That Carrington Magic (CupidKey)

by Karen Rigley

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  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

  EPILOGUE

  Title Page

  THAT CARRINGTON MAGIC

  KAREN E. RIGLEY

  SOUL MATE PUBLISHING

  New York

  Copyright

  THAT CARRINGTON MAGIC

  Copyright©2011

  KAREN E. RIGLEY

  Cover Design by Rae Monet, Inc.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, business establishments, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the priority written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Published in the United States of America by

  Soul Mate Publishing

  P.O. Box 24

  Macedon, New York, 14502

  ISBN-13: 978-1-61935-009-0

  ISBN-10: 1-61935-009-2

  www.SoulMatePublishing.com

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  Dedication

  To my amazing daughter, Erica,

  who is always there for me.

  Acknowledgements

  This first book in the CupidKey series evolved into reality due to the support and enthusiasm of Ann, Bonnie, and Becky, plus Debby Gilbert, my wonderful editor with remarkable editorial instincts. That Carrington Magic is just the beginning as the magic Cupid charm travels on to take aim at unsuspecting hearts across the USA. Next stop—Texas.

  Chapter 1

  “Matchmaking? So I’m a guinea pig to check out your Internet dating questionnaire?” Jami Rhodes rolled her eyes, then stared back at the form on her laptop screen. “Who helped you think of these questions? It reads like a reality dating show.”

  “Really?” Sierra’s gamine face lit with a proud grin, obviously accepting the remark as a compliment. “Ty and I thought of most of them ourselves.”

  “Uh huh.” Jami shook her head. “Maybe a few Cosmo compatibility quizzes thrown in for reference?”

  “Caught me.” Sierra glowed. “Magazines did inspire some, but we researched psychological profiles, other dating sites, and a library of material.”

  Jami’s watched her friend’s enthusiasm and decided just to take the test. Easier than arguing. How could it hurt? But she wouldn’t go down easy.

  “Hmm, let’s see.” Suppressing a grin, Jami tossed back her mane of hair, then read aloud. “For an ideal date, do you prefer: dinner and a show, a Broadway play, a picnic, or a tractor pull?”

  “Tractor pull?” Sierra squealed, trying to see the questionnaire. “Must be a computer glitch.”

  Jami sputtered into laughter.

  “Oh, you!” Sierra punched Jamie’s arm. “You made up the tractor pull.” She pointed a slender finger to scold with mock seriousness. “Stop teasing. Pretend that I’m trying to find your Mr. Right and finish it. Now.”

  “Pretend’s the key word, Sierra. Remember, this is for your eyes only.”

  “Sure. Just a test run.”

  Jami belatedly recalled that evasive tone when a week later Sierra announced a date match. “Date match? No way.” The aroma of baking chocolate chip cookies wafted through her kitchen as she stomped to the refrigerator, jerking it open.

  “He’s the perfect guy for you,” Sierra coaxed, not a touch of shame in her voice.

  “No computer date,” Jami grumbled, raking both hands from her throbbing temples up through her copper-red hair. She knew her nervous habit messed up her long wavy tresses and left funny peaks protruding like horns of hair, but she didn’t care. “You promised it wasn’t for real.”

  “Come on, don’t be mad. It’ll be fun. Maybe you’ll even meet Mr. Right,” Sierra coaxed, sitting at the kitchen table reaching toward the plate of warm cookies in front of her.

  “I can find my own Mr. Right.”

  “Oh, sure. Like your ex-husband Doug? You don’t exactly have a great track record.”

  Thoughts swirling, Jami turned her back on her friend while she poured two frosty glasses of lemonade. If possible, she’d eradicate her ex from her life and erase their whole disastrous marriage. Except for their son. She wouldn’t trade Toby for anything. She carried the lemonades over to the table and handed one glass to Sierra. “I was young and naïve.”

  “You were twenty-one.”

  “Twenty-one is young when you’re as naïve as I was,” Jami defended, hurt by the emotional hit.

  “Sorry.” Looking abashed, Sierra toyed with her glass as she changed tactics. “Please, Jami, the future of CupidKey depends on this publicity campaign. That computer crash and website disaster about ruined us.”

  “I know.” Jami stared down at the ice in her own glass, still fuming about by the below-the-belt remark, so unlike Sierra.

  “Ty and I sank everything we have into our new business. He even convinced his brothers to invest. We need you.”

  “Me? Why?”

  “Without your help, we’re in trouble.” Sierra’s voice wavered.

  “Doubt that.” Jami made the mistake of glancing up at her friend.

  With tears glistening in her eyes, Sierra met her gaze, her lower lip trembling. “You know we tried to save money by not buying a brand new computer set-up and by building our own website. Instead, our ‘economy’ nearly cost us our business.”

  “It was a disaster.” Jami rarely saw her normally sunny friend so downbeat, yet she couldn’t understand why Sierra needed her.

