Book Title: Trusting Love Again
Publisher: Black Velvet Seductions
Publisher: Black Velvet Seductions
Date Published: November 8, 2015
ISBN: 2940156674237
ASIN: B017RNS888
Genre: Contemporary romance
Heat Rating: 3
Page Count: 99
All she wants is to start over, live a peaceful life…
After an abusive marriage and an ugly divorce, Toni needs to rebuild her self-confidence and start a new life in her hometown. Going home again and confronting people she’d hurt when she’d left is never easy. She’d hung onto the idea of buying a long-abandoned old house and remodeling it to help her recover. But a man from her past has recently purchased it for his business. That’s her emotional breaking point and she does something reckless. Now she must pay the legal consequences of her foolish actions…by working for him.
All he wants is to focus on his work…
Chad’s job as a lawyer working to protect the rights of the abused elderly consumes his time and energy. It cost him his marriage and an aborted child he hadn’t known about. Now he works harder, guards his bruised heart. Yet the return of someone he’d held secret feelings for comes back to town. She upsets his world, starting with minor destruction of his business property and causing him minor injury. He shouldn’t become involved in helping this troubled woman, yet he can’t keep from doing so.
Two heart-damaged people have trouble trusting love again.
The judge cleared his throat and
brought Chad back to the moment, again. “You are also charged with criminal
mischief, knowingly damaging property that belongs to another person. In this
case, an iPad belonging to Chadwin Anderson, as well as to a sign belonging to
the Anderson and Anderson law firm.”
Toni’s
shoulders slumped. He wished he could stop this, but it was out of his hands at
this point.
“Do you
understand the charges, Ms. Thornton?”
“Yes,” Toni
whispered loud enough for him to hear.
“What is your plea, Ms.
Thornton? Not guilty. No contest. Guilty.” He looked intently at her. “I assume
you have been told the differences.”
Toni nodded,
took a second, and said, “Guilty, Your Honor.”
Chad waited as anxiously as
Toni, who shifted uneasily. He knew the possible sentences and had already
spoken to the judge, first in an attempt to have the charges dropped. When that
hadn’t been accepted, he’d suggested a possible sentence that he could live
with.
“You will pay a fine of $150 on
each of the three charges, for a total of $450.” The judge gave Toni a stern
look. “I know your history in this town as a teenager, and I know your family.”
Chad fought to stay seated,
wanting to defend Toni somehow. Many in the town had disapproved of the almost
constant mischief she’d gotten into in her teenage years. Nothing had ever been
harmful to anyone or anything. The worst incident being when they’d filled the
baptistery with powdered strawberry drink. She just got carried away sometimes
and ran around with a group of mischief-makers. He didn’t think she should be
judged by her past.
Toni
trembled, making him worry about her fainting or something.
“I could sentence you to thirty
days in jail.” The judge hesitated and slowly looked understanding. “Several
people have come to me on your behalf.”
Who? He had, of course. But
who were the others? Possibly his father. Maybe her brother, a town
councilman. Maybe her father. Whoever they were, he was grateful.
Toni
remained silent.
“Ms. Thornton, I sentence you to
thirty days of community service, 240 hours.” He glanced at Chad. “Is this
acceptable to you, Mr. Anderson?”
He stood.
Toni turned to look at him, clearly wondering. “Yes, Your Honor.”
“You are also in agreement with
having Ms. Thornton perform her community service by working for your law
firm?”
Toni’s eyes
widened and she tensed.
“Yes, Your
Honor.”
“Ms. Thornton, you will begin
your sentence tomorrow.” With that, the judge pounded his gavel on the bench
and got up to leave.
Instead of being happy with the
light, easy sentence, Toni shot Chad a sizzling look. It would be an
interesting thirty days.
Starla Kaye wears many hats professionally and as a writer. She is the community coordinator for a Midwestern accounting firm, a gerontologist who volunteers with an active group of senior adults, a mentor/teacher of writing, and a multi-published author. She dabbles in writing romances of many sub-genres: contemporary, historical Western, medieval, sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, and Regency. To date she has published 20 novels, 39 novellas, 8 anthologies, 18 short stories, and 3 audio books. You can learn more about her work at http://starlakaye.com
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