Can
Kyra and Dax let go so easily—or has love become a preexisting condition?
SUDDENLY ENGAGED
Lake Haven #3
Julia London
Releasing July 25, 2017
Montlake
Single
mother Kyra Kokinos spends her days waiting tables, her nights working on her
real estate license, and every spare moment with her precocious six-year-old
daughter, Ruby—especially when Ruby won’t stop pestering their grumpy next-door
neighbor. At first glance, Dax Bishop seems like the kind of gruff, solitary
guy who’d be unlikely to offer a cup of sugar, let alone a marriage proposal.
But that’s exactly what happens when Ruby needs life-saving surgery.
Dax showed
up in East Beach a year ago, fresh from a painful divorce and looking for a
place where he could make furniture and avoid people. Suddenly his life is
invaded by an inquisitive munchkin in sparkly cowboy boots—and her frazzled,
too-tempting mother. So he presents a practical plan: his insurance will help
Ruby, and then they can divorce—zero strings attached.
But soon
Kyra and Dax find their engagement of convenience is simple in name only. As
their attraction deepens, a figure from the past reappears, offering a way out.
Can Kyra and Dax let go so easily—or has love become a preexisting condition?
Chapter
One
Seven years
later
July
Leave
it to a female to think the rules did not apply to her.
The
little heathen from next door was crawling under the split-rail fence that
separated the cottages again. Dax, who already had been feeling pretty damn
grumpy going on a year now, wondered why she didn’t just go over the fence. She
was big enough. It was almost as if she wanted the mud on her dress and her
knees, to drag the ends of her dark red ponytails through the muck.
She
crawled under, stood up, and knocked the caked mud off her knees. She stomped
her pink, sparkly cowboy boots—never had he seen a more impractical shoe—to make
them light up, as she liked to do, hopping around her porch several times a
day.
Then
she started for cottage Number Two, arms swinging, stride long.
Dax
watched her from inside his kitchen, annoyed. It had started a week ago, when
she’d climbed on the bottom railing of the fence, leaned over it, and shouted,
“I like your dog!”
He’d
ignored her.
Two
days ago he’d asked her, fairly politely, not to give any more cheese to his
dog, Otto. That little stunt of hers had resulted in a very long and malodorous
night between man and beast.
Yesterday
he’d commanded her to stay on her side of the fence.
But
here the little monster came, apparently neither impressed with him nor
intimidated by his warnings.
Well,
Dax had had enough with that family, or whatever the situation was next door. And
the enormous pickup truck that showed up at seven a.m. and idled in the drive
just outside his bedroom window. Those people were exactly what was wrong with
America—people doing whatever they wanted without regard for anyone else,
letting their kids run wild, coming and going at all hours of the day.
He
walked to the back screen door and opened it. He’d installed a dog door, but
Otto refused to use it. No, Otto was a precious buttercup of a dog that liked
to have his doors opened for him, and he assumed that anytime his master neared
the door, Dax was opening it for him. He assumed so now, stepping in front of
Dax—pausing to stretch after his snoring nap—before sauntering out and down the
back porch steps to sniff something at the bottom.
Dax
walked out onto the porch and stood with his hands on his hips as the girl
brazenly advanced.
“Hi!”
she said.
She
was about to learn that she couldn’t make a little girl’s social call whenever
she wanted. There were rules in this world, and Dax had no compunction about
teaching them to her. Clearly someone needed to. He responded to her greeting
with a glower.
“Hi!” she said again, shouting
this time, as if he hadn’t heard her from the tremendous distance of about six
feet.
“What’d
I tell you yesterday?” he asked.
“To
stay on the other side of the fence.”
“Then
why are you over here?”
“I
forgot.” She rocked back on her heels and balanced on them, toes up. “Do you
live there?”
“No,
I just stand on the porch and guard the fence. Yes, I live here. And I
work here. And I don’t want visitors. Now go home.”
“My
name is Ruby Kokinos. What’s yours?”
