Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Page 7
Allen sighed. “Of course. And I also can’t remember telling anyone we’d be coming into Glasgow Airport ourselves, if only to see Lizzie and Duke off. This place is chaos today. How soon do you think the flights will be back on course? I should call the desk again—”
“Allen.”
Allen laughed. “I know, I know. Too tense. Control freak. Whatever. We’ll all find each other in the end, and the holiday will be great. It always is. They’re great friends. But it’s the family life that winds me up. And you have to suffer all that as well.”
Leonard grinned back. “It’s no problem. It’s a family I never thought I’d have. They all have their individual characters—the children included.”
“But can you believe it?” Allen’s indignation flared up again. “Lizzie says she hasn’t seen the children for hours! What kind of a mother is she? Says they’re well able to look after themselves. They’re only children, for heaven’s sake!”
Leonard’s gaze homed in unerringly on a particular row of seating in the centre of the lounge. “They’re okay, Allen, believe me. I take my role as honorary uncle very seriously. I’ve been keeping an eye on them all along.” He grinned even more broadly. “And I rather think they’re a little more than just children.”
“IS THAT him?” Emily hissed. She and Max were now back on the upper level, kneeling up on the carpet, with their faces pressed against the plastic viewing pane, peering back down into the lounge. She’d watched the two young men meet and move around each other like they wanted to hug but were sort of scared.
Max nodded. “Uh-huh. That’s Will. Unc goes on about them so much, I easily recognised them both.”
Emily wrinkled her nose, totally scornful of Max. “He could have brushed his hair. It’s not like Garr-eee’s. It’s all dark and spiky.”
Max shrugged. “Guess they like it like that. Whatever.”
Emily looked down a little mournfully at Garry, the man she’d grown to be quite fond of, despite him throwing his ice cream so wastefully on the floor. He was standing very close to Will. They were clutching each other’s arm by now and both wearing really big smiles. That might have even been a kiss Will gave Garry! “Tell me again what Unc Leonard said.”
Max sighed. “He said we should help Garry and Will. He said it was time they finally got it together.”
“It?”
Max shrugged. “No idea. Just what adults do. It’s probably stuff, you know? Both uncs go on and on about it….”
“…and on and on,” Emily added, giggling. A few feet away, their “uncs” turned to look at them. Allen had suspicion in his eyes, but Leonard smiled fondly.
Emily looked at Max and he looked back. They winked at each other. “We shorted them,” she said.
“Sorted. Uh-huh.” They both grinned.
“Do we just leave them now?” Emily looked back down at Garry and Will. Nothing else very exciting seemed to be happening. Maybe they were bored with each other already. No, wait, they were stumbling off to the toilet. She knew Garry had needed to go! “Do they need more help? More ice cream?”
“No.” Max shrugged again, his interest obviously waning. “They’re not taking any notice of anyone else.”
“They need to be lonely,” Emily said, gravely.
“Not lonely.” Max frowned. “Alone. Don’t you ever get anything right?”
Emily stuck out her tongue at him and grinned, not the slightest bit offended. “Yeah. Lots of times. Can I see them kiss again?”
“Eww.” Max looked like he’d swallowed ground glass, plus it was bogey-flavoured. “No you can’t. Kissing is truly gross.” He scrambled up and dusted off the knees of his jeans. “Come on. You have to get Mum from the washroom and then we have to go find our own flight. Maybe you can see them next time we visit the uncs.”
He strode off towards his uncles with the little girl in hot pursuit, romantic visions forgotten.
“But you still owe me four pounds of sweets!” came her plaintive voice.
More from Clare London
A London Lads Story
Newly single in his late twenties and bored with his quiet life in a London suburb, Daniel Cross soon discovers the lure of social media. Excited at the chance of tracking down his old mates from a schooldays sports club, he launches a personal quest to find out what kind of man each boy has become.
Dan’s first mistake is chatting online to a complete stranger—friending the wrong Carson brother on Facebook. But Nick Carson isn’t offended and offers to accompany Dan on the trip to find the others. It’s the first step to friendship and something more for both of them.
For Dan, the reunions with the “Gang of Four” range from startling and heartening to disturbing. Nick’s company is a constant support, though neither of them are prepared for the exposure of personal secrets they’d thought long hidden. Dan begins to suspect he’s really looking for a direction in his own life—and the excitement and purpose he craves may be closer to home than a quest with its roots in a boyhood dream.
A London Lads Story
Compulsive neat freak meets chaotic slob: Can their living space survive the conflict?
