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Betting on Paris Series
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Excerpt
The rest of the day unfolded in blessed peace and quiet. The stray dog she'd temporarily named Dusty, curled up on the porch and went to sleep.
Toward late afternoon, Alana grabbed one of Grandma Essie’s
vinyl shopping bags and took the footpath behind the house to the grocery store.
The path ran parallel to the back boundaries of all the houses on the block and
wound through a small copse of trees, down the hill to the center of town. It
ended at the public parking lot which was situated at the north end of Main
Street.
Alana stopped into the grocery store for dog food then
treated herself to a soft-serve cone dipped in chocolate. The afternoon
temperature had reached eighty degrees and as the sun waned, the air began to
cool, creating a pleasant evening.
She hiked back up the hill, her bag now heavy with five pounds
of dry dog food and assorted cans of wet food. Due to yesterday’s early rain,
she had to step carefully along the wet, slippery earth, making sure to watch
out for loose rocks or exposed tree roots. The last thing she needed was to
trip and fall, scraping her knees and ruining her dress.
As she neared the top of the hill, she heard a man’s deep,
angry voice. It sounded like it came from the backyard next door. Without
warning, a large furry animal—soaking wet—streaked across the path, disappearing
into the brush. Horrified, she gasped. That looked like Dusty! What had
happened to her?
“What on earth is going on?” she said aloud.
The shopping bag landed with a loud thud as she let it drop
to the ground. She slammed her purse on the flat stump of a sawed-off tree. With
a surge of anger spurring her on, Alana charged along the path, her arms
swinging as she searched for the person responsible for spraying water at Dusty
and frightening her. She couldn’t permanently keep Dusty, but even so, the poor
thing had taken up residence on her porch and for now, that gave her a sense of
responsibility toward the sweet canine.
It didn’t take her long to find the culprit. Just beyond the
thick stand of lilac bushes that had initially shielded her view, a man stood at
the edge of the adjacent property with his back to her, watering a young apple
tree with a garden hose. This must be Drew Sinclair, the same man her friend Jemma thought so
highly of…
How dare he point that hose at Dusty and chase her off!
Who does he think he is?
Her fists clenched with fury as she stomped toward the tall,
lean man with thick blond hair, clad in a pair of snug-fitting jeans and a
black T-shirt stretched over wide, muscular shoulders. The moment she brushed
past the lilacs, he spun around, showering her with icy cold water. “I
told you to get—”
“What—a-a-a-a-h!” Alana gasped in shock then screamed as the
frigid water deluged her, saturating her from head to toe. “Stop! Turn it off!”
“Where did you—how did you…” Looking totally flummoxed by
her presence, he quickly turned off the sprayer, his deep blue eyes widening as
he tossed the hose away and approached her. “I’m truly sorry, I didn’t mean to
get you all wet! I didn’t realize you were there until it was too late. When I
heard the brush moving, it sounded like that coyote had come back—”
“That was no coyote. That was a homeless dog you were
picking on!” She shivered, chilled to the bone. Clutching her skirt, she shook
the water from it and glared at him, unimpressed with his convenient excuse.
“Look at what you did to me! My dress is soaked, my hair is sopping wet, my
shoes are probably ruined!”
“You’re shivering.” He reached out to warm her upper arms
with his hands, but she jerked away. “You need to get warm. I’ll grab a blanket
for you from my porch—”
“No thanks. I’m going home to change.” She needed a
nice hot bath to warm her up and a glass of wine to calm her down. She turned
to leave, then whirled around, firing one last question at him. “What did you
think you were doing, attacking a poor, defenseless dog?”
“This town has been having major problems with coyotes
lately. Some people have had their pets snatched right out of their yards. My
daughter would be devastated if her cat disappeared.” He held out his palms in frustration.
“I didn’t mean it any harm. I simply wanted to discourage it from coming onto
my property.”
“Well,” she replied acidly, “I think you’ve gotten your
wish. Neither the dog nor I will ever bother you again.”
