Excerpt from PASSION FLOWERS:
FROM CHAPTER ONE
The restaurant host was
a huge Hawaiian man wearing an orange and white flowered shirt. A happy
smile gleamed on his round
face.
"Aloha! Welcome to Mike's. Restaurant or bar?"
Leigh crawled out of her
thoughts and managed to smile back at him. "The locals hang out
in the bar?"
He nodded, indicating an
open flight of stairs leading to the upper deck. She thanked him and
navigated around a large group waiting for dinner. A singer grated out
the lyrics of a corny country song, and laughter swept down the stairs
as she began to climb. Somewhere on the upper deck a guitarist hit his
final lick, and the old wooden building rocked with whistles and
applause. The noise died down, giving way to a Rod Stewart classic,
"Tonight's the Night."
Tonight's the night.
Leigh smiled grimly to
herself. Maybe she'd be lucky. Maybe tonight would be the night she
found her quarry. It would be a great relief, for she was more than
ready to put this time-consuming distraction behind her.
She'd spent the last months
becoming thoroughly disgusted with David Kearney. Searching for
the man and getting frustrated by every dead end, growing angrier and
more appalled that he had been so absent and unfeeling that he had not
been in contact with his own grandmother for years. What decent man
would turn his back on the woman who raised him? Not a man Leigh wanted
to find.
But a promise was a promise.
Carefully, she picked her way along the narrow wooden steps. Glancing
up, she stopped. And stared.
A tall lion of a man in a
faded blue Aloha shirt and khaki shorts blocked the top landing.
Sun-streaked hair too long to be businesslike. Scruffy three-day beard.
All bronzed and hard-muscled, he was impossible to ignore. Especially
if you liked the type. Which she most certainly did not.
The lion was shaking out a
match. A just-lit cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth. Seeing
it, a tremor of distaste rippled through her.
Didn't the restaurant have a no-smoking policy?
Still she couldn't help but
watch as he took a draw on the cigarette. Exhaling, he descended the
stairs, his deep-set blue eyes boring into hers.
Giving him a cool glance,
she climbed purposefully until she realized his territorial position on
the stairwell didn't afford room for them to pass without touching. Too
late, she shrank back, digging her hip into the railing.
He stopped and grinned
lazily at her, his cigarette clamped between even white teeth. Through
a curl of smoke, she caught a glint in his eyes. Of what?
Amusement? Irritation?
She wasn't sure which and
she didn't much care. She was travel-cranky and stressed out--just let
him try to mess with her. It would be a relief to unleash her temper on
a deserving subject.
He took the cigarette from his mouth with an annoyingly graceful swagger.
"I won't bite," he drawled, his whisky-rough voice dripping with deliberate sarcasm.
She shot him her best frosty glare. "More than I need to know."
His expression was impassive, but his eyes flashed in response.
Leigh looked away and took a step
to sidle past. Their hips brushed. Just a feather touch, but she swayed
precariously. He grasped her wrist, steadying her with a strong brown
hand that looked stark against her pale skin. A disturbing sizzle of
electricity jolted up her arm.
Leaning close, his breath
hot at her temple, he purred, "Until I know you better, babe."
Babe?
She jerked her hand away as if she'd been burned and rubbed her wrist.
He chuckled and moved on
down the stairs. A quiet sound at first, his rumbling laughter grew
louder until it chased her all the way up to the second floor.
* * *
COMING IN JANUARY 2009
Published by FIVE STAR
An imprint of the Gale Group
ISBN #978-59414-751-7
Hardcover: $25.95
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