by Peggy Webb
Rob didn't even chuckle. "I'll call you tonight, honey, after you're all tucked in bed."
"Okay. Fine."
She held on to the receiver, waiting for him to say something more. Maybe she was expecting too much. Maybe dealing with her aunt's death had made her want more from life. But shouldn't there be words of comfort and tenderness and longing? Shouldn't there be soft sighs and heavy breathing? Shouldn't there be a mention of love?
"Is there something else, Ann?"
"No. Nothing. 'Bye, Rob."
"Good-bye, Ann. Talk to you later."
She hugged her legs and pressed her cheek on her knees, taking comfort from the sweaty feel of her own skin and the smell of the lotion she'd found in Aunt Gilly's bathroom. Rose. A favorite scent of the Debeau women. It was everywhere—in the potpourri on the marble-topped tables, in the drying petals of the huge bouquets friends had sent for the memorial services. The sweet scent even clung to the velvet drapes, as if cascades of rose petals had been crushed against the heavy fabric.
Suddenly Ann couldn't breathe. Barefoot, she padded onto the front porch. It was more properly called a veranda, spanning the entire front of the white three-story house that overlooked the water and wrapping halfway around the sides. The sun streaked the western sky with magenta and purple, and ceiling fans stirred the humid air, setting the wind chimes a’sway. First her grandmother and then her aunt had collected them from all over the world, tuned chimes whose tinkling music carried across the wide sweep of lawn and down to the dock where a sailboat lay at anchor.
Nostalgic, she touched the star on the chimes she’d sent Aunt Gilly at Christmas, then leaned on the front porch railing and looked out across the water. The bay was spectacular in the setting sun, a scene that was balm to an artist's soul.
She could work here. For the hundredth time in the last few days she wondered what she was going to do about Windchime House. It had belonged to her grandmother, then her aunt Gilly, and now it was hers.
But her life was in New York. Wasn't it?
The sea lapped against the shore, its music as compelling as a siren's song. Ann looked out over the water and thought about swimming naked in the moonlight.
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About Peggy Webb
In a career that spans 26 years, the Mississippi author has written more almost 70 books. Writing as Peggy Webb, she pens romance and the popular Southern Cousins Mystery Series. Writing as Anna Michaels, she pens literary fiction. She has been on the romance bestseller list numerous times and has won many awards, including a Romantic Times Pioneer Award for creating the sub-genre of romantic comedy. Several of her romances have been optioned for film.
The Tender Mercy of Roses, 2011, written as Anna Michaels, is a Delta Magazine Top Five Pick, a Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club Featured Alternate. Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides, called it “astonishing.”
She is excited about bringing her romance classics (originally published as Loveswepts) back to readers as E-books. Touched by Angels and the sequel, A Prince for Jenny, have made Kindle’s bestseller list.
Follow the author on her websites: www.peggywebb.com and www.annamichaels.net and on Facebook as both Peggy Webb and Anna Michaels.
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E-Books from Peggy Webb
Classic Romance (originally published as Loveswept)
Dark Fire
Touched by Angels
A Prince for Jenny, sequel to Touched by Angels
The Edge of Paradise
Duplicity
Where Dolphins Go (optioned for film)
Night of the Dragon (time travel romance)
Christmas in Time ( NEW time travel romance, prequel to Only Yesterday)
E-books Coming Soon
Taming Maggie (the author’s first book, no. 1 on bestseller lists)
Summer Jazz (contemporary romance)
Southern Cousins Mysteries, Peggy Webb
(available in print and e-books)
Elvis and the Dearly Departed
Elvis and the Grateful Dead
Elvis and the Memphis Mambo Murders
Elvis and the Tropical Double Trouble, Coming Oct. 1, 2011
Novels written as Anna Michaels
(available in hardcover and e-book)
The Tender Mercy of Roses ( Gallery, Simon & Schuster, May 17, 2011)
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER ONE, Excerpt from Only Yesterday
About Peggy Webb
