The
Orchard at the Edge of Town
Apple Valley # 3
Apple Valley # 3
By: Shirlee McCoy
Releasing July 28, 2015
Zebra
Blurb
Apple Valley, Washington,
is where starting over means surprising new chances, facing trouble always
brings a helping hand—and the most unlikely hopes can forever come true…
Apricot
Sunshine Devereux-Miller needs to stay lost. Her eccentric aunt's home in
Apple Valley is the perfect place to forget her cheating ex-fiancé and get her
no-longer-perfect life back under control. Plus, it couldn't hurt to fix up the
house and turn its neglected orchard into a thriving business. And if
Apricot can keep Deputy Sheriff Simon Baylor's two lively young daughters out
of mischief, maybe she can ignore that he’s downright irresistible—and
everything she never dreamed she'd find ...
Simon
isn't looking to have his heart broken again. He already has his hands
full raising his girls. And lately he's thinking way too much about Apricot's
take-charge energy and unwitting knack for stirring up trouble. He can't see a
single way they could ever be right for each other. Unless they can take a
crazy chance on trusting their hearts—and risking the courage to finally find
their way home.
Link to Follow Tour: http://www.tastybooktours.com/2015/06/the-orchard-at-edge-of-town-apple.html
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22891404-the-orchard-at-the-edge-of-town
Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/115429-apple-valley
“So,
Anna,” he spoke into the silence, “I’m curious.”
“About?” She turned to face him, her
gaze direct.
If she were hiding anything, she
wasn’t showing it.
“Rose Devereux didn’t mention
anything about a woman named Anna coming for a visit.”
She sighed. “She wouldn’t. Anna
isn’t my given name. It’s my professional name. If I can find my wallet, I’ve
got some business cards.”
She started digging through the
purse, but the thing was so small, he thought she’d have found the wallet by
now if it were there. He took it from her hand, set it on the counter. “I think
we both know this little tiny bag doesn’t have a wallet in it. So, how about
you just explain what kind of work you do that you need a professional name?”
She blinked, a smile slowly curving
the edges of her mouth. A real smile this time, it made her eyes sparkle and
showed off a dimple in her right cheek. “Good grief! You don’t think I’m a . .
.” She snorted and shook her head. “I own a nursery in LA. I got tired of
explaining my given name to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who met me, so I decided
to go by Anna.”
“And your given name is?”
“Apricot. Just like Aunt Rose said.
If you want the whole legal mess, it’s Apricot Sunshine Devereux-Miller.”
He did not laugh, but God! He wanted
to.
“Apricot Sunshine, huh? Your
parents—”
“Were hippies, are hippies, will
always be hippies. I lived in a commune for the first sixteen years of my
life.” She smiled again. “And having to give that explanation thousands of
times is exactly why I go by Anna. Now, if I could just find my wallet, I could
prove my identity, and you could be on your way, Officer . . . ?”
“Deputy Simon Baylor.” He offered
his hand, and she gave it a firm, quick shake. No nonsense. That
was
the impression she was giving off.
Her big pink dress was giving off
another impression altogether. It was saying froufrou and fluffy, a little
flighty and scattered.
“Right. Deputy Baylor. I do have an
ID and I do have business cards. They’re probably in my truck. I’d volunteer to
go get them, but I’m sure you have better things to do with your time than wait
for me to do that.”
He did have things to do. Daisy
worked at the library, and if he knew one thing about his sister-in-law, it was
that she liked to be the first in every morning.
When he worked graveyard, she spent
the night with the twins so he wouldn’t have to hire a babysitter, but she was
always dressed and ready for work when he arrived home. He tried to be
respectful of her time, leave work as soon as the shift was over, get home well
before she actually needed to be at work, but right then, he really was curious
about Apricot Sunshine Devereux-Miller, and he wasn’t in all that much of a
hurry to leave. “I’ve got time.”
“Perfect,” she responded. “I’ll just
hop back on my bike—”
“The Schwinn that’s sitting on the
porch?” The one that looks like it should be ridden by Dorothy or by the Wicked
Witch of the West?
“That would be the one,” she
responded. “Unless you want to offer me a ride. In which case, I could avoid
the humiliation of pedaling a 1940s Schwinn in this 1980s monstrosity of a
dress.”
“I’ll drive you to your truck.” The
girls wouldn’t be awake for another twenty minutes, and Daisy didn’t have to be
at the library until eight thirty. He could give Apricot a ride, check her ID,
make sure everything she said was kosher. Give himself a little more to smile
about, because he was smiling. The pink dress, the tumbling-over hair, the
image of Apricot pedaling along the dirt road was probably the most amusement
he’d had in a good long while.
Author Info
Shirlee McCoy spent her childhood making up stories and acting them out with her
sister. It wasn’t long before she discovered Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, her
mother’s gothic romances . . . and became an ardent fan of romantic suspense.
She still enjoys losing herself in a good book. And she still loves making up
stories. Shirlee and her husband live in Washington and have five children.
Readers can visit her
website at www.shirleemccoy.com.
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