Taking Charge

“Once again, Mandy Baggot has created a cast of
characters that you can not only imagine but feel as though you
know personally. Her writing style is here to withstand the test of
time.”

-Lindsay Gentles, Turning The Pages ~ Taking
Charge

“One thing that we can always count on from Mandy
Baggot and that is to provide us with a mouth wateringly handsome
man, but she goes one step further in this book and provides us
with a whole team of them! This is definitely one to look out for
and Mandy Baggot is becoming an author to watch out for. A down to
earth day to day storyline with dreamy romance and testosterone
dripping from every page!”

-Rea Sinfield, Rea’s Book Review ~ Taking Charge

“Robyn Matthers might be the most courageous and
confident romantic heroine I have ever come across. For women
readers who prefer their female heroines with a bit of get up and
go, then this book is for you!”

-Rose McClelland, Judging Covers ~ Taking Charge

“I've just read your book and thought it was
excellent! It had a real ‘feel good’ factor about it.”

-L. Lev ~ Excess All Areas

“I was entertained by the book from beginning to end
and when I finished reading it, I felt the same satisfied feeling I
have after watching a good film.”

–M. Leese ~ Breaking the Ice

“The book takes a thorough look at relationships,
love, commitment and honesty and all the complicated baggage that
comes with the territory. It is chick-lit to its fingertips!”

-Cyprus Well ~ Knowing Me Knowing You

Mandy Baggot

Copyright 2012 Mandy
Baggot

All rights reserved. Except as
permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,
without prior permission of the publisher.

Sapphire Star Publishing

www.sapphirestarpublishing.com

Smashwords Edition

The characters and events in this
book are fictitious. Names, characters, places, and plots are a
product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to real
persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the
author.

ISBN-13:
978-1-938404-07-8

Cover Design by Jane
Dixon-Smith

www.jd-smith-design.co.uk

www.sapphirestarpublishing.com/mandybaggot

Mandy lives in leafy Wiltshire and has Sting as a
neighbor. She lives with her husband, two daughters and two cats
(Kravitz and Springsteen). When she isn’t writing she loves to sing
and do Lady Gaga impressions (check out YouTube). She will soon be
working on her sixth novel—if she can stay off Twitter for long
enough.

To Dad, for introducing me to Portage, Michigan and
for passing me your firm values, your worldly wisdom and not
forgetting the bad ass attitude!

First of all, I have to say a big thank you to all my
family and friends in Portage, Michigan. Dad, Mum, Cindy, Iain,
Taylor, Tessa, Bob, Mary, Beth, Gerry, and Bradley. You all made us
feel so welcome when we stayed for twenty-one nights instead of
ten! Thank you Icelandic volcano, too! This family reunion/holiday
turned into research, and I want to thank you for providing help
and inspiration for the novel without even realising it!

Thank you to the Kalamazoo Wings who are the
inspiration behind the Portage Panthers in this book. Go Slappy! Go
Wings!

Thank you to Special Guest, who is a real band. Mr.
Big and I saw them at Logan’s Roadhouse in Portage. You rock guys
and I hope to see you again someday!

Thank you to the amazing country music artist Sean
Patrick McGraw who has spent time Tweeting with me and provided me
with a backing track for Git Yer Cowboy On so Hard Drive can
perform this at a launch celebration!

Thank you to my Loveahappyending.com associate
readers and authors, especially Team Baggot. You are all amazing,
and I really appreciate all your hard work on my behalf xx.

Thank you to the rest of my friends and family for
their support, patience, emails, love, and childcare!

But thank you most of all to the team at Sapphire
Star Publishing who have taken me on and given me this incredible
opportunity. They fell in love with Robyn’s story from the
beginning, and I hope all my readers will too!

Set the mood for Taking Charge with this suggested
playlist!

Keep Your Hands To Yourself – The Georgia
Satellites

Old Time Rock ‘n Roll – Bob Seger

Johnny B Goode – Chuck Berry

Jump – Van Halen

Tush – ZZ Top

Rockin’ In The Free World – Neil Young

Red House – Jimi Hendrix

Summer Of ‘69 – Bryan Adams

All Summer Long – Kid Rock

Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynrd

Light The Fuse Up – Raintown

Need You Now – Lady Antebellum

Guitar Man – Bread

Coward Of The County – Kenny Rogers

Too Rock For Country Too Country For Rock ‘n Roll –
Lonnie Mack

I’m Gonna Love You Through It – Martina McBride

Long Hot Summer – Keith Urban

Girly Girl – Courtenay Conway

Just A Kiss – Lady Antebellum

Still Under The Weather – Shania Twain

Play Something Country – Brooks and Dunn

Honky Tonk Stomp – Brooks and Dunn

Git Yer Cowboy On – Sean Patrick McGraw

Good One – Blackberry Smoke

A Quarter To Three – Shy Blakeman

Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton

One Night – Martina McBride

Beer Drinkin’ Girl – Sean Patrick McGraw

Roadhouse -
local inn or restaurant the
“roadhouse” or “road house” commonly serves meals, especially in
the evenings, has a bar serving beer or hard liquor, and features
music and dancing for entertainment.

Hooking
-
in ice hockey the act of
impeding or obstructing an opponent's progress by placing the shaft
or blade of the stick on the midsection of the opposing player and
pulling him or her back. Hooking is illegal and normally results in
a minor penalty being assessed to the offending player.

