It is my pleasure to welcome my good friend, Author Lucinda Race, to Notes From a Romantic's Heart. Today, we'll be celebrating a Book Birthday for her new release, Bouquet, Book 6 in the Crescent Lake Winery series.
Liza Bradford never dreamed she’d be a widow, raising two boys, and starting a business as an event planner. It wasn’t part of her life plan, but neither was crushing on the handsome Drew Cameron. Between being on the board of her family’s winery and running the kids around for summer activities, she doesn’t have one spare minute to date. Besides, she’s better at planning weddings for other couples than finding her own happily ever after. After all, she thought she had her one chance at true love.
Drew Cameron is good-looking and rich—and he fell hard for Liza the first time he laid eyes on her. He’s been patiently waiting until she was ready to go on a date, so she almost knocked him over when she asked him out first. He likes a woman who knows what she wants and goes after it. But he’s worried about her finances and the fact that he has the means to make her life effortless. As a bonus, her boys fill a void in his life he hadn’t realized being an only child had created.
Is Liza ready to move forward with her life and embrace love, or will Drew’s wanting to take care of her and the boys turn the sweet bouquet of their future to vinegar?
“George. Johnny!”
She contained the frustration that threatened to bubble up and over and at the same time hoped someone would think to come and help her. If they did, they could make one trip instead of three with the jugs of lemonade and iced tea and, of course, the cake. It was Memorial Day and this family liked every reason to get together. As the family grew, there were more and more celebrations.
It would have been so much easier to have it at her place, but it was Anna’s turn to host and she and her husband Colin wanted to show off their backyard, complete with an inground pool that had been finished just in time for the holiday weekend. She smiled to herself. That also explained why the boys had taken off like a shot from a cannon. It was hot.
She pushed her blond bangs from her forehead and tapped the button to ease open the hatch on her minivan. She grabbed the sweat-covered tea jug and struggled to hold on to it before it slipped and crashed to the ground. The plastic top popped off, drenching her pale-blue capris with the caramel-colored liquid.
“Damn it.” She tried to whisk the tea from her pants in vain.
“Hey, Liza, can I help?”
A deep male voice interrupted her next slew of profanity. Heat flushed her cheeks as she noticed Drew Cameron’s concerned face.
“Hi. Are you here for the party?” She propped one hand on the side of the van in a poor attempt to look casual.
“I am.” He bent over, straightened the gallon-sized plastic jug, and then reached under the van to retrieve the lid. He handed it to her. “I guess no tea today.”
She glanced down and inwardly groaned. What a way to make a good impression on the man she had a tiny crush on for the last year or so. “Except on my clothes and it’s okay; it was just for a couple people who love my sweet tea.”
He handed her a pure-white linen handkerchief from his back pocket. “Here. Use this.”
What guy carried around a fancy handkerchief anymore? Her late husband, Steve, never had anything this fancy. She accepted it since it was better to try and blot the spots than let them stain her new outfit.
“Thanks.” She gave him a smile so as not to appear ungrateful.
“Colin invited me to stop over and see the new landscaping, and he mentioned the family was getting together. Since I happen to know some of the best cooks in the valley would be here, I took him up on the offer.”
She held out the now-stained cloth and quickly withdrew it. “I’ll wash this and get it back to you.”
“No need.” He took it from her. “Give me a sec to toss this in the car and I’ll help you get the rest of the stuff into the house.”
Award-winning and best-selling author Lucinda Race is a lifelong fan of romantic fiction. As a young girl, she spent hours reading romance novels and getting lost in the hope they represent. While her friends dreamed of becoming doctors and engineers, her dreams were to become a writer—a romance novelist.
As life twisted and turned, she found herself writing nonfiction but longed to turn to her true passion. After developing the storyline for The Loudon Series, it was time to start living her dream. Her fingers practically fly over computer keys she weaves stories about strong women and the men who love them.
Lucinda lives with her two little dogs, a miniature long hair dachshund and a shitzu mix rescue, in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts. When she's not at her day job, she’s immersed in her fictional worlds. And if she’s not writing romance novels, she’s reading everything she can get her hands on.
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Thank you so much for stopping by. Please come back again soon.
Nancy
