Mail Order Angel
by Mandy
Colton
GENRE: Contemporary
Romance
BLURB:
Fun characters,
humor, drama, and heartwarming moments…
Heartbreaking loss
strikes two people living happy and carefree lives in polar opposite places of
the North American map. Young and adventurous, Lance Colburn left home years
ago and worked his way north to Alaska, eventually settling in Nome. After
building a successful business, he’s still a very content bachelor, living in a
brand new home he constructed himself. Life couldn’t get much better…until the
worst news a single guy could get finds him after a family member is stricken
with a fatal illness. He learns that his simple—and slightly selfish—existence
is about to get flipped upside down and crowded. Worst of all, he’s going to
need a specific kind of help that can’t be found in Nome.
Having lived a happy
and sheltered life with her parents in Boston, Massachusetts, Angel McBride is
about to become an adult and spread her wings. While taking a summer vacation
in Europe with her friends before starting college, tragedy strikes at home.
After returning, she is shocked to find that her life has already drastically
changed and is about to get worse. She needs an escape plan—and quickly.
With little time and
no other choices at hand, both Lance and Angel come up with the same ridiculous
idea at the same time: Marriage to a stranger.
But neither are
prepared or quite mature enough to handle the big leap. Can they overcome her
deception and his wily ways to find true happiness?
Excerpt:
Lance Colburn sat across from the
two attorneys with what was probably a totally forlorn expression on his face.
His own lawyer, Edgar, held a fist pressed against his mouth, coughing and
shifting in his chair. Lance wanted to reach over the desk and punch him. Hard.
This was the worst day of his damn life. After today, nothing would ever be the
same again. One minute he’s a contented bachelor and a successful business
owner. The next? He’s the sole guardian of two young kids. One may not even be
out of diapers. The nickname alone was enough to make him grimace. Who calls
their kid Turd? Jesus H!
He sat back in his chair, staring at
the floor dumbstruck. A snicker finally escaped one of the men, causing him to
look up, and he didn’t have to guess whose mouth it had come from. He shot
Edgar a glare. “There is not a damn thing amusing about any of this. Are you
absolutely sure there is no one else she trusted to do this job? My sister
never said a word about this decision to me.”
His older sister, Gail, had recently
succumbed to breast cancer. She had fought a losing battle with it for years.
To make matters worse, her husband, Dale, had been killed two years before in
Afghanistan while serving in the military. Dale had been adopted by an older
couple, also now deceased. Lance and Gail’s own parents had passed not far
apart about four years prior. Shit. The sudden reality that he had no family left
hit hard and saddened him. There really was no other family guardian but him to
take the kids. He glanced at the uncomfortable attorney who’d traveled all the
way to Alaska to relay the grim news after the man had found out over the phone
how long it’d been since Lance had spoken to Gail.
The man swallowed and said, “I’m
very sorry for your loss and this obvious surprise, Mr. Colburn. It certainly
was never meant to be. I had papers drawn up and asked her for your information
to send them for your approval and signature quite a long time ago. I even
offered to call you myself on multiple occasions. I swear, on my firm’s good
name, that I had no idea there was still a question of guardianship. Are you
insinuating that you’re unwilling to take the children?”
What? Now Lance was pissed. “I’m not
insinuating anything, damn it! But what the hell am I supposed to do with two
small kids out here in this wilderness? It’s all I can do to take care of
myself sometimes. I work at a frantic pace through three seasons of the year
for twelve-plus hours a day. I’m a loner, I’m selfish, and I don’t know squat
about kids. And what the hell kind of names are Trixie and Turd? One is a
stripper name, and the other is…just wrong!”
His lawyer and friend, Ed, finally
turned his head and faked a coughing fit, although it was too obvious that he
was laughing. The fucker.
His sister’s lawyer, who possessed
much more tact and was taking the situation as serious as it certainly was,
spoke calmly. “The boy’s name is actually Turek.”
