Category Archives: Guest Blogger

Siobhan Muir’s new release, Rope a Falling Star, is inspired by the Real Thing

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ropeafallingstar600I’m very excited to have Siobhan Muir on a Hopeful Romantic today. I met Siobhan in Las Vegas in 2011. Since then she’s moved to one of my favourite parts of the world, Cheyenne Wyoming — true cowboy country, and who could not be inspired by the real thing. Welcome Siobhan! 

 

Thank you so much for having me here today, K.D. I had the great good fortune to meet K.D. in Las Vegas at the Erotic Authors Association event in September 2011. At the time, I was a newbie in this business of writing, but everyone I met was encouraging and friendly, and I made connections I didn’t even know about until much later. K.D. is one such connection.

 

My new release is ROPE A FALLING STAR, book 1 in the Triple Star Ranch series, and is all about Cheyenne Cowboys. I moved to Cheyenne in 2014 and experienced Cheyenne Frontier Days for the first time. It was awesome. The horses and wagons for the parades walked right past my front porch. I sat and drank coffee as the best parts of the parade ambled past.

One of the things Cheyenne does for its emergency preparedness is make pancakes. Three times during the 10 day run of Cheyenne Frontier Days, it feeds pancakes and ham to anyone who wants it in an effort to see if they can feed the city should the infrastructure fall. The funny thing is, Cheyenne has a population of 65,000 during the year, and it swells to 170,000 during Cheyenne Frontier Days. And they feed them all. I think Cheyenne’s in good shape.

Last year I was sitting on the grass of the Cheyenne Depot Plaza eating my pancakes when a cowboy (and there are a lot of them around at that time) limped past me. He probably was in his late twenties, maybe early thirties, but he walked like a man three times his age. I suspect he was a rodeo cowboy, bucked off and beaten by the animals he chose to try to ride, and I suddenly had a storyline and characters just from him walking by.

Here’s the blurb:

Only the best stars fall…

Three time bronc-riding champion Tom Colton’s dream of a fourth title ends when he draws Wooden Nickel, a mean little bronc with more twists than a maze. With his heart no longer in rodeo, he figures it’s time to go home to the Triple Star Ranch, the PTSD therapy ranch he and his dad founded to help others with trauma in their pasts. Tom just wants a little time to nurse his hurts and consider his next move.

Amber Hillcrest started out as a Triple Star client and stayed on as a massage therapist. Her dog Nimbus keeps her PTSD in check, but her heart remains bruised. She knows she’s too old and too broken for love, especially with the son of her boss, but he’s hot enough to fill her fantasies for years to come.

Amber tries to keep it professional between them, but Tom proves too irresistible with his big heart and charm. But someone is sabotaging the Triple Star and the neighboring Fantasy Ranch, and an ex-girlfriend keeps coming around, trying to reconnect with Tom. Tom’s hands are full of problems instead of the luscious massage therapist. But when Amber gets kidnapped, Tom will move heaven and earth to get her back and tell her how he truly feels.

In the course of writing this story, the second story in the series became clear, too. Tom’s father Trip Colton has been single ever since his wife, Tom’s mom, died of cancer when Tom was only three. Trip figured he’s had the love of his life because no other woman has ever captured his attention.

Enter Henry Bright, a country rockstar sensation who walked away from his career and his music deals because he didn’t like the sycophantic politics of it, the money rather than the music being the motivation. Henry is unapologetically gay and returns to Wyoming to get a job as a ranch hand and veterinary assistant on a PTSD ranch next door to his friends the Knights, who own the Fantasy Dude Ranch. And he meets Trip, who’s damn near 35 years older.

But Trip’s not gay, at least not that he’s considered. But when he meets Henry, his heart stirs just like it did with his wife. Best he can tell he might be bisexual because he wants Henry. The problem is, Henry has a hang-up about bisexuals—like many gay and heterosexual people, he believes bisexuals are more likely to cheat because they’re attracted to everyone. This is a limited view, and not correct at all, but the stigma and belief remains in many communities.

