkeeping.
Not giving up on the hope of deflecting her sisters’ attention from her impetuous—and obviously premature—announcement, Grace said, “Delicious pastry, Kate. Did Jo make it? Maybe we should promote her to assistant chef. I know you’re finicky about who you let work at your side, but she does have a way with cream cheese.” She spoke so fast a bit of raspberry filling lodged in her throat, causing her to cough.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Alexa scolded, giving Grace a look designed to stop even the most fearless four-year-old in his tracks. “Besides, diversion isn’t going to work. You can’t casually toss out, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m thinking of opening a second restaurant with Charles,’ and not expect us to react.”
Grace knew that. She’d planned to share her idea in full once she’d ironed out the details with Charles, but his call this morning had left her wondering if she’d made a mistake by suggesting they could do business together.
Charles Harmon was an old family friend and Grace’s occasional dinner date. He was also a lawyer and part owner of the Xanadu, a small, shabby off-Strip casino where Grace had hoped to locate her new venture. She’d been in the shower when he’d called and he’d left a message asking her to drop by the casino to discuss her plan. Nothing in his tone could have been construed as ominous or threatening, but a chill had passed through her body as if she’d been dunked in Lake Mead in January.
“If you didn’t want our feedback, why’d you say anything?” Liz asked, filling the electric teakettle with water. Four sisters, four beverages of choice: coffee, tea, cola and whatever strange brew Liz currently favored.
“Because…well, because you know me. I have a bad habit of speaking before I think things through, right?”
Her sisters agreed with a combination of groans and sighs.
Before any could comment, she continued. “Last week, I floated an idea past Charles. Why not remodel the Xanadu’s ridiculous excuse for a coffee shop into a satellite operation of Romantique? Can’t you see it as a hip bar with an exposed kitchen where Kate could really show off her stuff? I even came up with a name for it. Too Romantique.”
Alexa and Liz, who were six and a half and five years older than Grace, respectively, exchanged a look Grace had seen many times.
“It’s a very clever name, Grace,” Alexa said. “But I have to go on record as being against this. I’m not comfortable with you doing business with Charles. There’s something about that man that makes me nervous.”
“Yeah,” Grace said, snickering softly. “We know. That’s why you set him on fire.”
The standing joke for years had been that their father, Kingston, had brought Charles home to meet Alexa, who’d accidentally dropped the cherries jubilee and singed Charles’s beard. Charles had been clean shaven ever since.
“I agree with Alexa,” Liz said, tapping her foot as she waited for the water to boil. “You’re talking major remodeling. That isn’t going to be cheap. Where are you getting the seed money? I know Charles is pretty well-off, but he does have two partners. Are they game for this?”
Leave it to Liz to ask the tough questions. Everything about Liz was functional, from short-sleeved denim blue shirt with a rainbow embroidered just above her name to khaki pants and thick-soled shoes. Her shoulder-length ebony hair was pulled back in a scrunchy.
She poured boiling water over several scoops of some greenish powder resting in the bottom of a juice glass. Grace didn’t bother asking what medicinal properties the concoction contained. Liz went through health fads the way some people did diets.
“Well…” Grace said, stalling. “That particular issue didn’t come up. But since I’m the one who brought the idea to Charles…I thought I’d ask Mom to let me invest the money in my trust fund.”
Alexa groaned. Liz choked on her partially swallowed swill. Kate let out a sound of pure disgust.
“Are you nuts?” they said simultaneously.
Grace felt her cheeks burn. “Like I said, this is just in the chatting-up stage. I tossed the idea on the table last week when Charles took me to dinner. His call this morning is the first I’ve heard back from him. Didn’t MaryAnn tell us he was wrapped up in some pro bono insurance claim business?”
MaryAnn Parlier, their cousin Gregor’s wife, had been Charles’s personal secretary for just over a year. Gregor, who was Liz’s age, was the girls’ paternal uncle’s son. In addition to being part of the family, Gregor and MaryAnn were also neighbors, living just two houses down from Yetta.
