Amazing Gracie
Praise for the novels of
SHERRYL WOODS
“Sherryl Woods delivers the goods again with a goofy screwball Southern contemporary romance. It’s kind of like a sloe gin fizz—bubbly and sweet with a little bit of a kick.”
—
RT Book Reviews
on
Amazing Gracie
“Amazing Gracie
is one of those wonderful books whose characters, setting and plot combine to produce a 24-karat-gold reading experience.”
—
RT Book Reviews
“Sherryl Woods writes emotionally satisfying novels about family, friendship and home. Truly feel-great reads!”
—#1
New York Times
bestselling author Debbie Macomber
“Warm, complex, and satisfying.”
—
Library Journal
on
Harbor Lights
“Sparks fly in a lively tale that is overflowing with family conflict and warmth and the possibility of rekindled love.”
—
Library Journal
on
Flowers on Main
“The Inn At Eagle Point
is the first book in another guaranteed-to-be-a-blockbuster series by Sherryl Woods.”
—
Romance Reviews Today
“Launching the Chesapeake Shores series, Woods (Welcome to Serenity) creates an engrossing…family drama.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Compulsively readable…Woods’s novel easily rises above hot-button topics to tell a universal tale of friendship’s redemptive power.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
Mending Fences
Also by
USA TODAY
and
New York Times
bestselling author Sherryl Woods
HARBOR LIGHTS
†
FLOWERS ON MAIN
†
THE INN AT EAGLE POINT
†
WELCOME TO SERENITY
*
SEAVIEW INN
MENDING FENCES
FEELS LIKE FAMILY
*
A SLICE OF HEAVEN
*
STEALING HOME
*
WAKING UP IN CHARLESTON
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER
THE BACKUP PLAN
DESTINY UNLEASHED
FLAMINGO DINER
ALONG CAME TROUBLE
**
ASK ANYONE
**
ABOUT THAT MAN
**
ANGEL MINE
AFTER TEX
Look for Sherryl Woods’s next novel
HOME IN CAROLINA,
available April 2010
New York Times
and
USA TODAY
Bestselling Author
SHERRYL WOODS
Amazing Gracie
Dear Friends,
People often ask me if, after more than a hundred books, I have a favorite. Most of the time I swear it’s whatever just came out or whatever I’m working on at the moment, because that’s usually true. However, my next thought is almost always
Amazing Gracie
.
When this book first came out more than ten years ago, it was an
RT Book Reviews
Top Pick. The same magazine later named
Amazing Gracie
as one of the top two hundred books during its twenty years of publication. I wish I could say exactly what combination of plot and character came together to make this book so special, but I have no idea. It was just one of those serendipitous things authors wish would happen with every single book.
Of course, the fictional setting is very special to me. It was the first mainstream book to be based on my favorite summer town of Colonial Beach, Virginia, which later provided yet another fictional setting for the Trinity Harbor trilogy. The heroine, Gracie MacDougal, still has a place in my heart. And the hero—oh, my—Kevin Patrick Daniels combines just about everything I love about laid-back, generous, contrary and caring Southern men.
I’m so delighted to have
Amazing Gracie
back in print for a whole new audience. I hope you’ll fall in love with the town, Kevin and Gracie as others have before. Welcome to Seagull Point!
Looking ahead to later this spring, I’ll be taking you back to Serenity, South Carolina, for three more books with the Sweet Magnolias. The new trilogy will begin with Ty and Annie’s long-awaited story,
Home in Carolina.
I hope you’ll be watching for it.
All best,
Contents
1
W
alking briskly through the small, elegant lobby of the Maison de Sol in Cannes, Gracie MacDougal noted every tiny detail, from the single wilted daffodil in the lavish arrangement of spring flowers to the fingerprints on the beveled glass in the double mahogany doors. She plucked the offending flower from the arrangement, then beckoned to the young man working behind the reception desk. André was one of her best, most dutiful employees. They’d become friends. Someday, she was sure, he’d replace her.
“André, call housekeeping at once,
s’il vous plait.
Take care of that window.”
“Of course, madame,” he said dutifully, then discreetly studied the glass to figure out what was wrong with it.
“Fingerprints,” Gracie said, grinning at him.
He peered more closely at the decorative windowpane. “Ah,” he said when he discovered them.
“You’ll learn, André. You’ll learn. Our guests expect perfection down to the tiniest detail.”
“Our guests, madame, or you?”
“Perhaps you’re right,” she conceded. “If I’m doing
my job, then the guests will take it for granted. I only wish…”
“What?” André asked, regarding her intently. “What it is that you wish?”
“I only wish our new boss cared more about the details than the bottom line.”
“Monsieur Devereaux is a bit of a…What is it they say in America, a suit?”
Gracie fought a chuckle and lost. “That he is, André. He is a bit of a suit.”
Handsome, distinguished, and annoying, Maximillian Devereaux was, in Gracie’s opinion, more of an accountant than a hotelier. If the books balanced, he wouldn’t care if there was a layer of dust an inch thick on the gleaming antique tabletops in the lobby. His attitude and the battles it engendered were beginning to take a toll.
He was the third CEO of Worldwide Hotels in the last five years. He’d been brought in to improve the bottom line after Worldwide was acquired by a larger chain to add some class to its image. Though Worldwide continued to operate as a separate division with its own corporate identity, in Gracie’s view the small chain of exclusive, luxury inns was in serious danger of losing its reputation and its clientele. The wilted daffodil in her hand was symptomatic of the problem.
Less than an hour later, after inspecting every nook and cranny of the hotel, she dropped the flower on Max’s desk and said just that. He peered down his long, aristocratic nose at her, glanced at the broken petals, then sighed with evident exasperation.
“What is it now, Ms. MacDougal?” he asked, as always reverting to formality to indicate his own annoyance with her.
“The flowers weren’t changed this morning as they should have been,” she said.
“There is no need to change them daily. We’ve discussed that. Every three days will be sufficient and will cut the flower budget by two-thirds.”
“And our guests will find wilted flowers in the lobby and assume that if we no longer care about appearances in such a public area, we will be even more careless in places they don’t see, such as the kitchen. Details like this make a lasting impression. If you doubt it, check the reservation book.”
“We’re booked solid for the next month.”
“And this time last year we were booked solid for six months in advance,” she countered. “At this rate, we’ll have rooms available for every Tom, Dick and Harry who forgot to book a reservation before leaving the States.”
“Don’t exaggerate, Gracie.”
“It’s true.” She studied Max intently. “You really don’t see it, do you? You don’t see what you’re doing to this hotel, to this entire chain.”
“Have dinner with me tonight and explain it,” he suggested.
This time she was the one who sighed in exasperation. The man was relentless, when it came down to something he wanted, namely
her.
On paper, she and Max Devereaux were a perfect match. They were both tall—even at five eight, she barely reached his chin. Max had dashing, Cary Grant looks. Gracie prided herself on her polished, classic appearance. Max’s intelligence, his quick rise in the international hotel industry paralleled hers.
But the man had no real passion for it. It was all numbers to him. Gracie cared about the guests and their
comfort, the lasting impression they would take home with them. Max worried only about the size of their bill.
No, she concluded. It would never have worked. He was certainly bright enough to have figured that out for himself, but his masculine ego kept him in the game. With another man, the unwanted attention might have bordered on harassment, but there’d never once, in any way, been a hint that Gracie’s job hinged on whether she said yes or no. Asking was just something Max did, pretty much like breathing.