But Trip isn’t attracted to anyone except Henry and he must prove that Henry holds his heart no matter his gender. See? All that from one limping cowboy. 🙂

Thanks again for having me here today and here’s an excerpt of ROPE A FALLING STAR.

 

 

Excerpt of Rope a Falling Star

“Tom Colton wants a massage, Nimbus.”

The dog cocked her head at Amber and opened her mouth in a doggy grin. Amber met the grin with a shiver of excitement and amazement. Tom Colton had been her crush ever since she arrived at the ranch as an employee, but she’d kept herself away from him. He was the boss’s son, actually a boss himself, and she didn’t want to do anything unethical.

Some of the panic from her proximity to the fire retreated as she drove her Jeep away from the Fantasy Ranch. She’d often fantasized about getting her hands on Tom, but those fantasies hadn’t involved massages. Many of them had included heavy petting and hot, sweaty sex. She’d never admit it aloud, but she’d wanted to see Tom naked from the moment she’d seen him saunter through the lodge of the Triple Star. Of course, she’d been a guest then receiving her own therapy. But that didn’t stop the daydreams.

“Oh, God, Tom Colton wants a massage.”

She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. Sweet mercy, she’d be touching his sexy body and have to keep it professional.

You could always turn him down.

She moaned. No way in hell would she turn him down. That’d be like looking a gift horse in the mouth. She might lust after him, but she could be professional. I hope. She’d just have to pretend he was any other client seeking physical relief.

An image of his hard cock standing up away from his body and his head thrown back as he released his cum filled her mind.

Oh god, that’s not what I meant.

She pulled into the driveway of the Triple Star and white-knuckled it all the way to the lodge. She had to give him a Cheyenne Cowboys logo 1massage—wanted to, really—but she needed to find her composure first. It wouldn’t be right to drool on her boss’s son while rubbing his shoulders.

Of course, I could drool over his cock instead.

She hadn’t had sex in way too long. She’d need to get out her vibrator and take care of that when she was alone. Maybe she should put the massage off until tomorrow, but it wasn’t late and the next day she was booked from morning till dinner.

I’ll have to do him tonight. Oh, jeez, why did every thought have a sexual innuendo attached to it? She definitely needed some happy time with her electric cock. She threw the Jeep into park and watched Tom’s truck pull up beside her. She needed a little bit of time to prepare her workspace for him, and that would give her time to get her libido under control.

“I can be a professional with Mr. Tom Colton, right, Nimbus?”

Her dog tilted her head in confusion and yipped.

That’s not an encouraging response.

Sighing, Amber opened the door to her truck and held the door long enough for Nimbus to jump out. The mutt sat down at her feet and waited for instructions as Amber took a deep breath. Tom strode around the back end of his truck, looking sexy as hell despite the distinct hitch in his giddy-up. He’s sore, jacked up, and twisted. Oh lord, there were those innuendos again. But she read the pain and tension just in his saunter, and the massage caregiver took over.

“So, how does the schedule look?” Tom pushed his hat back on his head and gave her a tired smile.

“It looks good tonight if you have time. Give me an hour to set up the table and my stones, and I’ll be ready for you.” She returned his smile, trying to ignore her inner trollop batting her eyes and licking her lips. “Would that work for you?”

“Yes, ma’am, that’d be just fine. Should I shower first?”

The fantasy of hot water sluicing off his body and finding every slick bump and valley on his torso filled her mind. She had to swallow hard before she could find her voice and professionalism.

“Y-yes, that would be a good idea.” She nodded and straightened her shirt to hide her blush. Wouldn’t it get dark soon? She really needed the anonymity to hide her traitorous emotions.

“All right. I’ll meet you back here in the lodge in about an hour.” He gave her a smile that made her heart flutter and her pussy spasm.

 


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Buy Rope a Falling Star Here: 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rope-Falling-Star-Triple-Ranch-ebook/dp/B01I07LRBU

Amazon short: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I07LRBU

All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-ropeafallingstar-2065376-149.html

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1124071270

Kobo Books: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/rope-a-falling-star

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/648412

 

 

Tir Dye SiobhanAbout Siobhan:

Siobhan Muir lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with her husband, two daughters, and a vegetarian cat she swears is a shape-shifter, though he’s never shifted when she can see him. When not writing, she can be found looking down a microscope at fossil fox teeth, pursuing her other love, paleontology. An avid reader of science fiction/fantasy, her husband gave her a paranormal romance for Christmas one year, and she was hooked for good.

