The Wedding Gift (15 page)

“It’s a shame to have great live music like this only for the prettiest woman in the room not to be dancing.”

He didn’t wait for Phoebe to reply, but instead twirled her into his arms. And such nicely muscular arms they were.

Yes, this was exactly the kind of guy she could have a fun fling with, especially since he seemed to be as willing to act on impulse as she was. Guys like that always understood how the game was played and, fortunately, didn’t go around asking for more than Phoebe was willing to give.

“You still haven’t told me your name,” Patrick pointed out. “Or should I just go on calling you the prettiest girl in the room?”

It had possibilities, but still, she smiled up at him. “Phoebe, and I’m fairly sure you’re supposed to say that the bride is the best looking woman in the room.”

Her voice wasn’t usually that breathless. Then again, she didn’t usually see men this good looking at a Rose Chalet wedding...and dance with them, while she was at it.

“She does look good, but then, every woman looks beautiful on her wedding day.”

Uh oh.

“You like weddings?” Phoebe asked.

“Who doesn’t? Two people making that commitment to one another is so important. We should celebrate it more often.”

Oh, wonderful. Mr. Gorgeous was a romantic. Of all the good looking guys in the room, she had to attract the one with hearts in his eyes.

They ended the dance in front of RJ and that was when Phoebe finally put two and two together. No wonder Patrick looked so familiar.

“You’re brothers, aren’t you?”

RJ grinned. “He’s the brains of the family.”

“I’m in town doing the designs for a house,” Patrick explained with a smile.

But Phoebe didn’t feel like smiling back. Not when she now knew that Patrick wasn’t just a wedding guest, but was going to be in town for however long some building project lasted.

Phoebe made an excuse about needing to check the flowers. She wasn’t sure if either of them believed her. The only thing she was absolutely, positively sure of was that she had just spent the last few minutes dancing with the worst possible guy for her. Thank God she hadn’t been foolish enough to agree to go on a date with him.

And she never would.

But as she felt the intensity of his dark gaze on her from across the room, the shiver that worked its way up her spine told her resistance might not be quite so easy this time.

~ THE END ~

The next book in Lucy Kevin's “Four Weddings and a Fiasco” series is out now!

THE WEDDING DANCE

(Phoebe & Patrick)

Watch for Book #3 coming June 25, 2012

THE WEDDING SONG

(Tyce & Whitney)

* * *

Please enjoy the following excerpts from Lucy Kevin’s books...

THE WEDDING DANCE

Book #2 in the Four Weddings and a Fiasco Series

© 2012 Lucy Kevin

Phoebe Davis, the Rose Chalet’s florist, knows nothing is permanent—not the floral arrangements she creates, not the weddings she helps produce, and certainly not her parents’ marriage which ended in a bitter divorce. Certain that all relationships come with strings attached, she has always worked to live for the moment and not to have any ties…ever.

Risking big is how Patrick left the family landscaping business, was the first Knight to graduate from college, and became an in demand architect. In California for a short while to work on a new home, from the very first moment he holds Phoebe in his arms, he knows he’s found his perfect match in the adventurous, alluring and intelligent florist.

But will Phoebe dare let herself risk her heart on the most fragile and precious bloom of all? Especially when one dance with Patrick Knight is all it takes for her to start rethinking everything she’s ever believed to be true about love…

Enjoy the following excerpt for THE WEDDING DANCE...

Patrick wasn’t sure why his brother hadn’t wanted to come along to the building site as they’d planned, but every time he glanced over at the passenger seat of his SUV and saw Phoebe sitting there, he was glad RJ hadn’t.

As Patrick drove, he found his gaze drifting over to her again and again. She had been beautiful the previous night at the wedding, but even in more casual clothes she was stunning. Her figure was great, her pretty features were exquisite, and he could easily imagine kissing those full lips. Very easily...and with great pleasure.

“So where is Rose’s property, exactly?” Phoebe asked, breaking Patrick out of that very distracting line of thinking.

“The plot’s in the Sea Cliff district,” he said. “It’s not much of a drive.”

Which was a pity. He could have driven beside her for the rest of the day quite happily. Unfortunately, she would probably notice if he took a few detours.

“Sea Cliff is an impressive neighborhood,” Phoebe commented. “Donovan and Rose must really be investing in this.” She shook her head. “I’m still a little bit shocked at how easily your brother roped me into this.”

“I’m glad he did.”

He could have sworn Phoebe stiffened before saying, “Why don’t you tell me more about the site?”

The deflection was obvious, but Patrick went along with it. For now. “It’s a great spot. There’s a good view, plenty of space for a garden, too. It’s going to be a fun one to work on, lots of possibilities.”

“You sound like you really enjoy your job.”

Patrick shifted gears going down the hill. “It’s an easy job to enjoy. I get to build places that will make people happy and be lived in for years to come.”

“Seems to me most architects want to leave their stamp on the world. Don’t you?”

Patrick shook his head. “I do that kind of thing when the client wants it. I’ve done it before, but I mostly prefer to create spaces people can enjoy.”

That was always the challenge, to figure out exactly what would make people happy. What, he wondered, would Phoebe enjoy? What kind of date would she love? Houses were personal things, where you had to get to know the people involved if you wanted to have any chance of giving them a space to live and grow in. Patrick liked to think that dates were pretty much the same.

What would it be for Phoebe? Dinner and dancing? Patrick liked to be more original than that, but that very originality had let him down a few times in the past. Women who would have been perfectly happy at a nice restaurant generally didn’t react well to men who suggested hang gliding as a first date. Only, what did those first date dinners ever achieve? They got two people into a situation where they might be willing to sleep with one another afterwards, but they were always so busy playing the game that they never really got to know one another any deeper than that.

