I'm back from planting my mums and pulling weeds. I hope you are enjoying your Sunday.
Here is an excerpt from CAPE CURSED:
“Who’s Parker Swain? And why does he owe you?” Nancy asked.
“Some local yokel who jumped down my throat for moving,” Bliss rolled her eyes, “his lighthouse. I wanted clams. If there is a curse down here, I hope it’s on him.”
“His lighthouse? A curse?”
“Yes, some legend about the place being cursed.”
“I never heard that before. Sounds ominous.”
Bliss shrugged. “Just some nonsense. Apparently, they call this place Cape Cursed instead of Cape Destiny. He’s related to the people who used to be the lighthouse keepers.” Bliss shut the lid and tossed her unwanted dinner onto the small table. “He’s obsessed with the lighthouse. Probably something psychosexual—a phallic symbol to make up for his own poor excuse for manhood.”
Nancy looked alarmed. “Do you think he’ll pose a problem for the project?”
"You mean like chaining himself to the lighthouse?”
Nancy nodded.
Bliss riffled through the brown bag until she found a small container of coleslaw. “No, he’s just annoying, that’s all.”
Nancy exhaled audibly. “Probably just one of those old history buffs who can’t let go of the past.”
Bliss removed the lid of the coleslaw. “Oh, he’s not old. He’s young. And gorgeous.”
Nancy rose and eyed Bliss. “Gorgeous?” she asked, her voice sounding concerned.
Bliss stuck her fork into the cabbage. “Oh yeah. He’s blond and tanned and muscular. And has brown eyes as deep and yummy as dark chocolate.”
“And you were attracted to him?”
Bliss could feel her watching her as she ate. “Well, any woman with a pulse would be,” she said then swallowed. “That was until he hopped all over me.”
Nancy sat back down. “Good.”
Bliss looked over at her assistant. “Good that he hopped all over me?”
“No, that you’re no longer attracted to him.”
I didn’t say that, Bliss thought.
Nancy pursed her lips and shook her head. “We don’t need another man interfering with the business.”
Bliss saw Jonathan’s cold blue eyes in her mind. How murderous they had become when she’d told him that she was leaving him, leaving the firm, and taking his best employees to launch her own company.
A company that would compete head-to-head with his.
She recalled how red his face had become, like someone had tightened his silk tie and was choking him when she reminded him that he’d never had her sign a no-compete clause. She heard, once again, his threats that she’d be sorry, that he’d ruin her as she left his office. No, she didn’t need any more trouble from handsome men.
“Don’t worry, Nancy,” Bliss said. “I’ve learned my lesson with Jonathan. This company and this project are too important for me to allow anything to mess it up.”
Bliss gazed out at the dark ocean and silently vowed: I’ll never let another man come between me and my career.”
Janice Lane Palko
janicelanepalko@gmail.com
www.thewritinglane.blogspot.com
www.janicelanepalko.com
Other books by Janice::
St. Anne's Day, a romantic comedy
A Shepherd's Song, a Christmas romance
No comments:
Post a Comment