What
was wrong with this kid? “Where is your mother?”
“At
work.”
“Then
is your dad home?”
“My
daddy is in Africa. He teaches cats to do tricks,” she said, pausing to twirl
around on one heel. “Big cats, not little cats. They have really big
cats in Africa.”
“Whatever,”
he said impatiently. “Who is home with you right now?”
“Mrs.
Miller. She’s watching TV. She said I could go outside.”
Great.
A babysitter. “Go home,” he said, pointing to Number Three as Otto wandered
over to examine Ruby Coconuts, or whatever her name was. “Go home and tell Mrs.
Miller that you’re not allowed to come over or under that fence. Do you
understand me?”
“What’s
your dog’s name?” she asked, petting that lazy, useless mutt.
“Did
you hear me?” Dax asked.
“Yes.”
She giggled as Otto began to lick her hand, and went down on her knees to hug
him. “I always always wanted a dog, but Mommy says I can’t have one now.
Maybe when I’m big.” She stroked Otto’s nose, and the dog sat, settling in for
some attention.
“Don’t
pet the dog,” Dax said. “I just told you to go home. What else did I tell you
to do?”
“To,
um, to tell Mrs. Miller to stay over there,” she said, as she continued to pet
the dog. “What’s her name?”
“It’s
a he, and his name is Otto. And I told you to tell Mrs. Miller that you are
supposed to stay over there. Now go on.”
She
stopped petting the dog, and Otto, not ready for the gravy train of attention
to end, began to lick her face. Ruby giggled with delight. Otto licked harder,
like she’d been handling red meat. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise Dax if she
had—the kid seemed like the type to be into everything. She was laughing
uncontrollably now and fell onto her back. Otto straddled her, his tail wagging
as hard as her feet were kicking, trying to lick her while she tried to hold
him off.
Nope,
this was not going to happen. Those two useless beings were not making friends.
Dax marched down off the porch and grabbed Otto’s collar, shoving him out of
the way. “Go,” he said to the dog, pointing to his cottage. Otto
obediently lumbered away.
Dax
turned his attention to the girl with the fantastically dark red hair in two
uneven pigtails and, now that he was close to her, he could see her clear blue
eyes through the round lenses of her blue plastic eyeglasses, which were
strapped to her face with a headband. She looked like a very young little old
lady. “Listen to me, kid. I don’t want you over here. I work here. Serious
work. I can’t be entertaining little girls.”
She
hopped to her feet. “What’s your name?”
Dax
sighed. “If I tell you my name, will you go home?”
She
nodded, her, long pigtails bouncing around her.
“Dax.”
She
stared at him.
“That’s
my name,” he said with a shrug.
Ruby
giggled and began to sway side to side. “That’s not a real name!”
“It’s
as real as Ruby Coconuts.”
“Not
Coconuts!” She squealed with delight. “It’s Ruby Kokinos.”
“Yeah,
okay, but I’m pretty sure you said Coconuts. Now go home.”
“How
old are you?”
“I’m
a lot older than you,” he said and put his hands on her shoulders, turning her
around.
“I’m
going to be seven on my birthday. I want a Barbie for my birthday. I already
have four. I want the one that has the car. The pink car with flowers on
it. There’s a blue car, but I don’t want that one, I want the pink
one, because it has flowers on it. Oh, and guess what, I don’t want a Jasmine
anymore. That’s my favorite princess, but I don’t want her anymore, I want a
Barbie like Taleesha has.”
“Great.
Good luck with that,” he said as he moved her toward the fence.
Julia
London is
the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers
Weekly bestselling author of more than forty romance novels. Her
historical titles include the popular Desperate Debutantes series, the Cabot
Sisters series, and the Highland Grooms series. Her contemporary works include
the Lake Haven series, the Pine River series, and the Cedar Springs series. She
has won the RT Book Club Award for Best Historical Romance and has been a
six-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award for excellence in romantic
fiction. She lives in Austin, Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment