BEASTLY LOVE BOX SET: Romance Collection

by Lindsey Hart

  “Oh really? You thought it would just all be that simple? A new beginning, just like that?”

  He ran his thumb over her jaw and didn’t miss her shiver. Despite her words, she leaned into the touch. She closed her eyes, just for a brief second before her long lashes fluttered open and she was staring at him, her heart there, laid bare for him to see.

  “Yes. I hoped that you would give me a second chance. I made a mistake five years ago. I made a mistake when I walked out your door and refused to listen. I don’t want us to spend the rest of our lives paying for it.”

  “And if I say no? Would you still sign my house back to me?”

  “Of course.” He paused, afraid that she would say no. He waited and still, she said nothing. “Are you going to say no?” He finally prompted. “It’s alright. If you don’t want this, I understand.”

  She shook her head and stared up at him. His hand still rested on her jaw. “I’m not saying no. I’ve dreamt about you. I’ve spent years loving you. I’ve followed everything I could find in the news. I wasn’t trying to keep tabs on you, I just wanted to feel close. It was my breath in your lungs that brought you back. I guess that created a connection, at least on my part, that I have always felt. I guess if you can call that love, then I’ve loved you.”

  “And do you want to? Do you want to start over? To run this thing together? Do you want me out here, next to you? Or even at a distance? Anything?”

  “Yes. Yes, I want you here. I want you in my house. I want you in my bed. I want to do more than just try and see if this would work. I want to make it work. I never expected that you would come back or that this would be my house. I was fully prepared to let it go and to leave. This feels like you’ve saved me. It feels like you brought me back. It feels like your breath in my lungs.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do. I was blind for a very long time. I promise that I will never be so foolish again. I will never let you go, as long as you want to be with me. I will always be here for-”

  His words were cut off when she stood on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged his face down to hers. Her kiss was burning, searching, and so very full of love and promise.

  “Hoo! It looks like someone found out after all!”

  They pulled apart, but Maren still remained in his arms. They glanced over at Hettie, who was coming down the sidewalk with a plate of cookies balanced in her hands. Her grin accentuated every single of the many wrinkles on her face but she was absolutely gorgeous. Her happiness and her delight, her love for Maren, and one day, maybe even for him as well, was evident.

  “Hettie!” Maren stepped away, breaking his hold. She kept one arm at his waist and opened the other for the woman who was so much like a grandmother to her.

  Hettie hustled on down the walk, her short gait surprisingly fast for someone who usually toddled about. They wrapped their arms around her after she set down her cookies on the porch step and joined them.

  Together they stood, just for a moment, wrapped up in warm, loving arms. The three of them, a family of sorts. Owen took a deep breath of salty Monterey air. Even though he hadn’t been born there, even though he hadn’t grown up in the bed and breakfast or played in the waters or sat on the front porch, he knew that this was his destiny. He’d been searching his entire life for this and now, at last, he was home.

  EPILOGUE

  Maren

  For as long as she lived, she didn’t think she’d find a sweeter sound than that of her child’s footsteps tracing their way downstairs, into the kitchen.

  She smiled at her small daughter. Four-year-old Gabrielle had her mother’s red hair and grey eyes, but everything else about her from the shape of her nose to her chin was her father’s.

  “Good morning, sweetheart.” She scooped up the child, who grinned and threw her arms around her mother’s neck.

  “Morning mama!”

  “How was your sleep?” A sleepy response was whispered in her ear. “Are you ready for some fresh cinnamon buns? I just made them?” She didn’t say that they were for guests or that they really weren’t truly breakfast food. She was rewarded with a huge grin as Gabby glanced over at the kitchen counter.

  “I smelled them from upstairs!”

  “Best way to wake up isn’t it?”

  That grin grew wider, revealing little pearly teeth. “Yup!” Gabby hesitated a second after Maren placed her back down. Her little feet peeked out from the hem of a long purple nightgown. “Can we go to the beach this morning? Grandma Hettie promised to help me look for shells.”

  Maren smiled back, heart swelling with love. She wanted her child to spend as much time with Hettie as possible. Hettie absolutely adored Gabby. It reminded her so much of how Hettie had been there for her as a child, a second grandmother. “Of course. We’ll go down right after we finish the cinnamon buns. It’s early yet and we don’t have to serve breakfast for a while. That should give us a few hours.”

  “A few hours? Getting into trouble this early in the morning?”

  Maren spun around just in time to see Owen striding into the kitchen. He was dressed like he too was ready for the beach, in a pair of khaki shorts and a black t-shirt. His deeply tanned skin spoke to how much time he spent outside.

  “We’re always getting into trouble, daddy,” Gabby giggled. “You said that we wouldn’t be your girls if we weren’t.”

  Owen’s face suffused with love. “I did say that, didn’t I?’

  Gabby nodded gravely, but her laughter rang through the kitchen as Owen scooped her up in his arms and threw her over his shoulder. He stepped closer and ducked down, planting a heart-racing kiss on her lips.

  “Let me guess, you would like a cinnamon bun, extra butter and one black coffee?”

