As I start getting feedback on The Road Leads
Back, I’m excited to hear people tell me they enjoy reading romances
with characters over 40. As I get older, I’m finding it more and more difficult
to connect with the younger characters I’m trying to write.
I wonder if this means in 20 years I’ll be writing romances
for the 60s crowd. Hmm. Is there a market for that? I suppose if we’re all
still around, you’ll be there with me, right?
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading The Road Leads
Back as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am so happy to introduce you
to Kara Martinson and Harry Canton.
These two wayward lovers are the opening act for my new
Stonehill Romance series. The series is set in the fictional
Des Moines suburb of Stonehill, and all the characters in the series (at least
those planned!) are over 40 and have pasts and problems that reflect the age
group.
Kara Martinson and Harry Canton weren’t exactly high school
sweethearts, but they did share one night neither will ever forget.
Twenty-seven years later, Harry surprises Kara at an art gallery opening and
discovers he left her with more than just memories when he went away to college.
Desperate to connect with the family he never knew existed, Harry convinces his
son to move to Stonehill—and pleads with Kara to come, too.
Kara hasn’t stepped foot in their hometown since the day she
was sent away to a home for unwed mothers. Now Harry’s back in her life and as
they put together the pieces of their parents’ betrayal, old heartaches start
to feel anew. She wants to be near her family, but returning to Iowa means
facing some things…and some people…she isn’t quite ready to.
Can Harry convince her to forgive the people who betrayed
her so they can embrace the future they were robbed of so long ago? Or will the
pain of the past be too much for Kara to overcome?
EXCERPT
Kara squeezed her way toward the crowded bar, nudging between
two kids who she couldn’t quite believe were old enough to be legally drinking
in public. Shouldn’t they be funneling cheap beer in a college dorm somewhere?
Or sneaking shots from Daddy’s liquor cabinet?
Art gallery openings used to be much more sophisticated than
this. When she was a young artist, openings were about appreciating the art and
the artist, not the free booze.
Shit.
Had she really gone there? Kara shook her head at her bitter
thoughts.
The bartender, a walking tattoo with spiked black hair,
leaned close so she could hear him. “What’ll it be?”
She realized all she wanted was wine. And quiet. The kids
around her were acting more like pre-teens jacked up on sugar than art
aficionados. One made a face, squished and reddened, as he held up an empty
shot glass as proof of his triumph.
She wondered when she had gotten so damned old. She never
used to snub her nose at a good drink. Actually, she completely understood what
her problem was, and it had nothing to do with age. She’d conformed. She’d
fallen into line. She’d done what she was supposed to do. Agent? Check. Gallery
opening? Check. Interviews with all the local fancy-pants magazines? Check.
But this wasn’t her. None of this was her.
Frowning, she leaned in as well, making sure he heard her
over the jeering of the kids next to her. “Tequila.” Within seconds he set a
glass in front of her and filled it with amber liquid. He started to walk away
but she held up one hand and lifted the glass with the other. She downed the drink,
slammed the glass down, and gestured for another—one shot wasn’t nearly enough
to numb the misery of this evening.
The young man lifted his brows and smirked as he gav¬¬¬e her
another shot. He laughed as she motioned for him to fill the glass a third time.
“I can’t do this all night, lady.”
“One more.”
“Some of the crap in here costs more than my car. No puking.
Got it?”
Kara chuckled. Clearly he didn’t recognize her as the artist
who had made the crap. “Honey, I was doing tequila shots before your daddy
dropped his pants and made you.”
The barkeep threw his head back and laughed, then filled her
glass one more time. “Nice one, babe.”
Babe? Kara snorted as she lifted the
glass. It was almost to her lips when a hand squeezed her shoulder.
“Kara?” asked a deep, smooth voice as if the man wasn’t
certain who he was touching.
She turned. Her eyes bulged as she looked into an intense
dark gaze she hadn’t seen since the night she’d lost her virginity.
The music had been loud, the beer lukewarm, and everybody
who was anybody—and several nobody’s like Kara and Harry—in their senior class
of Stonehill High was at the graduation party. The only person she had cared
about, though, didn’t care about her. Or so she’d thought. Until she’d somehow
ended up on Shannon Blake’s disgustingly pink- and ruffle-covered bed with
Harry Canton, book club president and algebra superstar, clumsily removing her
clothes, leaving slobbery kisses in their wake.
