Her lips met his. She didn’t care if there were cameras or people watching. Nothing mattered but returning to the arms of the man she loved.
“Another first, ladies and gentlemen!” she heard the host say over the applause. “A marriage proposal on my show. And of all the guests—Hollywood dating hellcat Ivy Hudson! This is going in the highlight reel, folks.”
Reluctantly, Ivy pulled away. They were on a television show, and eventually they needed to cut for commercial. Once she got off that stage, she could kiss and hug Blake all she wanted to. They settled back into their seats with Blake still holding her hand.
“You’d better be good to your fiancée, Blake,” Jimmy said. “I hear she can write a pretty mean song about the guys that break her heart.”
“I know!” Blake said with a happy laugh. “Believe me, I know!”
“The talented and newly engaged Ivy Hudson and Blake Chamberlain!” Jimmy announced to the crowd. “When we come back, we’ll chat with the pint-size star of Kiddie Commando—Ty Mason!”
The crowd applauded again and Blake and Ivy were free to make their way off the set. They disappeared backstage, hand in hand. Hidden in the dark folds of the stage drapery, Blake swept her into his arms again.
“Nothing happened. Not a damn thing. Lydia was trying to break us up once and for all. That woman will go to any length to make you miserable.”
“Like what? More than just the usual spitefulness?”
Blake sighed. “Yes. Like spooking your horse at the parade. Like planning that whole thing Saturday night so you would catch us together. But nothing happened. I had just reached out to push her away when you walked in. I wouldn’t have done that to you twice, Ivy. I’ve beat myself up for six years over the first time. It would mean a lifetime of penance to do it again. And I certainly wouldn’t have put you on the spot like that, proposing, if I had anything to hide from you.”
Ivy wanted to believe him. So badly. “I love you, Blake. Whether or not I should, I do. And I want to believe you. I want to marry you. But I want to be smart about this, too. Let’s not get married right away. I’d like us to have a long engagement so we can really get to know each other as we are, not just as we were.”
“So we’re tentatively engaged pending the successful completion of my trial period?” He smiled when he said the words, which made Ivy feel better about the suggestion. “I’m all for that. I will do whatever it takes to win back your trust.”
“Thank you.” Ivy leaned in and kissed him, snuggling comfortably into his strong arms. It would be hard for her not to want to rush into marrying him, but she knew they both needed the time. “I also think we need a while to figure out how all this is going to work.”
“As long as I’m with you, I think it’s going to work out just fine. My grandmother said we were meant to be together, and I believe her. I wouldn’t have hung my neck out there like that if I didn’t.”
“So, the show didn’t fly you out here?”
“No, I came on my own but didn’t know how to find you. I called your phone, but Malcolm answered.”
“Stop right there,” Ivy said. Her mind was still whirling with everything that had just happened, but at least some of the puzzle pieces were fitting together. This was no stunt organized by the show for good ratings. This was the carefully orchestrated romantic interference of her best friend.
When she turned to look backstage, she spied a smug-looking Malcolm waiting for them. She took Blake’s hand and led him over to where Malcolm was standing. “Malcolm . . .” she said in a warning tone.
He immediately threw his hands up. “I am only partially responsible for all of that. I just got him on set. Okay, well, I got him on set and I got everything okayed by the show’s producers. And I gave him the idea. But that’s it.”
Somehow she doubted that, but she was incredibly grateful for his romantic interference.
Ivy wrapped her arms around Blake’s waist, looking up at him with a smile curling her lips. They were in love and getting married. That decided, there were still a million variables to figure out. Where would they live? What would they do? How would they make this work? “So now what?” she asked.
“Well, you still need a couple of tracks for your new album, right?”
Ivy frowned in confusion. “Yes.” How did that relate to anything?
Blake looked down at her, his blue eyes crinkled with mischievousness. “Then you’d better take me back to your house so I can help inspire some brand-new songs.”
Ready for More? The Fun in Rosewood Continues…
Chapter One
“You know, there are days when I’d consider setting my house on fire if I thought that sexy thing would show up and save me,” Vera Reynolds declared as she eyed the passing fire truck filled with gorgeous firefighters.
Pepper heard a lot of things working at Curls, the only hair salon in Rosewood, Alabama. As in any small southern town, the beauty parlor was one of the best places to get the pulse on the local happenings. She didn’t need a subscription to the local paper. Frankly, anything Clark Newton reported in the Rosewood Times was old news to her by the time it hit the front page.
