Excerpt Sunday - Love and Diamonds Anthology

Today, I'm putting in an excerpt from my short story in the Love and Diamonds Anthology. Briefly what the story is about:

Rosalee finds an engagement ring in a pocket at the dry cleaner where she works. The ring looks just like the one she returned after accepting her boyfriend’s proposal three years earlier. She still regrets giving it back to Sam, especially after he broke her heart and left. Unable to resist, she tries on the ring but can’t get it off. She has to find the owner and explain herself. What will she say?

Excerpt:

The box was probably empty. Who would leave an engagement ring in their pocket before sending their suit to the dry-cleaners? Something that valuable. Unlikely.

She needed to know what was in there so she could note it in the lost property book. If it was something worth more than an expensive restaurant meal for two, she was obligated to call the customer straight away. Company policy.

She walked up to the desk and smiled. This wasn’t a crazy nightmare coming back to taunt her, to remind her how she’d messed up her life, no, this was just an ordinary day at work.

The little lid flipped open with a jerk, and she gasped.

It couldn’t be! No! This was a crazy nightmare. She would wake up any minute.

The memories flooded back. Tears pricked her eyes. Her fingers instinctively grasped the small, delicate ring with two diamonds—one large, round diamond in the centre and another tiny one offset to the side, like the big diamond’s child or soul mate.

Soul mate. She’d known a soul mate once. The very man who’d given her this ring.

This ring? Why was her engagement ring in the pocket of a suit? One year to the day after she’d told Sam she wasn’t certain she could marry him, and he’d turned away from her in bitterness?

Sure, she’d been so wrong to choose a ring with him and then when he proposed, to say she wasn’t sure and wanted more time. What guy would take that sitting down? But leave her? Give up on them forever?

The ring was on her finger in a moment. She’d been dreaming of wearing it for months; of taking back the terrible mistake she’d made. Of keeping the very symbol of her love for Samuel.

But it wasn’t to be.

She knew that now and could never go back. But somehow she had to get over the memories so she could move on, find someone else. Or would she run away again? Was she the runaway fiancée who couldn’t put that ring on her finger? Who couldn’t commit?

No, she had to return this ring to the owner. That was her job too. She was the one who did errands, who drove around the town to take back people’s clothes and belongings. A chance to get out of the smelly dry-cleaning room was always welcome, but not today.

It wouldn’t be him, she knew that. Just a crazy coincidence that someone had chosen the same ring and she’d seen it. Odd to happen exactly a year later though.

Maybe this was fate. This was her chance to get over the hurt once and for all. To move on.

She took hold of the ring to pull it off. A little tight. The other lady must be tiny. She was small enough herself. She should have thought of that before she tried it on. A little wriggling would get it loose in a moment.

She wriggled it with her other hand, but it wouldn’t budge.

The anthology can be purchased here: Amazon

Excerpt Sunday: BRENT'S LAW by Ylette Pearson

Blurb:

The cougar inside her purrs at his touch, but is she willing to pay the price for succumbing to temptation?

Thirty-eight-year-old Samantha Owen worked hard to earn the distinction of being the most respected divorce attorney in Sandton, South Africa. Ethical and politically correct conduct ensure she remains at the top of her game and in high demand by rich and influential clients.

When the arrogant and sinfully rich international rugby player, Brent Russell, saunters into Samantha’s office, he evokes flashes of satin sheets and tangled bodies in her mind. But, despite resembling a Greek god and setting her body on fire, he is off-limits. Twelve years younger than her and her client’s soon to be ex-husband, Samantha could be disbarred by just talking to Brent without his attorney present. Besides, Samantha never dates married men—ever.

Used to getting his own way and determined to have her in his bed, Brent embarks on a relentless pursuit of Samantha. Despite Samantha returning his gifts and refusing to consider having dinner with him, he slowly erodes all her objections to an affair between them. Only when he uses his fame to finalise the divorce while Samantha is on her annual leave, does she agree to accompany him for a holiday on his farm at Komatipoort—a decision that could cost her both her reputation and career.

Excerpt:

Samantha Owen stared at the petite blonde woman seated opposite her. The woman sounded sincere enough, but something kept tinkering at the back of her mind. As an attorney, she’d learnt to heed those warnings and now the bells chimed like those on top of the church.

“Amber, are you sure you’ve told me everything? I don’t want any surprises during our meeting this afternoon.”

The blonde woman flicked her Barbie-doll hair over her shoulder and pouted. “I told you. The two-timing scum needs to pay. It’s not as if he can’t afford it, as you well know. He’s just being spiteful.”

Heavens, was she ever so young and arrogant? Samantha suppressed a sigh. Sometimes she wondered if her reputation of always being ethical and fair in divorce cases wasn’t too much of a burden to bear. Clients like Amber Russell would tempt the patience of a saint. Refusing the more than generous settlement offer the other party had made, reeked of spite on her side, not her estranged husband’s.

