Book 14: A Small Town Gamble
Love in Harmony Valley Series
A small town romance with quirky characters about the healing power of unexpected love from USA Today Bestselling author Melinda Curtis.
It's hard to start over.
But single mother Annie Raye is determined to make it work. Step one, move back home to Harmony Valley. Step two, apply to jobs outside of California where hopefully no one will discover her ex-husband is a convicted embezzler.
And sometimes you can't be completely honest.
When Annie finally lands a job, she packs up the car and shows up for work, only to be told that she can't have the job until she passes a background check conducted by a tall, handsome stranger who doesn't seem to realize she's no trouble. No trouble at all.
But the past has a way of catching up to you.
And when Annie's unexpectedly does, she has to make a choice about her future, about who she wants to be, where she wants to be, and who she wants in her life.
Fans of movies with Las Vegas twists, like Oceans Eleven, or Hallmark movies where the city life isn't all that its cracked up to be will love this fun, heartwarming romance with a happily ever after.
Excerpt:
Sam pulled a hot dog from the warming rack at the 7-Eleven across the street from Slotto, feeling pretty good about the morning.
Another reprobate got what was coming to her.
“You’ve got some explaining to do, slacker.”
Sam turned.
He’d been called much worse than slacker, but this taunt threw him for a loop.
The woman before him looked like a petite, Swedish schoolteacher. Short, ruffled blond hair, boring if well-filled, white suit, plenty of leg, pearls around her neck and a small purse hanging off her shoulder. She was just the right combination of off-limits-to-him good girl with hints of bad girl promise to make him look twice.
But… No way is she talking to me.
Sam turned his back on her and filled a soda cup with ice.
The woman sidled closer to him, invading his personal space, whispering as if what she had to say was for his ears only. “You’re a disgrace to the private investigator profession and men in general, which is pretty hard to do.”
Wait a minute. I’ve seen her before.
Sam blinked, trying to recall. Oh, yeah. She’d been in Carl’s reception area at Slotto. “Lady—”
“My name is Annie Raye. Ring any bells?”
Bells were ringing in his head, all right. Stuffing Sam’s ears and blotting out the noise in the convenience store.
Annie Raye?
Sam nearly lost his grip on his hot dog.
She looks better than her mug shot.
Granted, her make-up wasn’t smudged like a raccoon and her hair wasn’t flat and defeated around her head. But she looked more…resilient. More trustworthy. More…the girl next door. The kind of woman who could make a man slay dragons. Or…could slay her own.
Annie Raye. Sam disliked her all over again.
He didn’t want to dwell on why. He tossed his soda cup in the trash and made for the coffee kiosk. Stronger caffeine was definitely required if he was going to face her. “How did you find me?”
“I followed you from Slotto.” Annie trotted along beside him on her short legs and in those—gulp—non-corporate heels. “Why is it that you could find my arrest record but you couldn’t find anything about the charges against me being dropped?” She scoffed. “You’re either lazy or incompetent.” Her sharp blue gaze said she thought he was both.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” Sam groused. He punched the buttons of the cappuccino machine to start his coffee order, punching so hard that the machine wobbled.
He’d assumed Annie Raye had a good lawyer, one that got her out of serving serious jail time since her arrest was two years back and she was looking for work. He’d considered the possibility that she’d thrown her husband under the bus, earning time served for turning state’s witness. He’d never once considered she’d been wronged. Or proven innocent. Or not deserving of being deep-sixed for a plum job.
Her barbed blue gaze accused him of injustice, catching him off-guard.
Was I wrong?
A familiar, burning feeling of self-loathing wormed its way through his gut, reminding him of that day, clogging his throat with regret and sadness.
“How long did it take you to do my background check?” Annie demanded, seemingly oblivious to his internal torment. “One time-out at a football game?”
“No. I gave it the proper attention it deserved.” Sam wasn’t going to admit he’d spent a mere fifteen minutes. “If the charges against you were dropped, they haven’t been properly recorded in the system.”
He’d check later. Right now, Sam needed to get away from her and the gut-eating feeling of a horrible mistake being made.
“Not properly recorded.” Annie rolled her eyes. “It’s more likely you didn’t cross your T’s and dot your I’s. You should spend more time getting the answers right.” Her demeanor softened. She straightened the collar of his polo shirt, then gave his shoulders a cursory brush. “But I don’t hold grudges. I have a copy of my record on my phone. Let’s head back to Slotto and tell Carl you made a mistake.”
Sam’s mouth dropped open.
What just happened?
Annie had pivoted too quickly—from taking Sam to task like a true girl boss to extending an olive branch like an experienced diplomat.
Alarms went off in Sam’s head the same way they had that fateful day in front of the embassy.
Annie Raye is exactly who I thought she was when I ran that background check.
“Come on.” Annie took a step toward the door.
“No,” Sam said lamely. Weakly. Half-heartedly. He tried to make his next words sound firm. “There is no recount, no redo, no make goods. Not for embezzlers.”
“My husband…” Her cheeks lost some of their color. “My ex-husband is the crook. There’s no reason Slotto shouldn’t hire me.” Annie glowered at him, but the look was ruined by the bedroom huskiness of her voice as she whispered, “In fact, it’s illegal for you to even use that information against me.”
“It’s illegal in California, but we’re much more lenient in Nevada, sweetheart.”
She made a huffing noise. “That’s not a good enough reason, darling.”
She makes me want to smile.
Sam stared at her in wonder.
She makes me want to kiss her.
But that was the last thing he was going to do.
“I have good reason to keep crooks like you from working for upstanding companies.” Sam didn’t like that he still sounded uncertain. He cleared his throat. “There’s more to your history than one arrest record to disqualify you. I did you a favor and didn’t put what I found in your file.”
Annie froze. She might have held her breath.
Yes, I’ve got you now.
“Your father is a professional gambler,” Sam told her with a triumphant smile, regaining his footing and his belief in himself. “There was no way you can work in any field even remotely connected to gambling when your father makes his living playing cards.”
“You’re wrong.” Annie’s voice was husky. She touched the pearls at her neck, not bothering to explain what she thought he was wrong about.
Sam headed toward the check-out counter. “You might get better results pleading your case to a reporter. Of course, you’d have to be willing to bare your soul and your past. But, hey, Vegas loves gamblers, right?” Sam glanced over his shoulder.
A mistake. He was caught in her vivid blue gaze. And not by the magnetism of her presence. There was no longer righteousness in her eyes.
There was fear.
Sam may not have discovered all the skeletons in Annie Raye’s closet.
The Story Behind the Story
The Love in Harmony Valley series is a long-running series. And my editor challenged me to get my characters out of Harmony Valley. Challenge accepted!
I’ve always loved the Oceans movies (Oceans Eleven is my fav). And I wondered how interesting it would be if one of my heroines had a father who’d been like Danny Ocean. And now, his past is coming back to haunt her.
And, of course, the book starts and finishes in Harmony Valley.
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