Kara swallowed hard as the flash of a memory faded, and the
man standing before her, looking as shocked as she felt, came back into view.
She downed the liquor, slammed the glass against the bar,
and sighed before she announced, “I’ve been looking for you for twenty-seven
years.”
He sank onto the vacant stool next to her and lifted his
hands as if he were at a loss for words. Something that appeared to be guilt
filled his eyes and made his full lips sag into a frown. She’d be damned if
temptation didn’t hit her as hard as it had when she was a hormonal teen.
“I wanted to tell you I was leaving,” he said, “but I didn’t
know how.”
“You should have tried something like, ‘Kara, I’m leaving.’”
“You’re right. But I was a kid. I didn’t have a lot of
common sense. All I could think about was how I finally had my freedom.”
She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “You had
your freedom? You selfish prick.”
His eyes widened. “Well, that might be a little harsh. I was
just a kid, Kara. Yes, I should have told you I had no intention of staying
with you, but I was a little overwhelmed by what had happened. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
Harry’s shoulders slumped, as if he had given up justifying
sneaking out on her in the middle of the night. “Look, I saw a flier for your
gallery opening, and I wanted to say hello. I thought maybe… I don’t know what
I was thinking.” He sounded hurt, dejected even. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
He stood. She put her hand to his chest and shoved him back
onto the barstool. The move instantly reminded of her their one night together.
All of seventeen and totally inexperienced, she’d fancied herself a seductress
and pushed him on the bed before straddling his hips like she had a clue what
she was doing.
Touching his chest now, warmth radiated through her entire
body.
She glared, pulling her hand away and squeezing her fingers
into a fist. “Are you living in Seattle?”
He shook his head. “I had a conference in town. There were
fliers at the hotel. As soon as I saw your picture, I knew I had to come.” His
smile returned and excitement radiated from his face. “I can’t believe you have
a gallery opening. This is amazing, Kare.”
She wasn’t nearly as thrilled by her accomplishment as he
seemed to be. She felt like she was selling her soul instead of her art. She’d
always preferred to go the indie route, but that crap agent had cornered her at
a particularly vulnerable moment and convinced her she needed him…just like he
convinced her she needed to be in a gallery. Although, now she was glad she’d
conceded on the open bar.
The tequila swirled through her, making her muscles tingle,
preventing her from fully engaging the near-three decades of anger she’d been
harboring. She had spent an awfully long time wanting to give Harry Canton a
piece of her mind.
Even so, hearing him say she’d done something amazing warmed
her in a way very little ever had. If he had come looking for another one-night
stand, she hated to admit that she would consider reliving that night
again—only this time with more sexual experience and less expectation of him
sticking around.
He might be almost three decades older, but his face was
still handsome and his brown eyes were just as inviting as they had been when
he was a high school prodigy and she was a wallflower.
She smirked at a realization: he was in a suit, probably
having just left a corporate meeting, while she was wearing a red sari-inspired
dress at her gallery opening.
He was still the straight arrow. She was still the eccentric
artist.
“Did you hear what I said, Harry? About looking for you for
the last twenty-seven years.”
His shoulders sagged. “I never meant to sleep with you that
night. I mean”—he quickly lifted his hands—“I was leaving and should have told
you before taking you upstairs. I shouldn’t have just left like that, but I
didn’t think you wanted to see me again anyway. If it’s any consolation,” he
said giving her a smile that softened the rough edges of her anger, “I’d been
working up the courage to kiss you since junior year when you squeezed a tube
of red paint in Mitch Friedman’s hair after he made jokes about Frida Kahlo’s
eyebrows in art class.”
She frowned at him. That hadn’t been her finest hour. Then
again, neither was waking up thinking she was starting a new life as a high
school graduate and the girlfriend of the cutest boy she’d ever met, only to
find the other side of the homecoming queen’s bed empty. “There’s nothing wrong
with a woman embracing her natural beauty.”