Liz blew out a sigh and turned to the sink to rinse out the green residue in her glass. “I can’t vouch for the pro bono aspect of his business, but I know we’ve been seeing a lot of referrals from Charles’s group lately at DesertWay Medical.” She’d joined the staff at DWM after her ten-month sojourn in India. “But you’re trying to change the subject again and it’s not going to work. You know what Dad had in mind when he set up the trust accounts.”
Grace knew. A wedding. As old-fashioned as it sounded, Kingston had always referred to the four trusts he and Yetta had established for their daughters as “dowries.”
“Well, none of you used your trust money for that purpose. Why should I?”
Alexa’s money had been earmarked for a wedding until her plans fell apart at the last minute. Instead, she’d drawn from the fund to buy a house and set up The Dancing Hippo Day Care and Preschool. Liz’s nest egg had paid for grad school, several trips abroad and the down payment on her house. Kate’s money had been invested—and lost—by her scoundrel ex-husband. Only Grace’s trust remained untouched.
“Listen,” she said, trying to sound businesslike, “Mom has final say on how I spend the money since she’s the trustee. I just thought I’d feel you guys out first. You know how distracted she’s been lately.”
“Boy, that’s true,” Alexa said. “I wonder how much of that has to do with our new guest.”
“Yeah,” Kate said after taking a swig of Coke, which, as usual, she’d tried to disguise by putting it in a coffee mug. “I have to say I’m not wild about some stranger moving next door.”
“Did anybody do an Internet search on him?” Liz asked.
“I did, and nothing came up. Nada. Which is probably a good sign, right? But I still don’t know why I’m the one picking him up,” Grace said, relieved that the focus of conversation had finally shifted away from her obviously unpopular declaration.
They might not approve of her idea, but, at least, she’d managed to keep mum about the weird dreams she’d been having lately. Talk about disturbing. In one, a sinkhole opened up in the street and was slowly swallowing the entire neighborhood. Grace was frantically trying to talk Kate out of her car, which was slipping trunk first, down the hole, when a stranger grabbed Grace from behind and pulled her to safety. She’d awoken, heart pumping and breathless—not because of the catastrophe but because of the stranger. She came from a long line of Gypsy fortune-tellers and she knew one thing: Strangers were never a good omen.
KEEP READING BY PURCHASING FROM THE RETAILER OF YOUR CHOICE: Prince Charming Undercover
About the Author
Past winner of Romantic Times Reviewer's Career Achievement "Series Storyteller of the Year" award, Debra Salonen's 26 titles for Harlequin Publishing sold more than 2.3 million copies, worldwide.
A six-time nominee for RT's Best Superromance of the Year award, Debra took home that honor in 2010.
Channel your inner maverick with dynamic, sexy, take charge heroes and the Montana women who know what they want and make their own rules to get it. Read all the titles in Debra's
Big Sky Mavericks series from Tule Publishing. Satisfy your sweet cravings with the 12-book, six-author Love at the Chocolate Shop series. #whatlovetasteslike
And come join the rendezvous in the Black Hills of South Dakota where Hollywood meets the real wild west. Available on all platforms and coming in print soon.
Don’t miss a single new book in her West Coast HEA series and her Betting On Love series set in Las Vegas. Sign up for Debra’s newsletter and receive a short, sweet romance for FREE: Newsletter.
Reviews:
"Debra Salonen captures readers' attention with multifaceted characters, layered conflict and fast pacing." ~ Pamela Cohen, RomanticTimes Bookclub
"No one writes drama like Debra Salonen." ~ Huntress Reviews
"This novel had everything, family drama, love, a little bit of sexy and a lot of heart."
"...one of the most heartfelt novels I've ever read." ~ Kaitie Campbell
"Debra Salonen pens a bittersweet love story with a fresh storyline and a love that stays with you long after the book is over." ~ Tami Sutton, The Best Reviews
Please keep in touch!
www.debrasalonen.com
[email protected]
Also by Debra Salonen
THE BLACK HILLS RENDEZVOUS series:
BOOK #1: BLACK HILLS BABY - His sperm for a share in her gold mine? What could possibly go wrong?
