When Emma Grant returns to her family's Audubon Springs beach house to fulfill the stipulations of her father's will, she has every intention of forcing her former lover out of the house for good. She's never fit into her wealthy family and would prefer avoiding her past, but with her brother threatening to reveal her young daughter, she has no choice.Rafe Iuliano has other plans. The wealthy Grants tried to bribe him out of Emma's life years ago, but he's determined to prove once and for all that a master carpenter is worthy of Emma and the house.
Their ridiculous and steamy battle for the house reignites the love and passion that bloomed between them years ago. But when Rafe discovers she's kept their daughter a secret for two years, can he overcome anger and pride to claim his family and the love of his life, or will the deception drive a final wedge between them?
“Have you lost your mind?” she screamed.
“Yes!” He turned off the saw, threw it on the ground, whipped off his protective goggles and tossed them as well. “Why do you ask?”
“You cut a massive hole in the back door!”
“This here is an example of our differences. You see a hole. I see a home improvement project. This is no ordinary square hole in a door, this is a doggie door.” He pushed on the large piece of cut wood until it fell and landed on the pantry floor inside with a loud clap.
“It’s about three times the size of a doggie door,” she stated flatly.
“Yeah, but I’m the dog. So Princess, what do you think?”
“I think you are insane.”
“I AM insane! You have MADE me insane! You threw all my stuff out front. You used my underwear for rags!”
“I couldn’t find anything else.”
“There is a basket full of rags in there.”
“None of them fit the occasion,” she said with a straight face.
“I must have lost my mind because that almost makes sense.” He gestured to the door. “Ladies first.” When she stared unmoving, he climbed through the cut door and opened it. “Just for the record, a caveman would have made you climb through.”
“Just for the record, I only changed the locks on the front door.”
RoseAnn DeFranco grew up in upstate NY with her nose in a book and a song in her heart. Following the pursuit of a musical theatre career in NYC, she turned her creative energy to writing romance. RoseAnn blogs about her writing experiences with her critique partners at www.the violetfemmes.com. A NJ shore transplant, she enjoys time spent at the beach with her family. She would love to one day live in a quaint shore town like the fictional town Audubon Springs from her BROTHERS OF AUDUBON SPRINGS series. More information about these Contemporary Romantic Comedies can be found at www.radefranco.com and you can connect with RoseAnn at www.thevioletfemmes.com, @radefranco, and https://www.facebook.com/#!/roseanndefrancoauthor .
Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteHello and thank you for featuring Return to Audubon Springs!
ReplyDeleteI love this moment between Emma and Rafe which takes place during the height of what I call "The House Wars." With such a long history, they know exactly how to drive one another crazy.
What is the craziest thing you've ever done in the name of love and war?