His smile faded quickly. “I’m sorry,” he said, sounding
sincere. “I shouldn’t have left you like I did. I hope you believe that I
regret it. Not being with you,” he amended, “but leaving without explaining.”
She laughed softly. He’d had that same nervous habit in high
school. He’d say what was on his mind and then instantly try to recover, afraid
his words had come out wrong. Usually they had. For as awkward as she’d been,
at least she’d always been able to say what she meant and to stand behind it.
Of course, that ability got her in trouble more often than not.
She’d told herself a million times that Harry didn’t owe her
an explanation. They hadn’t been in any kind of relationship. She’d drooled
over him from afar, but other than an occasional smile in the hallway, he’d
barely acknowledged her existence in high school. Even if he hadn’t gone off to
start his Ivy League college career the day after graduation, he likely never
would have looked at her again. Well, at least not until she could no longer
hide the truth of their one-night stand from the world.
“I expected so much more from you, Harry,” she said sadly, the
sting of what he’d done back then numbed slightly by the tequila.
His shoulders sagged a bit. “I know.”
“Why didn’t you ever write me back?” Her voice sounded hurt
and pathetic. She was surprised that after so many years of being angry, there
was still pain hiding beneath her fury. “I must have sent you a hundred
letters.”
He creased his brow. “Letters? I didn’t get any letters.”
Kara searched his eyes. He looked genuinely confused.
“I sent them to…” Her words faded. Suddenly the
tequila-induced haze wasn’t so welcome. “Your mother said if I wrote to you,
she’d make sure you got my letters.”
“My mother? I never got any letters.”
“But you sent money.”
Harry shook his head slightly. “What the hell are you
talking about? Why would I send you money?”
She stared at him as realization set in. He hadn’t responded
to her letters because he hadn’t received her letters. And if he hadn’t
received the letters, he hadn’t sent her money. And if he hadn’t sent her
money, he hadn’t known that she needed it. Sighing, she let some of her
decades-old anger slip. Her head spun, either from the alcohol or the blurry
dots she was trying to mentally connect. Leaning onto the bar, she exhaled
slowly. “She never told you, did she?”
“Told me what?”
Kara couldn’t speak. Her words wouldn’t form.
An arm wrapped around Kara’s shoulder, startling her and
making her gasp quietly. She turned and blinked several times at the man who
had just slid next to her.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, “but I need to get home.”
Leaning in, he kissed her head. “Congratulations on the opening, Mom. It was
great.”
“Um…” She swallowed, desperate to find her voice. “Thank
you, sweetheart.” She flicked her gaze at the man sitting next to her. The
longer Harry looked at her son, the wider Harry’s eyes became.
Phil cast a disapproving glance at Harry then focused on his
mother again. “Don’t forget that Jess is expecting you to make pancakes in the
morning. You promised.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” Kara returned her attention to Harry.
His jaw was slack and his cheeks had grown pale.
Phil nodded at Harry as if he were satisfied that he’d made
the point that his mother didn’t need to be staying out all night and walked
away. Harry watched him leave while Kara waved down the bartender and pointed
at her glass. The tattooed kid hesitated, likely debating the ethics of giving
her another shot. She pointed again, cocking a brow for emphasis, and he
finally filled her glass.
“Kara…” Harry’s voice was breathless, like he’d been kicked
in the gut. “Was…was that my…son?
No. His mother definitely hadn’t given
him the letters Kara had written. She lifted her shot, toasting him.
“Congratulations, Harry. It’s a boy.”
To watch the book trailer for The Road Leads
Back please click here.
BUY LINKS
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Presenting the covers for all the books in the
Stonehill Romance series.
Marci Boudreaux lives with her husband, two
children, and their numerous pets. Romance is her preferred reading and writing
genre because nothing feels better than falling in love with someone new, and
her husband doesn't like when she does that in real life.
As well as writing erotica under her pen name
Emilia Mancini, Marci is a content editor for Lyrical Press,
an imprint of Kensington Publishing. She earned her MS in Publishing from
University of Houston-Victoria in 2014 and worked as a freelance writer until
she recently opted to focus on working in books.
Congrats on an engrossing book, Marci! Wishing thousands of sales!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sloane!
DeleteThank you for having me today! I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. Best of luck with sales.
ReplyDelete