A Touch of Passion (boxed set romance bundle)

by Uvi Poznansky

  ❋

  The moment Seth’s mind drifted away was obvious, and it intrigued her. His pensive look made him even more appealing, if that were possible. Thoughtful men were one of her Achilles’ heels. She loved men who were multi-layered. Nothing made a man sexier than having many facets that needed to be unraveled.

  Suzette cleared her throat, “I have to confess I might be a snob when it comes to music. I’ve always leaned more towards the classics. I do listen to jazz every now and then. When I have a chance, I will listen to some country on the radio later this afternoon. It wouldn’t be fair to turn your offer down just because I’ve never listen to your type of music before.”

  Seth refocused on Suzette, and his intense stare filled her with excitement, all the way down to her toes.

  His lazy, country twang was more pronounced the next time he spoke, “I tell you what. My guitar is out in the truck. Why don’t I play you some of my songs? You can make your mind up about country music after listening to a couple of them. I write all of my own lyrics and the music that goes with it. If I can’t make a fan out of you, then I am doomed to be a failure.”

  Deciding she could use a quick break and a cup of coffee, Suzette nodded. “Okay. You go get your guitar, and come upstairs. I have my apartment above the gallery. I haven’t had any breakfast yet. Why don’t I make some coffee, and scramble us some eggs? I can spare you some time to listen.”

  Suzette pointed over to a flight of steps that were off to the back wall of the gallery. “Just go on up, after you’ve got your guitar, and we will see if you can convert me into being a fan.”

  Seth gave a lopsided grin and quickly agreed. “Breakfast sounds good. I don’t mean to sound conceited, but if I can’t convert you then no one can.”

  Suzette laughed. He was a charming man. She turned to leave the room, but quickly called back over her shoulder, “I’m not sure anyone has that much talent.”

  ❋

  Seth watched her head up the stairway. He watched until she disappeared before turning to leave the room. He left the gallery through its front entrance, and walked out into bright summer sunshine. His old red Chevy truck was parked in a metered parking space on the other side of the street. He had to wait for the next walk sign before he could cross. When he did, and perfectly legally, a woman driver honked at him as if it was his fault she almost hit him.

  Even after almost getting run over, it wasn’t enough to wipe away the smile on his face. He smiled and waved, running the rest of the way. As soon as he unlocked the truck door he grabbed the battered old guitar off of the truck’s seat. Dodging cars again, he headed back to the gallery, this time making it without any mishap. Bill was still fast asleep on the bench as Seth entered and headed for the stairway, guitar in hand. He could already smell the coffee brewing and bacon cooking.

  Suzette was a woman of her word. He had no idea he was hungry, not until the wonderful smells hit him full force, about half way up the staircase. Her apartment’s layout almost mirrored the gallery. Both the first and second floors were about fifty feet in length and some twenty five in width. The second floor was one long room with a door on the back wall. The larger room only had a limited amount of furniture. It looked as if Suzette was a woman of few needs. Seth didn’t know a lot of women like her. His own mother had wall to wall furniture crammed into her small two bedroom house.

  The room had a small kitchen area at the end facing the back of the apartment, with a small sink and a couple of light stained oak cabinets over it. The only furniture in that area was a tiny glass table with two chairs. In the middle of the room there was a large, unmade, four-poster bed covered in a bright teal bedspread. Next to it was a huge antique oak dresser. Every single one of its drawers was wide open. Clothes spilled out of them as if Suzette had been in a hurry to dress that morning. There was an enormous antique mirror hanging on the wall over the dresser, pictures of friends and loved ones taped all around its edges.

  Seth tried not to notice the discarded clothes on the floor by the bed, but he wouldn’t have been a man if he hadn’t noticed the red silky panties lying there. Set up at the far end of the long room was a well-equipped art studio. This area was a stark contrast to her living quarters. It was as neat as a pin. All of the canvases and art supplies were arranged and stored in tidy containers.

  Suzette was so busy cooking she didn’t turn around when he came in. At that moment she was pulling several food items out of a compact refrigerator. She only turned when he set his guitar on her tiny kitchen table.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but after I started cooking I realized that I was hungry. I think I’m going to fry some home style potatoes to go with the bacon and scrambled eggs. I hope you’re hungry.”

  She turned with a can of biscuits in one hand. “What do you think? How about some biscuits too? We will have to settle for the store bought kind, though. I’m not the kind of cook who can whip up a pan of biscuits from scratch.”

  Seth nodded. “I didn’t know I was hungry until I smelled the bacon cooking. I’m willing to eat whatever you set in front of me. I was raised on canned biscuits. My mom had no idea biscuits could be made from scratch. Do you need any help with anything?”

  Suzette began pulling her baking dishes out of the cabinet, and just motioned for him to sit. “No. Our agreement was for you to play while I cooked, and that’s exactly what you’re going to do. I can’t promise this will be the best breakfast you ever had, but at least there will be plenty of it.”

  Seth pulled a chair out and sat before picking up his guitar to tune.

