Today’s first line comes from last year’s sweet romance CHANCE, book 12 in the Last Man Standing series.
Intrigued? Here’s the book jacket blurb:
Chance Miller, divorce lawyer extraordinaire, knows the whole happily ever after dream is an urban myth. He deals with miserable and wedded warring couples every day and swears staying single keeps him sane and happy. His friends and family consider him the last single man standing and fear he’ll never find someone and settle down. But Chance relishes his carefree status and unencumbered lifestyle and has no plans to change anything.
If only his relatives would stop trying to set him up with their version of the perfect woman.
Fredrika Poole already experienced her one great love, and the widow can’t read any future romance in her tea leaves. She’s content to bake, run her business, and care for her daughter.
When Chance meets Freddie and discovers her marriage thoughts run on the same road his do, he realizes she’s the answer to his prayer for keeping the relatives at bay. But the pixie barista has a way of making Chance question everything he’s always thought about love, marriage, and wedded bliss.
Will his last man standing status go unchallenged? Or will Freddie be the one woman he wants…but can never have?
I’m proud and excited and humbled to announce that CHANCE is a 2022 Sweet Romance Novella Finalist in the HEART AWARDS, too!
Going, going, gone, to the lady who wants sweet revenge. Magnolia Popham never forgot the way Donovan Sinclair humiliated her when she worked for his family. Years later, he’s on the auction block to raise money for the children’s hospital, and she’s got the perfect plan to pay him back. A month mucking stalls and feeding chickens is just the thing to make him see what it feels like to be the hired help.
Donovan never meant to embarrass Maggie, yet now he’s paying the price. He didn’t know one stolen kiss years ago could cause so many problems. Toiling beside her at Popham Farm shows him the successful woman she’s become, and he’d like to get closer. Even with the drudgery of working the land, he wants nothing more than to bid on her love…and win.
“Eight thousand for this strong, strapping man to do with as you please. According to our rules, of course,” Cissy clarified, but Donovan wondered how vigorously they enforced those rules.
“Do I hear nine thousand for Donovan Sinclair?”
“Nine thousand.” Mrs. Wisenthall was determined. The others seemed to have dropped out of the race.
“We have nine thousand dollars for this handsome man. Any other takers?” Cissy waited and glanced around. Donovan couldn’t see more than shapes sitting at the tables due to the lighting.
“Okay, then. Going once, going twice—”
“Fifteen thousand dollars.”
Donovan froze. The voice wasn’t one of the ones who’d been bidding before. This one was soft as a breeze and sweet as honey with a lilting southern accent.
“Fifteen thousand. Any other bids?” Cissy cocked her head, but Mrs. Wisenthall remained silent. “Going once. Going twice. I think we have a winner.”
Donovan could make out the shape of a woman walking toward the stage. And what a shape it was. The dress was classy, floral, and hugged her figure lovingly, stopping about an inch above her knee. High heels accentuated her long, trim legs and clicked on the wood floor as she approached. A white, large-brimmed hat perched on top of her head, covering all but a long curl of brunette hair that swirled across one shoulder, then dipped between her breasts.
Well now. This was a new circumstance. Maybe he could forgive his mother if he got to spend some quality time with this exquisite creature. Provided she knew it was a temporary situation.
Cissy cleared her throat as the mystery woman sauntered closer and tipped her head up. As Donovan took in her features, memories drifted through his mind, and the blood drained from his face.
“Donovan Sinclair sold for fifteen thousand dollars to Magnolia Popham.”
Kari Lemor has always been a voracious reader. One of those kids who had the book under the covers or under the desk at school. Even now she has been known to stay up until the wee hours finishing a good book. Romance has always been her favorite, stories of people fighting through conflict to reach their happily ever after.
Writing wasn’t something she enjoyed when young and only in the last few years began putting the stories that ran rampant in her head, down on paper.
Now that her kids are all grown and have moved out, she uses her spare time to create character-driven stories of love and hope.
She spends her time with her husband divided between a small town in New England and beautiful St. Augustine.
I feel like I’ve been talking about this one for evah!!! HAHAHA
But, seriously, I’m so happyCHANCE is finally out in the romance reading world. Did you pre-order your copy? The early reviews on the story have been wonderful – and make me thankful I got it right, hee hee!!