In previous lives, Siobhan has been an actor at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, a field geologist in the Aleutian Islands, and restored inter-planetary imagery at the USGS. She’s hiked to the top of Mount St. Helens and to the bottom of Meteor Crater.

Siobhan writes kick-ass adventure with hot sex for men and women to enjoy. She believes in happily ever after, redemption, and communication, all of which you will find in her paranormal romance stories.

 

Find Siobhan Here:

Website: http://siobhanmuir.com

Blog: http://siobhanmuir.com/siobhans-blog

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/103103994291883974643/posts

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Official.Siobhan.Muir

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SiobhanMuir

Tsu.co: http://www.tsu.co/SiobhanMuir

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5760938.Siobhan_Muir

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/siobhanmuir35

All Romance: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Siobhan+Muir

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Siobhan-Muir/e/B007CRB2F6/

Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/siobhan-muir

 

OUT NOW! The House of Fox – An adult paranormal comedy by SJ Smith @sjsmithauthor @SinfulPress #paranormal #comedy #smut

Guest Blogger, New Releases, , , , ,

HoFBannerwithslogan

SJ Smith gives us another glimpse into his warped mind with his latest novel. The House of Fox is a crazy paranormal sex-fest that some will love, others will hate, but everyone will remember.

2016-291 eBook The House of Fox 6x9Blurb:

The House of Fox is a paranormal comedy that contains scenes of a sexually explicit nature.

After a drunken night on the town, four friends awake to find themselves in the House of Fox, the ultimate brothel in the universe, where every sordid fantasy becomes reality. But all is not as it seems. The House of Fox harbours many dark secrets, and factions are plotting against one another.

The four newcomers must choose their friends carefully, and take care not to lose their minds on the thrill ride of perversion that will carry them to the ends of the Earth and beyond.

The Great Voyeur in the Sky is watching . . .

Buy links for The House of Fox:

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Fox-SJ-Smith-ebook/dp/B01GF44M0S

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/House-Fox-Sinful-Comedies-Book-ebook/dp/B01GF44M0S

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-house-of-fox-sj-smith/1123824728?ean=9781910908044

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/the-house-of-fox/id1126014781?mt=11

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-house-of-fox

*****

HOF quote 3

Excerpt:

“Um, hello? I’m looking for someone called Pandora?”

“That’d be me,” replied a rasping voice.

“Oh, right. Hi!” He waved, and smiled his most charming smile. “My name is Dylan. Giovanni sent me down here to – um – escape?”

The woman came hobbling into the half-light. She was old – impossibly old – with wrinkles on her wrinkles and snow white hair hanging all the way to the floor. Her eyes, which were radiantly green and untouched by the years that had withered the rest of her body, twinkled with mirth at the expression he must have pulled on seeing her.

“What’s the matter, son? You forget what a real woman looks like?” She leaned her weight on a gnarled walking stick. “I’m ‘fraid to say, the magic that keeps all them girlies looking so damned good out there don’t work none in here. What you see is what you get.”

Was she fishing for compliments? God, women were so hard to understand sometimes. “You look lovely,” he offered, trying to ignore the obvious smell of piss.

“Ha!” Pandora came limping forward, reminding him of one of those crazy old fuckers he sometimes used to encounter in the Post Office. She sniffed the air. “So you’ll be the boy that wants to escape?”

Dylan nodded. “That’s me.” Something about her intense eyes unsettled him and froze him where he stood. He found he was scared of her for reasons he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Holy shit. Things must be a damned sight worse than I thought if you’re the best they’ve got to offer.” She shook her head. “Times call for a lion, and I get given a lamb. I can tell from the way you hold yourself you’re more suited to brushing out stables than carrying the hopes of a nation on your shoulders.”

Dylan stuck out his bottom lip. He didn’t like this mean old lady.