Roughing
-
an offense and penalty in
ice hockey when two players are in a minor altercation. The
incident would have to be minor for either player to be categorized
as such an offense such as:

A player striking another opponent

A goalie using their equipment to punch an
opponent

NHL -
National Hockey League (ice hockey)

Yankees -
New York Yankees (baseball team)

Red Wings -
Detroit Red Wings are an ice
hockey team in the NHL

Power play -
in ice hockey a team is said to
be on a “power play” when at least one opposing player is serving a
penalty, and the team has a numerical advantage on the ice.

Enforcer
-
is an unofficial role in ice
hockey. The term is sometimes used synonymously with “fighter,”
“tough guy,” or “goon.”

Robyn could feel the
sweat trickling down her back. It was pooling at the waistband of
her jeans, and she also had underarm issues that no amount of
Mitchum roll-on was going to cure. She heaved her backpack further
up her shoulder and hurried on. There wasn’t time to stop and worry
about how rank she felt. The backpack was digging into her shoulder
bone and, if she didn’t keep up the pace, she would miss her
connecting flight to Kalamazoo, Michigan and be stranded in Chicago
for the night.

She’d already spent
eight hours on a plane from London and hadn’t slept a wink. The guy
on her left, who was in a business suit, but obviously not wealthy
enough for a seat in business class, had spent the whole flight on
his laptop, loudly tapping at the keys and saying “hmm” every
twentieth tap—she’d counted. The guy on her right, balding, yet
bearded, had the flu, probably swine or avian or maybe a lethal
mixture of the two. He’d gone through a box of tissues in the time
it took to cross the Atlantic, and now she could feel the
beginnings of a sore throat. Illness was inevitable when you were
trapped in the equivalent of a tin can with so many people.

She checked her watch
again and, seeing time was slipping away, she quickened her step.
The small jet that would take her back would begin boarding in
little more than five minutes.

As she broke into
a jog and
maneuvered
past other passengers, the strap on her bag gave way, and
the backpack fell to the floor, almost pulling her over with
it.

“Shit!” Robyn cursed as
some of her things fell onto the airport floor.

That was all she
needed.

“Stupid, pathetic bag!”
she screamed out loud, giving it a kick and letting out an
exasperated hiss.

“Hey, need some help?”
a male voice asked.

Robyn looked up at the
man who had appeared at her side, ready to tell him where to get
off. She opened her mouth and then paused, taking in the dark hair,
inky eyes and broad shoulders.

“I could tie a knot in
it,” he suggested, picking up her backpack and inspecting the
damage.

“No thanks. I haven’t
got far to go. It’ll be fine,” Robyn answered, rescuing her
baseball cap and a Haynes motor manual.

“This is a heavy
carry-on. Where you headed?” the man asked, helping put her things
back into the bag.

“Terminal three,” Robyn
said, observing him again.

He was as tall as he
was broad and she gauged he was probably in his early twenties. She
couldn’t remember seeing anyone looking so good for quite some
time. It was also unusual that she’d noticed.

“I’m terminal three
bound too. Let me carry it for you,” he offered, effortlessly
throwing the sack over his shoulder.

“No, that’s okay, I can
do it. I mean, it isn’t that far now,” Robyn started, taking hold
of the corner of her bag.

“Hey, I promise I’m not
a stalker or an axe murderer, and I don’t have my mother embalmed
in the basement,” the man told her with a smile.

“But you’re at an airport, heading out of town, and
that’s exactly what an obsessed son with a mother in the basement
would do, and he would definitely make a joke about it. Don’t you
watch The Mentalist?” Robyn asked.

She
stared at
him, as if hoping to find the truth in his eyes. They were nice
eyes, she decided, but whether they were honest eyes she wasn’t
sure. You needed to share at least ten minutes with someone before
you knew that.

The man let out a laugh
and nodded.

“Listen, I’m headed to
Portage. Apparently, it’s something close to Hicksville. Let me
help you with your bag and I promise you’ll never see me
again.”

“I wouldn’t count on
it. I’m heading there too. And if I was you, I wouldn’t let the
locals hear you call it Hicksville. They sacrifice visitors they
take a dislike to,” Robyn said, applying a poker face.

“You’re kidding
right?”

“Do I look like I’m
kidding?” Robyn asked him.

“Shit.”

“You can carry the bag,
but any more cheap shots about my town and I’ll ask the pilot to
drop you off in the lake. The water can be pretty unpredictable
this time of year,” she told him as she started to walk in the
direction of the other terminal.

“Sure, no problem. I’m
Cole, by the way. Cole Ryan,” he said, hurrying after her.

“Robyn Matthers.”

“So, I guess you’re not
on vacation,” Cole spoke, catching up to her.

“Nope. I’m heading
home,” Robyn informed him.

“Been away long?”

“Just about nine
years,” Robyn said with a heavy sigh.

It always surprised her
when she said those words. It felt like a lifetime and, in a lot of
respects, it was. She was nine years older on the outside, an adult
with a life in a different country, but inside nothing had
changed.

“So why now?” Cole
asked her.

“My dad’s sick.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I think I am
too. Not quite sure yet. I might want to give him a hug; I might
want to rip his drip out,” Robyn said with half a smile.

Her relationship with
her father had never been straightforward. She loved him, but she
found it quite hard to like him. He made most people feel that way
with his strong opinions and megaphone-styled voice.