BEST IN SHOW
Mina’s Adventures Series, Book 6
Maria Grazia Swan
Cozy Romantic Suspense, 188 pages
Mina Calvi, Italian transplant to Southern California, thinks her love life might finally come together, just as her professional life has. Her Furry Friends Foundation, a no-kill shelter for rescued cats and dogs, is a success, and Mina hopes she may find a loving forever home for herself, in the arms of Diego Moran, her elusive, frustratingly mysterious, on again-off again, lover.
When a seemingly innocent night out with friends lands Mina in a hospital bed and Diego undercover, and not the covers Mina wants him to be under, Mina has to draw on all her new-found maturity, and all her supportive friends for strength.
Meanwhile, a Best in Show cat takes up residence at the Ritzy Cats B&B, Mina’s other venture, setting Mina on the trail of a suspicious character who might not have the cat's best interests at heart.
Add a Matchmaker to the Stars, a temperamental Italian chef and the usual menagerie of people and pets, stir it all up and you have an entertaining, hard to put down romantic tale of suspense.
Excerpt:
Did he love her?
In the heat of the night, love was a given. But as daylight unfolded, her insecurities found their path to her heart. Mina didn’t move, afraid the slightest shifting might wake him. His chest rose and fell against her back as he breathed peacefully. Their bodies touched, connected in a perfect fit. A match made in heaven she repeated to herself, in heaven but not on earth?
The longing she felt for him transcended sex and lust. Eyes closed, she revisited their good-bye two years ago in the cemetery in Italy, and that sense of unconditional love he’d brought into her life. It was the kind of love Mina assumed girls customarily expected from a father, a brother, a kin. But that was only a guess, a yearning, since she’d grown up without parents or siblings, so she had never experienced such love, until then, during that magical Italian summer.
Diego stirred and brushed his lips up and down the nap of her neck. “Missed you,” he whispered.
Now wide-awake, Mina quipped, “You missed me? How?”
“How?” In one fluid motion he spun her around, her body pressed against his. “How did I miss you?’
He paused, his eyes burning from a surge of passion she hadn’t seen coming. “For the last two years I carried with me the image of you in your red dress. The way you looked the last time I was near you. It’s branded in my soul. I couldn’t rid myself of it. Even now a glimpse of a red dress would arouse me. I’d be aroused not by the woman wearing it, but by the memory of you in that red dress.”
He paused, his eyes burning from a surge of passion she hadn’t seen coming. “For the last two years I carried with me the image of you in your red dress. The way you looked the last time I was near you. It’s branded in my soul. I couldn’t rid myself of it. Even now a glimpse of a red dress would arouse me. I’d be aroused not by the woman wearing it, but by the memory of you in that red dress.”
Books 1 thru 5 Available at Amazon
About the Author
As a young girl, her vivid imagination predestined her to be a writer. She won her first literary award at the age of fourteen while living in Belgium. As a young woman Maria returned to Italy to design for--ooh-la-la--haute couture. Once in the U.S. and after years of concentrating on family, she tackled real estate. These days her time is devoted to her deepest passions: writing and helping people and pets find the perfect home.
Maria loves travel, opera, good books, hiking, and intelligent movies (if she can find one, that is). When asked about her idea of a perfect evening, she favors stimulating conversation, Northern Italian food and perfectly chilled Prosecco--but then, who doesn't?
Find Me Here –Maria Grazia Swan
Giveaway:
I Love My Cat Locket Pendant (US only)
Paperback copy of any of Maria’s Books, winner’s choice (US only)
Ebook copy of any of Maria’s Books, winner’s choice (Intl)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
RSS Feed
