Love Promises (Sully Point, Book 4)

This is
a work of fiction.

 Any
resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, characters,
events, locations, or businesses is purely coincidental.

Chapter 1

Maggie Carter pulled her fingers through her short
curly hair, adding to a general look of disarray. She stomped across the floor
of her new apartment in Sully Point, kicking a pillow in a high arc over the
sofa.

"What I need is a man," she said aloud
to the room. And not just any man. A man that would get her whole family and
the town of Sully Point off her back. Between the busybodies in town and her
well-meaning family, she'd been introduced at various lunches and dinners to
numerous single men in the past few months. And none of them, not one, had been
her type.

She sighed and flopped down onto the green velvet,
asymmetrically curved sofa. Gazing around the room, she decided that she'd
finally gotten the right look for it. A comfy, overstuffed chair covered in
cream-colored brocade sat across from the fireplace, diagonally to the sofa.
Small tables, that did not match, were placed beside each seating area. A
Tiffany-style lamp in jewel tones decorated a roll top desk, while a fringed
gold lampshade covered the light nearest the chair. A free-standing bookcase,
with glass doors on the front, stood against one wall, filled with science
fiction novels. A painting by her sister-in-law Anna, abstract and swirling
with deep greens, blues, and purples, hung over the fireplace.

Maggie stared at it and thought. Over the past
couple of years, there had been a rash of marriages in the Grainger family.
Maggie was the sister of Sam Carter, who was married to Anna Grainger. Now it
seemed all the Graingers were determined that she become just as blissful as they
seemed to be. Even her brother Sam had gotten into the act this last time.

She'd just gotten home from a dinner at Sam and Anna's
house. They'd provided a companion in the form of Willie Wilcox. He was an
accountant. A good accountant. And probably a good man, too. A man who had
discussed either numbers or fishing the entire meal. He was a native of Sully
Point, and evidently deep sea fishing was his passion. It certainly wasn't
Maggie's passion. How Sam could have thought she'd find Willie Wilcox
interesting was beyond her comprehension.

She knew Sam worried about her, about how she
hadn't had a boyfriend in quite a while. How could she explain to him that she
wasn't looking for safety, for some man to take care of her? He was her big
brother. He just assumed she needed looking after. And yes, there had been the
tennis pro when she was eighteen, and the artist a year later, both of whom had
crushed her heart. But she'd learned her lesson and was much more careful about
her choices now at the age of twenty-two.

The problem had become that there just weren't any
choices out there for her that she liked. Now she was looking at the upcoming
holidays, knowing what she really needed was a date for Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and New Year's Eve. If she didn't find one on her own, she would be inundated
with offerings of men that weren't to her taste.

Somewhere, somehow, she had to find a man she could
tolerate for a couple of months. It was just that simple. Yeah, simple. She
threw a pillow across the room.

* * * *

Eric Stanton sat on the stage at the Lobster Shack
playing guitar and singing. He was having a blast. The audience was into the
music tonight, clapping along. His shoulder-length dark brown hair fell forward
as he bent his head while picking the strings very fast.

He'd been happy to get the gig here, playing two
nights a week for the next month. The Lobster Shack had a laid back vibe, and
excellent food, so the customers usually made a receptive crowd. Eric hadn't
known just what to expect when he arrived in Sully Point last week, but he'd
expected there would be live music played in a resort town. Granted, with the
advent of cold weather, there wasn't much tourism going on at present, but he
didn't care. His stay in the small town was meant as a time to relax and enjoy
himself.

As the song ended, he looked up to see a young
woman enter the restaurant. She had an arresting face that looked as if it was
made for quick grins. Instead, she was frowning and an air of gloom hovered
around her. He began playing the next song, a slow one all about a broken
heart. To his surprise he saw two big desserts delivered to her table, where
she proceeded to dig into both of them. How could such a little thing begin to
tackle those rich desserts? She had a petite, perfect body wearing black
leggings, knee high boots, and a snug turquoise cabled sweater.

He reached the third verse of the song and
realized she'd set her fork down and was watching him closely. Maybe the music
had reached her, he thought. He finished playing and was rewarded with a nice
round of applause. Announcing he was taking a break, he left the stage and
headed backstage to get a glass of water.

"Hello," a voice said behind him.

He turned to discover the young woman in the turquoise
sweater standing there. "Hello. Do you have a request?"

She smiled at him, the quick grin he'd expected to
see on that heart-shaped face. "Yes, I do have a request. When do you get
off work tonight? It might take a while to explain."

"I meant a song request--but, if you have
another kind of request I'll hear you out. I have one set left, the short one,
so I'll be done when the restaurant closes in an hour."

"Cool. I'll stay and finish my dessert and
listen to you play. You're good, you know. Your voice is easy to listen
to."

"Thanks, Miss--?"

"Carter. Maggie Carter." She held out a
hand to him.

"And I'm Eric. Eric Stanton," he said as
he shook her hand. He watched her carefully, but saw no sign of recognition at
his name. That was good.

"See you later then, Eric," Maggie said,
and walked away.

Eric drank his water slowly, thinking he hadn't ever
met anyone before who had violet eyes. Her big eyes in that gamine face, along
with her small size, gave her an almost elfin look. He was intrigued by her,
definitely intrigued.

* * * *

Maggie worked her way through the Hot Fudge Brownie
Sundae as she listened to Eric play. There was only one word to describe
him--scrumptious. Dark waves of brown hair falling to his shoulders, with deep
emerald eyes framed by thick black lashes, were enough to capture her
attention. Then the smile, a totally sexy smile, a smile that promised all
kinds of devilment, had her wanting to know more. And there was more. What
appeared to be a muscular body with broad shoulders and a height of around
5'10" enticed her. With her height of 5'2" she was never quite
comfortable with men six feet or taller. It felt to her like they loomed over
her. But Eric's height was just right.