Chance Miller, divorce lawyer extraordinaire, knows the whole happily ever after dream is an urban myth. He deals with miserable and wedded warring couples every day and swears staying single keeps him sane and happy. His friends and family consider him the last single man standing and fear he’ll never find someone and settle down. But Chance relishes his carefree status and unencumbered lifestyle and has no plans to change anything.
If only his relatives would stop trying to set him up with their version of the perfect woman.
Fredrika Poole already experienced her one great love, and the widow can’t read any future romance in her tea leaves. She’s content to bake, run her business, and care for her daughter.
When Chance meets Freddie and discovers her marriage thoughts run on the same road his do, he realizes she’s the answer to his prayer for keeping the relatives at bay. But the pixie barista has a way of making Chance question everything he’s always thought about love, marriage, and wedded bliss.
Will his last man standing status go unchallenged? Or will Freddie be the one woman he wants…but can never have?
And you can find all the LAST MAN STANDING guys, here: LMS
Oh and wait! Did you know there’s a recipe book with all sort of LMS snacks and goodies you can get for FREE???COOKBOOK
So tomorrow my bookCHANCE ( LAST MAN STANDING #12) releases into the book reading world and I figured I’d give you one more chance ( see what I did there! LOL) to determine if you’d like to read the entire book.
Today’s snippet goes to the heart of the #fakedating premise of the book between Freddie and Chance.
Enjoy…
When he laid it all out she had to admit, the idea was pretty out there.
“I know it’s a last-minute request and I totally understand if you don’t want to say yes. But I really want you to say yes.”
“I don’t know,” she said, biting down on a corner of her lip. “It’s kind of…deceitful, isn’t it?”
“In a way. But for the best of reasons. If they think I’m dating someone they’ll be happy for me and I’ll have the added benefit of them getting off their hook-me-up endeavors for a while. And believe me, I could use a break from that. There’s nothing worse than a grown man being set up by a bunch of elderly women with good intentions.”
“No, I don’t imagine there is.” She laughed.
“It’s only for one night,” he added. “Just to get through this party. There’s nothing else planned until my Aunt Theresa’s birthday in July and by then I’ll have figured something out to get them off my backs permanently.”
“That’s only three months away, you know.”
“Yeah, but I’m looking at it as three months reprieve where I won’t be harassed with dating matchups.”
“Have you ever simply thought to tell them your views on marriage? Marriage for you, in particular?”
“The cousins—their kids—yes. But they’re all married, too. I’ve never said outright to the aunts that I don’t want to get married. I’m afraid a few of them would have heart attacks or start invoking my mother’s name as a way to ward off whatever bedevilment they think has possessed me. Their definition of a happy life is a happy wife and kids for every man they know. It’s their…generation’s, I guess, way of thinking.”
Freddie nodded. “My mother’s a little younger than your aunts, I think, but she feels the same way.”
She sat back and stared at him for a moment.
“Say I say yes—”
“Please do.”
She rolled her eyes. “Say I agree to go with you as your, what? Fake girlfriend?”
He nodded.
“What are you gonna tell them about me? About how we met?”
“The truth is always the best way to avoid issues,” he said. “You own and manage the coffee bar in my office building. We met and hit if off, decided to date.”
“What happens if they ask if I’ve ever been married? If I have any kids?”
“Tell them whatever you’re comfortable with. You don’t need to lie—”
“Good, since we’ll already be lying about our relationship.”
He frowned. “I guess I don’t consider it lying as much as I think of it as a way to keep the aunts out of my hair for a bit.”
She nodded. “What would you expect me to do?”
He shrugged. “Whatever girlfriends do when they meet their boyfriend’s relatives.” He raked his hands down his face, then readjusted his glasses. “And I can’t believe I’m describing myself that way at my age.”
“You’ve got a few years left in you,” she said with a grin.
Guy Addison, a confirmed bachelor, believes in the old adage, “why buy a cow when you can get the milk for free.” Badly singed twice by cupid’s arrow, he’s learned his lesson. A well-respected college professor who teaches Marine Biology, he works hard on save-the-ocean projects. He just purchased his first home in Naples, Florida, an older house, that faces the blue-green waters of the Gulf. He plans to make major structural changes and decides to hire an interior designer to bring his vision to life.