Pepper and her boss, Sarah Hudson, the owner of Curls, were always kept fully abreast of town gossip. If people didn’t sit in their chairs and talk about their own life’s drama, they’d come armed with information about someone else’s. At any point in time, Pepper knew all about the town romances, who was in a spat over property lines, who spent the night in the drunk tank of the local jail, and who had sabotaged a Rosewood Garden Club member’s prized fern.
It was a small town, low on actual crime but always high on drama. Although there was nothing she could do to keep from hearing the gossip, Pepper tried very hard not to spread it. She knew how easily it could come back to bite her. Instead, she liked to play the role of salon-chair therapist. They talked, she listened and made thoughtful noises while working on their hair.
But sometimes, like today, she just didn’t want to know. And since Miss Francine and Miss Vera always scheduled their appointments together, today meant double the trouble, and no escaping the gossip.
Instead of responding to Miss Vera’s declaration, Pepper worked at sweeping up the fine hair on the floor from Sheriff Todd’s trim. The man had almost no hair and yet he showed up for a cut every four weeks, like clockwork. Pepper felt bad actually charging the man.
“What sexy thing? Who was that?” Francine Doyle asked. “I can’t see out the window with this dryer over my head.”
“It was Grant,” Miss Vera said.
“Who?”
“Grant Chamberlain!” she shouted over the noise of the dryer as pieces of foil flapped in her hair.
Pepper winced at the sound of that name. Unlike Miss Vera, she had been dodging Grant Chamberlain since high school.
The scrappy little freshman had had the nerve to ask her to the fall formal her junior year. He wasn’t even old enough to drive them to the dance, but that hadn’t stopped him. For whatever reason, he’d decided he wanted Pepper, and no matter how many times she told him no, he’d always come back around a few weeks later with another proposal.
Dating a Chamberlain might be a feather in the cap for most girls at Rosewood High, but not for Pepper. She’d tried to avoid that whole family, which wasn’t difficult considering they lived in the antebellum mansion on Willow Lake and she’d lived in a trailer off the highway. Life was hard enough being poor and unpopular. Dating a freshman her junior year would’ve earned her merciless teasing by the other kids at school. Even if he was a Chamberlain.
Pepper looked up in time to see Miss Francine’s lips twist into a grimace of distaste. “You are a dirty old woman,” she snapped. “That child is barely out of diapers.”
“He’s old enough,” Miss Vera muttered, turning back to look into the mirror. With one finger, she pulled at some of the wrinkles on her face, tugging until she looked ten years younger.
“I’m just too old
.”
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Feeding the Fire
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Also by Andrea Laurence
Romances in Rosewood
Facing the Music
Feeding the Fire
Stirring Up Trouble
Millionaires of Manhattan
What Lies Beneath
More Than He Expected
His Lover’s Little Secret
The CEO’s Unexpected Child
Little Secrets: Secretly Pregnant
Rags to Riches Baby
One Unforgettable Weekend
The Boyfriend Arrangement
Secrets of Eden
Undeniable Demands
A Beauty Uncovered
Heir to Scandal
Her Secret Husband
Brides and Belles
Snowed in With Her Ex
Thirty Days to Win His Wife
One Week with the Best Man
A White Wedding Christmas
Hawaiian Nights
The Pregnancy Proposition
The Baby Proposal
Other Titles
A Very Exclusive Engagement
Back in Her Husband’s Bed
Seduced by the Spare Heir
Saying Yes to the Boss
Expecting the Billionaire’s Baby
The Baby Favor
Jingle Spells
More Than Men
Sexy As Hell
The Walking Sexy
Sexy in a Bottle
The More Than Men Sexy Trilogy
About the Author
Andrea Laurence is an award-winning author of contemporary and paranormal romance. She has been a lover of reading and writing stories since she learned to read at a young age. She always dreamed of seeing her work in print and is thrilled to share her special blend of sensuality and dry, sarcastic humor with the world. A dedicated West Coast girl transplanted into the Deep South, she’s constantly trying to develop a taste for sweet tea while caring for her collection of animals including a Siberian Husky that sheds like nobody’s business.
www.andrealaurence.com
Facing the Music: A Rosewood Novel Page 28