  Owen laughed, the sound filling up the kitchen. Maren loved it. She loved her life, the routine of family, the routine of the bed and breakfast, their guests. She was happy in a way she had never been before. Even when she thought she was happiest, she didn’t know that she was missing a family of her own. Finding out she was pregnant hadn’t exactly been planned right after Owen bought the bed and breakfast for her, but they’d both been overjoyed. Gabby completed their life and their home. She was a beautiful child who loved life wholeheartedly.

  “You know me too well.”

  “Well then, have a seat at the table and I’ll have it coming right up.”

  Owen seated Gabby at the table. She beamed up at her father and started asking him about shells and what lived inside of them and where snails went when they decided they didn’t want to live in their shell any longer. From there the conversation drifted over to why grandma Hettie sometimes wore curlers in her hair out of the house or why she sometimes wore plastic bags over her perms when it was raining. It was a source of endless delight to Gabby, those plastic wrappers that really weren’t bags at all.

  Maren walked around on a perpetual cloud of happiness. She’d been that way since Owen first showed up at her doorstep. Though she’d had her doubts and not every day had been easy, her life was wondrous. It was beautiful and incredible and so much more than she ever imagined possible. Her heart overflowed with love, a love that far surpassed anything she ever thought was possible.

  She set down two plates with steaming hot cinnamon buns. She returned for her own plate and two cups of coffee before she sat down.

  She said nothing as Gabby prattled on and Owen answered the sometimes hilarious questions of their four-year-old daughter the best he could. She glanced out of the window, out at the beach, to the exact spot where she’d once pulled Owen up and breathed life into his lungs.

  When his eyes met hers, she knew he was thinking about that too. He no longer had nightmares about that night and she seldom dreamed about it. For them, it had become a day that symbolized their fresh start. A brand-new life. For them, they chose to remember that day and cherish it as a day that really started both of their lives, that moved them forward on a path that they walked together, a pat
h where their two lives eventually became one, a path filled with love and light.

  Maren reached out and wrapped her hand around Owen’s. His fingers were strong and warm and calloused from working in the backyard hour after hour or from taking on projects around the bed and breakfast. He’d just finished up repairing Hettie’s roof. He and a few other guys from the neighborhood pitched in and replaced the peeling shingles that so badly needed work. Hettie had rewarded them with slices of her famous peach pie.

  Owen was a part of her community, a part of her life, a part of her heart. He’d given her a new start, a start filled with hope and joy and the most incredible love. There was nothing more on earth that she could ever have hoped for.

  When their eyes met, and a slow smile spread over his lips, she felt the answering one on her own. She mouthed the words, I love you, and he returned them before he went back to eating his cinnamon bun and sipping his coffee.

  Her eyes returned to that spot of sand that had started it all, a lifelong love. She smiled softly before she glanced back at Gabby, who was starting in again on snails finding new homes when they left their shells. Yes, life was just about perfect.

  The End

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  A HUSBAND FOR BEAUTY

  By

  Lindsey Hart

  BOOK DESCRIPTION

  Dallas Armstead is at best, impossible. A musical genius, he locks himself away and lets music dictate his life.

  From the minute Leena Armstead met her husband, she knew that she loved him, and it had only made sense to enter a marriage of convenience. He got to hide away from the world and she got the theatre she always wanted. Just being near Dallas was enough for her… until it wasn’t.

  After a horrible accident leaves her with no memory at all, Leena struggles to make sense of a life that makes no sense at all. She’s married to a man who never ventures out into the world. A man haunted by the past, a man in love with ghosts. She’s married to a man who doesn’t love her. Worst of all, she’s sure that she’s madly in love with him.

  As Dallas and Leena get ready to put on the first production that they ever wrote together, both their worlds are rocked by the growing attraction burning bright between them.

  Will it consume them both or will they find that love was there right from the start?

  This is a full length stand-alone steamy romance novella. No cheating. No cliff-hanger. And the kind of ending you will just love. HEA all the way!!

  CHAPTER 1

  Leena

  The worst part of marriage for Leena was that she knew her husband was impossible to deal with, even on a good day. It wasn’t just her who sometimes couldn’t stand Dallas Armstead, especially when he was in one of his black moods. Scratch that. The worst part of marriage was a husband who locked himself away and never ventured out into the world. Nope. Double scratch. The worst part of marriage was being married to a man she knew was never going to love her in return.

  Leena let herself quietly into Dallas’ inner sanctum. The entire second and third floor of the massive brick building was dedicated to their private quarters and whatever staff or performers who were living in at the time. The large room was a common area, shared by herself and her husband for composing, writing and playing. It was large and open, filled with every instrument imaginable. A shiny black grand piano took up most of the left side of the room. The hardwood floor was scratched and worn, but they’d left what they could when they renovated the old warehouse and turned it into a theatre and arts center.

  Beyond the huge room was Dallas’ private room. She rarely went past that door into his suite, unless it was necessary.

  Fortunately, Dallas was seated slumped over at the piano. Piles of sheet music were stacked around him on the bench, on the piano’s top, scattered about the floor. There were more wadded up bundles than ones that would be saved, but that was nothing out of the ordinary.

