About A Semi-Sweet Summer
On a bright, crisp
December morning, jewelry store manager, Peridot Keaton-Jones, arrives at work
expecting to find her beloved uncle Marty. Instead, she’s greeted by the muzzle
of a gun pressed to her temple. When thugs assault her, threaten her life, and
steal thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, Peri can only pray her uncle is
late to work for the first time in his life.
Christopher Lane is a
TV news cameraman in the right place at the right time. He witnesses the heist,
calls the police, and offers help when Peri needs it most. She can't deny her attraction,
but is he really her hero, or is he just after a story? And with Christmas
right around the corner, can Peri and Chris avert a holiday disaster?
Excerpt
My
hand stilled as cold steel pressed hard against my temple. A gloved hand
covered my mouth, and a low voice rumbled in my ear.
“Keep your mouth shut
and turn off the alarm. We won’t hurt you if you play nice. All we’re after is
the jewelry.”
God,
help me!
I couldn’t see the man
who’d sneaked up behind me, but he wrenched my left arm behind my back and
shoved the gun up against my skull. I wasn’t about to resist, but my heart
stuttered so hard I barely recognized my own voice. “It’s easier to open the
door and disarm the alarm if I have both hands.” Where had that come from? I
almost sounded collected.
He released me. “Well,
aren’t you the plucky thing? Remember I have my .45 pointed at the back of your
head.”
As if I could forget.
With trembling fingers, I turned my key in the lock of Keaton’s Jewelers,
switched on the lights, and fumbled to shut off the beeping alarm. The robber
didn’t need to know my uncle was too frugal to spring for an alarm system that
notified the police…or anyone.
We. He’d said we. How
many of them were there? And where was the accomplice? I caught my bottom lip
between my teeth. It wasn’t quite 10 AM and the jewelry store was due to open
in five minutes. Where was Uncle Marty? He was always here early. Always.
With an unrelenting
hand on my back, the man hustled me into the showroom.
I peered over my
shoulder and stole a good look at him. He was tall and burly, his mouth twisted
into a sneer. And that was all I could see—his mouth. A dark blue ski mask
covered his hair and the rest of his face. But his eyes. His eyes were a cold,
mean, arctic blue. This guy exuded unbridled malevolence.
“Do you think she has
a key to the jewelry cases?” The second robber’s voice cracked.
I twisted until he
came into my line of vision. His slim build pegged him as a kid, maybe mid to
late-teens. He slouched in his worn black jeans, black t-shirt, and a black
hoodie. So cliché. His mask drooped a bit on the left side, and I could just
make out the beginnings of a scraggly beard covering a thin, café au lait
African-American face.
“That’ll take too
long,” Mean-Eyes snapped. “Why do you think we brought the hammer, moron?”
“OK, OK, OK.”
Hoodie-boy lowered his voice to a whisper. “And I ain’t no moron.”
“Shut your trap.”
Whipping a small, oddly shaped orange hammer from the waistband of his jeans,
the nasty man moved over to one of the gem cases, raised his hand high, and let
fly. The watchcase fractured into little pieces. Thank goodness, safety glass covered the display cases.
Hoodie-boy opened an
old backpack and hurriedly scooped up men’s and ladies’ watches.
Mean-Eyes broke open
another case, the diamond engagement rings this time. He nailed me with a
contorted leer that lifted into a smirk, then slipped a diamond ring on his
pinky—one of our gaudier items. The way he waved that gun around was
nerve-wracking. But then he zeroed in on me and aimed the pistol at my head.
I froze. Was I about to die?
About the
Author
JAN ELDER is an
inspirational romance writer with a passion for telling stories other women can
relate to on a deep level. She strives to write the kind of book that will
strengthen the reader’s faith, introducing the reader to a loving and forgiving
Lord who walks beside us in our daily lives, while also providing an
entertaining and engrossing love story.
Happily married for fourteen years to loving (and supportive) husband,
Steve, the two live in central Maryland along with Jamie (a chubby black and
white tuxedo cat), and Shu-Shu (a willowy tortoiseshell cat). On the weekends,
Jan and Steve comb the nearby countryside in search of the perfect ice cream
flavor.
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