He had a smooth baritone voice that he put to
excellent use on ballads and love songs. She was slowing down now on her
dessert eating as she really listened to his singing. She wondered if he sang
love songs to his girlfriend--then hoped for her sake that he didn't have one.
Although, how likely was that with his good looks? Still, she had to give it a
try.

Once his set was completed, he made his way over
to her table. She was just finishing up the Apple Crumb Pie with Whipped Cream,
and licking her spoon.

"I can't believe you ate both of those
desserts," he said, sitting down.

"I love desserts. Whenever I'm down or angry
I especially love desserts. I figure as long as I keep up my workouts, I can
indulge myself every now and then," she replied.

"What kind of workouts do you do?"

"Taekwondo, Tai Bo, and lately I've started
up with Tai Chi."

"I'm sensing a theme. I usually run and lift
weights. But I'm not sure I could eat that much sugar in one sitting."

She gave a little laugh. "I was fairly
frustrated tonight. Stress brings out my sugar cravings. But you might be able
to help me with that."

He quirked an eyebrow at her but said nothing.

"First, I need to know if you're married or
with anyone at the moment."

"I'm not sure what concern that is of yours,
but no."

"Why not? You're a hunk," Maggie said,
and then felt herself blushing.

"I've been busy doing other things," he
said easily. "But why do you need to know?"

She ran a hand through the curls on her head and
said, "It's a bit of a story. And they're closing up here. How about we go
for a drive?"

He stared at her and seemed to be weighing this
suggestion rather heavily. Finally, he nodded. "Okay, but I'll
drive."

"Sure, no problem."

He gathered up his guitar in its case and they
left the restaurant together. In the parking lot, she motioned to a very old
Chevy Malibu. He shook his head and said, "Let's take mine."

His turned out to be a vintage navy blue Lincoln
Continental.

"Wow," Maggie said. "That is a big
car."

"Yeah, they don't make them like this
anymore. It rides like a dream. How about we take the beach road?"

"Okay." She slid into the car with its
real leather seats. In moments they were on the road, and she realized he was
right. The car was so smooth on the road she wanted to just fall asleep.

"Now, what's this about," Eric asked.

"I need a man."

He glanced over at her, amused. "I see."

"Not that way! You see, I have a lot of
family in town, along with busybody gossips, and they all are trying to play
matchmaker. Seems everyone feels it's time for me to join in the state of
wedded bliss they all enjoy. And I'm tired of it! I keep getting men pushed on
me that are boring, or who clearly want to get married right away. With the
holidays approaching, I'm getting desperate. So I figured, why not hire someone
to play the role? That way I get them all off my back, and I can relax."

"There's a lot of wedded bliss around
here?"

"I'll say. It started with my brother Sam
Carter, and his wife, Anna Grainger."

"Wait a minute, I think I heard about them in
the news a while back."

"Yeah, about three and a half years ago now.
Don't get me wrong, I love Anna, and Sam is a wonderful brother. I could
probably have handled it if it was just them. But then, Julia and Cody got
married--Cody is Anna's brother. Cody Grainger. Then Holly--the other Grainger
sibling fell for Jason and they just got married a few months ago. To top it
all off, the head of the Grainger family, Frank, married his long-time love
Betsy, who is also the bank president. Suddenly, there were all these people in
love and married, and for some reason I became their focus."

He chuckled. "It does sound like you are
surrounded by well-intentioned happy people. But you don't want any of what
they have?"

She sighed. "Maybe, someday. I'd like to find
the love of my life just like they all did. But right now I'm trying to figure
out what I'm doing with my own life. You see, I've been working in public
relations but I don't like it and want to do something different. The question
is what? That doesn't really matter in this discussion however. What matters is
that I show up for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve with a boyfriend.
That will get everyone off my back, and I can just relax. I'd be willing to pay
you a flat fee for the whole thing. How about it?"

They had pulled off the road onto a viewing spot
that looked out at the ocean. Moonlight scattered on the waves rolling in.
Maggie undid her seatbelt and turned in her seat to face Eric.

His dark green eyes bored into hers. "Wait a
minute. You're really serious about this? I thought it was some kind of
practical joke or something that the guys back at the restaurant cooked
up."

"No, no joke. I'm absolutely serious."

"And you want to pay me to date you? Doesn't
that make me some kind of gigolo?"

She felt herself blush again. "I didn't mean
it that way. I just wouldn't expect anyone to give up their time, especially at
the holidays without compensation."

"Hmm. Let me think about this for a
minute."

Maggie sat back in her seat and felt a bit of
nervousness in her stomach. Now that she had asked him, she realized that this
whole thing was a bit unusual. It wouldn't do for him to misinterpret what she
wanted.

"And you realize I don't actually want a
boyfriend. You'd just be playing a role."

Eric nodded.

Maggie let the quiet go uninterrupted this time,
and looked at Eric who was looking out the window at the waves. He really was
so delicious-looking. He reminded her of a man in one of the historical
romances she liked to read for relaxation. That long hair, all wavy and shiny,
begging for someone to run their fingers through it. A handsome face, one with
character, dominated by the emerald eyes that seemed to see into her very soul.
She'd pay money to have black curling lashes like he had. And his hands. Maggie
knew she had a thing for men's hands. His were strong-looking, with long
fingers that had delicately played the strings of the guitar, but had also
given her a firm handshake.