“Do you need anything from your car? Is it locked?”
“No and no.”
“What do you mean? You didn’t lock the car?”
“I never lock the car. Just go. Let’s get it over with it. I’ll have someone come over in the morning and fix the tire. Go.”
He turned and clicked the padlock on the gate without getting off the bike. “Yes, ma’am, but tomorrow is Sunday. Most places will be closed.”
She shrugged in the dark as he steered through the front parking lot. The instant they reached the road they gained speed. The bike glided under a canopy of twinkling holiday lights decorating the streets. A whiff of wind lifted her wig. Damn! She held on to Diego’s waist with one arm while trying to keep the wig from flying off her head with the other. Diego patted her hand. Mina sensed he did it just to annoy her. He must have picked up on her discomfort. Soon they crossed the bridge and were in Newport Beach.
“Okay, you can drop me off just up the hill.” She yelled into his back. She had no idea if he could hear her with that helmet.
“What hill?” He heard her. Good.
“Bayside Condominiums.”
He whistled. “You live there?”
“Your Harley would look right at home in the garage.” She remembered a magazine article about Elizabeth Taylor having a Harley-Davison. She felt pretty sure Ms. Taylor didn’t play with cheap toys. “You can let me off at the gate, thanks.”
He removed his hand from hers, made a sharp turn to the left and stopped the bike with the motor running. “Buona notte,” he said without turning his head.
Jerk. She struggled but got off the shiny machine without too much huffing and puffing. She knew her wig was askew. She pulled it off, tucked it in her pocket, and hurried to the gate. She waved to the old man minding the gate when she walked by. Her hair felt glued to her scalp after all the time spent wearing that wig. One set of the fake eyelashes were stuck shut. She tried to open her eye, but it only fluttered. The guard winked back.
Would you like to purchase Bosom Bodies?
Italian Summer
is the third book of the Mina’s Adventures series.
When they say, “you can’t go home again,” they’re talking about Mina Calvi, twenty-something Italian transplant to California. Still, nursing a broken heart, desperate to discover her place in the world, Mina arrives in the town of her birth in Veneto, Italy. In the decade she’s been gone, the village nestled at the foot of the Dolomites has changed much, yet remained oddly the same. Friends have moved on, family members passed away. Mina feels even more alone in her motherland than in America, and there seem to be too many bizarre deaths for such a tiny, serene village. Then a fresh chance at true love and a welcome bonding with a dear new friend give her hope. But the deadly secrets moldering in the centuries-old cemetery could rip it all from her and leave Mina emptier than before. Will she find herself or lose her heart again? Can Mina survive her Italian Summer?
Why interrupt a good read? Would you like to purchase Italian Summer
Ashes of Autumn
is the fourth book of the Mina’s Adventures series.
On the eve of the final sale of her mother’s business, Italian import Mina Calvi faces a crossroads. The road she dreams of foretells a life of rosy bliss in a quaint Laguna Canyon cottage, sipping cappuccino with her lover, Diego. When a chance detour brings her face to face with the love of her life caught in the wrong place, with the wrong crowd, that road to paradise takes a turn onto a rocky trail dotted by death, betrayal and loneliness. Mina’s friends, old and newly found, rally to keep her safe while she navigates through intense drama and self doubt to finally find redemption.
Ashes of Autumn is possibly the most poignant sequence of Mina and Diego’s intensely obsessive love story.
Books in the Lella York Series
Murder Under the Italian Moon
is the first book of Maria Grazia Swan’s Lella York Series.
When Lella York went vacationing in Italy, she never imagined the mess she'd come home to. Upon her return her best friend, Ruby, is missing, Ruby's husband is dead, and suddenly the police have more questions for Lella than answers...especially one sexy veteran detective whose attentions have Lella's hormones dancing a tarantella. But is his interest in Lella genuine, or does he have a more sinister agenda? Lella is determined to find out. But when she takes it upon herself to find the elusive Ruby, Lella's past and present collide, unearthing more secrets than she could have imagined lay buried in her sleepy town. From Florence, Italy to the sunny coast of California, Lella uncovers a web of lies that will change her life forever...if she can get out of it alive.
Death Under the Venice Moon
is the second book of Maria Grazia Swan’s Lella York Series.
When her lover takes off on a cross-country trip with his ex-wife, Lella York packs her bags and her broken heart and flies to Venice, Italy, where her son Kyle is filming a movie. But Lella's romance hiatus is cut short when the papers name her the femme fatale lover of an iconic Italian actor. And things only get worse when the actor disappears without a trace and Lella's suddenly suspected of his murder. Lella and Kyle criss-cross European borders to escape the rabid Italian paparazzi, but her complications grow when Larry Devin, her misguided lover, shows up in the middle of his own crisis. Mystery turns to tragedy, schemes to disaster, and white lies to outright deceit, as Lella finds herself in a race against time to solve the mystery, reclaim her life, and follow her heart under the glimmer of a Venetian moon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maria Grazia Swan was born in Italy, but this rolling stone has definitely gathered no moss. She’s lived in Belgium, France, Germany, in beautiful Orange County, California where she raised her family, and is currently at home in Phoenix, Arizona—but stay tuned for weekly updates of Where in the World is Maria Grazia Swan?
As a young girl, her vivid imagination predestined her to be a writer. She won her first literary award at the age of fourteen while living in Belgium. As a young woman Maria returned to Italy to design for—ooh-la-la—haute couture. Once in the U.S. and after years of concentrating on family, she tackled real estate. These days her time is devoted to her deepest passions: writing and helping people find happiness.
Maria loves travel, opera, good books, hiking, and intelligent movies (if she can find one, that is). When asked about her idea of a perfect evening, she favors stimulating conversation, tasty Italian food and perfectly chilled Prosecco—but then, who doesn’t?
Maria has written short stories for anthologies, articles for high profile magazines and numerous blogs tackling love and life. Her romantic suspense novels Love Thy Sister, Bosom Bodies, Italian Summer, Ashes of Autumn and Murder Under the Italian Moon are available at Amazon.com. She engaged her editorial and non-fiction skills for Mating Dance: Rituals for singles who weren’t born yesterday.
Website: http://www.mariagraziaswan.com
Contact Maria: [email protected]
—or—touch base with her on Facebook.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Bosom Bodies
About the Author
ading books on Archive.
Love Thy Sister (Mina's Adventures Book 1) Page 22