“Well, what’s the matter? Cat got your tongue? Sweet Mary Mother of Joseph, let’s hope you ain’t as dumb as you look, because truth be told you look dumber than a bag of hammers.”

Her insults prickled at his skin. “Are you going to help me or not?” he asked indignantly.

“Help you? Well, that depends entirely on your definition of the word.” She cackled, and grinned toothlessly. “I’m going to send you out of here, just like you’ve been wanting. Whether that’ll be of any help to you remains to be seen. It isn’t an easy journey, and frankly you’ll regret undertaking it after you’ve not gone more than a dozen steps. You’ll soon be wishing you were right back here in the House of Fox, getting that big old cock of yours sucked by all them lackey floozies and hoochies.”

Only now did he realise quite how naked he was. Giovanni’s tuxedo had disappeared, as if blown away by a breeze. He covered his groin with his hands.

Pandora laughed. “No need to hide it, son. I’m a little long in the tooth to be getting offended by the sight of a man’s ding-a-ling.”

Frustration throbbed in Dylan’s temples. This whole experience felt like it was shaping up to be a waste of time. If only he’d stayed in bed this morning. “Can we just get on with it, please?”

“If you’re sure you really want to go through with this, we can get started right away.”

“I’m sure.” Dylan puffed out his chest. He wasn’t afraid. Was he?

Pandora nodded sagely. “Cool beans. Get down on your hands and knees. We’re going to work ourselves a little witchcraft.”

He knelt on the floor and got on all fours as instructed. The old woman squatted down beside him, her knees clicking and creaking. She ran her hand along his back, then reached between his thighs and closed her bony fingers around his cock.

Dylan pulled a face. Could it get much worse than this? Getting wanked off by an old lady in a hovel was seriously not cool.

“We’re going to need a little of your seed, so try and relax.” Pandora stroked his shaft with cold, leathery palms. “Come on big boy, squirt me up a handful.”

Dylan closed his eyes and tried to pretend the rather unpleasant motion at his groin was being caused by the mouth and tongue of that lovely blonde girl from last night rather than the warty, withered hands of a geriatric. He finally got hard, felt the flutters in his balls and gasped as he shot his load.

“Bingo,” Pandora muttered.

HOF quote 4

*****

Author Bio:

SJ Smith is a neurotic recluse who lives in North Wales. It has long been his dream to become a full time filth monger.

Links:

Twitter: @sjsmithauthor

Blog: http://sjsmithrants.blogspot.co.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SJSmithWriter/

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Out Now – Shopping for a CEO’s Fiancée by Julia Kent (@jkentauthor)

Guest Blogger, New Releases, , , ,

SFACEO-high-res-ebook-683x1024Book Blurb:

We skipped right over the whole fiancée thing and went straight from girlfriend to wife.

At least, I think that’s what happened. I woke up after my brother’s Vegas wedding reception with my luscious girlfriend in bed with me. We’re both wearing wedding rings.

So is her coworker, Josh.

And our Vegas chauffeur, Geordi.

Who the hell am I married to?

Unraveling this mystery will be as difficult as figuring out why Amanda and I are having panic attacks over the thought of being husband and wife.

Or, whoever we’re actually married to.

Oh, ^%$#.

It’s true that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, with one exception:

If she’s my wife, we’ll make it work.

If she’s not?

I’ll make it happen.

Get the 9th book in Julia Kent’s New York Times bestselling romantic comedy series as Andrew and Amanda sort out their wild Vegas night…and the rest of their lives.

Buy Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1sBw3IN
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1sgnuDE
Amazon Canada: http://amzn.to/25nt9pC
Amazon Australia: http://bit.ly/1TKfjbz
iBooks: http://apple.co/1X94p1O
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1VKr5pI
BN: http://bit.ly/1rvtVlC
GP: http://bit.ly/1TA3zp4

*****

EXCERPT:

As she makes a small sound of pleasure in the back of her throat, my thumb migrates, the pad resting lightly on the pulse at her collarbone, seeking to feel the sound. Our hips press into each other, my erection painful in these cramped, tight shorts, and all I want to do is free myself, then be caged within her warm, wet madness.

