Summer Heat , livre ebook

Uncial Press - A Clarke J.

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

194 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Electra Hamilton is expecting to welcome a lover. What she gets is his annoying, nerdy brother. The man has always made her uncomfortable, always disapproved of her and, frankly, drives her stark-staring crazy. Yet all her friends seem to think he is perfect husband material.Drew Bolinger knows that courting the woman he has secretly loved for years will be his toughest challenge yet. She thinks he's an interfering know-it-all. She also happens to be his brother's best friend. But when the sleepy town of Little Creek becomes a hotbed of intrigue and murder, Drew not only has to fight hard to keep a skeptical Electra safe, but convince her, at the same time, that he is her true hero.

Sujets

Thriller

Informations

Publié par	Uncial Press
Date de parution	10 décembre 2007
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781601740410
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0268€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Summer Heat

By
J. A. Clarke

Uncial Press Aloha, Oregon 2007

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events described herein are productsof the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Anyresemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirelycoincidental.
ISBN 13: 978-1-60174-041-0 ISBN 10: 1-60174-041-7
Copyright © 2002, 2007 by J.A. Clarke
Previously published by Wings ePress., Inc.
Cover design by Judith B. Glad
All rights reserved. Except for use in review, the reproduction or utilization of this work inwhole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known orhereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author or publisher.
Published by Uncial Press, an imprint of GCT, Inc.
Visit us at http://www.uncialpress.com