Martin Harrison keeps himself to himself and his Central London flat as neat as a new pin. Maybe he should loosen up and enjoy more of a social life, but in his mind, that’s tantamount to opening the floodgates to emotional chaos. He agrees, however, to join the flat-sitting scheme in his building and look after another tenant’s flat in exchange for a similar watch over his when he’s travelling for his work.
A floor away in the same building, Russ McNeely is happy with his life as a freelance cook and a self-confessed domestic slob. He also joins the flat-sitting scheme, both to be neighbourly and to help keep his flat in order, as Russ also travels for his work.
For a while, the very dissimilar men never meet. Martin is horrified at the mess at Russ’s flat, while Russ finds Martin’s minimalist style creepy. But in a spirit of generosity, each of them starts to help the other out by rearranging things in their own inimitable way.
Until the day a hiccup in the schedule brings them face-to-face at last.
A London Lads Story
A secret affair can’t go on forever.
Dylan Philips admits it himself: he’s a relentlessly single man in a small suburban town, both proud of and resigned to being a good teacher and a devoted nephew to his mischievous great-aunts.
When the aunts take a hand in matchmaking him with Josie Whitman, the girl who lives along the street, Dylan doesn’t tell them what kind of soul mate he’s really looking for—and the fact that he’s already found the man in question. It’s not Josie who’s travelling from London every month to her town property, but her journalist brother Neal. And Dylan meets up with Neal whenever he can.
But decisions must be made for their future. Dylan is risk-averse to everything from overseas travel to coming out, whereas Neal embraces adventure—and now he wants to take Dylan with him.
Horrified that his chance at love will move even further out of his reach, Dylan realises it’s time for him to own up to what kind of man he really is. He needs to find courage and compromise. And who knows whether the great-aunts will be a help or a hindrance with that?
A London Lads Story
Ever wanted to spy secretly on other people’s lives?
Ken doesn’t have a choice: his student summer job is manning the CCTV screens for the new central London shopping mall. But instead of spotting criminals or vandals, he becomes fascinated by a cute waiter from the local bistro who sneaks out to the backyard for his break—and plays sexy to the camera.
Is he an old friend, or just an anonymous exhibitionist? Should Ken be excited by this naughty peepshow, or will people think he’s a voyeuristic pervert? Poor Ken’s confused and thrilled in turn. It’s like living in one of the movies he’s studying at university. He knows the man can’t see him, yet Ken feels a connection of some kind. It all encourages Ken to continue with his guilt-ridden Wai
ter Watch.
Ken bears the suspense as long as he can, until a chance meeting and an abortive blind date provide the explanation to the secret assignations. But will this guide Ken to a real-life chance of romance?
Romancing The…
How tangled can a romantic web get?
When gruff mountaineer Dominic Hartington-George seeks sponsorship for his latest expedition, his London PA insists on a more media-friendly profile—like dating celebrity supermodel Zeb Z.
Zeb can’t make the date, so he asks his identical twin, Aidan, to stand in for just one evening. Aidan, a struggling playwright, shuns the limelight to the extent people don’t even know Zeb has a sibling, but he reluctantly agrees.
When the deception has to continue beyond the first date, Aidan fights to keep up the pretense. Dominic likes his sassy, intelligent companion, and Aidan starts falling for the forthright explorer. But how long can Aidan’s conscience cope as confusion abounds? Will coming clean as “the other twin” destroy the trust they’ve built?
CLARE LONDON took her pen name from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home, she juggles her writing with her other day job as an accountant.
She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with award-winning novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic, and sexy characters.
Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter-three stage and plenty of other projects in mind… she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home.
Clare loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her here:
Website: www.clarelondon.com
Email: clarelondon11@yahoo.co.uk
Blog: www.clarelondon.com/blog
Facebook: www.facebook.com/clarelondon
Twitter: @clare_london
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/clarelondon
Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/clarelondon
By Clare London
72 Hours
Bite Night
Charlie Chuckles
Compulsion
Dancing Days
Footprints
Just-You Eyes
One Night Stand
Pop-Ups
The Right Choice
Sparks Fly
Then and Now
Timeslip
Touch
Where’s Santa?
Wishing on a Blue Star (Dreamspinner Anthology)
DREAMSPUN DESIRES
ROMANCING THE…
#19 – Romancing the Wrong Twin
#36 – Romancing the Ugly Duckling
LONDON LADS
Chase the Ace
How the Other Half Lives
A Good Neighbour
Peepshow
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
TRUE COLORS
True Colors
Ambush
Payback
Switch
Flying Colors
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
© 2017 Clare London.
Cover Art
© 2017 Valerie Tibbs | Tibbs Design.
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63533-585-9
Published August 2017
v. 2.0
First Edition published by Amber Quill Press/Amber Allure, 2010.
Printed in the United States of America