Sebastian straightened, lifting my feet off the ground without breaking the kiss. Instead of the normal passion-laced growl, he smiled as he kissed me. I made him smile. Confidence burned through me. Pride filled my heart.
“I love you,” he whispered against my lips.
I deepened the kiss. Cheers went up around us. For a moment, it felt like the island was celebrating the milestone with us. He bought a house!
Sebastian pulled back an inch and squeezed me to his chest.
A montage of Americana songs, from patriotic to Bruce Springsteen, blared through a series of speakers overhead. “We are the Champions” bled into “Celebration” by Kool and the Gang. I laughed. Confetti rained down over us. Popping champagne corks punctuated the high energy tune.
I turned toward the stage. Sebastian wrapped strong arms around my waist and rested warm hands across my middle. “Looks like your boy won.”
I took in the scene around me, pulling back a step from my personal relationship victory. “He won!”
I jumped up and down like a child. Sebastian hooted and pumped a fist in the air beside me. On stage, Adrian chugged champagne and sang into the microphone with each changing song.
I waved my arms and squealed in delight. My feet disappeared beneath me. Sebastian hoisted me up like a college cheerleader. I just managed a seated perch on his shoulder. As a general rule, women shouldn’t stand over men’s heads in tiny skirts. Call me a feminist, but they had to work for the money shot.
“Adrian!” The moment I spoke, his head turned my way, as if he’d heard me over everything else, despite all the racket. “Way to go, Mayor Davis!”
He smiled and waved a bottle of champagne.
Sebastian dropped me back on my feet. “Would you like to see the house?”
I beamed. “Yes.”
He removed the key from its box and pressed it into my palm. I didn’t get a proposal. I got something better: a key that I imagined opening the door to many unbelievably fantastic adventures in my future, with Sebastian as my sidekick.
* * * * *
Don’t miss books one and two of The Patience Price Mysteries, available now!
Murder by the Seaside
Armed with a new counseling degree, Patience Price is eager to move back home to Chincoteague Island to help folks with their problems. But she finds the streets awash in more than East Coast charm. There’s been a murder, and Adrian Davis, the town golden boy who once stomped her heart into a zillion pieces, is the main suspect. Now he’s on the run, claiming he’s innocent. Patience finds this...poetic. Not that she holds a grudge.
Adrian’s mom is sure that with her FBI background
Patience can find the truth. Yes, she was at the FBI—in human resources. Still, she looks into it, but not everyone is happy with her snooping. Either that, or the welcome wagon has some bold new policies involving drive-by shootings.
Things really heat up when a hunky former coworker, an actual FBI agent, arrives to help. But he may be too late; the quaint island harbors deadly secrets—and Patience is running out of time.
Murder Comes Ashore
Patience Price is just settling into her new life as resident counselor on Chincoteague Island when things take a sudden turn for the worse. A collection of body parts has washed up on shore and suddenly nothing feels safe on the quaint island.
Patience instinctively turns to current crush and FBI special agent Sebastian for help, but former flame Adrian is also on the case, hoping that solving the grisly crime will land him a win in the upcoming mayoral election.
When the body count rises and Patience’s parents are brought in as suspects, Patience is spurred to begin her own investigation. It’s not long before she starts receiving terrifying threats from the killer, and though she’s determined to clear her family’s name, it seems the closer Patience gets to finding answers, the closer she comes to being the killer’s next victim.
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About the Author
Julie Anne Lindsey is a mother of three, wife to a sane person and ringmaster at the Lindsey Circus. She lives with her husband and three small children in rural Ohio where she was born and raised. You can find her online day or night, amped up on coffee and wielding a book.
Find more information about Julie at julieannelindsey.com.
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ISBN-13: 9781426899065
Murder in Real Time
Copyright © 2014 by Julie Anne Lindsey
Edited by Elizabeth Bass
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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