Sweet Hearts Read online

  Table of Contents

  Synopsis

  By the Authors

  Firework Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Epilogue

  Getting Serious Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Risk Factor Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  About the Authors

  Books Available From Bold Strokes Books

  Synopsis

  Do you ever wonder Whatever happened to...? Find out when you reconnect with your favorite characters from Melissa Brayden’s Heart Block, Rachel Spangler’s LoveLife, and Karis Walsh’s Worth the Risk.

  In Firework by Melissa Brayden: Lucy Danaher was born into a life of privilege, and has always enjoyed the view from the top. But after clashing with reporter and rights activist Kristin James, she wonders if there’s more to the world than she once thought.

  In Getting Serious by Rachel Spangler: Lisa Knapp has never been the romantic lead. She’s better suited to comic relief, but when another guest at her best friend’s wedding doesn’t go for the easy laugh, Lisa has to face the prospect of getting serious.

  In Risk Factor by Karis Walsh: Myra Owens runs a therapeutic riding program for returning soldiers. She won’t risk getting hurt by becoming personally involved with her riders until Ainslee Harriot challenges her to take a chance on love.

  Sweet Hearts

  Brought to you by

  eBooks from Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  Please respect the rights of the author and do not file share.

  Sweet Hearts

  “Firework” © 2015 By Melissa Brayden. All Rights Reserved.

  “Getting Serious” © 2015 By Rachel Spangler. All Rights Reserved.

  “Risk Factor” © 2015 By Karis Walsh. All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 13: 978-1-62639-476-6

  This Electronic Book is published by

  Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 249

  Valley Falls, New York 12185

  First Edition: December 2015

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  Credits

  Editor: Ruth Sternglantz

  Production Design: Stacia Seaman

  Cover Design By Sheri ([email protected])

  By the Authors

  Melissa Brayden

  Waiting in the Wings

  Heart Block

  How Sweet It Is

  Soho Loft Romances

  Kiss the Girl

  Just Three Words

  Ready or Not

  Rachel Spangler

  Learning Curve

  Trails Merge

  The Long Way Home

  LoveLife

  Spanish Heart

  Does She Love You?

  Timeless

  Heart Of The Game

  Karis Walsh

  Harmony

  Worth the Risk

  Sea Glass Inn

  Improvisation

  Wingspan

  Blindsided

  Tacoma Mounted Patrol

  Mounting Danger

  Mounting Evidence

  Firework

  Melissa Brayden

  Chapter One

  Lucy Danaher was a daydreamer. She always had been, dating back to the first grade when she used to get into trouble for staring out the window at the swirling clouds rather than paying attention during handwriting instruction. As an unfortunate result, she’d never really mastered the cursive S and lived in shame.

  Simpler times, she thought with a smile as she stared dreamily out her twenty-ninth-floor office window, struck at the way the big fluffy white cloud above the skyline looked soft enough to sleep on. Lucy did that a lot, the staring at work, because the San Diego skyline, the dips and leaps that framed the high-rises, never ceased to transfix her and carry her away from the hustle and bustle of the office.

  “Luce, your two o’clock is here,” her assistant Trevor said from the doorway of her office. A glance at the planner on her monitor reminded her that she’d agreed to meet with that reporter she’d been playing phone tag with. Something about a feature story and how it came to garner the attention it did. While she had a million things on her plate, she knew it was never wise to turn down a little PR, and better to raise awareness about their industry. Not a lot of people understood the concept of a newswire service, and it was important they took every chance they could get to educate the public. That little feature story the reporter wanted to discuss had been picked up in over twenty-five regional newspapers, all because of the press release they’d put on the wire. It should be an easy interview, and then she’d get back to working with legal on the contract language and figuring out how to convince the Dallas editors to not make so many transmission errors.

  “Got it,” she said, turning back to Trevor. “Give me a minute to grab some notes, and send him in.” She was happy to meet with the guy and toot Global NewsWire’s horn a bit. In the end, it just meant more business, and as the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company, that’s what she was all about. She checked herself in her compact just to make sure she was presentable, running a hand through her long dark hair to fluff it some. She’d worn it down today and questioned that choice now, especially if there was going to be a photo. She applied a touch of lip gloss and turned at the sound of the door opening, smiling, already in people mode. She was good at people mode, and it had landed her where she was, but she didn’t relish it as it related to business. She did, however, relish the salary. GNW took good care of her, making money a distant concern.

