Above It All (Eureka, Colorado Book 4) (Contemporary Romance)
Page 29
“Words to live by,” Jameso said, and pulled Maggie close.
They said good-bye and made their way to Maggie’s car in companionable silence. “We can get my truck later,” Jameso said, as he buckled Angela into her car seat.
“Good.” Maggie stretched. “I’m ready to get home. It’s been a long day.”
Jameso handed her the bronzed miner’s lamp. “I don’t know what to do with this,” he said.
“We’ll put it in the cabin, with Jake’s trophies. He’d be pleased that you’re following in his footsteps.”
“Except I don’t intend to follow too closely.”
She smiled, closed her eyes, and rested her head against the back of the seat, more content than she’d been in a long time. After all the pre-wedding and pre-baby jitters, then her troubles settling into married life, she was ready for a calm, even boring routine.
“Uh-oh.”
Jameso’s voice woke her from a doze as they approached the B and B. “What is it?”
“Looks like we’ve got company.” He nodded to the Cadillac Escalade parked in front of the inn.
“That looks like Barb’s.” Maggie sat forward. “But she’s in Paris.”
“Not anymore,” he said, as the front door opened and Barb Stanowski, in slim white cropped pants and a sleeveless white blouse that showed off her toned arms, stood on the threshold.
Maggie was out of the car and racing up the walkway as soon as Jameso shut off the truck’s engine. “Barb!” She threw her arms around her best friend. “It’s so good to see you, but I thought you were still in Europe.”
“Jimmy got invited to Scotland, to demonstrate his ball-washing invention to some golf course there, but I was sick to death of traveling. I just wanted to come home.”
“Looks like you plan to stay for a while.” Jameso, carrying Angela, joined them in the foyer and took in the half-dozen suitcases stacked there.
“Oh, only for a few weeks. Well, maybe a couple of months.” She put her arm around Maggie and led her toward the stairs. “I always say my home is in Texas but really, I think my heart is here.”
Maggie looked over her shoulder at Jameso and her infant daughter. He winked at her, and she couldn’t help but smile. “My heart is here, too,” she said. Exactly where she belonged.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to my editor, Martin Biro, for his encouragement and assistance with this book, and to the whole Kensington team. To Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, thank you for all your support and writerly fellowship. And especially, hugs and kisses to the Writers of the Hand—you are the best!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. One of the themes of this book is the ways in which events of the past influence the future. In what ways does our past determine our future? How hard is it to overcome this?
2. Several people in the book have secrets. How do you feel about Shelly’s failure to tell her friends about her past? What about the secrets Jameso keeps from Maggie?
3. If you had been in Maggie’s shoes, would you have pressed Shelly harder for an interview? Why or why not?
4. Was Shelly right or wrong to cut ties with her family? Can you imagine yourself ever doing something like this?
5. Have you ever been in a situation where you began to believe your perception of the way things happened in the past might have been all wrong? What did you do?
6. Both Lucille and Daisy struggle with their attraction to men they don’t think are right for them. Has this ever happened to you? What was the outcome?
7. Shelly finds domestic tasks relaxing. Can you relate, or not?
8. Do you believe in karma? Did Gerald get what he deserved?
Photo by Vernice Dollar of Studio 16
Cindy Myers worked as a newspaper reporter, travel agent, and medical clinic manager before turning to writing full-time. She’s written both historical and contemporary romance, as well as dozens of short stories and nonfiction articles. Former president of San Antonio Romance Authors, Cindy is a member of Romance Writers of America, Novelists Inc., and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She is in demand as a speaker, teaching workshops and making presentations to both local and national writing groups. She and her husband and their two dogs live in the mountains southwest of Denver.
You can visit her on the Web at cindymyersbooks.com or at cindymyers.com
THE VIEW FROM HERE
In this heartfelt, beautifully written novel, a woman with nothing left to lose finds the courage to start over in the last place she ever expected....
Newly divorced Maggie Carter has little to show for her marriage except a pile of boxes and regrets. So when she learns she’s inherited an old house and an abandoned gold mine in Eureka, Colorado, she doesn’t hesitate to leave Houston behind. In Colorado, she can learn about her estranged father and take stock of her life. After all, where better to decide what your next move should be than in a cabin 10,000 feet above sea level?