Heather Llewelyn is a successful interior designer in Naples, Florida. Having been badly “taken” by a former business partner, she’s stayed clear of relationships. Her motto is: “Why buy a bull when you can enjoy a variety of beefcake.” When she overhears her friend’s brother’s sexist declaration, “Why buy a cow when you can get the milk for free,” she decides Professor Addison needs to be taught a lesson. Little do these two strong-minded individuals realize they’re very much alike.
EXCERPT:
“It’s with a great deal of pleasure that I have the honor of presenting the Last Man Standing plaque to Guy Addison!”
“Hear, hear!” Guy’s college fraternity buddies chorused.
“Speech! Speech!”
Speech? No one said I had to give a speech. He stared down at the brass plaque inscribed with the words Last Man Standing. “I don’t know whether to look at this as an award or a curse. Cupid exacted revenge on all of you, thinking you could get the best of the God of Love.”
“Tell us how you’ve been able to avoid the ball and chain.”
He’d never been blessed with a second sight, but he sensed the plaque was a bad omen. “I’m no expert on women, but a very popular American journalist once wrote, ‘Why buy a cow when you can get the milk for free?’”
****
“What a chauvinistic pig! Get his milk for free!”
Heather Llewelyn couldn’t believe what she’d just overheard coming from the other end of the deck. The Bay House was one of her favorite places to eat, but this pig-headed jerk had made her feel sick to her stomach.
Heather reached for a roll and applied the butter with a little too much force, making it crumble in her hand. “Who does he think he is?”
“My brother is quite opinionated when it comes to females, having his heart broken by the same woman, twice.” Her friend Jonelle smirked. “He’ll probably hang the plaque on the wall of his office, right next to the awards he’s received for his volunteer work in saving the humpback whales. You’re the perfect female to make him eat his words.”
“I’ll do it! Just call me Farmer Heather, but inflation is about to hit—the cost of my milk just went up.
Here’s the complete release schedule so you don’t miss one of these men when they get their comeuppance!
Chance Miller, divorce lawyer extraordinaire, knows the whole happily ever after dream is an urban myth. He deals with miserable and wedded warring couples every day and swears staying single keeps him sane and happy. His friends and family consider him the last single man standing and fear he’ll never find someone and settle down. But Chance relishes his carefree status and unencumbered lifestyle and has no plans to change anything.
If only his relatives would stop trying to set him up with their version of the perfect woman.
Fredrika Poole already experienced her one great love, and the widow can’t read any future romance in her tea leaves. She’s content to bake, run her business, and care for her daughter.
When Chance meets Freddie and discovers her marriage thoughts run on the same road his do, he realizes she’s the answer to his prayer for keeping the relatives at bay. But the pixie barista has a way of making Chance question everything he’s always thought about love, marriage, and wedded bliss.
Will his last man standing status go unchallenged? Or will Freddie be the one woman he wants…but can never have?
Enjoy….
Even though she wasn’t nervous, the sensation of Chance’s fingers resting on her back offered a strange sense of calm and comfort.
The moment they entered the ballroom the sound level, which she’d felt knocking against her chest from the intensity, slipped to a decided hush as all eyes turned toward them.
A tiny knife strike of fear slipped in and pierced her quiet mien.
Chance’s fingers pressed against her back. “Breathe,” he murmured. “The way to handle them is to never let them see you sweat.”
She grinned at his word choice. Jimmy had said the same thing to her the first time she’d met his friends at the firehouse. Her usual state of calm bolted back.
A striking woman in a blue floor length dress and who had six inches and about forty years on her, crossed the length of the room, a man in a tuxedo clutching her hand and tagging along with her.
“Well, as usual you’re late,” the woman said, a huge, pleased smile on her face as she offered her cheek to Chance for a kiss.
He did so, saying, “You look lovely, Aunt Betty. Uncle Louis.” He nodded at the man at her side.
His aunt’s gaze shot to Freddie. If she had to put a word to the expression dancing across the older woman’s face it would be expectant.
“Allow me to introduce Fredrika Poole,” Chance said. A millisecond later he added, “My girlfriend.”
Hearing him say it aloud shouldn’t have sent a delighted shiver up her spine, but it did. Before she could contemplate on why, the woman in front of them let out a screech of delight.
“Well, isn’t this the best surprise!” She let go of her husband’s hand and pulled both of Freddie’s into hers, cocooning them.
“Happy Anniversary,” Freddie said with a smile.
