by Webb, Peggy
She was shivering now with the need to see the words that had sustained her for so many years, but she couldn’t bear to read them in the room she shared with her husband, in view of the bed where they had made sedate, gentle love. With the letters pressed close to her heart, she hurried topside. The moon was out and the water had turned to pewter.
Leaning against the railing, she opened the first letter and began to read: Kat, Even as I write I can feel you lying naked in my arms. I can see the pattern the sun makes on your skin as it comes down through the Spanish moss. Here is my heart, love. Wear it next to yours until I come again. Hunter.
She’d worn the locket over her heart and waited for him, waited seven long years. At first she could track his quest for his father through his letters. Then the letters had stopped.
And when he finally came, it was too late.
She unsnapped the locket and looked at the photograph—Hunter at eighteen, with his untamed black hair blown even wilder by the ride on the ferris wheel, his arm thrown carelessly across her shoulders as if he had no need to hold her closer, as if he knew she would always be his. How they had laughed when they crowded together in the cheap booth at the carnival and posed for the photograph. Then, afterward, in the heated closeness with the tinkling music of the carousel coming through the curtain, they looked at each other and their laughter died.
“Kat,” he whispered with his cheek against hers. “Will you love me forever?’’
“Yes. Forever.”
His kiss set them off on a journey of frantic exploration. A security guard had threatened to call the cops if they didn’t come out.
Slowly Kathleen closed the locket. A breeze from the Atlantic ruffled her hair and cooled her hot cheeks. She carefully refolded the letter and slipped it into her pocket; then, turning, she looked out across the sea. Somewhere in the distance was Africa. And deep in its dark heart was Hunter La Farge.
Below decks, her husband would be glancing at his watch, wondering what was taking her so long and trying to decide whether to start the first course without her. If she didn’t go down soon, he would come up to look for her.
She took one last, longing look across the water, and then she turned her back on the sea and started below to her husband.
The first explosion tilted the deck and knocked her back against the railing. The second spewed fire into the night sky.
“Hunter!” Kathleen screamed.
And then she was sucked into the center of the holocaust.
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Coming spring of 2013 – (Forever Friends, Books 3 & 4), Bringing Up Baxter and Angels on Zebras
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About Peggy Webb
In a career that spans 28 years, the Mississippi author has written 70 books. As Peggy Webb, she writes romance and the hilarious Southern Cousins Mystery Series starring Elvis, the basset hound who thinks he’s the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll reincarnated. She writes literary fiction under the pen names Anna Michaels (for Simon & Schuster) and Elaine Hussey (The Sweetest Hallelujah, MIRA, coming August 2013). This best-selling, critically acclaimed author 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, calls it “astonishing.”
Peggy is a member of Novelists, Inc., International Thriller Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is excited about bringing her romance classics (originally published as Bantam Loveswepts) back to readers as E-books. The award-winning Touched by Angels and A Prince for Jenny, as well as the Donovans of the Delta series, are Kindle Top 100 bestsellers.
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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Other E-Books from Peggy Webb
Classic Romance (originally published as Loveswept)
Dark Fire
Touched by Angels (RT Reviewer’s Choice)
A Prince for Jenny, sequel to Touched by Angels
The Edge of Paradise
Duplicity (Rave review, RT Reviewer’s Choice)
Where Dolphins Go (RT Reviewer’s Choice, women’s fiction, optioned for film)
Night of the Dragon (time travel romance)
Christmas in Time (time travel, prequel to Only Yesterday)
Only Yesterday, (time travel, sequel to Christmas in Time)
Summer Jazz
Taming Maggie (#1 on romance bestseller list)
That Jones Girl (sequel to the Mississippi McGills series)
The Donovans of the Delta Series:
Donovan’s Angel (Paul Donovan’s story)
Sleepless Nights (Tanner Donovan’s story)
Hallie’s Destiny (award winning book, Hallie Donovan’s story)
Any Thursday (Hannah Donovan’s story)
Higher Than Eagles (Jacob Donovan’s story)
The Mississippi McGills Series (spin-off from Donovans of the Delta)
Valley of Fire (Rick McGill’s story)
Until Morning Comes (Jo Beth McGill and Colter Gray Wolf’s story)
Saturday Mornings (Andrew McGill’s story)
Forever Friends series
Can’t Stop Loving You (Book 1, Helen’s story, available now)
Only His Touch (Kat’s story, Book 2, available now)
Bringing Up Baxter (B. J.’s story, Book 3, coming Spring, 2013)
Angels on Zebras (Maxie’s story, Book 4, coming Spring, 2013))
Romantic Suspense, originally published as Bantam Fanfare
Witch Dance
From A Distance
E-books Coming Soon
Only His Touch and Can’t Stop Loving You (Forever Friends series, Books 1 and 2)
Southern Cousins Mysteries, Peggy Webb (available in print and e-books)
Published by Kensington
Elvis and the Dearly Departed, 2008
Elvis and the Grateful Dead, 2009
Elvis and the Memphis Mambo Murders, 2010
Elvis and the Tropical Double Trouble, 2011
Elvis and the Blue Christmas Corpse, 2012
Coming October, 2013
Southern Cousins Companion and Cookbook (digital only)
Jack Loves Callie Tender (prequel to the series, digital only)
Book Six of the Southern Cousins Mysteries
Novels written as Anna Michaels (available in hardcover and e-book)
The Tender Mercy of Roses ( Gallery, Simon & Schuster, May 17, 2011)
The Language of Silence (Gallery, Simon & Schuster, coming summer of 2013)
Novels written as Elaine Hussey
The Sweetest Hallelujah (MIRA, August, 2013)
