DAC_II_GenVers_Sept2013
Three Chapter Excerpt of NEXT SONG I SING
Paranormal/SciFi/Fantasy Books
Dating A Cougar IIBook Six of the
NEVER TOO LATE
Serie
s
by
Donna McDonald
* * * * *
Copyright 2013 by Donna McDonald
Cover by LFD Designs for Authors
Edited by Mary Yakovets
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should delete it from your device and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.
This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.
Thanks to JM and Robyn for listening to me groan, and not in the good way I mention in this book. Your support is a writing rock for me, especially when I struggle to write a book for months and months and months and. . .
Thanks to ALL of my readers for your patience and for writing to me to remind me you were still out there and waiting for something new. I hope you like this other ‘cougar’ story. Jane as a cougar is a lot more like me as one than the beautiful Alexa in the original DAC. For this book, I confess I cut my wrists for you and bled a bit of my own cougar reality into the story. The age difference I have in my relationship was a large part of why I refused to marry him for so many years. And yes, I have been called his mother before, but not in a very long time—LOL. He handled with just as much grace as Walter does in the book.
Thanks to Aislinn S. for being my ‘specialty’ reader for
Dating A Silver Fox
and now for
Dating A Cougar II
. I appreciate your feedback in more ways than I can ever express. Thanks also for helping me name the surprisingly sexy, Elijah Jakob Fox. Shalom, my reader friend. Did I say get that right? LOL--Sending you lots of laughter and hugs.
This story is dedicated to Susan M, my 39 year old very pregnant ‘cougar’ friend, who is expecting baby number two in her ‘cougar-cub’ relationship. Thanks for being my real-life inspiration for Jane. Wishing you all the love, laughter, and happiness you can find with your beautiful family.
Oh, and thank you for helping remove the lines and wrinkles from my face to make sure nobody ever asks me again if I’m Bruce’s mother. Your facials are truly magic. Things done with so much positive energy and love usually are. They are also quite possibly fodder for another cougar story. No, I’m not kidding.
See how much you inspire me?
What kind of woman could possibly feel sorry for herself on a day as beautiful as this one? The sun was shining. The breeze was warm. Someone else was going to feed her.
Ignoring the unreasonable urge to whine in spite of all that, Jane sighed heavily instead, not once but twice, virtually assuring the woman beside her would have no choice but notice. Was she really that desperate for attention?
“Jane? What’s the matter?” Lydia asked.
The softly offered question was laced with sympathy and had Jane sighing heavily for a third time, even though she smiled at the silver-haired beauty strolling through the park with her.
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong really. I think I’ve just been bored trying to figure out what I’m going to do next. Flipping businesses is a passion for me, not just my work. Yet nothing has caught my interest since I sold North Winds to Walter. I’m glad you and Dad asked me to tag along on your picnic today. Obviously from all the sighing I’m doing, I needed to get out.”
“Oh dear. Given all that honesty you just rained on my head, I suppose I should do the honorable thing back. If JD gets a wild hair and shoots off, Morrie and I wanted a strong pair of legs along to help chase him down,” Lydia teased.
“You and Dad are physically fit enough to handle a measly toddler. Tell me the truth. Dad’s worried because I’m not working on anything new, isn’t he?” Jane asked.
Lydia shook her head. “No. If your father is worried about you, it’s about something other than work. He invited Walter to the picnic too, but our new entrepreneur was too busy to come. Just don’t tell your father I told you about him inviting Walter. He likes to think he’s clever. . .and not being obvious.”
Jane laughed at Lydia’s revelation, but shook her head over the information. It still surprised her that her father thought Walter Graham was a good match for her. It was probably the only time in her life her father had been wrong.
“Yes, Dad does like to think he’s smarter than everyone else. But don’t worry. . .I’m used to his sneaky manipulations. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he would use my appreciation for your fried chicken and potato salad to get me here. The joke is on him though, I love watching JD under any circumstances. I keep telling Lauren and Jim to call me when they need a sitter.”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “It took a second baby on the way to get Lauren to turn loose of her firstborn at all. She still wants Nanny Martha to come to the house every day. I think he needs daycare and other children to play with so he can develop better social skills. I’m working on her overprotective mother leanings so she won’t turn out like me.”