Losing myself in her is the best form of escape.

Her hands slide up and down, one north to the nape of my neck, one south to the curve of my ass, which tightens at the initiation of her touch. Her hand is insistent, demanding, righteous and full of assumptions.

She acts like she has the right to touch me like this.

I like that.

I break the kiss and bend, thighs screaming, hamstrings ready to defect, put one arm under her knees and the other around her back, palm cupping her breast, and she’s in my arms, then on my desk.

And I’m on my knees.

Ignoring the shaking muscles in my legs, which tremble from strain and, perhaps, desire, I part her legs, finding black silk, lace, and nothing but barrier. It’s beautiful, but this will not do.

“Not here!” she gasps, but her voice isn’t firm, the protest half-hearted, as if she needs to check a box on a list of How To Be Professional qualities she should have in the workplace. She’s turned on and ready, the illicit desk sex and my mouth too much to let her mount another argument, her head lolling back as I dive in, pushing aside the piece of cotton and finding my way to give.

Sunlight glints off the wedding ring on my hand as I reach back, my hand resting on her knee.

It’s the last thing I see until she chokes back a cry from her orgasm, her fingers pulling tightly on my hair, and begs me, “Please. In me. Now.” Normally talkative, Amanda loses access to part of the speech center of her brain as we spiral deeper into lust and passion. It’s a tell.

I love this tell.

*****

About the Author:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge, and new adult books that push contemporary boundaries. From billionaires to BBWs to rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every book she writes, but unlike Trevor from Random Acts of Crazy, she has never kissed a chicken. She loves to hear from her readers by email at julia@jkentauthor.com

Social Media Links

Website:  http://www.jkentauthor.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/jkentauthor

Facebook reader group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1581883428728637/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/jkentauthor

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/jkentauthor

Newsletter & Text Signup:  http://www.prosaicpress.com/jkentauthor/contact-us/newsletter-and-text-signup/

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Ashley Lister’s RAVEN & SKULL a Deliciously Diabolical Office Horror

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It’s always a pleasure to have the fabulously versatile Ashley Lister as my guest. Sometimes it’s poetry, sometimes it’s erotica and today it’s something totally different. Today it’s horror. Welcome, Ashley!

 

Ashley Lister Raven and Skull cover image 29 June 13474266_10208485044217586_218274077_nRaven and Skull

By Ashley Lister

Have you ever worked in an office? Good. Then you’ll know what I’m talking about here.

I first started working in an office many years ago when I was back in my twenties. Back then computers were a novelty and fax machines were state of the art technology. Most desks had ashtrays and every telephone was a landline.

A few cynics asked me if I ‘liked’ office work. They used that sneering tone of voice that suggested I would clearly be a few sandwiches short of a picnic basket if I did like such tedium. I always answered, “Well, I’m indoors, getting paid, and I can keep my clothes on, so it’s an improvement over my last job.”

Maddeningly, most people missed the attempt at humour in this response.

But it was office work and, as happens with office work, I got to the stage where I could do the complex administrative stuff without giving it a second thought. Almost as though I was a zombie. Or an automaton. Or some soulless abominable hybrid of human and machine.

I think it was either Alan Carr or Jimmy Carr who said they’d worked in an office where a woman sat behind a desk with a sign that said, “You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps.” Carr explained that this particular sign was more impressive than most because the woman had written it in her own faeces.

And, whilst I’ve always found this joke to be amusing, I think it touches on a real truth.

Office work can drive us crazy. Office work, where the trivial and unimportant becomes obscenely vital to the point of psychosis, can drive us round the bend. It has made me scowl at the sound of a colleague’s laughter. It has made me hide from someone who wanted nothing more than to talk to me. In truth, office work has made me act in ways that can properly be described as horrific.

Which is why I wrote a horror novel based in an office. From personal experience I believe it’s hard to think of a more horrific environment. These are the opening lines from my latest novel, Raven and Skull.

 

 Raven and Skull Excerpt:

‘Tell us about a time you nearly died, Tony.’

