Seeing Stars
Seeing Stars
by
Vanessa Grant
© 2001, 2012 Muse Creations Inc
Think About Love - Sample © 2001, 2012 Muse Creations Inc
Cover design © Angela Oltmann,
angieocreations.com
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This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents in this book are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the copyright owner.
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Momentary Passion
Arizona astronomer Claire Welland is anything but starry-eyed when it comes to romance. She knows her home on an isolated mountaintop observatory makes marriage to most men impossible, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have a little romantic fun. The last thing she expects when she comes home to Port Townsend, Washington, for her high school reunion is to be swept off her feet by blake McKenzie.
Forever Love
Once the town bad boy, Blake is now a prominent shipbuilder dedicated to helping local teens. When he asks Claire to talk to one of his boys about astronomy, he’s only thinking she might give direction to a troubled kid. He certainly never dreamed she’d inspire him - to fall in love. Now Blake is determined to show Claire that their future together is in the stars … if she’ll only open her eyes.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to
the astronomer who has my heart
my husband, Brian
Chapter One
Claire Welland slipped out the side door of the observatory, pausing to watch as pre-dawn gray seeped into the night sky.
"Star light, star bright," she'd chanted as a child, until her father gently corrected her. "Venus is a planet, sweetheart. Come outside and I'll show you the stars."
The stars were gone now, but the coming night would be the first of her four nights off. With clear skies forecast, she would search the sky with her own eight-inch telescope, although she knew the lens wasn't powerful enough to pick out the new comet between Orion's belt and his sword—the comet
she'd
discovered.
So ironic that the heavens' secrets were revealed in the building behind her, in a control room filled with computer monitors and instruments. She'd found the comet three weeks ago under windowless artificial light, staring at a monitor of the sky, herself hidden from the stars while the observatory's telescope searched.
Her first comet.
She hugged the pleasure to herself as she walked down the hill to the small house where Jennifer would be waiting. Jennifer was a novelist married to the observatory's senior technician, and over the past few months she and Claire had fallen into the habit of having breakfast together after Claire's night shifts.
When she arrived, Jennifer had just finished nursing her three-month-old baby.
"I'll burp her," Claire offered.
While Jenn made coffee and cracked eggs for omelets, Claire put the baby to her shoulder and gently rubbed Tammy's back. She was rewarded with a loud burp.
"Good baby," she crooned, enjoying the soft baby breath against her cheek. She watched Tammy's eyes droop, then felt the baby curve against her breast, sagging into instant sleep.
"You should have your own baby."
"No way," said Claire. "I'm not marrying a man just to get a child."
"There are other reasons." Jenn grinned. "Love, lust, friendship—"
"Hmm. Did you enjoy Tucson last night?"
"A whole evening without diapers. Fantastic— and I got an idea for my next book. I'm going to make some notes while Tammy's napping. What about you? Did you have a good night?"
"Really good, despite the telescope being down. I spent most of the night sorting through my in-basket and cleaning up old E-mails." She shifted the pleasant weight of the baby against her, wishing she
could
have her own, knowing it was neither sensible nor realistic. "I got an invitation to interview for the CTIO job, plus an invitation to my fifteen-year high school reunion in Port Townsend this July. Best of all, I got three confirmations on the comet. It looks like it really
is
my comet." She wished she could pick up the phone and call her father, feel his pleasure and pride. He'd died almost a year ago, but she still missed him.
" So you can go to the reunion to celebrate your comet."
She smiled at the idea, wondering what her high school class would make of her, fifteen years later, and what she'd make of them.
"I'll celebrate by buying a new lens for my telescope," she decided.