  ❋

  Suzette was putting the baking pan of biscuits in the oven when Seth began singing. His voice had been one of the first things she had noticed when he had introduced himself earlier, but the moment he began singing she found it to be even more fascinating. It had an interesting husky quality to it that sent chills up her spine.

  She didn’t turn, but continued with the food preparations. The words to his song were just as magnetic as his voice. It was a soft sung song of lost love. Not the expected lyrics of a man losing the love of a woman but of a son losing the love of his father. Suzette flipped the bacon slices over in the cast iron skillet, and then began peeling potatoes and slicing them. There she was doing the most mundane things and she wanted to cry. She couldn’t help but think about the young boy Seth was singing about.

  It sounded too real not to be about him and his life. Who else but the person singing this song could sing it with such genuine emotion? His next song was just as heartbreaking. How had she not taken the time to listen to such heartfelt music before? The joke had always been, what do you get if you play a country music record backward? You got back your lost love, your truck and your dog. Suzette had been guilty of letting old jokes stop her from listening to country music stations. After all, she lived just twenty miles from its world capital; Nashville, Tennessee. You couldn’t live in Tennessee and not know about country music, but Suzette had always considered herself too cultured ever to take it seriously.

  Was Seth’s music a good example of what the rest of it was like? She was finding herself pulled to the man sitting at her kitchen table. His songs were of a wounded soul. Someone had stolen his innocence and his youth.

  Suzette finished cooking, and divided all the food onto her best china. She wasn’t trying to impress him, but she seldom cooked so it was all she owned. She set two plates on the table but found she was no longer hungry. She propped her elbows on the table and gave Seth all of her attention. She knew without a doubt she was going to paint this man’s portrait.

  He had a story, and she now knew she had to find out what it was, but she didn’t think he was the type to tell anyone about himself. It was going to take some time to find out what made him tick, and that meant spending time together. Painting a portrait took time. Seth didn’t know it, but Suzette had made her decision. She had decided that Seth had depth and a wounded soul. She wanted to know why he sung of such pain a
nd sorrow.

  Seth played and sung three more songs before finally setting down the guitar off to the side.

  Just as Seth was pulling his plate of food closer, Bill called up the stairwell. “I’m starving to death!” A few seconds later he entered the room.

  Suzette shook her head but grinned. “Sure. There’s plenty.” She handed him her plate of food.

  Bill took it and sat on the kitchen counter top as if it was a lounge chair.

  Seth slid his plate across the table toward Suzette. “There’s more than enough on my plate to share.”

  Suzette just shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m no longer hungry.”

  Seth looked concerned. “I hope that it wasn’t my music that made you lose your appetite.”

  Suzette surprised herself by reaching across the table to touch his hand. “No! I didn’t mean that at all. Your music was great! I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I have to find out now whether the rest of country music is like your songs. Your lyrics were sad and haunting. I’m intrigued by what I heard today. You’ve just made a new fan.”

  When Suzette realized she had left her hand on top of his, she quickly pulled it back. She wrapped it around her coffee cup so Seth couldn’t see it was trembling.

  His eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “I never know how my music will be received. I was pretty cocky earlier when I said that I could change your mind about country, but deep down I’m still not certain about how people are going to accept my music. I’ve been playing in small clubs for the past six years, and the upcoming tour will be my first opportunity to play to larger audiences. I’m really excited about it, but it is a bit daunting.”

  Seth leaned back in the kitchen chair and gave Suzette a charming smile. “Fan, huh? So does that mean you have decided to do the album cover?”

  Bill asked with a mouthful. “What album cover? What did I miss?”

  Suzette glared at him. “If you didn’t doze off at every opportunity, you would know what was going on.”

  Bill just popped some more food into his mouth and smiled, like he knew she wasn’t really mad.

  Suzette stood and walked over to the coffee pot, to top off her half-filled cup. It wasn’t easy resisting Seth’s personality, to stop it influencing her decision. She suspected he had more than his fair share of women hanging around, idolizing him. She had no intention of falling into that category.

  When she realized she had let his music affect her so much, she tried pulling back a bit, emotionally. She needed to keep everything in perspective. After pouring the coffee, she returned to the table with the intention of keeping the rest of their meeting more business-like.

  Her tone reflected the change. “Yes. The project suddenly interests me. Why don’t you call me next week, and we will set up a time that is convenient for the both of us?”

  “Now that you’ve seen my work, why don’t you show me some of yours?” He gestured towards the studio area.

  Suzette liked her privacy, but it only seemed fair. She jammed her hands into her short’s pockets. “Okay. There’s really not much to see. Most of my work is downstairs in storage.”

  She took him across to the studio area, and to an easel on which rested a breathtaking landscape. It wasn’t any normal landscape but a mystical land of exotic flowers and peaceful meadows full of tall flowing grasses. Seth studied it for several minutes before finally breaking away and going over to the stack Suzette had under a window at the far end of the room.

  As he sorted through, his face lit up at the beauty each canvas held. “These are truly amazing! I know you said you did landscapes, but I wasn’t expecting anything like this. These are truly stunning.”