  “Anyway,” Sierra continued, her shoulders drooping. “Now we finally have new computer equipment with a workable website up and functional, but the disaster cost us our original customers.”

  “Rough way to start a business, but how does hooking me up help?”

  “We’re desperate.” Sierra shook a finger at her. “It’s you or nobody.”

  “Huh?”

  “For real. Cooperate for my sake?”

  “A date is the last thing I need right now. I don’t have the time or energy to deal with dating. I have all I can handle between work and Toby. Don’t ask this.”

  “Come on, please?”

  “Get someone else.”

  “We can’t. It’s you.”

  Sighing, Jami stared back at her friend, who had the same green-eyed, pixie appeal at twenty-eight as she’d had when they first met in Mrs. Ryder’s fourth grade class. In fact, the pleading in Sierra’s face had the same effect it always did. How many years had they been there for each other? Then eight years ago, Sierra had securely reinfor
ced their bond of friendship when Jami’s parents were killed in an auto accident. She couldn’t have survived that nightmare ordeal without Sierra. Then again, when Jami’s world had crashed down upon her during her divorce, Sierra had held her up; been her strength, her support, and even made her laugh occasionally.

  “There’s truly no one else. Please, we’re depending on you.”

  “All right, if it’s that important.” Jami caved, though instinct warning her that she should refuse. Yet how she could deny her friend in need? “I guess I can handle one date.”

  “Ah, it’s not quite that simple.” A ruddy blush crept upwards from Sierra’s pointed chin to her ebony hair, her voice rose an octave, and her long tapered fingers tightened around the glass. “It’s a bit more than a date.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s a wonderfully romantic week at Frost Lake Lodge in the Rockies for you and your perfect match,” Sierra recited salesman pitch style.

  “A week?” Jami clinked her glass onto the tabletop, lemonade sloshing out over the rim to drizzle down the sides and pool on the tablecloth.

  “Yes.”

  “Whatever for?” Jami felt certain her friend was weirding out.

  “Our promotion.”

  Sopping up the spill with a napkin, Jami never took her eyes off of Sierra. “I can’t leave Toby for a week.”

  “Ty and I will pay for a babysitter.”

  “You’re kidding.” Jami wadded up the soggy napkin and stomped across the kitchen to toss it in the garbage.

  “Not kidding.”

  “Good babysitters are rare enough. Who’s going to take care of my redheaded rascal that long?”

  A sheepish expression crept over Sierra’s face. “Mrs. Porter?”

  “No way. It would traumatize her to watch my son for two hours a day after school.” Jami stood behind the chair, her hands gripping the oak back. “Remember, Mrs. Porter’s past seventy? A week with Toby would kill the old dear.”

  “Ty and I could take him. Ty’s been talking about starting a family.” Sierra glanced down at the table with embarrassment, as though she’d just admitted to sleeping in leather and handcuffs.

  “Your husband will never want kids if he takes my adorable son for a week.” Jami raked her hands back through her hair. “And what about my shop? Who’ll run Dive-A-Wave?”

  “You close the shop for lunch, don’t you?” Sierra asked as Jami nodded. “And you close nights, weekends, and holidays?”

  “No biggie. Why?”

  “Just close Dive-A-Wave while you’re gone.” Sierra drained the last of her lemonade and sat the glass on the table. “It’s not like you have customers beating down your door, is it?”

  “True.” Never a hardcore businesswoman, Jami still felt uncertain about closing her shop for a week. Shaking her head, she paced back and forth across the checkered kitchen tile. “Is this whole thing necessary? Why not a simple date?”

  “Ah, you remember that ad promotion where CupidKey promised to send a lucky computer-matched couple on a romantic trip?”

  “Yes, a catchy campaign to launch your business.”

  “Exactly. But our computer dating service is so new and then that setback resulted in losing our initial customers to other services.” Sierra shrugged in defeat. “Lost all suitable clients.”

  “Then cancel the promotion.”

  “We can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “There’s a law that if a business offers a prize, it’s legally bound to present that prize.”

  “So give the trip to someone else,” Jami retorted, twisting a lock of hair around her finger as she tried to ignore the desperate note in her friend’s voice.

  “There isn’t anyone else.”

  “Hasn’t anyone applied for a Cupid date since you got your replacement computer set-up?”

  “A biker lady with a nose ring, platinum fuzz, and a full-body tattoo.” Sierra groaned. “I’m sure she’d be a real image-maker for our dating service.”

  “Oh.” Jami’s mouth dropped open.

  “Now you see the problem? We need a marketable couple for our ads.”

  “Hmm, I have always wanted to see the Rocky Mountains.” Thoughts whirling, Jami spun around to face her friend. “I’ve never left Toby overnight. You guys will regret it.” Still, the tantalizing offer felt so tempting. “CupidKey is paying for the whole thing? You know I can’t afford it.”

  “Cupid pays for everything. Ty worked us a deal.”

  “I don’t know.” Jami felt herself wavering.