Hollywood heart-throb Cooper Lindstrom needs money to get his late mother's homicidal bookie off his back. Black Hills postmaster Libby McGannon has a trade in mind: Cooper's sperm in return for a share in her family's gold mine. Both wind up with more than they bargained for.
BOOK 2: BLACK HILLS BILLIONAIRE - What if his $$ isn’t enough to save his first--his only--love?
Success can hide a multitude of secrets, but when Hollywood's "wunderkind" producer/director Shane Reynard agrees to set Cooper Lindstrom's new TV sitcom in the Black Hills he knows he’s risking more than a boatload of money--especially when he meets a girl from his past: Jenna Murphy. A girl who has every reason to hate him.
BOOK 3: BLACK HILLS BAD BOY - Bad to the bone...in his dreams.
Jack Treadwell's plan is simple: hop on his Harley and experience life. The grit. The heat. The passion of the biggest motorcycle rally in the Black Hills. Life can't get any better...until he meets single mom Katherine Robinson.
BOOK #4: BLACK HILLS BACHELOR - A miner and a Hollywood princess? That sort of make-believe only happens in the movies.
Single by choice. That's what Mac McGannon tells himself. With both feet firmly on the ground--or in his family's gold mine beneath terra firma--Mac has no time for the "Hollywood types" that have invaded his hometown of Sentinel Pass. But try telling that to his little daughter who believes Morgana Carlyle is a real life princess sent to be her new mommy.
BOOK #5: BLACK HILLS NATIVE SON - A journey of discovery brings him the son he never knew, and the woman he was meant to love.
Eli Robideaux’s vision quest takes him down a road he never wanted to walk—to the past. His mistakes—even the ones he made for the right reasons—have come back to haunt him. He doesn’t understand why, but stumbling across Char Jones feels like grabbing on to a lifeline that might keep him from falling into the bone-deep despair that had been his father’s ruin.
BOOK #6: BLACK HILLS OUTCAST - Hiding out from life worked just fine…until he met Rachel.
Ask anyone in Sentinel Pass. They’ll confirm: Rufus Miller is an enigma. An outcast. A mystery man content to live and work in his Black Hills cabin with little or no contact with people. Where’d he come from? What’s his story? What’s a Dream House? Those answers are pure speculation...until marketing guru Rachel Grey shows up with plans to make Rufus’s art the next big thing.
BOOK #7: BLACK HILLS WHITE KNIGHT - A white knight? Hardly. His suit is Armani--not armor.
A-list agent William Hughes leaves high drama to his Hollywood A-list friends and clients. There’s only room for one crusader in the family and that role falls to his saintly mother, a doctor who has devoted her life to the children of the world…seeming to forget she has a son of her own. But when asked to fly Daria Fontina and her two daughters to a safe house in the Black Hills, William doesn’t hesitate.
BOOK #8: BLACK HILLS RANCHER - Picking the right twin to be a role model for his daughter should be easy--not dangerous.
A stunt-woman? Cade Garrity’s new short-term tenant risks life and limb for a living? Oh, hell, no. The Black Hills rancher is a single dad with an impressionable young daughter who’s recently expressed an interest in bull riding. But when Jessie Bouchard drops out of the sky into his arms, he realizes he can’t let her go.
BOOK #9: BLACK HILLS STRANGER - He’s no stranger to her. He’s her dream lover and worst nightmare combined.
Jonas Galloway has a lot of nerve asking for help from Remy Bouchard—his high school sweetheart whose heart he broke after a terrible lie destroyed their hopes for a future together. But his seven-year old daughter, Birdie, has disappeared and Remy is the only one he trusts to find her—after all, Remy’s unique abilities saved his life when he was a child.
BOOK #10: BLACK HILLS LEGACY - Nothing like an unconscious doppelgänger to ruin a perfectly good day at the Mystery Spot.
Robyn Craine, new owner of The Mystery Spot, has big plans for the Sentinel Pass tourist attraction, and she gambled her surprise inheritance--a gift from billionaire Harold Hopewell that Robyn’s late mother chose to keep secret--to buy the adjoining piece of property to turn her business into a year-round travel venue. Robyn doesn’t have time to fall for Liam Temple, a handsome actor whose father is ready to go to war over Robyn’s land.
