by D. D. Scott
Roman and I watched as Rudolph and his ruby red, GPS-endowed nose disappeared into the swirling snow and darkness of Christmas Eve night.
“Is his nose a real ruby?” Roman asked.
“It is,” I said, relieved to be able to share all of my past with my prince. “C’mon, I’ve got something I want to show you.”
I took his hand and led him to my parent’s gem vaults, where they’d spent years perfecting techniques to capture the colors and brilliance of the world’s rarest gems.
If we were going to save the kinds of rubies that made Rudolph’s nose able to guide a sleigh, we had our work cut-out for us.
We also had a lot of packing to do.
As soon as the holidays were through, we were on our way to the exotic locale that held the secret to my family’s fortune.
In the mean time…
Merry Christmas to all.
And may your new years too be filled with carats and coconuts.
THE END
(The Cozy Cash Mysteries continue with CARATS AND COCONUTS)
NOTE FROM D. D. SCOTT
Here’s a big ol’ Happy Holidays shout-out to all of you in D. D. Scott-ville!
Whether you’re brand new to my Bootscootin’, Cozy Cash Mystery, Mom Squad Mini-Mayhem and Stuck with a Series Worlds, or you keep comin’ back for more of my quirky-fun fabulousness, cheers to you and your families too this wonderful holiday season!
Nothin’ beats treating y’all to great books for great prices, and I can’t wait to share LOL stories with you for years to come!
Happy Holidays again…from my home to yours.
Cheers! — D. D. Scott
ABOUT D. D. SCOTT
D. D. Scott is an Amazon and Barnes & Noble Top 100 Bestselling Romantic Comedy and Humorous Mystery Author. She’s a Writer’s Go-To-Gal for Muse Therapy, plus the #1 Amazon Bestselling Author of Muse Therapy: Unleashing Your Inner Sybil and the Co-Founder of The WG2E – The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing - your destination site for Everything E-Publishing, and Founder of The RG2E – The Reader’s Guide to Epublishing – the destination site for all-things Ereading. You can get all the scoop on her, her books, her Muse Therapy Online Classes and Live Workshops, plus juicy tidbits too from her website D. D. Scott-ville.
Full Bio:
D. D. Scott’s bestselling romantic comedies are all about sexy, sassy, smart, career-driven women and the men who complete them. They’re a bit chick lit with a gone-country twist…and now a humorous mystery, comedic caper twist too. Her Bootscootin’ Books - think Sex and The City meets Urban Cowboy – debuted August 2010, on Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and at Smashwords, with BOOTSCOOTIN’ BLAHNIKS, followed by STOMPIN’ ON STETSONS and BUCKLES ME BABY. Now, The Bootscootin’ Characters are gettin’ “cozy”…as in Comedic Caper cozy, with the release of THUG GUARD, LIP GLOCK and CARATS & COCONUTS, Books One, Two and Three of her new, Cozy Cash Mysteries, featuring all of your fave Bootscootin’ characters plus tons of quirky new characters too.
She’s a two-time Amazon Movers & Shakers List Author (making it all the way to #2 on that prestigious list) and has been both a featured author and her books have been top picks – including one of the Top 10 Books for Mother’s Day 2011 - for such superfab Ereader-centric Blogs as Ereader News Today (ENT), Kindle Nation Daily, Cheap e-Reads, Pixel of Ink, The Frugal eReader, Indie Books List, Only Romance, and Bargain eBooks. Her blog posts on the Indie Epub World have been picked-up by fantabulous blogs like Bufo Calvin’s I Love My Kindle. She can be spotted all-week long on her one-million-hits-per-month grog The WG2E, a writer’s destination site for all-things-Epublishing. She often can also be found hangin’ on both the Kindle and Nook Boards, her new site The RG2E, a reader’s destination site for all-things Ereading, and has an active blog of her own on her website.
Also a Writer’s Go-to-Gal for Muse Therapy and now the Amazon #1 Bestselling Author of MUSE THERAPY: UNLEASHING YOUR INNER SYBIL, D. D. debuted her Muse Therapy Online Classes in 2009 and her Live Workshops in 2010. Thanks to the fabulous endorsement of Stephen Windwalker’s Kindle Nation Daily, there’s a ton more fun and fascinating MUSE THERAPY adventures in development.
D. D.’s first two short stories - The Mom Squad Mini-Mayhem Mysteries – FLUID FULFILLMENT and LICENSED FOR LOVE – released in October 2011, and a D. D. Scott Special Edition Ebook Boxed Set followed in December 2011, which included all three Bootscootin’ Books plus the first two Cozy Cash Mysteries. Her brand new Serial Novels THE STUCK WITH A SERIES released in March 2012, with STUCK WITH A SCHMUCK and STUCK WITH A STIFF, along with a total of 14 additional releases throughout 2012 and many more to come in 2013.
