Nobody's Hero
Why can't everybody just leave him alone? All Sean Rafferty wants is solitude to recover from a gunshot wound. That's why he's here on Maine's isolated Osprey Island: to heal and move on. But how can he face going back to being a Massachusetts state police officer since he's sworn off ever playing hero again?Unfortunately, Sean can't avoid heroics when neighboring Connie Bradford's daughter keeps getting into trouble. And the fiercely independent Connie makes it clear she doesn't need a rescuer– reluctant or otherwise. The mother-and-daughter antics make his solitude seem almost too quiet.Despite himself, Sean finds this pair wrestling their way into his heart…as if they belong there.
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âI donât know why Iâm asking a stranger for help.â
âAm I still a stranger?â asked Sean.
Moonlight illuminated Connieâs face as she tilted it up toward his. Her eyes were the dark green of a woodsy pond beneath lashes that drew spiked shadows across the curves of her cheeks. âNo, I suppose not.â
Sean brushed his fingers over her narrow back, feeling the warmth of her beneath the thin layer of fabric.
âYouâve been very nice about us intruding on your vacation,â Connie said, âbut I know Pippa may become an annoyance, especially now that she knows your profession.â
He looked at Connieâs solemn face, with traces of sorrow she couldnât hide, and nodded. What else could he do, when what filled his mind wasnât the tragedy of losing her husbandâor even the recent upset of his own ordered existenceâbut that he had an overwhelming desire to kiss her?
âIâll watch out for your girl,â he said. Then silently added and you.
Dear Reader,
Would you participate in a vacation house switch?
The idea intrigues me. Aside from traveling to an exotic destination, thereâs the aspect of moving into another personâs house. How do they decorate, what books do they read, which soap do they use, whatâs programmed on their DVR? On the other hand, would I want a stranger in my house, learning the same about me? Maybe if I was happily ensconced in a sun-baked hacienda or a vineyard villa, I wouldnât care.
Sean Rafferty of Nobodyâs Hero takes the plunge and lands in a picturesque cottage on a small island off the coast of Maine. Lucky guy!
Enjoy,
Carrie Alexander
P.S. Visit me at www.CarrieAlexander.com and sign up for my e-newsletter Get Carried Away.
Nobodyâs Hero
Carrie Alexander
TORONTO ⢠NEW YORK ⢠LONDON
AMSTERDAM ⢠PARIS ⢠SYDNEY ⢠HAMBURG STOCKHOLM ⢠ATHENS ⢠TOKYO ⢠MILAN ⢠MADRID PRAGUE ⢠WARSAW ⢠BUDAPEST ⢠AUCKLAND
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Not only has Carrie Alexander given up on keeping her mountainous to-be-read stacks under control, sheâs lost count of how many books sheâs written. If she were ever to participate in a vacation house switch, sheâd have to specify that only bookworms need apply. Carrie and her books live in a riverside cottage in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
To the Deadline Hellions bloggers and our readers,
for coming along on my strange writing adventuresâ from rainbow manuscripts to deadline bats at 3:00 a.m.
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
PROLOGUE
SWAP YOUR VACATION HOUSE AT
HOLIDAYS AWAY!
Available July 21âAug. 3, Osprey Island, Maine:
Quaint island cottage with splendid ocean view. Two bedrooms, full bath, eat-in kitchen, fireplace, BBQ. Enjoy kayaking, hiking, birding, boating and much more in isolated splendor, sixteen miles off the ruggedly picturesque Maine coast. Motivated owner particularly willing to swap with Sunbelt location.
CHAPTER ONE
Pippa Bradfordâs Book of Curious Observations
JULY 21, OSPREY ISLAND, Maine. Latest subjects arrived at 9:17 a.m. on Jonesport ferry.
1. Bald man in trench coat, carrying briefcase, went straight to Whitecap Inn. Does not look like vacationer? (Check guest book for name.)
2. Couple met by Mrs. Sheffield of Peregrine House. Husband short and fat with gray hair and sunglasses, wife (or girlfreind?) tall with blond hair and high voice. Nice dressed, loads of luggage. Departed in silver Mercedes convertible, Mrs. S driving. Graves loaded luggage in pickup truck. Houseguests? High probabillity.
3. Pretty woman in purple shorts. Backpack. Got bike at Dockside Cycle. Overheard: one-day rental. Touristâno more observation necessary.
4. Tall man with short dark hair. One bag. Jeans and baseball cap (Bruins). Sunglasses, suspicious limp. Walked to Pine Cone Cottage on Shore Road, took house keys from mailbox. Name on box is Potter. Resident? Future observation required.
SEAN RAFFERTYâS NAPE prickled. He brushed a hand inside his collar. There was no mosquito, nor stray hair from his grown-out law-enforcement buzz cut, but then heâd known that.
Someone was watching him.
He continued his limping circuit of Pine Cone Cottageâs backyard. Behind a pair of tinted aviator sunglasses, his eyes were alert.
The sheltering wood was densely evergreen with a few spears of silver birch, bordered by ferns and underbrush. He took his time traversing the bumpy square of crabgrass and dandelions, waiting for the spy to give herself away. She wasnât nearly as sneaky as she believed.
Sunshine glinted off glass. He narrowed his eyes and searched the forest beyond the weathered picket fence of the vegetable garden. Hidden deep inside the pinecone-laden branches of a blue spruce were twin lenses.
Pocket-size binoculars. They disappeared at his scrutiny. Branches bobbed as the lurker shifted position.
Sean stretched out the morning kinks, tilting his face toward the hot gold disk of the sun that had appeared over the treetops. He might have called out that there was nothing to see, nothing but a broken-down trooper with a bullet hole in his thigh and thirteen more days of emptiness to fill.