***
She stood before him, tall and curvy in a dripping flowered sundress
with a tiny waistline and flared skirt. Her long, dark hair, reaching just
below her elbows, glistened with moisture in the late afternoon sun. Everything
about her, from her manicured nails to her beautiful jewelry suggested she was
a woman of fine taste. His younger self would have been attracted to her type
like a magnet, but nowadays, with the pain of Monique’s betrayal still deep in his
heart, Reid stayed far away from classy women like her.
Just the same, he felt like a fool for turning the hose on
her. He should have looked first instead of acting on impulse. Her dress and
shoes were probably ruined. Judging by the incensed look on her face, so was
any chance to make things right. Even so, he had to try.
“I’m sorry about your dress,” he offered with sincerity. “If
you’d like to drop it off at the dry cleaners in town, I’ll pay to have it cleaned
and pressed.”
“That won’t be necessary. The dress is washable. It’ll be
fine. I can’t say the same for my dog, though. She ran away looking terrified.”
Her wide amber eyes flashed in disbelief as she folded her arms. “What did that
poor animal ever do to you? It’s simply trying to survive!”
“Hey, I said I’m sorry,” he said, becoming frustrated. “I
didn’t know it belonged to you. If you care about it so much, why don’t you
take better care of it? It was so skinny and scruffy-looking I thought it was a
coyote.”
She rolled her eyes in annoyance. “She’s a stray, but I’m
feeding her in the hope that her condition will improve. After the way you just
traumatized her, however, I wouldn’t blame the poor pooch if she never comes
back!”
They were getting nowhere. In an attempt to lead the
conversation into more friendly territory, he purposely softened his tone.
“That’s very kind of you to take responsibility for its welfare.” He extended
his hand. “By the way, I’m Reid Sinclair. I didn’t get your name.”
“I didn’t give it.” She ignored his gesture of neighborliness
and instead kept her arms tightly folded. “I’m Alana Morgan, Essie’s granddaughter.
I plan to be in town only a couple of days and I’d like to be able to walk
outdoors without worrying about my dog getting drenched again—or me—so do me
the courtesy of finding something else to use for target practice.”
Target practice? You’re being ridiculous.
“Look, lady,
I wasn’t using the dog for target practice. I told you, I simply wanted to get
her out of my yard—”
With a dismissive wave of her hand, she whirled around and
began walking away before he’d finished talking. Her refusal to listen to
reason made his temper flare. “Well, if you don’t like it then from now on maybe
you should keep your dog in your own yard!”
The instant the retort left his lips he regretted it. He
hadn’t meant to come across as a bully, and he didn’t know why he’d suddenly
lost his cool with her, but there was no way to take the comment back now. He
stood in silence and watched her walk away, disappointed in himself for
insulting Essie’s granddaughter. He should have tried harder to sympathize with
her reasons for being upset instead of alienating her further. She was the one
person who might believe his theory that Essie had been pushed off her back
steps. That Essie had been murdered.
She said she’d be around for merely a couple of days. Given
their disastrous meeting tonight, he might not get another chance to speak to
her, but if he did, he had to find a way to bring up the subject and tell Alana
Morgan what was on his mind.
Essie deserved that much.
Available on Kindle for 99 cents. Free on Kindle Unlimited.
Betting on Paris!
Four
exciting stories linked by a unifying theme. You’ll want to read each one!
BETTING
ON PARIS SERIES
Sometimes
the best bet is the one you lose…
Four best friends. Four promises.
Each year in
mid-August, the former college roommates meet up on a girls-only trip somewhere
in the world. This year, it’s Paris, the city of museums, art, and romance. One
night during their vacation, the girls engage in a serious talk about the sorry
state of their love lives and collectively decide they are swearing off men.
Instead, each woman is intent on pursuing her life’s goal. Falling in love is
the last thing on her mind!
Find
all the Betting on Paris novellas at Amazon!
Annika by Rose Marie Meuwissen
~*~
6 comments:
Awesome Cover!
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Dee
Oh wow, what an adorably tense meet cute! He certainly stepped in it!
Nice meet
Your covers are beautiful! What a meet/greet!
Five pounds of kibble and cans of wet dog food--and she's only going to be around for a couple of days? How much does this dog eat?
Holly, one must be prepared LOL
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