A mistake thatâs meant to beâ¦
All John Beauchamp wants is a simple life. Heâs happy running his Louisiana sugar cane plantation and doesnât want more than that. Then Shelby Mackey breezes in, announcing that sheâs pregnant. Their one crazy night of passion has changed everything.
Except Shelby insists John doesnât have to be involvedâsheâll raise the baby herself. But John canât let her go that easily. Even without the baby, Shelby is a breath of fresh air. Her call-it-as-she-sees-it attitude intrigues and attracts him. So when Shelby agrees to stay temporarily, Johnâs determined to make that stay permanentâand as sweet as can be.
âMaybe I want to be alone.â
John didnât say anything else for a moment and averted his eyes from hers. He cleared his throat. âDo you want me to look for a place for you?â
âNot really,â Shelby said.
He opened his mouth as though to say something but instead snapped it closed, nodded and backed out of the room. âGood night, Shelby.â
âGood night, John.â She stood and shut the door.
Turning, she sank against it, fighting against asking John to come back so she wouldnât be alone, so she wouldnât be so conflicted about the decision sheâd made to chuck her pseudo-life in Seattle and stay in Magnolia Bend.
A knock at the door made her jump.
She opened it to find John looking determined.
âDid youââ she asked, closing her mouth as he stepped toward her. His arms came around her, hauling her up against the hardness of his chest, as his mouth descended upon hers.
Dear Reader,
This book began with a character. Shelby Mackey appeared in The Road to Bayou Bridge (Mills & Boon Superromance, September 2012) as Darby Dufreneâs girlfriend. The premise of that book involves a secret marriageâone neither Darby nor the heroine, Renny, knows about. In the course of the book, Darby falls back in love with Renny and leaves Shelby holding a bag of dreams.
I really hated that for Shelbyâ¦mostly because I liked her.
So the more I thought about her, the more I knew she had a story. Shelby always falls for the wrong guy. And even worseâshe always falls for married guys.
In this book I gave her a hero who was also marriedâto the ghost of his wife. And I gave John and Shelby a reason to move forward and find love. I gave them a surprise pregnancy and the question of What if?
This book concerns grief and second chances, but it also deals with the concept of family and finding where one truly belongs. I hope you enjoy the beginning of a new series set in Magnolia Bend, Louisiana, and the story of two lost souls finding love in difficult circumstances.
As always, I love hearing what you think. You can find me at www.liztalleybooks.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/liztalleybooks.
Cheers!
Liz Talley
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A 2009 Golden Heart Award finalist in Regency romance, Liz Talley has since found a home writing sassy Southern stories. Her book Vegas Two-Step debuted in June 2010 and was quickly followed by four more books in her Oak Stand, Texas series. In her current books, sheâs visiting one of her favorite citiesâNew Orleans. Liz lives in north Louisiana with her hero, two beautiful boys and a passel of animals. She enjoys laundry, paying bills and creating masterful dinners for her family. She also lies in her biography to make herself look like the perfect housewife. What she really likes is new shoes, lemon-drop martinis and fishing off the pier at her camp. You can visit her at www.liztalleybooks.com to learn more about the lies she tells herself, and about her upcoming books.
For my mother-in-law, Eretta, who has endured too much grief in her life. Finding happiness isnât easy and takes work, but love is always worth the effort. I love you.
Special thanks to Scotty Comegys and Greg Lott for teaching me about trusts, and Sam Irwin for teaching me about the sugarcane industry. All mistakes are mine.
CHAPTER ONE
SHELBY MACKEY HAD experienced a lot of bad sex in her lifetime, but sheâd never made a man cry.
Sitting on the sink of a run-down bathroom in some Louisiana hole-in-the-wall grocery store/bait stand/bar, she focused on the man in front of her, who was breathing hard and blinking away honest-to-God tears. The yellow glow of the naked lightbulb over his left shoulder kept bobbing...or maybe it didnât. After all, sheâd had two glasses of wine before moving on to gin and tonics. Shelby couldnât remember how many of those drinks the tall stranger had bought her, but they likely were responsible for the disgusting bathroom spinning.