Lance just sat blinking at the man
for a minute and then threw up his hands. He said sarcastically, “Oh, what a
relief. That name changes everything. Now I just have to worry about him
getting smacked around a little on the school playground but not so much his
head mashed into a big steaming pile of moose shit!”
Edgar, the asshole, snorted. “The
name isn’t an issue, Lance. Sounds kind of like an Inuit name to me. Don’t you
think you’re overreacting a bit here?”
“Fuck you, Ed. Some friend you are.
How can you sit there and laugh? My sister just died, damn it!”
“I’m not amused by your sister’s
passing, and you know that. I just… You’re my friend, and I know you. The
picture of two little ones dropped at your doorstep, and you, the
quintessential bachelor, suddenly in the role of father, is what I find
amusing. It’s your damn squirmin’ that’s funny, but I know you, and you’ll
figure this out and do the right thing by them and your sister.” Ed was wearing
a gentler smile now.
Lance looked at the two men.
“There’s no one here to help me care for them. There’s no daycare and one grade
school. What the hell am I supposed to do?”
While trying to keep a straight
face, Ed said, “Maybe get a wife? Raymond Mullett got himself a mail-order
bride. Worked out pretty well for him. I drew up the papers myself.”
Lance stood and scoffed. “When you
two get serious and come up with a suitable idea for everyone involved, call
me. I am not able or in any position to care for two kids.”
His sister’s lawyer said, “A friend of
your sister’s has agreed to keep the children for a month. After that, they
will have to go into the child-welfare system for foster care and adoption if
you don’t agree to take them. They could then be split up for life, which could
result in irreparable emotional harm. These children are your blood relatives,
Mr. Colburn. Think about that.”
The lawyer pushed a business card
toward him.
Lance snatched it and walked out the
door, grumbling that he needed some time to think. And he was deep in it when he
walked to his truck. He was about to turn thirty, and he was happy with his
life in Nome. He’d always been different, adventurous, curious, and like a kind
of tumbleweed in his youth. He’d slid through high school, started college to
appease his parents, hated it, dropped out, and finally argued with his parents
until everyone was miserable.
In the end, he’d done his family a
favor by leaving home to find himself. His need for adventure had led him to
the Last Frontier—Alaska—where he’d met a few people and gone to work for a
petroleum company in Anchorage. When he was twenty-two, he met a man who saw
potential in him and hired him as an apprentice in his construction business.
He had liked the work, building something out of nothing. He’d grasped it easily,
staying for several years and learning the business from the bottom up.
Nome—and the state of Alaska, for
that matter—were both growing and in need of construction contractors in both
the private and business sectors. Lance had saved his money, taken the leap,
and moved. He’d slowly started his small business, amassed good workers and
suppliers, and maintained a good reputation. His business had grown fairly
quickly, and he was now proud to call himself and the business successful. He
loved what he did for a living. A couple of years ago, he had even purchased
some land and had just finished building a three-bedroom cabin of his own.
Until today, he’d considered himself
as settled as he wanted to be at this time in his life.
How the hell could this be
happening, and why hadn’t his sister talked to him about an important matter
like this? She hadn’t even told him the cancer was back. He heard a voice
calling him and turned as he was about to start his truck.
His sister’s lawyer ran up to him,
holding an envelope. “I forgot to give you this. It’s from Gail. Might explain
some things. I haven’t read it.”
AUTHOR BIO:
Mandy Colton is from Louisville, KY, and lives a very
quiet life with her husband and teenage son. A fan of romance, fun adventure,
drama, humor, and on occasion, sci-fi stories. Her first book, Way to Go, and
the continuing series came from her years, own adventures and experiences
working in the travel industry.
Although she’s
a great fan of the human imagination, she is also of the opinion that there are
just no better stories than those that involve a bit of true life.
If you like my books, please review on Amazon or
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Buy Link:
Giveaway:
$15 Amazon or B/N GC
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3 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
Hello and thanks for having me here. Just an FYI, the book is available for a free download on Amazon through tomorrow.
A great excerpt.
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