He couldn’t see the point. He wanted to know a lot more about Phoebe than that. He was
attracted
to her a lot more than that. Yet maybe the classic option was the best one in this case. She was as elegant as one of those flowers she arranged so deftly, so maybe she was the kind of woman who would expect a restaurant.

Patrick wasn’t about to risk letting the obvious attraction between them slip away just because a normal first date wasn’t his idea of a great time. Besides, he’d already danced with Phoebe once, and the memories of how good it was to hold her in his arms were still fresh.

They turned into the Sea Cliff District and Phoebe marveled, “You weren’t kidding about the view, were you?”

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her as she looked out at the ocean with wonder in her eyes. He’d wanted to date her from the first moment he’d seen her working at the wedding the night before.

Hopefully, she felt the same way.

...Excerpt from THE WEDDING DANCE by Lucy Kevin ©2012.

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THE WEDDING DANCE
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* * *

SPARKS FLY

© 2011 Lucy Kevin

Angelina Morgan is a beautiful consultant who practices an ancient art form called Feng Shui. Will Scott is an all-business CEO who doesn't believe anything he can't see and touch. With the help of a meddling ex-wife, a well-meaning best friend, and a matchmaking mother, Angelina and Will are about to find out what happens when opposites attract...and sparks fly.

Enjoy the following excerpt for SPARKS FLY...

Angelina was halfway up the path to Will’s front door when he came around the side yard and called out her name. He saw surprise flash across her pretty face a split second before she tripped on the edge of a brick that was sticking up a half-inch too high.

Will flew across the lawn as quickly as he could and caught her, glad for the excuse to find out what it felt like to hold her.

It felt good.

Really good.

Angelina pulled away to stand on her own two feet. “Thanks for catching me. I’m not usually this clumsy.”

Will had to fight the urge to pull her close to him again. Frankly, he was still more than a little perplexed by his attraction to a woman who was the polar opposite of his usual Barbie dolls.

Angelina asked, “Are you ready to get started?” and snapped Will out of his fog.

“Sure.”

They went inside and she said, “Why don’t you take me through your house and tell me what you like and don’t like about each room. Let’s start with your foyer. How do you feel about it?”

The first totally inappropriate thought that popped into his head was,
I love it when you’re in it,
but he settled for, “It’s okay, I guess.”

Scanning the room, Angelina moved to stand in front of a painting. “Does this make you happy?”

The truth was, Will couldn’t have cared less if the painting made him happy. But when he really looked at it for the first time, he saw that the artist had used acrylic on canvas to depict a sad man who stood in the middle of a wet, deserted street.

The painting sucked. “I don’t like it.”

“Why don’t you like it?”

“It’s depressing and besides, even I could do a better job than—” Realizing he was saying too much, Will cut himself off.

Angelina pinned him with a questioning look.

Inwardly cursing himself for divulging any information at all about his personal life, Will said, “Seems like anyone could do a better job than this artist did.”

“Feng Shui is all about living with what you love. When we get rid of the things that bring us down and replace them with things that make us happy, we open ourselves up for good things to happen in our lives.” Grinning, she added, “Don’t be surprised if taking this painting down gets you the woman of your dreams.”

“If that’s the case,” Will said as he reached for the painting, “let’s get this pathetic loser off my walls ASAP.”

Angelina could barely keep from laughing as she helped Will lift the heavy frame. Men were so predictable.

Will surveyed the new look of his foyer. “It looks better already.”

Angelina was pleased that she could finally grace him with a genuine smile, and right then and there she decided she was going to maintain a nice, agreeable banter with him throughout the rest of the consultation. No matter what.

Getting back to business, Angelina did a quick scan of the kitchen/family room. “You’ve got an awful lot of the fire element in here.”

“The fire element?”

“There are five elements: fire, water, metal, earth, and wood. The fire element is in your red rug, your fireplace, and your electronics.”

“And that’s bad?”

“Well, not bad, exactly. Just not balanced.”

“Maybe I should just take all of this to the dump and start over.”

Angelina was surprised by her own chuckle. She’d barely replied with, “Not unless you hate everything in here,” when she made the mistake of looking into his incredible blue eyes.

Her mouth went completely dry. Again.

Oh God, what was she doing? She knew better than to look at a wealthy, good-looking man like Will Scott with stars in her eyes. She was a twenty-six-year-old woman who had never gotten over her broken heart or her deep sense of shame from being so easily used.

And Will definitely had heartbreak written all over him.

...Excerpt from SPARKS FLY by Lucy Kevin ©2011.

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SPARKS FLY
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* * *

FALLING FAST

© 2011 Lucy Kevin

When Alexa is sent by a magazine to be an undercover contestant on the reality TV series "Falling For Mr. Right" she assumes the worst part of the assignment will be having to act like a brainless bimbo to win the affection of an arrogant guy out looking for his 15 minutes of fame. Color her shocked when it turns out not only are several of her fellow contestants intelligent, funny women...but Brandon – aka Mr. Right - isn't at all the kind of guy she thought he'd be.

What's Alexa supposed to do when instead of digging up dirt for her cover story, she finds herself falling way too fast for the guy she’s supposed to tear apart in her first big feature story?

Enjoy the following excerpt for FALLING FAST...

“You want me to do what?” Alexa Atkison said, her voice dripping with disbelief.

Alexa's editor, Jane, pushed her glasses up more firmly on her nose and looked pointedly through them at Alexa. “You’re the one who has been on me about doing the bigger stories. I’m dropping this one into your lap.”

Alexa opened her mouth to argue and then realized her thoughts were better left unsaid, particularly to her all-powerful boss. So instead of shooting off at the mouth, she took a deep breath and tried, on the fly, to work out the best tactic for steering Jane toward a less objectionable story.