  Sierra slyly added, “When was the last time someone offered you a free vacation?”

  Or any vacation?

  “It’ll be so peaceful and relaxing. You can drowse in the sun by a crystal blue lake, bird watch, or hike mountain trails. Whatever you want.”

  “I can’t sun. You know I freckle.” Jami slid her hands up her arms, daydreaming of escaping Houston’s wool-blanket-heat to warm sunshine and pristine mountain breezes. She did like the idea of a mountain retreat and she hadn’t had a vacation in years. Besides, if Sierra needed some snapshots, what could it hurt?

  “Please agree. I know you’ll love your Cupid match.”

  “What if I don’t? A week is a long time to put up with a bad date.”

  “Just pretend you enjoy each other for publicity shots.” Sierra’s dark brows peaked higher. “You don’t want to ruin our ad campaign, do you?”

  “Me ruin your campaign?” Jami demanded. “You’re the one who tricked me into filling out that computer date questionnaire. I thought it was a dummy, not a real application. You programmed it into your dating service.”

  “You ought to thank me.” Sierra’s voice rang with sincerity. “CupidKey is designed to select the perfect match. People pay a lot of money for a service like ours, and we’re finding Mr. Right for you free of charge.”

  “I’m supposed to be grateful? I’ll probably hate him.”

  “You won’t. He’s a real hunk.”

  “You know him? Just who did that computer pair me with?”

  “Ty’s brother, Grant.”

  “What? A computer matched me with your brother-in-law? I don’t think so.”

  “It did,” Sierra said in defense. “You have lots in common.”

  “Like what?”

  “Grant is a business consultant and you have a business.” Sierra ticked off the list on her fingers. “He likes kids—you have a kid. He likes to dance—you like to dance.”

  “Three minor things?” Jami slung an arm over her face. “That dating form had a hundred questions.”

  “I’m not through,” Sierra sniffed. “You like to cook—he likes to eat.”

  Jami groaned.

  “You have a scuba and diving shop—he enjoys diving. You enjoy dark chocolate—he enjoys it, too. You’re a woman and he enjoys women. A lot.”

  Jami froze in horror. “A womanizer? You lined me up with a womanizer?”

  Sierra stared wide-eyed at Jami. “Grant isn’t...”

  “No way,” Jami ranted, exasperation surging through her as she cut off Sierra’s protest. “After Toby’s father cheated on me and destroyed our marriage, you know I vowed never to have anything to do with that kind of man again. Ever.”

  “Grant is nothing like Doug. Your ex is a real jerk. But the Carrington brothers just naturally attract females. They’re irresistible.” A cloud-nine expression lit Sierra’s elfin face and her green eyes grew dreamy. “Ty has that same Carrington quality. I still can’t believe he chose me.”

  “Oh, please.” Jami cleared the table and rinsed their lemonade glasses. “If you think I’m going to even consider a man who chases women.”

  “I didn’t say Grant chases women. They chase him.”

  “This is a bad idea.”

  Obviously stricken, Sierra paled. “Please, Jami, you’re my best friend. You have to help me. Our whole business is riding on you.”

  “I can’t,” Jami sputtered, c
ertain she was doomed.

  “It’s a law,” Sierra wailed. “We have to send a couple on the prize trip or face the consequences. What if Ty and I get sent to jail?”

  “Jail?” Feeling like a traitor, Jami stared at her friend’s trembling mouth and teary eyes. How could she refuse? Yes, Sierra had always supported her even when others friends deserted her. Time to repay that friendship despite the reluctance thick in her chest. “Okay. I guess.”

  “You’re the best!” Sierra threw her thin arms around Jami’s neck, hugging tightly. “I can’t ever thank you enough.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “How?” She pulled back to gaze at Jami.

  “No future matchmaking.”

  “I promise.”

  “Toby won’t appreciate me taking a vacation without him,” Jami said, half to herself as she imagined being separated from her dear little boy.

  “It’ll be good for both of you.” Sierra smiled, sunshine breaking through clouds. “The Rockies are a perfect place for romance. You and Grant alone, without Toby.”

  “Toby is part of me.”

  “True, but you must admit the scamp has aborted several budding relationships with men,” Sierra reasoned with uncharacteristic logic.

  “True, he doesn’t appreciate me dating.”

  “See? A trip is perfect. The kid can’t do a thing to sabotage that.”

  “Don’t underestimate my six-year-old darling. He’ll try.” Jami bit her bottom lip, tasting the waxy berry of her lip gloss. She’d never been apart from him a single night. “A week is a very long time.”

  “Cheer up. He’ll stay safe with us here in Houston and you can relax.”

  “I don’t know,” Jami began, wondering if there was another way and determined to check the cost of a child’s round-trip plane ticket to Denver.

  “Don’t back out now,” Sierra pleaded, panic in her voice. “The future of CupidKey depends on you.”

  “Talk about pressure.”

  “You’ll have fun.”