Nell Dixon is a Black Country author, married to the same
man for over twenty-eight years she has three daughters, a tank of tropical
fish and a cactus called Spike. Winner of the RNA’s prestigious Romance Prize
in 2007 and 2010, she writes warm-hearted contemporary romance for a number of
publishers in the US and the UK including Astraea Press, Myrmidon Press,
Samhain Publishing, Little Black Dress, E-Scape Press and Freya’s Bower.
A little bit
about The Cinderella Substitute -
In
the two years since the tragic car crash that killed his fiancée, Nathanial
(Nate) Mayer has successfully avoided another relationship. His family and
especially his twin sister Nathalie are worried. Jennifer (Jenni) Blake is
Nate’s personal assistant. Hired after the accident, she has her own problems
to deal with, including the deaths of her adoptive parents and the debts
incurred by their nursing care. But those difficulties pale into insignificance
when Jenni finally traces her birth mother…
Excerpt from The
Cinderella Substitute -
Nate
jabbed the buzzer on his desk for the third time. Where
on
earth was Jenni? He
paced up and down the room, glaring at the closed
office door.
What
could be keeping her? Today
of all days he needed to get
going,
finish up the job in hand, and escape. Away from thesympathetic glances of his employees and the murmured
conversations which stopped abruptly whenever he came within earshot.
He
opened the door to her office and saw her in her usual
seat
behind the curved ash desk. So why hasn't she answered the buzzer?
He crossed the
pale green carpet in a couple of paces. As he got
closer to her, he knew something was wrong. Her back was towards
him and her shoulders quivered.
"Jenni?"
He
moved round the desk to take a better look. A pile of
post
lay unopened in front of her, one envelope still secured in her slim
fingers.
"What's
the matter? Are you ill?"
Nate
couldn't imagine why his super-efficient personal secretary
appeared to be having some kind of breakdown.
Jenni never
broke down. She had insisted on returning to work after only a few
days' leave after her adoptive mother died.
She
shook her head and he caught a glimpse of tears on her pale
face. For a split second he wondered if Jenni had developed some
kind of sympathy scenario for him based on the office rumour
mill. He dismissed that idea as quickly as it had arisen. One of
his main reasons for employing Jenni had been her complete lack
of interest in gossip and speculation.
"I'm
all right." She wiped the tears away from under her glasses
with shaking fingers.
Nate
sighed. "Well you don't look it," he remarked. In fact,
now he
came to think of it, Jenni looked positively unwell.
"You're
not doing one of those faddy diets?" He hoped he'dhit on the right answer. It had to be something like that.
She
blinked with astonishment and glared at him. "No!"
Nate
settled back onto the edge of her desk and folded his
arms.
He'd have to think again now his first theory had been shot out of
the water.
© Nell
Dixon 2012
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Happy Holidays!
Hugs,Keira
Hugs, thank you for letting me visit!
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