Heather’s suggestion was greeted by a barrage of laughter.

There were half a dozen of them sitting around the table – the last souls left in an otherwise empty bar. Drained beer bottles and lipstick-smudged glasses stood between them like abstract monuments to the memories of good times gone. The darkness outside the bar window was fading to the apocalyptic grey of another dawn.

Tony glanced at his five colleagues and flashed an automatic grin. He hadn’t yet drunk enough beer to be light-headed, but he could feel the mood around the table was shifting. The evening had started as an early weekend escape from the offices of Raven and Skull; a two fingered salute to the workplace in the time-honoured tradition of every godforsaken Friday. After a grim week working nine-to-five – a grimmer week than any of them were used to suffering – Geoff’s idea that they should get pissed and have a laugh together had seemed like a stroke of pure genius. But now, whilst the maudlin veil of melancholy felt like it was finally lifting, Tony thought it was revealing something strange, unpleasant and potentially dangerous.

 

Ashley Lister Raven and Skull 29 June13467787_10208484853492818_738797422_o

 

Of course, the employees in this novel only have to contend with the diabolical, the supernatural, and their own dark and twisted desires. As office workers, I’m sure we all know the experience can be far more sinister. If you want to find out more about this story, please check out my blog: http://ashleylisterauthor.blogspot.co.uk/

Or if you want to buy a copy, it’s available from most good bookstores, as well as the usual online retailers: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Raven-Skull-Ashley-Lister/dp/1910720534/ or https://www.amazon.com/Raven-Skull-Ashley-Lister/dp/1910720534/

 

Out Now – Another Glass of Champagne by Jenny Kane (@jennykaneauthor) #romance #newrelease

Guest Blogger, , , , ,

Following on from the bestselling novel, Another Cup of Coffee, and the seasonal Christmas novellas Another Cup of Christmas, Christmas in the Cotswolds, and Christmas at the Castle, Jenny Kane brings you the final instalment in the Pickwicks Coffee House adventures.

Another Glass Of ChampagneBlurb

A warm-hearted, contemporary tale about a group of friends living in a small corner of busy London, by bestselling author Jenny Kane.

Fortysomething Amy is shocked and delighted to discover she s expecting a baby not to mention terrified! Amy wants best friend Jack to be godfather, but he hasn’t been heard from in months. When Jack finally reappears, he s full of good intentions but his new business plan could spell disaster for the beloved Pickwicks Coffee Shop, and ruin a number of old friendships…

Meanwhile his love life is as complicated as ever and yet when he swears off men for good, Jack meets someone who makes him rethink his priorities…but is it too late for a fresh start?

Author Kit has problems of her own: just when her career has started to take off, she finds herself unable to write and there s a deadline looming, plus two headstrong kids to see through their difficult teenage years…will she be able to cope?

A follow-up to the runaway success Another Cup of Coffee.

Buy Link: http://mybook.to/AGOChampagne (universal Amazon link)

*****

Extract

‘My goodness, woman, you look like the proverbial beached whale!’ Amy grinned at the teasing smile on her former boss’s face.

‘Thanks, Peggy. I know I can rely on you to be ready with a huge compliment!’

‘Huge is the word, and you are more than welcome!’ Taking advantage of a lull in custom, Peggy followed Amy to where Kit was working, and pulled out a chair for her friend before sitting down herself. ‘So how long have you got to go now?’

‘Only two months, which is nothing like as long as I need to get ready, or even get my head around what’s happening to me! I have far too much to do before the baby comes, although we’ve almost finished decorating the nursery at last. I haven’t even managed to find anyone to cover my job at Home Hunters yet.’

Amy thanked Megan, Pickwicks’ chief waitress, as she delivered a tray of drinks and half a huge carrot cake for the three friends, before asking Kit, ‘I don’t suppose that lovely husband of yours fancies coming back to the business while I’m on maternity leave?’

Kit shook her head. ‘Not a hope. It did cross my mind after Phil gave up running Home Hunters that he might have withdrawal symptoms and want to go back, but he took to running the bookshop like a duck to water. I can’t see him ever going back. And he wouldn’t have the time, to be honest. Did I tell you that they’re so busy now, he and Rob have employed a guy to help them with their new educational courses at Kew?’