  Suzette didn’t realize she was holding her breath. She quietly expelled her pent-up breath, and hoped her voice didn’t betray how fast her heart was beating. “I don’t paint as many portraits as I used to. I change my style of painting every couple of years so my perspective stays fresh. I’m glad you liked my landscapes. You’re the first person that I have shown them to.”

  He walked over to the painting on the easel again. “I don’t think I have ever seen anything more beautiful in my entire life. I don’t know if they’re for sale, but I would love to buy this one. I think I have been looking my entire life for such a place. The scene is so peaceful I can’t stop looking at it.”

  Suzette heard the wistfulness in his voice. It was her favorite painting too. She had painted it the week before, after waking up from a dream that was vaguely familiar and somehow slightly unsettling. She couldn’t go back to sleep for thinking about it stayed long after waking. After tossing and turning for about twenty minutes she had finally got up and painted it. Every day she would look at and question why it was so disturbing. It felt as if she had been there before, and Seth’s expression told her that it somehow affected him in the same way. “I would like to give you this landscape, if you would like to have it.”

  He stepped back and alternately looked at the painting and then back at her, as if he couldn’t believe his ears. “You don’t have to give it to me. I would love to buy it from you.”

  Suzette just shook her head. “Consider it payback for the music you shared with me earlier.”

  Seth touched her arm and, as if that wasn’t enough to express his gratitude, kissed her cheek. “I’m truly touched by your generosity.”

  Suzette resisted the urge to touch the spot where he had kissed her. It felt like a hot poker had rested there. She shook her head, slowly trying to remove the cobwebs and return some sort of sanity. She smiled as if none of these thoughts had entered her head. “You’re welcome. I love it when my paintings find a good home, with people who really appreciate them.”

  Since Suzette still had so much to do to finish setting up the new art exhibit, she changed the subject. “When will it be convenient for you to set up a meeting to discuss the arrangements for me doing your portrait?”

  Seth pressed his lips together and tapped his foot while thinking. “I have a lot of details to sort out for my tour, the first of next week. How about next Friday? Say around three p.m.?”

  It was strangely disappointing to find out the meeting wasn’t going to be until the end of the week. “Three o’clock on Friday works for me. Do you want to meet at Beverly’s office?”

  “That sounds good.”

  Suzette nodded toward the painting. “I’ll get it boxed up and I send it to her office.”

  Seth gave the painting one long, last look. “I can’t thank you enough for this. I don’t think anyone has ever given me a nicer gift.”

  Suzette smiled but looked embarrassed.

  Seth gathered up his guitar, and gave Bill a small wave. Bill was still on the kitchen counter finishing off the last of the biscuits. “It was nice meeting you, Bill.”

  Bill smiled with the biscuit still in his mouth. “Nice meeting you too.”

  ❋

  Seth left the art gallery and headed across the busy square towards his truck. He couldn’t get the silly grin off of his face. It must have been infectious, though, because several people returned his smile.

  When Seth reached his truck he went to put his guitar on the seat, but stopped when he saw a sheet of white paper lying there. He glanced around to see if anyone was standing nearby, but when no one seemed interested in him, he put the guitar in the floorboard and picked up the note. The moment he read it his smile vanished.

  We need to talk about our father. I’ll contact you later about how much cash to bring when we meet. If you don’t do exactly as you’re instructed, I will contact the media about how our old man ruined the life of an innocent sixteen year old girl by getting her pregnant and hooked on drugs.

  Your long lost brother

  Brother?

  Seth wadded the note and tossed into the floorboard of the truck. He rested his forehead on the hot steering wheel and let the heat from the plastic burn into his skin. He had been crazy to think that just because his father was
dead he was finished finding ways of messing with his life. From beyond the grave Montgomery Black was still stirring up all the old emotions, and opening up old wounds.

  He wasn’t afraid of the humiliation this might cause him, if it became public knowledge, but his mom was just six months into recovering from pain pills and alcohol abuse. Could she handle the rehash of all of the old scandals? It never crossed his mind that the note might be a lie. It only left him curious about a brother he had never met. He looked at the crumpled-up paper and sighed. This just might be the tip of a very large and dangerous iceberg.

  This has been the first chapter of

  Songs that I Whisper

  Volume II of the Warren Family series

  by

  Regina Puckett

  Perfect for Him

  Suzanne Jenkins

  Two years after her husband, Jason makes a late night-discovery, Harley Jones finds out she’s dying, with the reality of leaving him and their four daughters behind. As obsession with what will become of her family overwhelms the little time she has left, and another woman sets her sights on Jason, Harley’s sister-in-law, Bea comes up with an idea that might solve Harley’s problems.

  Perfect for Him is a tale of two lovers whose lifetime romance sustains them, as an unwanted ending looms in the near future. Pathos and heartbreak intermingles with expectation and the comedy that only a close-knit family can generate. At the end, joy and hope reign, thanks to Harley’s unselfish love.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9