  “Ms. Danaher?” Whoa. She locked eyes with a statuesque blonde whom she was not at all expecting. Wait, hadn’t Trevor written down the name Kris? She glanced absently at her computer screen before refocusing on the looker. She wore jeans and a white cotton button-up, untucked, but slim fitting. Straight blond hair fell to her shoulders and sea-green eyes sparkled at Lucy in greeting. This was not the reporter she was expecting to see.

  “Call me Lucy.” She extended her hand. “And you are?”

  “Kristin James of the Union-Tribune,” the woman said, grasping it. Firm handshake, but not too firm, which meant she knew what she was doing. She had Lucy’s attention.

  And aha, Kris in her appointment book must, in fact, be Kristin.

  The day was looking up. Regardless, she made a mental note to discuss gender-neutral names with Trevor at her next opportunity. Kristin wore a low heel, but Lucy had her pegged at maybe five-seven, a good two inches taller than her. Nothing she couldn’t remedy with a strategic heel of her own. “Please sit down. Can I o
ffer you something to drink?”

  “No, thank you. I’m fine.” Kristin glanced around. “Wow. I love your office. The view is breathtaking. If I worked here, I don’t know if I’d ever get any work done.”

  “It’s a struggle I don’t always win,” Lucy said, following Kristin’s gaze to the skyline behind her, understanding Kristin’s sentiment more than she realized. “But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

  Kristin studied her. “You’re young for a CEO. I was expecting someone, I don’t know, buttoned up and a lot stuffier. A nice surprise.”

  Lucy sent Kristin her best smile. “I think that’s a compliment.”

  Kristin held her gaze and nodded. “It definitely is.” This was going well. She liked this Kristin. Her interest was piqued on multiple levels.

  “What about you? Have you been with the paper long?”

  “Not too long, no. I moved to San Diego just last month from a suburb of San Francisco.”

  “I love San Francisco. Making friends yet?” Lucy asked.

  “Here and there. My biggest learning curve has been navigating your highways. I’m just now starting to really get my bearings.”

  “Traffic can be ridiculous, but it’s a great way to come up with a killer grocery list.” Lucy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and circled back behind her desk. “Please, have a seat.”

  Kristin sat in the leather club chair across from Lucy’s desk and held up a digital recorder from her messenger bag. “Do you mind if I record our interaction?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Great,” Kristin said, smiling. Her eyes really were a remarkably vibrant color, especially against that crisp white shirt. “Shall we get started?”

  Lucy made a sweeping motion with her hand and took a seat behind her desk. “By all means.”

  Kristin sat back and consulted her notes before raising her gaze and speaking into the recorder. “This is Kristin James interviewing Lucy Danaher of Global NewsWire on the afternoon of May twelfth. Ms. Danaher, GNW recently ran a press release about a young man who rescued a school bus that stalled out on a rural railroad track as a train approached. Since that time the story has inarguably received a great deal of attention in the media.”

  “That’s true,” Lucy said, grinning. “Our Des Moines office ran the release, putting it on the wire. A large number of regional papers with high circulation picked up the story and ran it as a prominent feature. We were happy to get it out there in the world, and I think this example shows how far our reach really is at GNW.”

  “A feature story the San Diego Union-Tribune ran as well.”

  “Yes, we were thrilled to see that. The story is not only an exciting one, but quite touching on a basic human level. The gentleman who saved those children”—she referred to the file folder on her desk with the clippings—“Jonathan Ableman, is a true hero. He deserves every bit of attention he receives.”

  The sides of Kristin’s mouth seemed to tug and she sat there for a moment. Given the silence, Lucy wondered if she should expand upon her answer, but Kristin beat her there. “Interesting, the classification of Mr. Ableman as a hero. You’re certainly not the only one who thinks so.”

  Lucy smiled, unsure of the point of the comment. “You disagree?”

  “Let me ask you a question first. A newswire service like yours is more or less a wire for hire, correct? People pay you to send out press releases to a much wider audience than they could ever reach on their own, correct?”

  “Quite true. Our clients use our services to distribute newsworthy information via press release to global, national, and regional circuits. The client selects a circuit and we send out the release for them. The wire, on the other side of things, is a prominent tool for news organizations gathering stories.”

  “With your company’s name at the bottom of the release.”

  Lucy sat forward, trying to anticipate what it was this woman was angling at. “Each release is labeled as a GNW transmission when it’s sent out, yes.”

  “In that case, don’t you feel a responsibility to make sure that the information you’re transmitting is credible?”

  Wow. Okay. She took a moment because it felt like she’d walked into something here. “While it’s true we keep a watch on the content our clients ask us to transmit, and an editor reads and proofs each release before sending it out, the responsibility to authenticate the information ultimately falls on the client.”

  “So you pass the buck?”

