by Peggy Webb
“Margaret Leigh.”
He smiled. “Margaret Leigh, I might be a scoundrel through and through, but I know how to treat a dog. Trust me.” He was surprised at himself. He never reassured the dog owners who came to him: he was a take-it-or-leave-it man. “If it will make you feel better, you can come back to visit her during the training.”
“Thank you.” She started to leave, then turned back for last-minute instructions. “She's afraid of the dark. I keep a night-light on for her. And she's vain. She loves to sleep in her ribbons. Loud noises bother her, so don't play the television too loud.”
“I don't own a television.”
“How do you keep up with current events?”
“Radio and newspapers.”
“Well, keep the radio down low for Christine... please.”
“Don't worry. She’ll be returned to you safe and sound, but without her bad habit.”
“Thank you.”
Margaret Leigh realized that was the second time she had said thank you. He must think she was a ninny. How did you deal with a man like Andrew McGill? Tess would know. She'd had experience. Margaret Leigh decided the best thing to do was just turn around and leave before she made any more blunders. With a little wave of her hand, she started off.
Andrew watched her go. Her eyes were the color of grape lollipops. The thought popped into his conscious mind unexpectedly. He'd never met a woman with eyes so blue they looked purple.
Christine whimpered, and he stroked her.
“Your mistress is about the most uptight woman I've ever met. Did you know that, Christine?” The little dog licked his hand. “I've never seen such a proper lady.”
The small car chugged around the bend and disappeared in a puff of dust.
“What would happen,” Andrew mused, “if I trained both of you?”
He chuckled at the thought. Teaching Margaret Leigh how to have fun might be just the thing to add some spice to his Saturday mornings.
o0o
As soon as Margaret Leigh was around the bend, she pulled off the road and leaned her forehead on the steering wheel. She couldn't believe herself. She'd actually carried on with that man like a brazen hussy—letting him rub her cheek and calling him a scoundrel. What in the world had gotten into her? She should have taken her dog and marched right out of there. And that was another thing. She'd actually left Christine with the rogue.
Of course, he was a well-respected dog trainer.
She took a handkerchief out of her purse and carefully wiped her perspiring palms. Southern ladies didn't sweat. Aunt Bertha had always told her that. So had Aunt Grace.
Southern ladies didn't smoke standing up, either. She and Tess used to laugh over that bit of maidenly aunt wisdom. They'd get behind the barn with a pack of cigarettes Tess had swiped from Grandpa Jones and smoke standing up just to see if it made them feel like floozies. It never had.
Of course Tess had gone on to become the family floozy—three divorces and singing in juke joints. At least, that was the family's opinion. It made Margaret Leigh as mad as... well, nearly as mad as hell.
She drew a deep breath. There. She'd thought it.
“Hell.” She even said it out loud. And it felt good.
If she had had a cigarette, she'd have climbed out of her car and smoked it standing up just for the heck of it. Maybe she was turning into a floozy. The strange thing was, it didn't feel bad, not bad at all.
She cranked her car and headed home. She knew her bold and reckless feelings were only temporary. Shy all her life and content to live in Tess's shadow, she was something of an anachronism, a woman with Victorian manners and morals in an age of easy sex and instant gratification.
Driving away from Andrew McGill's cabin, she wished she were different. She wished she wore bleached hair and leather skirts instead of a French twist and sensible gabardine. She wished she knew the art of banal banter and sexual innuendo rather than how to make Southern fried chicken and how to get dog piddle out of the rug. She wished she knew how to flirt instead of how to blush. She wished she preferred French kissing to French cooking.
Of course, she didn't wish any of that as a permanent condition, just on a short-term basis, just long enough to deal with the likes of Andrew McGill. She sighed. She’d feel more like herself when she raked the leaves.
o0o
Coming October 1, 2012 – Elvis and the Blue Christmas Corpse (A Southern Cousins Mystery, Book Five)
Coming December, 2012, The Tender Mercy of Roses by Anna Michaels in trade paperback (available now in digital and hardcover)
Coming soon, That Jones Girl, sequel to Saturday Mornings
About Peggy Webb
In a career that spans 26 years, the Mississippi author has written almost 70 books. Writing as Peggy Webb, she pens romance and the popular, comedic Southern Cousins Mystery Series starring Elvis, the basset hound who thinks he’s the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll reincarnated. Writing as Anna Michaels, she pens literary fiction. She has been on the romance bestseller list numerous times and has won many awards, including a Romantic Times Pioneer Award for creating the sub-genre of romantic comedy. Several of her romances have been optioned for film.
The Tender Mercy of Roses, 2011, written as Anna Michaels, is a Delta Magazine Top Five Pick, a Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club Featured Alternate. Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides, calls it “astonishing.”
Peggy is a member of Novelists, Inc., International Thriller Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is excited about bringing her romance classics (originally published as Bantam Loveswepts) back to readers as E-books. The award-winning Touched by Angels and A Prince for Jenny, as well as the Donovans of the Delta series, are Kindle Top 100 bestsellers.
Follow the author on her websites: www.peggywebb.com and www.annamichaels.net and on Facebook as both Peggy Webb and Anna Michaels.
o0o
Other E-Books from Peggy Webb
Classic Romance (originally published as Loveswept)
Dark Fire
Touched by Angels (RT Reviewer’s Choice)
A Prince for Jenny, sequel to Touched by Angels
The Edge of Paradise
Duplicity (Rave review, RT Reviewer’s Choice)
Where Dolphins Go (RT Reviewer’s Choice, women’s fiction, optioned for film)
Night of the Dragon (time travel romance)
Christmas in Time (time travel, prequel to Only Yesterday)
Only Yesterday, (time travel, sequel to Christmas in Time)
Summer Jazz
The Donovans of the Delta Series:
Donovan’s Angel (Paul Donovan’s story)
Sleepless Nights (Tanner Donovan’s story)
Hallie’s Destiny (award winning book, Hallie Donovan’s story)
Any Thursday (Hannah Donovan’s story)
Higher Than Eagles (Jacob Donovan’s story)
The Mississippi McGills Series (spin-off from Donovans of the Delta)
Valley of Fire (Rick McGill’s story)
Until Morning Comes (Jo Beth McGill and Colter Gray Wolf’s story)
Saturday Mornings (Andrew McGill’s story)
Romantic Suspense, originally published as Bantam Fanfare
Witch Dance
From A Distance
E-books Coming Soon
Taming Maggie (#1 on Waldenbooks’ Romance Bestseller List)
Only His Touch
That Jones Girl (sequel to the Mississippi McGills)
Southern Cousins Mysteries, Peggy Webb (available in print and e-books)
Published by Kensington
Elvis and the Dearly Departed, 2008
Elvis and the Grateful Dead, 2009
Elvis and the Memphis Mambo Murders, 2010
Elvis and the Tropical Double Trouble, 2011
Elvis and the Blue Christmas Corpse, Oct. 1, 2012
Coming Soon
Southern Cousins Companion and Cookbook (digital only)
Jack Loves Callie Te
nder (prequel to the series, digital only)
Novels written as Anna Michaels (available in hardcover and e-book)
The Tender Mercy of Roses ( Gallery, Simon & Schuster, May 17, 2011)
The Language of Silence (Gallery, Simon & Schuster, coming soon)
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Saturday Mornings
About Peggy Webb
Other E-Books from Peggy Webb