Eureka is a tiny hamlet with a café, a library, and plenty of intriguing locals. There’s the colorful town mayor, Lucille, and her prodigal daughter, Olivia, bitter librarian Cassie, and handsome, enigmatic Jameso Clark, who had a fascinating love-hate relationship with Maggie’s father. Then there are the soaring views of distant mountains and clear-blue sky, of aspen trees and endless stars. Piece by piece, Maggie is uncovering her father’s past—and reconciling with her own. And in this small mountain town, she just might find a place where she truly belongs.
SECRET SANTA
Christmas is the time for miracles, mayhem, and holiday romance in these wonderful stories from four of today’s most beloved authors....
“Mister Christmas” by Fern Michaels
A week before Christmas, attorney Claire O’Brien is summoned to Ireland to change her wealthy client’s will—only to encounter resistance from his handsome nephew. Will Claire be forced to spend the holidays up close and personal with her irresistible Irish nemesis?
“The Yellow Rose of Christmas” by Marie Bostwick
Though Miss Velvet Tudmore wrote off romance years ago, rumor has it she has a secret admirer. And when her surprise suitor promises to reveal himself at the annual Christmas ball in Too Much, Texas, Velvet starts to wonder: Is it ever too late to find love?
“Nightmare on Elf Street” by Laura Levine
Aside from the mortifying costume, how bad can a gig as a mall Santa’s elf be? Jaine Austen finds out when she’s teamed up with the Santa from Hell. But things go from bad to worse when he’s found murdered on the job—and Jaine is a suspect. Now all she wants for Christmas is to find the real killer. . . .
“Room at the Inn” by Cindy Myers
When a Rocky Mountain blizzard forces Barb and her husband to spend Christmas in a remote Colorado cabin with their fellow travelers, Barb struggles to cope—especially when her husband reveals troubling news. But sometimes a holiday shake-up is all a woman needs to discover what she’s truly made of....
THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US
From acclaimed author Cindy Myers comes a big-hearted story of pulling together, facing life’s challenges, and knowing what it means to really come home....
Cut off from the outside world by a blanket of snow, the holidays are usually a time for peace and quiet in tiny Eureka, Colorado. But this year the mountain town is in trouble. Thanks to a corrupt investor, the treasury is bankrupt, leaving residents to struggle through an especially harsh winter. Then there are those with more personal problems, like Maggie Stevens, pregnant and torn between single motherhood and drawing the father-to-be into a life he’s not cut out for. And Olivia Theriot, the mayor’s prodigal daughter, is harboring a secret so painful she may never be able to settle down. But Mother Nature is about to put things in perspective....
When a blizzard blows through just days before Christmas, some are left stranded—and others are missing. Now there’s only one thing on Eureka’s wish list: to live up to its name, and its reputation for coming together, and find a way
to bring everyone back home—where they belong.
A CHANGE IN ALTITUDE
In this latest novel from acclaimed author Cindy Myers, big changes are afoot in the warmhearted small town of Eureka, Colorado....
With local Maggie Stevens’s baby on the way—not to mention her wedding to Jameso Clark in the works—spring in Eureka promises to be a time of rebirth in more ways than one. To add to the excitement, and refill the town’s depleted coffers, Lucille, the mayor, has wooed a movie producer to Eureka, throwing folks into a tizzy—and inspiring some to reach for the stars. As if that weren’t enough, the bogus Lucky Lady Mine the town partially sold turns out to really have gold in it—and possibly a ghost to boot. But with each silver lining, there seems to be a cloud....
With Eureka’s financial future at stake, Lucille will have to wrangle Lucky Lady’s greedy half-owner to regain control. Meanwhile, just as Jameso is getting comfortable with the imminent role of husband and father, his wayward sister, Sharon, comes to Eureka to escape a troubled marriage. Can the residents of Eureka find the courage to stand up to ghosts of all kinds and get their beloved town back on its feet in time to welcome their newest addition—and celebrate the gifts of spring . . . ?
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
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Copyright © 2015 by Cynthia Myers
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
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eISBN-13: 978-0-7582-9487-6
eISBN-10: 0-7582-9487-5
First Kensington Electronic Edition: July 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7582-9486-9