  “No, not at all,” Lucy said, making sure to keep her voice calm, even keeled. “But we process thousands of releases during a twenty-four-hour period. We can’t fact check each one any more than UPS can go through every package that comes into its warehouse. Plus, each story is sourced at the bottom of the release with the name of the PR firm requesting transmission. We’re a delivery service and don’t claim to be anything more.”

  “Thereby you take no responsibility if the public is misinformed based on one of your transmissions?”

  “Again, that falls to the client.” Honestly, Lucy wasn’t sure whether to zig or zag at these purposeful questions and wondered if she shouldn’t stop the meeting and refer all of this to legal. But, no, she could handle this woman, and she knew one thing for sure. When she and Emory, her best friend, built this company from the ground up, they’d believed in the work they did and she’d stand by it. She consulted the file in front of her. “In the case of this release, Mr. Ableman was represented by a public relations firm. We transmitted the release containing his story on our Feature Circuit, used by news agencies to pick up human-interest stories.”

  “And that makes it acceptable? Because it came from a public relations firm?”

  “It’s acceptable enough to not refuse service.”

  “I see.”

  “Are you saying his story is untrue?”

  “I am.”

  The exchange was now clipped and charged with an intensity Lucy hadn’t planned on when she agreed to participate in what she thought would be a fluffy accessory piece to the school bus story. This was so not how she envisioned her afternoon. This Kristin woman was a shark in sheep’s clothing.

  She handed Lucy a file folder that seemed to contain the work of a private investigator. “There was a school bus,” Kristin said, pointing at a paragraph on the report. “It did stall out near a railroad track.” She held up one finger. “Not exactly on one, but close enough to be dangerous. A group of nearby farmers worked together to move the bus to safety, but it seems Mr. Ableman was not one of them. In fact, he’s not known to any of the farmers, nor can the school bus driver authenticate ever seeing him there. No one in that town has even heard of the guy, nor do they recognize his photo.”

  Perfect. Lucy dropped the folder in annoyance. “So he made it all up?”

  “It seems he insinuated himself into an existing story and sensationalized it.”

  Lucy shook her head. “That’s horrible.”

  “It is. What’s worse is that hundreds and thousands of citizens across the nation were able to hear his story because Global NewsWire put it into the world as fact.”

  “We’ll issue a retraction,” Lucy said quietly.

  “I think that might help.”

  Lucy rubbed her forehead. “So this is an exposé that you’re working on, not a feature?”

  “I’m writing a piece examining the importance of truth in the stories we pass on in our society or, rather, the lack of importance. A number of national scandals from news anchors to authors fabricating facts have dominated headlines over the last few years. Jonathan Ableman is a local example of a perpetuated untruth.”

  “I see.”

  Kristin picked up her recorder. “I think I got everything I need here. Thank you so much for speaking with me today.”

  Lucy stood. “So you’re going to include GNW in this story? Ms. James, we were duped just as much as the rest of the world.”

  Kristin offered a polite smile and Lucy now wanted to
roll her eyes at how beautiful this woman was. The universe’s way of playing a mean joke on her, clearly. “I’m just gathering some facts at this point,” Kristin said.

  “Well, I encourage you to give it some thought before running with it.”

  “Of course.” Kristin nodded courteously. “Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.” And then the blonde with the eyes was gone.

  “Easy for you to say,” Lucy muttered to the empty room. She reached for her cell and called Emory, who was off that day. Two years ago, when Emory met Sarah, the love of her life, she’d made some changes to her lifestyle, and handing Lucy the reins at GNW had been one of them.

  “What’s up, Luce?” Emory said upon answering.

  Lucy swiveled in her chair, dropping the corporate powerhouse persona. “It’s been a day. I might die if we can’t do drinks. Can we? This is the part where you say yes.”

  She heard Emory laugh quietly on the other end of the phone. “I think I can swing drinks. Sarah will be with Grace at her gymnastics lesson.” When Sarah moved in with Emory, they’d made the decision to raise Sarah’s ten-year-old daughter, Grace, together. The kid was a riot. Precocious, quirky, and fun.

  “Gymnastics class is perfect,” Lucy said. “I love tumblers. Especially drinking from them. You in?”

  “Are you planning to be dramatic?”

  “I can’t promise I won’t be, because I am dramatic and did you not just hear me say I had a day? Because I did. I had a day, and I’ll need appropriate friend support paired with a cocktail of my choosing.”

  “Those are two things I can do. Meet me at the Lavender Room at six?”

  “With bells on. And I’m not kidding. I’m stopping and buying bells. I’ll need them to cheer me up. I’m stressed.”