The Album Book 2 - Pauline’s Story
Contemporary, Fantasy Romance
Blurb:
When Ella hands over The Album to Pauline, the young
food blogger is about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime—she’s been chosen
as a contestant in The Culinary Dream, a TV cooking competition. Pauline takes
The Album with her to Italy where the filming is to take place and meets food
photographer, Xaden, the brother of the man who ripped out her heart and put
her off relationships for a long time.
To her dismay, she gets eliminated from the
competition on the first round. Humiliated and determined not to be pitied by
her friends and family, she decides to stay behind in Italy for a holiday as
well as blog about her restaurant experiences in the exotic European country.
Xaden won't leave her alone and proves to be a
friend in a time of need but when he kisses her, she pushes him away, afraid
he’ll hurt her like his brother did. The TV series offers her a job as the
editor of the food magazine and she is to work alongside the very man she
wishes to avoid. Forced to be with the man she can't resist but whom her
instincts tell her she can't trust, Pauline is in for an emotional
roller-coaster ride with The Album as her companion and guide.
Excerpt
Without thinking too deeply about her potential response, he walked
round to face her and found her eyes red and cheeks blotchy.
“Are you okay?”
Had she heard bad news from home? Would she have to leave the
competition prematurely? Had the stress gotten to her? Maybe it would be a good
thing for his career if she left soon. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake in
his first big deal, his first breakthrough.
Her eyes enlarged and she sucked in a breath, but he refused to let
Roan’s wild oats sown in her heart destroy his chance to help the tender woman.
“No, of course not. How would you feel?”
His heart sank. Had she been eliminated on the first round?
“You don’t know?”
“I didn’t stay for the judges’ session. That was for John and Kyle.”
“Well…” She shrugged. “I suppose I didn’t have enough experience. Who
was I kidding?”
Her blue eyes sparkled with freshly produced tears and his heart
squeezed. He hated that she looked even more beautiful when her emotions came
to the fore. Made him feel guilty for the male need rising up within him so
suddenly—the arousal brought on by her own disappointment. Oh, he’d felt that
suffocating feeling taking over his soul before. Disappointment had taunted him
many times.
“But your food looked the best. I thought you’d win.”
She laughed cynically. “Yeah, right. I’m sure you didn’t think that.
What do you want, Xaden?”
If she were a harder woman, those words would have come out sarcastic
and bitter. Instead, she sounded so weary, so defeated.
“Come with me.” He held out his hand, desire to touch her flooding his
being. “I want to show you a part of Italy. A part of Bologna I’ve secretly wanted
to explore but haven’t had the time.”
His heart raced as she rose up with his tug. Confusion blanked her
expression, though. Then she shook her head.
“No, definitely not. And why would you have time now?”
“Well, you have all the time in the world. When do you go back home?”
“I don’t know.” She was trying terribly hard to hold back the tears.
Within a moment, he held her in his arms and tried to ease the shudder of
suppressed sadness against his chest. Her soft hair brushed against his arms,
sending spirals of longing which brought visions of kissing her, weaving his
fingers through her hair to her scalp.
“I didn’t think I wanted it so badly,” she whimpered into his shoulder.
“When I caught my first flight, I thought I’d made a mistake. But being here, amongst
all the other contestants, meeting people who have the same passion as me,
watching the MortadellaBò festival, feeling Italy and tasting its food, I
really wanted to stay here. For a long time. Why am I telling you this?” She
pulled away and wiped her wet eyes, anger sparking from her gaze.
“Because I care.”
Once again, a frown filled her freckled forehead. “How can you care? You
don’t even know me.”
“I’ve been watching you.”
“You told me you only liked my photos. Not me.”
He took her hand and she didn’t yank hers away. It was so small, so
delicate, so sweet. “Well, I lied. When you said you’d been with Roan, I was
ashamed. I—”
“I have to go.” She spun away and ran to the exit, her heels clomping on
the tiled flooring.
The sun said its final goodbyes, plunging the city in semi-darkness.
Author Bio:
Kathy lives in South Africa, where the summers are hot, the
winters cool and bugs thrive. She writes romance in many forms, most of the
time with women who feel deeply, men who care strongly and characters who learn
lessons along the way. Every so often, she sprinkles a little magic in her
stories. When she’s not writing, she makes sure her kids work hard as they do
school at home, tries not to get too distracted by dust bunnies and cooks up a
storm to keep the tummies full. When she’s not hectically busy, she loves
reading romance and fantasy novels, watching movies, and dabbling in different
crafty things, depending on her mood.
Buy Links:
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/614697
Barnes
and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-finds-a-way-kathy-bosman/1123406511?ean=2940152623901
Online Links for Kathy:
Website and blog: http://www.kathybosman.com/
Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/KathleenBosman
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KathleenLBosman
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/gracewalk17
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Book 1 in the series.
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