Declaring 2011 to be “The Year of the E-Book & Cross-Pollination”, D. D. co-founded and launched The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing, your destination site for Everything E-Publishing. Whatever you want to know and/or cuss and discuss about E-publishing, it’s right there at The WG2E waiting for you as well as in her latest bestselling non-fiction book 10 YEARS AND 24 HOURS TO INDIE EPUBLISHING SUCCESS.
Declaring 2012 “The Year of the Reader”, she founded The RG2E – The Reader’s Guide to Epublishing – a sister site to The WG2E, which launched February 1, 2012 and is “the” new destination site for the Best in Ereading, Ebook Gifting and Ereader Giveaways too.
When she’s not writing, she’s busy luuuvin’ on her real-life hero “Sweet Man” and their beloved shelter-rescued dog Buckley and his new playmate Siggy the Affenpinscher.
For updates on her books, her sexy, sassy, smart neurotic writer’s life blog, and for a schedule of her appearances, including Muse Therapy and Indie Epublishing Sessions, visit her website D. D. Scott-ville.
BOOKS BY D. D. SCOTT
Welcome to D. D. Scott-ville, where “The First One is On Me!”
In other words, the book that started it all for me is FREE on all Ereading Platforms (Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo, Apple, Diesel, Smashwords and more)!
All of my books are priced between 99 Cents (fiction) and $2.99 (non-fiction, on-writing books), and here’s a list of them in order, in case, like me, you like to read a series from Book One on…:
The Bootscootin’ Books
The Cozy Cash Mysteries
The Mom Squad Mini-Mayhem Mysteries
D. D. Scott Boxed Sets
The Stuck with a Series
Stuck with Sleigh Bells (Coming Soon)
Non-Fiction Books
The WG2E All-For-Indies Anthologies
Audio Books
•••Available on Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Nothin’ beats treatin’ y’all to great books for great prices!
I also luuuvvv connecting with all of you superfab readers, so c’mon over and hang with me:
D.D.Scott-ville
The WG2E (The Writer‘s Guide to Epublishing), Co-Founder
The RG2E (The Reader‘s Guide to Epublishing), Founder
Twitter @ddscottromcom
Facebook DeeDeeScott
Goodreads D D Scott
Pinterest ddscott1
You’re all welcome in D. D. Scott-ville anytime!!!
The Best of Ereading Wishes — D. D. Scott
INTRODUCING THE LATEST D. D. SCOTT CHRISTMAS READ…
I’m over the moon thrilled to let y’all know that the fabulous Christmas Book I co-wrote with the A-mazing, Amazon Top 100 Bestselling Author Theresa Ragan is now available on all Ebook Platforms (i.e. Amazon, Nook, Kobo and Smashwords)!
THE BILLIONAIRES’ CHRISTMAS CLUB will tickle your funny bone and touch your heart.
Think Trading Places meets Tim Allen’s Santa Claus
What if two Billionaire Bachelors made a bet to see which one could help the most people before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve? And…What if, along the way, they each find the perfect woman to spend the rest of their life with?
Theresa and I wrote a Prologue for the book together, basically setting-up this fabulous bet. Then, we each wrote an entire novella fo
r our Billionaire Bachelor. You’ll see the Bachelors’ names on the place cards on the table of our cover – Roswell Bellesconi and Grayson Hawk. We then wrote an Epilogue together too to wrap-up the book.
It was just a terrific experience writing with Theresa, and a project that was filled with joy and fun from page one to ‘The End.’
Here’s a Sneak Peek at the Prologue:
Fashionably late. Perfect.
As if this crowd cared when the biggest names on their guest list arrived. All they wanted was the money those guests brought with them or sent in their stead. And before the night was through, they’d get it. Billions of pretty pennies and then some.
Roswell “Ross” Bellesconi and his buddy Grayson Hawk each had more cash than every other guest at this gala combined. If the organizers had to wait on both of them to arrive before starting the soiree, they’d be more than willing to do so.
Always preferring to go it alone, Ross avoided the hostess’ station and headed toward the front row of tables, knowing he’d find a fancy place card bearing his name.
Sure enough, there it was. Front and center. Roswell Bellesconi. To be seated next to Grayson Hawk.
What if these charitable groups took the money they shelled out for galas and, instead, spent it to do something for the people that they actually intended to help? Talk about a novel idea.
He took his seat then checked his Tag Heuer to see exactly how much longer he’d have to sit there. Noticing a smudge on its face, he used a corner of the table linen to swipe at the surface.
“Doesn’t your butler see to those kinds of things?”
Ross heard Grayson’s good-natured tease before he came into view.
“I gave him the night off,” Ross said, standing up to shake hands with his childhood friend. “Wish we had the night off.”
Grayson disliked these events as much as he did, although they had different reasons why.
