Maggie and the Whiskered Witness
Page 18
"You haven't lost me, Maggie. I'm back. I'm home now."
"Oh, Reese. I'd walk across broken glass for you."
"I know," he said calmly, still in that distant, ethereal way he had, where he retreated inside his loneliness and became a ghostlike figure, far away from any human connection. "You've always been a good friend to me. I appreciate that."
"No," she said. "I'm not your friend."
That reached him like a stab to the chest, and she cried at the sight.
"You're not my friend?" he whispered.
"No. I tried." She was crying, but couldn't stop, and she knew if that blasted paparazzo snapped her picture now he'd get a shot of a red-eyed, messy-haired, rain-soaked woman dripping all over Casablanca's prized oak floors while she fell to pieces. "I tried to be your friend," she said. "To be there for you. To stick by you and just be your buddy. But I can't do it anymore."
"I know," he said, accepting it with grace.
"No!" she said. "You don't. You don't get it. I'm not making any sense."
She shook his arms, and they didn't move at all, and he was a statue in front of her, unreachable.
"Stop it, Reese! I'm trying to tell you I love you. I don't just love you. I'm in love with you. You're my everything. I can lose anything, everything in my life. But not you. I'm not walking away from you. Not ever again."
Then she totally broke down, sobbing like a fool.
And the statue broke then, tears streaming down his face as he let go of that hard control he cloaked himself in for protection, and he pulled her to him, and smothered her with kisses.
"I'm such a wreck," she finally said when she caught her breath. "Look at me falling apart."
"That makes two of us," he said.
For once he didn't look perfect. His face was blotchy from crying, and the tears had made his eyes red and bloodshot, and she completed the picture by reaching up and mussing his immaculate halo of golden hair. "I'll take you," she said. "No matter how much of a mess you are."
"Oh, Maggie!" He pulled her into his arms again. "Oh, my Maggie."
A nasty paparazzo is accused of murder, and Maggie is torn between relief that he's out of her hair—and worry that the police have captured the wrong man.
Find out what happens in Maggie and the Serpentine Script, the next Carita Cove Mystery.
The Carita Cove Mysteries
Maggie McJasper is starting over in a little California beach town. She has a craft shop, a nice circle of friends, and a handsome movie star who keeps flirting with her. Life would be pretty great if she could just stop stumbling over dead bodies….
* * *
Maggie and the Black-Tie Affair
A bored trophy wife. A cynical movie star. One evening to save an innocent girl from prison. None of them will ever be the same after this Black-Tie Affair.
* * *
Maggie and the Inconvenient Corpse
A handsome movie star in her kitchen, and a corpse in the swimming pool. Just your typical Monday morning.
* * *
Maggie and the Mourning Beads
Can Maggie find the real killer when her teenage student threatens to strangle someone with a jet-black necklace... hours before the woman is found dead?
* * *
Maggie and the Empty Noose
When the handsome movie star renting Maggie's house is accused of murder, she's the only one who believes he's innocent. Now all she has to do is prove it.
* * *
Maggie and the Hidden Homicide
Maggie faces her most confusing case yet when she finds a treasured beaded knife–in someone's back! Can she figure out what happened before anyone else ends up dead?
* * *
Maggie and the Whiskered Witness
Maggie's dog-training buddy drops off her German Shepherd for a play date–then disappears. Soon Maggie begins to wonder if her friend could be leading a deadly double life.
* * *
Maggie and the Serpentine Script
A nasty paparazzo is accused of murder, and Maggie is torn between relief that he's out of her hair—and worry that the police have captured the wrong man.
* * *
Maggie and the Rattled Rake
Maggie's friend Nora is charged with trying to murder her younger boy toy husband, and Maggie is sure it's a bum rap. But to clear her friend's name, she's going to have to break a few laws herself….
* * *
And more to come. Click here for the latest booklist.
The Pajaro Bay Mysteries
Welcome to Pajaro Bay, the little California beach town where the cottages are cute, the neighbors are nosy, and it's always possible to find your personal Happily Ever After. The novels can be read in any order, or follow along from the beginning to see how the world develops:
* * *
Honeymoon Cottage
A tiny beach town, a handsome sheriff, and a chance for a fresh start. Sure, there's a serial killer on the loose, but no place is perfect, right?
* * *
Boardwalk Cottage
Hallie thought she'd spend a fun summer at a funky old amusement park. She didn't expect to become the key to solving a kidnapping plot!
* * *
Lighthouse Cottage
Alone at a lighthouse with a handsome, sweet… murderer? Lori had better figure out what he's hiding before they both end up as shark bait.
* * *
Little Fox Cottage
Deliver a dog to its new owner, they said. It'll be easy, they said. They didn't say anything about murder.
* * *
Rum Cake Cottage
Roxy spent 10 years in prison for a crime she didn't commit. Now she's got 72 hours to find the real killer, or she'll lose her daughter forever.
* * *
Songbird Cottage
The abandoned cottage with her grandmother's portrait on the wall is the first clue. Will Robin find the others before it's too late?
* * *
Sunshine Cottage
Witness protection in a small town. If Teresa's cover is blown, she'll lose the best life she's ever known. Oh, and she'll die. That, too.
* * *
Riverstone Cottage
A cynical private investigator—and former secret agent—finds himself in the sweet little village of Pajaro Bay, sipping blackberry tea with a hippie chick who raises goats. But when danger arrives in town, he has to figure out if the killers are after him—or the bohemian artist he's falling in love with.
* * *
And more to come. Click here for the latest booklist.
Barbara Cool Lee writes the kind of books she likes reading: fun and heartwarming romantic mysteries where the good guys treat people with kindness and you can always count on a happy ending.
She lives in a cozy cottage by the sea on the California coast. While she's writing her next book, she's got a loaf of sourdough bread in the oven, a pot of veggie soup on the stove, and the fog is billowing outside the windows.
Be sure to sign up for her newsletter to get all the free short stories and be first to find out when the next book is released.
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