In the Eye of the Storm (21 page)

He leaned down and kissed her before stretching out beside her and pulling her close.  “Everything’s perfect.”

Epilogue

The sun was still shining bright and hot as Stephen walked through the glass doors of Gideon, Inc.  He held the door for Holly and saw that their car was waiting.  He hoped that the air conditioning had been kept on full-blast.  He wasn’t sure how anyone lived in this heat – and it was December!

The driver held the door open for Holly and Stephen climbed in behind her, loving the temperature.  They settled in and as they pulled away, Stephen spoke.  “I was thinking…”

“Could be dangerous,” Holly joked and he rewarded her with a smile.

“Anyway, I was thinking that maybe we could hit Vegas instead of staying here in California.”

“Vegas, huh?  Any particular reason? I never knew you to want to gamble.”

He grabbed her hand in his and kissed it, please to see his ring on her finger.  “No, I’m not much of a gambler but I was thinking that maybe you and me…I mean, it
is
Vegas and people go there to do other things…you know, other than gamble.”

God he was adorable when he stammered, she thought.  “What kind of things?”

Stephen knew she was baiting him but was willing to play along; after all, it wasn’t that long ago that he had done the same to her.  “Well, there are fabulous shows, I’m told, and great restaurants…”

“Hmmm…”

“There are chapels and such that we might find interesting…”

“Stephen Ballinger are you trying to get out of the big church wedding that I’ve been planning since I was nine?”  She was trying to go for haughty but found herself laughing at the end.

Luckily Stephen was quick on the up-take and knew she was joking.  “I’m not trying to get out of anything,” he said as he pulled her close so that she was almost in his lap.  “I was just thinking that I want you to be my wife
now
not six months from now.”  When she made to protest, he stopped her with a searing kiss.

Sighing, she pulled on his jacket and went nose-to-nose with him.  “My parents would kill me if I eloped in Vegas; you realize that, don’t you?”  It was an argument, but she didn’t put much behind it and Stephen knew that if he really wanted to push the subject, they’d be married by midnight.

“I don’t want to do anything to upset my future in-laws.  If you want to wait, then we’ll wait.”

“How did I get so lucky?” she asked, truly amazed at the changes in him.  A month ago, Stephen was a workaholic who had no interest in marriage or relationships and now, he was asking her to move up their wedding date and elope in a Vegas chapel. 

“I’m the lucky one, Holly,” he said solemnly.  “I can’t believe that a brawl in a bar gave me everything that wanted, that I needed.  I love you.”

She sighed.  Life was good.  “I still think that we need to make him sweat a little bit longer but eventually we are going to have to thank Derek for his role in all of this.”

“Thank him?  Why should we thank him?  If you remember correctly, he’s the reason why you left me!”

Holly stroked his cheek and nodded.  “I know that but if he had never made that initial comment to you, if he never pushed you in that bar that night, I never would have come out in the rain to get you.  I never would have been stranded in that storm with you and we might have never looked beyond our working relationship.  So yes, we’ll thank him.”

Her kindness and her willingness to forgive never ceased to amaze him.  Hugging her to him, he relaxed and said, “Some day…maybe…”

About the Author

Contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40's to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.
       Her second book, a holiday novella titled "The Christmas Cottage" climbed the Amazon charts and peaked at number ten on the Best Sellers in Women’s Fiction on Christmas Eve 2012 in books and number 116 in Kindle books. Watching the numbers rise and fall was a daily roller coaster ride but definitely an exciting one!

In February of 2013, “The Christmas Cottage” was nominated for Best Indie Romance Novella and Best Indie Contemporary Romance and Samantha was up for Indie Romance Writer of the Year!

“In the Eye of the Storm”
was a top five finalist in Harlequin Desire’s Editor’s Pitch Challenge back in 2011 but never made it into their line.  Deciding to self-publish it wasn’t a tough decision and it has been a favorite amongst early preview readers.

       When she's not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, blogging, playing way too many games of Scrabble on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 23 years and their two sons in North Carolina.

Where to Find Samantha Chase

Facebook: 

http://www.facebook.com/SamanthaChaseFanClub

Twitter:               

https://twitter.com/SamanthaChase3

Website:                            

http://chasing-romance.com
 

Amazon:                             

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006CZWRGC

Blog:                             

http://allstace.blogspot.com/

Tumblr:

http://samanthachasewriter.tumblr.com/

    Available August 2013

From

Samantha Chase

“Stay With Me”

Book Three in

The Montgomery Brothers

Series

Get your sneak peak

here...

Prologue

Standing in the early morning sun on a crisp September morning, William Montgomery swore that the sun was shining directly on him.  The morning dew on the lush acres of green grass lie before him as he awaited the arrival of his dearest friend to join him for a round of golf.

The last two years had left him feeling blessed; two of his three sons were married,  he had a grandchild on the way any day now and he was about to spend some time outside on a beautiful day with a friend.  William felt like he was most definitely a blessed man.  Inhaling deeply, he lifted his face up to the sun and smiled.

“Now that is the face of a man at peace,” a voice said from behind.

Turning, William greeted his life-long friend Arthur Micelli and shook his hand.  “That I am, Art; that I am.  How could I not be?”

A sad smile crossed his friend’s face.  “As long as you appreciate it, Will.  Embrace it.”

Something in Arthur’s tone caused a trickle of alarm.  William wanted to come right out and ask if everything was all right but knew better than to just charge in to what could quite possibly be a delicate situation.  So instead of asking what was on the tip of his tongue, he segued into the next order of business.  “You ready for eighteen holes?”