“Look at it this way, my friend. At least it’s the last one of the year,” Grayson said, taking two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter’s tray and handing one to Ross.
“Cheers to that,” Ross said, raising his glass in a toast.
“So what’s this fundraiser for anyway?” Grayson asked, reaching for the program laying on top of his place setting.
Ross chuckled to himself while shaking his head. Typical Grayson.
“What? Don’t tell me you actually pay attention to this stuff. Don’t you just have your accountant write the check?”
Ross laughed out loud at that. “C’mon, Grayson. You know that’s your style, but definitely not mine. I’m a hands on type of guy, remember?”
“All I know, Roswell, is that if you’d be a little more hands on with these fine ladies around here, you wouldn’t be a billionaire bachelor with no prospects in site,” Grayson remarked, taking time away from their conversation to dazzle the women at the next table with his I’m-all-yours for-the-night, smile.
“Whatever. I don’t have time for women. Besides, some of these organizations are doing very important work. And you know I like to see how my money is being used,” Ross said, wishing he could do more than merely read each group’s brochures and websites before figuring out what amount to write his check for.
• • •
Not only did he have a tendency to be a goody two-shoes, in Grayson’s opinion, Ross was also a little too particular when it came to women. Grayson could count on one hand the number of women Roswell had been involved with in relationships. He wasn’t necessarily keeping track. It’s just that he worried about his friend sometimes.
“All work and no playing around isn’t healthy, my friend. Once you’ve given away all of your money, what then? If you keep this up, you might end up penniless and lonely.”
“Here we go again,” Ross said. “Every year, it’s the same damn thing.”
Grayson had read too many stories of intended goodwill where the money ended up going straight into the pockets of those claiming to help others. He, like his friend, was bombarded with requests for money every single day. Sure, maybe a few dollars trickled down to somebody in need, but who really knew what percentage of the funds did any real good?
“My uncle Frank is proof that you need to be careful who you give your money to. After surviving prostate cancer, Frank started the Walk for Life Program, only to later discover that the largest portion of his donation was going to the sizable salaries of the organization’s top executives.”
Roswell gave him one of his I’ve-heard-it-all before looks.
“We need to be careful, Roswell, that’s all I’m saying.”
“I’ll tell you what, Grayson. Since you’re so fond of talking about fraudulent charities, I think you should put your money where your mouth is and straighten this out once and for all.” Ross ignored his friend’s scowl and added, “Pick a charity tonight, but not just any charity. Whichever one you choose will get one hundred percent of your Christmas Club Account–”
“I don’t–”
“Hear me out first,” Ross said. “Tonight, I want you to choose one charity to give your money to, but before you make the donation, I want you to personally find out if the money is really going to those in need by becoming one of the beneficiaries.”
“It would take me all night to choose one,” Grayson said. “You pick.”
Ross looked over the brochure and stabbed his finger halfway down the middle of the second page. “There. The Next Step. It sounds perfect. The organization helps the homeless get back on their feet so they can apply and interview for jobs. By Monday, you’ll be a recipient of those very funds.”
Grayson laughed. “In order to be an eligible recipient, I’d have to be homeless.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay,” Grayson said, not taking the proposition all that seriously, “then you’ll do the same for this organization.”
He closed his eyes and pointed to a random spot on the list. He then opened his eyes and read his selection aloud, “From Dreams to Reality, an organization to help women realize their dreams.”
Roswell’s face turned a light shade of mustard yellow. “What does that even mean?”
“I guess you’re going to find out, aren’t you?”
It suddenly occurred to Ross that he had nothing to worry about. The chance that his good friend would actually follow through with this lunatic idea was several billion to one.
“Care to double our bet?” Ross asked, enjoying the site of his friend squirming in his seat.
“What do you mean?” Grayson asked, fidgeting with his bow tie, which didn’t need fixing at all.
“I mean…starting Monday, you’re going to be homeless and I’ll be helping women realize their dreams. Whichever one of us makes the greatest impact by New Year’s Day, the other one doubles the money the winner donated to his cause.”
“Interesting. I like it. Yes. I like my odds. You’ve been out of touch with the female world for so long, you’ll be in way over your head,” Grayson said as he locked eyes with a beautiful woman across the room.
“That may be true. But imagining you, my friend, not only without your butler, but without your penthouse too? Well…that will surely be a very Dan Aykroyd, Trading Places kind of moment.”
“I haven’t seen that movie in years,” Grayson said, picking up his topped off champagne flute.
“Well, no matter. You’re going to be living it. On your own terms, of course,” Ross added, clinking his glass to his friend’s. “Cheers. And may the best man win.”
(THE BILLIONAIRES’ CHRISTMAS CLUB …now available on all Ebook Platforms – Amazon, Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords)
Copyright © 2012 by D. D. Scott. All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.