BLACK HILLS RENDEZVOUS, Volume I, Books 1, 2, 3, & 4 Boxed Set
BLACK HILLS RENDEZVOUS, Volume II, Books 5, 6, & 7 Boxed Set
BLACK HILLS RENDEZVOUS, Volume III, Books 8, 9, & 10 Boxed Set
WEST COAST Happily-Ever-After series:
Book I: HER FOREVER COWBOY – What if one summer isn’t enough?
Book II: NEVER SAY NEVER – Some second chances come with big secrets.
Book III: CALEB’S CHRISTMAS WISH- How far would you go for the sake of a child?
Book IV: A BABY AFTER ALL – When divorce is the answer, maybe two people in love need a new question.
Book V: LOVE, AFTER ALL - A match made in heaven? In what universe?
Book VI: THAT COWBOY’S FOREVER FAMILY – Can a woman who’s given up on love help a single dad reconnect with the daughters he thought he’d lost forever?
Book VII: FOREVER AND EVER, BY GEORGE – Even the dog knows the importance of happily-ever-after.
BETTING ON LOVE ~ Even in Vegas, the odds on love aren’t in their favor.
PRINCE CHARMING UNDERCOVER, Book 1
THE DADDY GAMBLE, Book 2
RISKY BABY BUSINESS, Book 3
A MATCH MADE IN VEGAS, Book 4
The Big Sky Mavericks series from Tule Publishing:
MONTANA COWGIRL - "Cowgirl, you can go home--and love--again."
MONTANA COWBOY - "He's nobody's cowboy until his new neighbor rocks his world."
MONTANA DARLING - "Her land. His tent. And this is Montana, where property disputes can lead to a range war...or love."
MONTANA MAVERICK - "A lone wolf PhD rescues a rancher--and gains a life."
MONTANA GIFT - "The system failed him, but she never would."
MONTANA MIRACLE - It takes a Montana village to create a Christmas miracle.
The Love, Montana series from Tule Publishing:
HER HERO TO LOVE - He may be her hero, but who's going to save him?
HER ROGUE TO TAME - He's more than meets the eye--eye candy, that is.
HER REBEL TO KISS - Defying death is all part of the game...until you have something to lose.
* * *
And I’m so pleased to be part of the 6-author, 12-book Love at the Chocolate Shop series from Tule Publishing. These connected books can be read independent of the other, but where’s the fun in
that, right? #whatlovetasteslike
Book 1: MELT MY HEART, COWBOY by C.J. Carmichael
Book 2: A THANKFUL HEART by Melissa McClone
Book 3: MONTANA SECRET SANTA by Debra Salonen
Book 4: THE CHOCOLATE CURE by Roxanne Snopek
Book 5: THE VALENTINE QUEST by Melissa McClone
Book 6: CHARMED BY CHOCOLATE by Steena Holmes
Book 7: THE CHOCOLATE COMEBACK by Roxanne Snopek
Book 8: THE CHOCOLATE TOUCH by Melissa McClone
Book 9: SWEET HOME COWBOY by Marin Thomas
Book 10: SWEET SUMMER’S KISS by Debra Salonen
Book 11: CAPTURED BY CHOCOLATE by Steena Holmes
Book 12: SWEET DREAMS BABY by C.J. Carmichael
For something naughty and wildly irreverent, meet 54-year-old, self-proclaimed "trailer trash" heroine Judy Banger. (Warning: frank sexuality, profanity and outrageousness. Judy is Judy, what can I say?)
Book 1: JUDY UNCENSORED - Too young to throw in the towel, too old to…actually, there’s not much 50-something Judy Banger won’t do when she decides to take control of her love life, her sexuality and her future. Shhh…don’t tell anybody, but being good is highly overrated. Being naughty is much more fun!
Book 2: JUDY DOES CHRISTMAS - Judy Banger’s happily-ever-after faces its first big hurdle: new hubby’s Mother Of All Holiday Parties.
Like you, I love reading romance. Please Celebrate Romance II with me and four other wonderful authors for FREE. Consider this anthology our “thank you” for reading. And please remember to leave a review to help other readers find new authors.
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