Amy beamed. ‘No, you didn’t. That’s fantastic! I bet Jack would be thrilled for them if he was here.’ Suddenly pensive, she picked up her cup, ‘I don’t suppose either of you have heard from Jack?’

Peggy shook her head as Kit said, ‘Not a word. I thought he’d keep in touch with you though, Amy, even if he went quiet on the rest of us.’

‘Paul says he’ll turn up eventually, but I’d rather like to be able to tell Jack about this bundle,’ Amy patted her stomach, ‘before he or she stops being just a bump in my jumper. I might ask him if he wants to be godfather.’

Kit nodded. ‘Jack is godfather to the twins, and although he’s a dreadful role model on the morals front, both Thomas and Helena have always found him great fun, and say that having a gay godfather is, and I quote, “Well cool”.’

Peggy had never understood the loyalty Jack’s two ex-girlfriends felt for him considering how appallingly he’d treated them both. She certainly wouldn’t want anyone who’d stood her up on her wedding day – albeit only in the role of usher – to be a godparent to her child, but she simply asked, ‘How long has he been AWOL for?’

Amy frowned. ‘It must be more or less four years since I last saw him, and about twelve months since I last spoke to him. It’s not so much being AWOL as missing in action. How about you, Kit?’

Peggy and Amy exchanged glances as they saw Kit staring blankly into her soup bowl-sized cup of black coffee.  ‘Kit? You with us?’

‘What? Oh, sorry, guys. I didn’t get much sleep last night, I phased out for a minute. What was the question?’

Peggy had noticed how distracted Kit had been lately, although instinct told her that she shouldn’t ask her friend about it yet. ‘When did you last hear from Jack, honey?’

‘I’m not sure, must be at least a year. That is very Jack though, isn’t it. I bet he’d get a kick out of the fact that we’re all back here wondering where he is and if he’s OK.’

Amy, who’d had similar thoughts herself, grimaced. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised – although I’d like to think that at his age he’s finally grown out of playing those games.’

Kit and Peggy laughed in unison. ‘No chance!’ ‘I assume he’s either still travelling around the world – or working in someone’s garden, using that horticultural qualification he got after Paul and I got married.’

‘Sounds possible, and of course,’ Kit let her inner storyteller go in a way she wished she could on paper, ‘if Jack has spent all the inheritance his grandfather left him, he could have got a job in the grounds of some posh house, had a torrid affair with the heir to the manor, and be in the middle of a society scandal.’

Amy smiled as Peggy divided the carrot cake into mountainous slices. ‘That sounds entirely possible, and I sort of hope it’s true! The boyfriend bit, I mean, rather than the scandal bit.’

Pulling her cake plate closer, Kit shrugged. ‘I’m not sure he’d risk another relationship, not after Toby hurt him like that. I suspect he’s reverted to full-on sleeping around mode.’ Realising she had sounded rather curt, she added, ‘I’d like to be wrong though. If he settled down a bit, he might come home…’

*****

Bio

Jenny spends a large part of her time in the cafe’s of Mid Devon, where she creates her stories, including the novels Another Glass of Champagne, (Accent Press, 2016), Abi’s House (Accent Press, June 2015), Romancing Robin Hood (Accent Press, 2014), the best selling contemporary romance Another Cup of Coffee (Accent Press, 2013), and the novella length sequels Another Cup of Christmas (Accent Press, 2013), Christmas in the Cotswolds, (Accent Press, 2014), and Christmas at the Castle, (Accent Press, 2015).

Her next full length novel, Abi’s Neighbour, will be published by Accent Press in Summer 2017. She is also working on a short historical novel, which will be published in November 2016.

Jenny Kane is also the author of quirky children’s picture books There’s a Cow in the Flat (Hushpuppy, 2014) and Ben’s Biscuit Tin (Hushpuppy, 2015).

Keep your eye on Jenny’s blog at www.jennykane.co.uk for more details.

Twitter: @JennyKaneAuthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JennyKaneRomance

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