  She approached the instrument, trying to work up the nerve to stay calm. As it was, her breathing was rapid, and anger crawled up her throat. Her rapid heartbeat was a pretty clear signal that she was going to be anything but controlled. She knew what a confrontation with Dallas could cost, but she couldn’t help herself.

  “Why the hell did Minnie just inform me that you fired the best male performer we’ve had in any production in a very long time?” Dallas didn’t look up. He didn’t even give any kind of sign that he saw or heard her. “Howard is a great actor and his voice is unparalleled. We wrote this musical together. I should have a say in who plays the lead male role.”

  That brought her husband’s head up. His hair was combed back neatly, and she could see that he’d freshly showered. Obviously, she’d caught him on one of his good days. Apparently, it was so good, he had the nerve to go and make decisions with Minnie that he had no right making. She almost preferred when he stayed locked away and minded his own damn business.

  “Howard is just fine, darling, it’s you I have an issue with.”

  The hair on the back of Leena’s neck stood on end and her blood pressure spiked. “Are you kidding me, Dallas?”

  “He was all over you out there.”

  “It’s part of the role, in case you forgot what your own damn play was about.” Privately, Leena was almost impressed that Dallas had bothered to watch any of the rehearsal at all.

  “I’m not going to stand for that. It’s an embarrassment and I won’t be made a fool of in my own establishment.”

  Leena rolled her eyes as Dallas stood up and shoved away from the piano. Sheets of white paper fluttered down to the ground all around him. He stepped over them mindlessly. He slammed the lid down over the keys with a loud, careless bang. His normally handsome face twisted into an ugly sneer.

  Though she tried to remain patient, her voice reflected her annoyance and had a biting edge. “We both know that we’re not in love and everyone else knows it too. We may be married, but it was a business arrangement. If Howard was doing more than playing a part, which he damn well wasn’t, we know that it wouldn’t mean anything.”

  “It would! This arrangement, as you call it, has rules. No affairs. No one else. That was the one rule we both agreed on.”

  “Except that you don’t have to compete with a ghost.”

  “Don’t you dare speak of her,” Dallas growled. Leena didn’t miss the wounded glint in the depths of his eyes and she winced at her own thoughtlessness. It didn’t stop her from blurting out words she probably should have kept locked inside.

  “No. I wouldn’t dare, because I don’t want to hear about it. I know that you’ll never love me. I gave up hope of that ever happening a long time ago. This arrangement was supposed to work well. You’re a musical genius. You write plays and musicals and operas that half the world would cut off one of their limbs to see, but you’re terrible with people. I, on the other hand, am a good actress and I have a decent voice. I won’t let you tell me otherwise, because we both know it’s true. What I have that you don’t is people skills. I’m good with people. I can actually deal with the real world. I actually leave this place. I make the decisions, along with Minnie, about who we hire and fire.”

  “There is nothing wrong with staying here. It’s our home.” Dallas, on purpose, completely missed the point.

  “I thought this arrangement would work, but you’ve used it as an excuse to let your anxiety get out of control. You haven’t left this building in months.” Dallas opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off with a cursory flick of her hand. “I wrote the ending of that opera, in case you forgot. I wrote the character that I’m playing. You couldn’t finish it, because I know you’ll never love me. So, don’t pretend otherwise. You know full well that nothing would have happened between Howard and I. Unlike some people, I’m a professional. I know my place. I know my part. Now I have to go out and fi
nd someone else or do a hell of a lot of sucking up to a man that I am sure as hell not interested in finding and making apologies to.”

  “Then don’t. Find someone else.”

  “It’s not that easy. We had our auditions already. Howard was by far the best. That’s what people come to see. The best.”

  “Find someone else,” Dallas repeated irritably. He stalked off, out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Leena blew out an angry breath. Damn the man. She should never have married him. He’d been in love with her best friend, Hannah, for years. For over a decade. She’d watched him fall hopelessly in love with her. He trained her, taught her what a gift her voice was. She was dragged along and never really left. It wasn’t long, probably only a matter of months, before she fell in love with Dallas herself. Unfortunately, Hannah never did. She never would have loved Dallas, but he didn’t know that. When she was killed in a car accident, Leena watched Dallas spiral out of control.

  She knew of a few things about him by then. He rarely left his house. He was a genius, of sorts, she was sure, musical and probably all around, but he had crippling anxiety and what she could only term as manic episodes on top of it. He had no idea how to relate to most people. Society made him uncomfortable.

  Leena watched Dallas spiral out of control after Hannah died. He wasn’t doing well. Didn’t eat or take care of himself. There would be weeks where all he would do was shut himself into a dank, dark room. He wouldn’t bathe or eat or write music. Then all of a sudden, he would. He’d work for weeks at a time. That didn’t mean he’d care for himself. It was like he didn’t have time for the normal, mundane things that he needed to do in order to survive. He’d lose so much weight he looked like a walking skeleton.

  Thinking about the past broke Leena’s heart all over again. She grieved her best friend and she was forced to grieve the man she loved. A man who was as clueless years into a marriage as he was when she’d first met him. He had no idea that her heart beat for him and him alone. Everything she did was for him. Though she might be angry and annoyed at times, she didn’t truly mean it.