Ella: an Everland Ever After Tale

by Caroline Lee

  “You want Mrs. Mayor to read to you?”

  “Perhaps. You asked if there was anything that this town could offer me, besides the solitude I’m obviously not getting. Well, I suppose that I wouldn’t be adverse to meeting Mrs. Mayor, and working out some sort of arrangement.”

  “Laura did tell me that she thought Mrs. Mayor could use another income…” The doctor sounded as if he didn’t like gossiping. Excellent; Vincenzo didn’t want to hear any more about Everland’s denizens than he had to.

  “Then I’m sure we’ll work something out. Shall I have Gordy arrange a meeting?”

  “Has he met her?”

  “How should I know what he does while I’m practicing? I assume he’s wandering the streets of his new home, wailing and gnashing his teeth because I’m not available to be waited upon.”

  A chuckle from the other chair. “I’ll arrange for Mrs. Mayor to meet with you, Vincenzo. And I’ll take Gordy around to meet your other neighbors.”

  “You’re bound and determined to involve me in this blasted town, aren’t you?”

  “I’m a doctor. I heal people. And I think that becoming part of our community would heal you.”

  “You’re wrong.” Vincenzo’s voice had gone flat, and Rajah hissed in response. “I’m beyond healing, and I’ve made my peace with that. I’d appreciate it if you’d respect my wishes.”

  The other man stood, and Vincenzo heard the sounds of him picking up his bag and moving towards the door. “I can’t say that it’s been a pleasure, Signore Bellini, but it certainly has been an experience. I look forward to my next visit.”

  “Assuming I allow it.”

  “I think you’ll find Wyoming to be a bit… wilder than London or Paris or wherever you’ve been touring. Here, people are nosier, and there’s not a hell of a lot you can do about it. Good afternoon.”

  Long after the door shut behind the other man—the man who Vincenzo was flatly refusing to consider a friend—he sat and petted Rajah, and thought about what he the doctor had said. Why was he here? Why had he decided to stop touring, to leave it all behind him? To settle down? Did he really want solitude, or was settling here a subconscious way of desiring a place in a community? Did he know what he really wanted, now that he was putting that other life behind him? Had he thought about it before, thought about his future?

  He thought about it now, sitting with only the large cat’s company. In the darkness.

  Find out how beastly Vincenzo tames beautiful Mrs. Mayor in

  Beauty: An Everland Ever After Tale

  ACKNLOWEDGEMENTS

  First of all, thank you to all of my fans; readers who enjoy sweet historical western romance crossed with fairy tales! I couldn’t do what I love without your support. I owe a grand debt to my critique partners JA Coffey and Merry Farmer, and my “I wanna be you when I grow up” mentor, Kirsten Osbourne. Thanks are also owed to my editor, the awesome Eve Hart of Hart’s Romance Pulse, and to my Cohort. If you’re on Facebook, and you adore the Everland tales enough to want to help brainstorm the next one and promote the current one, drop me a line about joining Caroline’s Cohort. The more, the merrier!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Caroline Lee is what George R.R. Martin once described as a "gardener author"; she delights in “planting” lovable characters in interesting situations, and allowing them to “grow” their own stories. Often they draw the story along to completely unexpected--and wonderful!--places. She considers a story a success if she can re-read it and sigh dreamily... and she wishes the same for you.

  A love of historical romance prompted Caroline to pursue her degrees in social history; her Master's Degree is in Comparative World History, which is the study of themes across history (for instance, 'domestication of animals throughout the world,' or 'childhood through history'). Her theme? You guessed it: Marriage throughout world history. Her favorite focus was periods of history that brought two disparate peoples together to marry, like marriage in the Levant during the Kingdom of Jerusalem, or marriage between convicts in colonial New South Wales. She hopes that she's able to bring this love of history-- and this history of love-- to her novels.

  Each one of the books in her Sweet Cheyenne Quartet has reached the Best-Sellers list on Amazon, and all are available in e-book and paperback formats.

  Caroline is living her own little Happily Ever After with her husband and sons in North Carolina.

  You can find her at www.CarolineLeeRomance.com.