ON MONDAYS IN NOVEMBER, I'll be posting a Monday Mystery revealed in CHALLENGING THE LEGACY. Here's today's mystery.
Years ago, Tallie O'Shea had run away from the man she loved without even saying good-bye. She never thought she would see him again...
Puzzled, Tallie looked out the peephole. Her heart dropped to her stomach as she
The man on her porch didn't disappear. He simply stood casually with one hand in his pocket, surveying the house and surrounding property as if appraising a potential purchase.
Tallie stood in front of the elevator doors, clasping a massive arrangement of sunflowers in front of her. The florist shop where she worked part-time had been busy that afternoon. After she delivered these flowers to the third floor, several other arrangements were waiting for her back at the shop.
The doors opened with a ping and a man charged out. Tallie tried to step aside, but he plowed into her before she had a chance to move. The vase slipped from her hands, scattering yellow flowers and shards of glass as it shattered on the marble floor.
The physical contact reverberated through her body and settled in her belly as a primal longing.
The same longing now unfurling at the core of her being.
The door swung open, surely from Tallie turning the knob. But her brain was no longer connected to any of her actions as she stared at the man she once thought would love her forever.
His gaze shifted to her, surveying her much as he had the house, from the well-worn slacks she had donned that morning for spit-shining the house to the strawberry blonde hair escaping from a casual chignon at the back of her head.
"So I've found you at last." Pierce Stratford stepped inside and once again scanned the house with a gaze that seemed to take in every detail.
"What are you doing here?"
**Excerpt from CHALLENGING THE LEGACY, copyright Genene Valleau, writing as Genie Gabriel.
No comments:
Post a Comment