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STORIES FROM
THE HEART
(A Valentine's Day Anthology)
Including the novella:
CHASING RAINBOWS
STORIES FROM THE HEART includes three novellas:
--THE LENDING LIBRARY -a fantasy. Faeries try to fit into the human world when the forest where they make their home is destroyed by a mysterious enemy.
--CHASING RAINBOWS -a contemporary romance. An eccentric aunt, an inventive uncle, a mother who wears poodle skirts, and a brother who wears pearls provide a hilarious backdrop for the courtship of a young woman who yearns for a "normal" family.
--THE GIFT -a historical romance. A man and a woman on opposite sides of the Civil War get a second chance at love after one final battle returns soldiers to their war-torn homes to rebuild their lives.
Excerpt from "Chasing Rainbows"
Hovering at the far end of the bar, Rissa rubbed her arm where That Man's fingers had rested. Dressing as a waitress had seemed like the perfect solution to keep an eye on her brother. Put on a wig and some selected endowments, then circulate through the bar and smile. Unfortunately, because she looked like a waitress, she was expected to act like one also. Except that she didn't know a Black Russian from a Bloody Mary, and her feet hurt. She supposed that her backside would have been black and blue from pinches too if it hadn't been artificially padded.
However, Rissa quickly figured out a simple system. Wine in the tall glasses; hard liquor in the short, squatty ones. Match the color of the umbrellas or what was left of the drink. If she mixed up the orders, she just smiled and apologized profusely. Her system had worked fine.
Until That Man touched her arm.
Rissa couldn't even look into his mesmerizing green eyes without growing dizzy. A dimple appeared briefly in his left cheek as he flashed a smile.
Lowering her gaze was another mistake. His worn-soft bomber jacket and faded-on jeans conveyed a dangerously intimate message. A message her body picked up loud and clear.
Ceiling fans moved languidly, shifting the air but not cooling her heated flesh. Perspiration dampened her palms, her upper lip, the valley between her glued-on, enhanced breasts.
For the first time in her life, Rissa was confronted with the raw sexual power between a man and a woman. It startled and intrigued her; made her want to draw back even as it pulled her under its spell.
The physical impact of someone stumbling against her brought Rissa back to reality--and a commotion by the bar. Rex Foxworth stood alone beside a three-foot-tall cake, his face covered with a stunned expression and clumps of pink frosting.
Where's Ryan? Rissa thought. What happened?
She took a step and her padded breasts slid downward. "Oh, bother and damnation."
The glue must have been loosened by the perspiration generated from close proximity to the tempting stranger. Rissa placed a hand under her sagging bosom and nudged it upward.
The emerald-eyed stranger reappeared, regarding her curiously.
"Are you feeling alright?" the man asked.
Rissa nodded vigorously, which started her bosom sliding once more. She crossed her arms and hugged her waist.
"Are you sure you're not in pain?"
"No!" she whispered as her phony breasts continued their downward slide. If I can just get out of here without the entire bar noticing my escaping body parts.
Rissa edged along the bar. The door seemed miles away, but she could make it. She knew she could.
"Wait!" That Man touched her arm again.
The contact caught Rissa by surprise. As she spun around to face the stranger, her arms dropped their frantic hold across her midsection. She felt a shifting and realized her borrowed bosoms were now at her waist. Horrified, she watched the slow motion descent of her faux breasts as they fell at the stranger's feet.
"I'm sorry," Rissa whispered. She snatched the padding from atop the man's spit-shined shoes and double-timed it out of the Pink Flamingo.