Jane laughed at Lydia’s declaration, but felt a twinge of envy. And for the first time in many years, she seriously missed her mother. Of course, even if Evelyn Fox were still alive, there would be no grandchildren for her mother and father to argue over. Neither she nor her brother, Elijah, had gotten that far in their relationships. No—changing her non-mother status certainly wasn’t on the visible horizon as far as she could see. She would just have to remain envious of Lauren getting to expand her late life family.
“If she’s that concerned, I suppose it would be really hard for Lauren to trust an old single woman like me with her only child. She probably thinks I’m not the motherly type,” Jane said, shrugging at Lydia’s questioning gaze.
“What’s the motherly type these days? I don’t think Lauren saw herself as the motherly type until she discovered she was pregnant,” Lydia said, watching something that looked like hope flicker in Jane’s gaze, even though it faded quickly. “Do you want children, Jane?”
“Sure. Of course I do. Or at least, I did when I was younger. From the time I hit puberty, I always saw myself becoming a mother one day. You know—I thought about soccer, band practice, and a giant gas drinking van to haul that kind of life around. Maybe I missed my chance for that when I divorced my ex. I’m probably too old now.”
Lydia snorted and turned her head sideways. “Don’t think I don’t hear that wistfulness in your voice. Lauren was older than you when she had JD. I thank God every day that James Gallagher is his father. You’re smart to wait for the right man, but some take a long time to appear in your life. Just don’t let your eggs dry up while you’re waiting.”
“
Don’t let my eggs dry up?
” Jane repeated dryly. “Gee, thanks for that helpful tip, Lydia. Maybe you should stop trying to make me feel better now.”
Lydia’s giggle at her response made Jane giggle in return. They were comfortable enough in each other’s company to tease without exchanging ugly reprisals. As stepmothers went, Lydia McCarthy Fox was turning out to be a pretty good one. Her father was certainly happy.
“JD! Get your butt back here, boy!”
Both women turned in the direction of the voice and laughed as they watched her silver-haired father chase off after the maniacal, squealing toddler scrambling away as fast as his sturdy legs would go. In JD’s case, his legs were exceptional, and his escapes well practiced. With a mother who had black belts in several martial arts almost no one could pronounce, Jane supposed the toddler’s physical prowess was genetically inevitable.
“Looks like the wild child is on the run,” Lydia announced tiredly, fisting a hand on one hip. “That boy. . .”
“No worries, ‘
Gamma
’. Just save me some chicken. I’m on it,” Jane said, chuckling as she passed the picnic blanket she carried to Lydia.
Then she took off running after her recently acquired step-nephew by marriage. Thankfully she’d worn her sneakers and shorts today. Her laughter carried on the breeze as she passed up her father. “It’s okay. I’ll catch him, Dad.”
Like a marathon runner passing the torch, Morrison Fox stopped and put his hands on his knees, gathering a breath. “What are they feeding that kid? I swear he’s getting faster.”
Her father’s look of relief made Jane laugh harder, which made it nearly impossible to keep up her speed. JD Gallagher was going to grow up to be a marathon runner. . .or maybe that superhero with lightning on his shirt. Yes, that was it.
Super JD
, Jane decided, giggling hard at the fact that she was barely catching up to the toddler herself.
She heard his wicked laughter as JD broke into an even faster sprint, zigging and zagging a path in front of her. Now who in blue blazes had shown him how to do that?
“
James Davis Gallagher
.
Stop running this instant
,” Jane yelled, using the most commanding tone she possessed.
Up ahead, she saw JD slow only a fraction to look over his shoulder at his new pursuer. He grinned when he saw who it was. When he turned forward again, he hit and bounced off someone’s jean covered leg. He landed hard on his chubby butt in the grass, his pull-up diaper cushioning the landing.
“
Ah—oh
,” Jane heard him say as she closed in at last. His understanding that he was caught and in trouble made her giggle again. She sincerely hoped she could stifle her amusement before she got to him. She had learned the hard way that being charmed by his rebellion only made JD more apt to repeat the wicked behavior.
“Darn skippy it’s ‘
Ah—oh
’,” Jane mimicked, between deep gulping breaths. Her dad was right. The little bugger was getting faster. “You are in serious trouble now, buddy. Thanks for stopping him Mr. . .
oh
.”
Her gaze raised from JD to Walter Graham’s laughing blue eyes. “Hi,” she said, her hello sounding breathless and giddy. Jane hoped it was because of the chase and not because of the sexy fireman slash entrepreneur’s sudden appearance out of nowhere to save the day. What was it about him that fascinated her so much? Her mind had not figured out the puzzle yet.