“Thank you. Over fifty years with this man and every one has been better than the last.” The man at her side grinned then kissed her cheek. “But enough about us,” she said turning her full attention back to her. “Tell me, how did you two meet? Was it at work? How long have you been dating? What do you do? Are you a lawyer, too?”
Freddie blinked a few times, unsure of which question to answer first and afraid more were going to be thrown her way before she could give a reply to even one.
“Down, girl,” Chance said as he slid her hands from his aunt’s grip. “You have all night to grill her. We just got here and I’d like to make the rounds, say hello to everyone and introduce her around. Okay?”
His aunt tossed him a peeved pout, then shook her head and grinned. “Always have to be in control,” she said, clucking her tongue. To Freddie she said, “You probably already know that about him, though, don’t you dear? The original Mr. In Charge, that’s our Chancey-boy.”
Freddie hid the grin she wanted to let loose from the look on Chance’s face. Part embarrassed, part annoyed, and one hundred percent adorably miffed male grimaced next to her.
“Go on, then,” Betty said. “Go show your girl off. But don’t forget your favorite aunt. I want to hear all the deets, as my grandkids say, later on. I’m not letting you leave this party without knowing everything about you,” she said to Freddie.
“Yes ma’am,” Freddie replied.
“Terrified yet?” Chance whispered as he took her arm and propelled her toward a group of people close to their own age.
She tried not to think about how natural his hand felt against her skin as she said, “It takes a whole lot more than an aunt who shows her love by being nosy to scare me, Chancey-boy,” she said, trying to keep the grin from her face.
When he squeezed her arm and said, “I’ll pay you back for calling me that by introducing you to Aunt Theresa next. The FBI and CIA have her on speed dial because of her interrogation techniques.”
“Bring it.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Hey, everyone. This is Freddie.”
The impossibly boorish introduction made her gape at him and then laugh out loud. She needn’t have worried about it, though, because he was immediately chastised by every female in the group.
Names were thrown at her from every direction, accompanied by warm and enthusiastic handshakes and smiles. Freddie glanced over at her date to see him engrossed in serious conversation with one of the most beautiful women she’d ever set eyes on. Long, shiny, deep auburn colored hair flowed freely about a perfectly heart-shaped face framed by robins-egg blue eyes and an upturned, pixie nose and jaw.
Without being told, she knew this was Chance’s sister, Sable. The curve of their jaws and the cut of their cheeks hinted at it, but when Sable pursed her perfect lips in a pout of confusion, she saw Chance’s face stare back at her.
The younger woman glanced over at her, her delicate eyebrows lifting at something her brother was saying.
Questions flew at her left and right. Chance hadn’t been kidding when he’d told her she’d be the topic of interest tonight simply because she’d come with him.
“You’re certainly an improvement over the last girl he brought around,” Moira – she thought that was the name – said. “You actually make eye contact and smile,” she added.
“And you look like you have a brain,” said another. Kitty, maybe?
“Thanks,” she said, adding a crooked smile. “I think.”
“How long have the two of you been going out?” This one she couldn’t put a name to.
“Not long,” she replied, purposefully being vague.
“Where’d ya meet?” Moira again.
“I own the coffee station in the building Chance works in. We met by accident when he was on the receiving end of a thrown coffee cup.”
Eyebrows lifted and mouths pulled into delighted grins as she explained his client’s ex and her tirade.
“I would have paid cash money to see that,” the one whose name she couldn’t remember said.
“All of us would have. So,” Kitty said, “you came to his rescue and what? He asked you out?”
“Something like that.” She smiled when she saw him leave his sister and stride back toward their group.
“Okay, kids, that’s enough,” Chance said as he slipped a hand around her arm. “I want a drink and something to eat and I’m sure Freddie does, too. You can continue the grilling later.”
“We weren’t grilling her, Chancy-boy.” This from Kitty.
As he turned, Moira sniggered. “Should I have the waiters serve coffee now, or wait until later?”
Chance stumbled a bit while moving her away from the group, but didn’t respond to his cousin.
Gently, he tugged her toward the buffet table. “You told them?”
“They asked how we met. I wasn’t going to lie.”
His theatrical sigh pulled a grin from her.
“You can bet by the end of the night everyone in this room will know the story. My family is like a bad game of telephone.”
Peggy Jaeger, Author 