“Fine, but you know I will withdraw as your attorney if they spring any surprises on us today.”

“Whatever.”

Normally Samantha couldn’t care less about her client’s indifference, but she’d had a long day, with this particular client sauntering in from the streets of Sandton too many times during the past week. Right now, she’d rather be at home, barefoot and cooking for a bunch of students who only wanted their next warm meal from her.

She glanced at her watch. If the attorney for the defendant stayed true to form, he and his client should arrive within the next three minutes. Although Rob Bentley appeared flustered and absentminded, Samantha had quickly learnt that it was all a façade. The attorney had a razor-sharp mind that could sift through the muck in any divorce case to find the core of the dispute. It was always a pleasure to deal with him on the opposing side.

“Let’s move to the conference table, shall we?”

After gathering her documents, she walked around the large mahogany desk towards the round wooden table in the corner. She’d purposely placed the conference table far from the wall-to-wall windows so the view over the city couldn’t distract them. She chose the chairs facing the window for herself and her client, leaving her opponents looking at a painting of two wolves at loggerheads.

A discreet knock sounded on the outer door and Samantha flattened her palms over her tight fitting pencil skirt then buttoned her jacket. With a final glance at her client fiddling with her iPad, she reached for the door.

“Good afternoon, Rob, Mister Russell.”

She shook hands with the attorney and waved him towards the conference table. “Please have a seat.” Then she craned her neck to greet her client’s husband and the bottom dropped out of her stomach. 

Vivid blue eyes stared straight through her and jet-black hair curled over the collar in his neck. The corners of his mouth tilted upwards as the same blue eyes glided like a caress over the length of her body. Like he’d just unwrapped a new present, he took his time inspecting her grey jacket, white silk blouse, pencil skirt, stockings and lastly her two-inch heels. His tongue moistened his lower lip as he focused on the traitorous tips of her breasts jutting through the thin material of her jacket. Under his scrutiny, they puckered to an almost painful hardness.

Who let this man out without a health warning? Dressed in a dark sports jacket, which he filled to the brim, formal black pants that contributed nothing to hide the muscled thighs underneath and a navy shirt without a tie, he epitomised what Samantha thought a Greek god should look like. She wiped her palm on her skirt and swallowed at the sudden dryness in her throat.

When their eyes met, her body tingled and heat suffused her face. The unconcealed want in his gaze clamped her chest in a vice and sent her pulse rocking. Breathe Samantha, this is no time for thirty-eight-year-old attorneys to consider playing cougar. Besides, he is your client’s husband, for heaven’s sake. She forced air into her lungs and her mind cleared a little.

He stuck out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Owen.”

BRENT'S LAW by Ylette Pearson is available from Totally Bound

Excerpt Sunday: Waking up in Vegas

What happens in Vegas…
Waking up to the bright lights of Vegas in an unfamiliar penthouse suite, cocktail waitress Phoenix Montgomery finds she’s covered from head to foot in gold glitter and not alone – aside from the empty bottle of champagne, there’s a mystery man in the shower and a huge sparkly ring on her finger!

Stays in Vegas?
There’s no denying Max Waldburg’s demi-god sex appeal but commitment-phobic Phoenix doesn’t do relationships. Only it seems her new husband (agh!) has other ideas…he’s trying to keep that ring on her finger and his wife firmly back in his bed. The only question on her lips is – why? Or maybe, why not?

* * *

“Since I’m obviously at the disadvantage here, I don’t suppose we could speed this up a little? Like full name, place of birth, age, job description?” The reason why I married a complete stranger?
He eyed her for a long moment and she resisted the urge to squirm. For a mad second she thought he was weighing something up and deciding how much to tell her. God, she hoped he wasn’t a con man. That would be awkward if she was left with the bill for this fancy suite. She didn’t think her life savings would stretch to breakfast, let alone a night in this hotel.
Then he smiled, mouth wide, eyes crinkling, and her heart thundered against her chest. With a smile like that, it was amazing he was still single. Well, single enough to marry her, of course.
Assuming he wasn’t some Mormon with three wives back home. Was bigamy legal here in Nevada?
“Max Waldburg. I was born in a tiny principality in Europe you won’t have heard of, my age is on our marriage contract, and I work for my grandfather on his farm.”
Farm. Napa. Something clicked. “A vineyard. You make wine.”
“I’m a vintner, yes. Five years of studying viticulture, and a whole lot more as an apprentice to my grandfather, and the critics say I’m getting quite good at it.”
He reached for her hand, and this time she didn’t push him away. His touch was more than a caress; it was as if she stood in a rainbow, in a shaft of sunlight on a cold day.
“You’ll love it there. The farmhouse has a wrap-around veranda and a kitchen the size of forever. You can stand at the front door and look out over the entire valley and see nothing but vines and trees. At sunset, it’s truly magical.”
She’d married a poet. That figured. She always managed to attract men with very little grasp on reality.

Waking up in Vegas is available from Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes and All Romance eBooks.