Arthur looked out at the greens ahead of them and sighed.  “No time like the present.”

Something was definitely up.  “I don’t know about you, Art, but I don’t feel much like walking this one.  I’m going to grab a cart and then we’ll get started.  What do you say?”

Arthur’s shoulders sagged with what William would guess was relief.  “Sounds good to me.”  Within minutes, their bags were loaded and they were on their way.  Conversation at first consisted of the basic pleasantries but by the third hole, William was ready to get a little more insight into what was going on with his friend.

“You feeling okay, Art?”

His friend chuckled.  “You know me too well.”  Climbing from the cart, he stood and waited for William to join him.  They stood side by side for a long quiet moment before Arthur spoke.  “Remember when the kids were little and we’d all get together in the summertime to barbecue and swim in the pool?”

William smiled.  “Those are some of my fondest memories of when they were all growing up.  Just listening to their laughter as they chased each other around always brought a smile to my face.”  He smiled even now at the thought of it.  “Which reminds me, how is Gina doing?  Have you talked to her lately?”

The mention of his daughter’s name brought on a wave of sadness that was followed with regret.  “We actually spoke on the phone briefly last week.”

“How’s she doing?”

“The same.  Working for a firm that she doesn’t seem to like very much and doing her best to not disappoint her mother.”

“That’s a shame.  I really thought that Barb would have outgrown that controlling streak.”

“I think it got worse after the divorce and unfortunately, Gina’s paying the price for it.”

“She’s a grown woman, Art; she can move away any time she wants.  California isn’t the only place she can live.  Hell, she can come back here to North Carolina!  Have you approached her about coming to work for you?”

Arthur shook his head.  “As much as I would love for Gina to move back here by me, I would never ask.”

“Why not?” William asked, stunned that his friend wouldn’t do whatever it took to get his daughter back in his life.

“Don’t you see, Will, she’s never had the opportunity to choose to do anything.  Barb has made all of her decisions for her.  The poor girl has never been allowed to decide what it is that
she
wants to do.  If I call and ask her to come here and work with me, she’d probably say yes out of guilt and then stress herself out because she’d know that her mother would be angry with her.”  He sighed wearily.  “I don’t want to add any more stress to her life.  Thanks to me, she’s suffered enough.”

“That’s a bunch of bull and you know it!” William snapped.  “Your wife chose to leave and took your daughter with her.  If anything, you stepped back in hopes of making Gina’s life easier.  You’re still stepping back!”

“It’s hard, William; you don’t understand.  You and Monica have a great marriage and your son’s are all with you.  I envy you.”

The sadness in Art’s voice had William rethinking this line of conversation.  “Well, it’s kind of you to say but it’s not always smooth sailing.  Hell, in the last couple of years my sons have been more than a little irritated with me a time or two.”  He chuckled as he thought of how their irritation had faded when they’d realized that dear old dad was doing them the greatest favor of their lives in finding them the perfect wives.  So far Lucas and Jason were enjoying the very lives that they had rebelled against and nothing could please William more.  He wished Arthur and his daughter could reconcile their differences.

“Remember when the kids were younger and we always thought that it would be great if Gina married one of the boys?”

Art laughed.  “We always thought she should marry Lucas because they were the closest in age but she only had eyes for Mac.”

William felt that familiar itch of inspiration.   “She sure did; followed him around wherever he went.  He may have grumbled about it at the time, but I think that was just to save face.” 

Arthur couldn’t help but smile at the memory as well.  “Well, being seven years older than Gina, I’m sure it wasn’t cool to have her trailing around after him.”  He turned toward William.  “He was always a good sport about it.  I was always so grateful that he was always so kind.”  His tone was serious and before another wave of melancholy swept over him he added, “No wonder she had such a crush on him!”

“Lucky for us he’s the only one left that isn’t married!”

“If only it were that simple,” Art said.  “They haven’t seen each other in what? Twelve or thirteen years?”

“What difference does that make?” William’s voice boomed with excitement.  “There’s still time!  I bet if we got them together, there’d still be a lingering spark.  Plus, they’re no longer kids.  Just think, we could be grandparents together in no time!”

In that moment, Art’s turned to his friend with a look of utter devastation on his face.  In that moment William knew that what was coming wasn’t going to be good.  He stopped and looked at Arthur’s face and for the first time noticed the fatigue that was etched on his face and that his color was a little off.

“Art?  What’s going on?”  A cool breeze blew around them and the sun dipped behind a cloud as if sensing the impending news.  His friend’s hesitation stopped William cold.  “Art?”

“I’m dying.”

Chapter One

Mackenzie Montgomery was tired.  Weary to the bone exhausted.  It wasn’t the long hours at the office that was wearing him out, it was the incessant rounds of well-wishers with their
“Congratulations”
and
“You all must be so happy”
that was grating on his every last nerve.

“Must
I be so happy?” he sneered under his breath.  Deep down, Mac knew that the all meant well; he shouldn’t begrudge their being nice.  Unfortunately, for the last two years all he seemed to hear was how happy everyone was for his brothers, their wives, their lives…sure, it was great but didn’t anyone have anything else to think about?  To focus on? 

“Great news about Lucas and Emma isn’t it, Mac?”

Mac looked up and there in his doorway stood one of his junior executives with an eager look and a wide smile on his young face.  Mac tried to return the smile but at this point in the day, it made his face hurt.  “It sure is.”