For Jeanette, critique partner extraordinaire, who "figured it out".
Chapter 1
Samuel's coming!
It was a great day, an outstanding day, one of those perfect days in late May. The sun'swarmth through the windshield of the battered red pickup truck made a mockery of temperaturesthat still dropped below freezing at night. Her chances for becoming mayor looked better thangood for the simple reason no one else seemed to want the job. And on the tape deck, EnriqueIglesias was making love with his music.
Yes, sir, Electra Hamilton thought happily, it's an absolutely divineday. She had the afternoon ahead of her, but best of all, Samuel would be here in just twomore days.
She couldn't wait. The tone of his voice when they had spoken five days ago seemed toindicate he was just as excited as she was. It was, after all, six months since they had last seeneach other. Six months since they had agreed to think about turning a special friendship intosomething more. Plans to get together sooner always seemed to evaporate in the rush of time, butnow it was really going to happen.
She was ready. Had been for a while. A small frown creased her brow. At least, she wasalmost positive she was.
She barely noticed as the truck found another pothole in the gravel road. He had takenher suggestion seriously. She had almost expected him to laugh.
The tempo of the music softened to a tender croon as the singer reminded her what loveshould feel like.
Jittery excitement speared through her belly again--excitement and a dose ofnervousness that brought the hated sensation of nausea. He would be here in two more days. Andher life was in for a major change.
Where would they live? Seattle probably. She could tolerate big city life again.
The music soared. She'd miss the high desert, of course, but they could always comeback for vacations. A six hour drive was nothing.
Her mind churned with possibilities as she took the turn into the driveway a little toofast. The box on the seat next to her started to slide to the floor. She grabbed for it, took her eyesoff the heavily shadowed, familiar driveway for just an instant. And in that split secondsomething registered as being different.
Her reflexes were too slow.
Even as she tramped hard on the brake and felt the truck begin to respond, she knewwith a horrible sense of inevitability it was too late. The truck came to a halt with a gentle bumpand crunch of metal.
Into the near silence, the singer poured out his feelings.
"Shoot!" Electra switched off the ignition and blinked hard at the dark mass in front ofher as she tried to adjust her vision from the brilliance of the sunlit road to the dense shadows ofthe driveway. A movement off to the left resolved itself into the shape of a person. The slam of acar door echoed loudly in the silence. A lean shape moved toward her, paused to examine wherethe two vehicles were joined together, then approached her window.
About to open her door, she hesitated and rolled down the window instead. The shape,dressed in dark gray chinos and a pale blue shirt, came to a halt. A masculine hand rose andcame back into view holding a pair of dark glasses.
"Hello, El. Still at your creative best to irritate the hell out of me, I see."
"Drew!" Electra felt a shiver of cold shock slide down her spine. "What are you doinghere? Where's Samuel?"
"It's good to see you too, El. Sam, as far as I know, is still up north."
"But--"
"Do you think you could back up so I can take a look at the damage?"
"What? Oh, of course." Her hand shook as she turned the key. What was Samuel'sbrother doing here? She hadn't seen Drew in three years. No--almost four. Not since that rainyJune day she and his brother had graduated from college together, ready and more to take onadult life, convinced the world was waiting for them with bated breath.
The pickup lurched and crunched against the vehicle in front of it.
"El." Drew's voice, floating through the window, was calm and too controlled. "Youhave to put the truck in reverse."
"No kidding, Mr. Rocket Scientist," she muttered as she wrestled with the recalcitrantmanual shift. An all too familiar annoyance was starting to burn through her veins. Drew hadalways had the power to inspire all the wrong emotions in her. The shift gave in with anembarrassingly loud grind. With another crunch of metal, the two vehicles separated.
She turned off the ignition again, set the brake and sat looking at the man who crouchedto examine the fender of the sleek, black, expensive Lexus.
Holy cow! What was Drew, of all people, doing parked in her driveway? And why, ohwhy, did she have to plow into him? Literally. The divine day had definitely taken a turn for theworse.
She watched the compact, lean body straighten. His shoulders looked broader than sheremembered, but his hairstyle hadn't changed at all in four years. The dark, almost black strandswere clipped to conservative shortness and fell obediently into place on the head of a Romangladiator. Even the small breeze that played in the branches of the trees didn't dare disturb theperfect preciseness of his grooming.
He turned to study the front of her vehicle. Thick eyebrows drawn together inconcentration crowned dark eyes. His lips, pressed together in a narrow line, triggered a memory,a whisper from nowhere, the words of a friend who had once declared the shape of his mouthwas the mark of a highly sensual man. Drew, she realized with a little start of awareness, wouldbe considered by some to be a handsome man. She had never thought of him quite like thatbefore. His brother's rugged blondness was far more to her taste than the sophisticated dark looksDrew had inherited from his Italian mother's side of the family.
"Hey, El." He stared at her through the windshield. Sunglasses now shielded theexpression in his eyes. "You plan on sitting in there all day? I promise I'll try not to make it toopainful for you."
Heat raced across her face as his words raised a specter of one of the most embarrassingmoments of her life. She struggled with the urge to whip the truck into first gear and stamp onthe accelerator. The vision of Mr. Sophisticated losing his cool and fleeing for his life brought agrin to her face and she took a brief moment to savor the satisfying image.
He pulled the door on the driver's side open with an irritating squeal of unlubricatedhinges "Out you get. I've had a long drive and would like to eat lunch at some point in the nearfuture."
Her mind still on the image of a fleeing Drew, Electra swung her legs around andprepared to exit the pickup. At the last moment, she paused. Damn it! He was on her property.She wasn't a teenager anymore and he had no right to give her orders. Besides which, it occurredto her that if his car was damaged in any way, it was his fault. Any idiot should have better sensethan to park a black car in deep shade in someone else's driveway.
She pulled the hem of her bright red crinkle skirt over her knees, folded her handsprimly in her lap and said with a calmness she didn't feel, "You never answered my question,Drew. What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" He turned to survey his surroundings and took his time doingit. When he faced her again, a slow grin stretched across his features. She mistrusted it instantly."Why, El, I'm on vacation."
"Huh?"
"Vacation. You know. R and R. Holiday. Time--"
"Here? In Little Creek?"
"Couldn't think of a better place to spend three months unwinding."
"Three months?" The unpleasant encounter was turning into a nightmare. Did Samuelknow about this? And if he did, why on earth hadn't he told her?
She stared at Samuel's brother. The sun had crested the top of the trees and light glintedoff the stylish sunglasses that had some designer's name etched on one side. His grin was still inplace. She got the feeling he really was amused--at her expense.
"Where are you staying? The B&B doesn't take people for more than two weeks ata time."
He jerked his perfectly groomed head. "Here."
"What?" Mr. Sophisticated, Electra thought wildly, had lost his tiny mind. Did he thinkthat just because his brother had an invitation, he had one as well? "You can't. I don't haveroom." Her voice spiraled in a nervous squeak.
One dark brow lifted. The grin widened. "It's a delightful thought, but whatever gaveyou that idea, El?"
She scowled at him, tempted to snatch off the sunglasses so she could read hisexpression. "I don't know, Drew. I never was good at riddles. Suppose you tell me what youmean?" The tone of her own voice shocked her. She didn't think she actually disliked Drew. Shejust preferred to avoid him altogether. Most of the time. Something about him made her skinprickle with uncomfortable little shivers. And she always felt like she was being judged andfound wanting.
"I'm staying at the main house."
"Huh?"
"You have cotton balls in your ears today? I said I'm--"
"I heard you. The property management company never notified... Oh, God!" Electrapictured in her mind the very messy top of her small desk. Somewhere in that m