I've recently found myself indulging in romantic fantasy. Well, truth be told, my characters are indulging in romantic fantasy. So I asked myself that question: Could a mystery writer write a romance novel? Not romantic suspense, which in truth could be classified in many cases as a mystery, but a true romance novel. I wasn't sure, but the characters refused to be silenced so I put them on paper. In days I found myself amazed at my progress and a little disappointed that I couldn't quite keep out a mysterious passage and dark character. I could take it out, but it seems to fit. Should I or shouldn't I?
A short synopsis:
Six months after her mother's death, Gabriella Carson receives a package from her mother's best friend and a letter from a law firm in Madrid requesting she immediately come to Madrid to settle a business arrangement between Armand Ruiz and her mother. The package contains a letter from her mother, her mother's diary and an antique locket she requests Gabriella return it to its rightful owner, Armand Ruiz. After a fight with her boyfriend Gabriella decides to go to Madrid and return the locket. Upon arrival she learns the locket was not the unfinished business between her mother and the Ruiz family. Her mother had arranged her marriage to the debonair, handsome Ruiz heir, Antonio.
Chapter One:
CHAPTER ONE
Gabriella
Carson stretched as she enjoyed the view of Saguria Canyon.
Spring was coming early this year and wildflowers were already starting to
bloom. In another week, two at the most, life in the canyon would be thriving.
Lovers would walk hand in hand, seeking out private trails, stopping for a kiss
under the cherry blossoms. But not you.
Her shoulders slumped as the thought saddened her. Robert just wasn't the
romantic type. She turned to stare at the trail. And he definitely wasn't the hiking
type.
The
blare of a horn broke her reverie and she turned to wave at Maddy. The
heaviness lifted for a moment. Being down in the dumps when Madeleine
"Maddy" Jones was around simply wasn't allowed. She couldn't help the
grin that spread across her face as Maddy extricated herself from the fire-red
jaguar. Even dressed in over-sized sweats without a touch of makeup, Maddy
looked like a movie star, or super model. Her long blonde hair had been tied
back carelessly in a pony tail and the baggy sweats did little to disguise what
everyone called a "curvacious" figure.
"Ready?"
Maddy asked before swinging into a set of stretching exercises that would have
left Gabriella gasping for breath. "A good four mile hike will get your
blood pumping and your artistic juices flowing. Spring has sprung and love is
in the air."
Gabriella
tried to smile, not quite pulling it off. "Life is all around me and yet I
still feel dead inside."
Maddy
wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "It's only been six months, Ree, and
most of that you've spent finalizing your mother's estate. Another month and
you'll be back to writing sizzling romance novels for all your fans."
"I
hope so. I finally finished Cold Heart and sent it off to Marjorie last
week."
Maddy
pulled her toward the hiking trail. "Good. Let's go find some inspiration
for the next one."
Gabriella
followed, thankful the friendship between the two didn't require a lot of small
talk. She'd woke up frustrated and angry without an outlet for either. The four
mile trek up the trail might help with the frustration, but the anger was
something totally unfamiliar. New territory she didn't know how to navigate
through. And she definitely didn't want to dwell on the reasons behind it.
She'd almost called off the hike, but she didn't want to disappoint Maddy.
"Have
you thought about going back to school?" Maddy stopped on a small
outcropping of rock, bending to examine a small stonecrop flower growing beside
the boulder. "Beautiful isn't it?"
Gabriella
studied the small flower clinging to the side of the boulder. It look lonely
and vulnerable. Just like she felt. She wanted to hide it, protect it from the
hikers that like them, would stop on the boulder to enjoy the view. "And
like most beautiful things, endangered because people want to possess them. I
wish there was some way to hide it."
Maddy
sat on the boulder and patted the spot beside her. "I wondered when that
was going to happen."
"What?"
Gabriella sat next to her but moved as far from the edge as possible.
"The
anger and resentment." Maddy shot her a sympathetic smile. "It's
perfectly normal. You gave up two years of your life to nurse your mother. Now
that the grief is subsiding other emotions are fighting for control."
"That's
not...." Gabriella stopped to examine her feelings. Did she resent the
time she'd spent taking care of her mother? Was that why she was so angry all
the time. "I loved my mother."
"Of
course you did. But you were jerked from a life of fun, parties and friends to
a life of seclusion, sickness and pain. No matter how much we love someone
there's a part of us that's just a little selfish."
"You're
going to make a great doctor, and therapist." Gabriella stated. "It
wasn't all bad though. I became a bestselling romance author and I met
Robert."
Maddy
stood up and dusted off her sweats. "The writing I totally get, but Robert
is something you're going to have to explain to me. He's the most unromantic,
emotionally unresponsive man I've ever met. He's not right for you, Ree, and I
wish you could see that before it's too late."
Gabriella
searched for words to defend Robert, but came up with nothing. Fortunately her
cell phone interrupted the conversation. "It's Marjorie. Should I take it?"
Maddy
laughed. "Definitely and put it on speaker. I love her accent. She sounds
like one of those old movie drama queens. I can just see her with her long
cigarette holder waving it around as she exclaims "But darling...."
Gabriella
placed her fingers across her lips, mumbled "shh" and pressed the
speaker button. "Hi, Marjorie."
"Helena darling, we simply
must talk about this manuscript."
Gabriella
bit her lip to stop the giggle rising in her throat as Maddy waved her
imaginary cigarette in the air.
"The
story, as always, is superb. But, darling, where is the passion? The spice? Our
readers want to feel their blood boiling and their toes curling."
She
turned her back to Maddy but couldn't quite keep the laughter out of her voice.
"I have another call coming in, Majorie. Send it back and I'll work on
it."
"All
right, darling, but don't forget we have a deadline. Your readers are waiting,
and waiting readers are fickle. If you make them wait too long they'll simply
move on to someone else."
"Bye
Marjorie." Gabriella hit the end button and glared at the number ringing
in. Robert knew she was hiking with Maddy this morning. And she really didn't
want to deal with his reservation confirmations at the moment. Maddy leaned
over her shoulder. "Let it go to voicemail."
She
let it go to voicemail and stood, turning to face a grinning Maddy.
"I
was waiting for the cheerio,
darling."
Ignoring
her, Gabriella dialed her voice mail and listened to Robert's droning voice. "Wanted to give you a heads up. We
can't get reservations for Girando's until tomorrow night so we'll cancel
tonight and I'll see you tomorrow at seven."
She'd
forgotten the phone was still on speaker until Maddy piped up, her voice filled
with disgust. "You should play that for Marjorie. Maybe then she'd
understand why there was no passion or spice in your writing. That guy would
have a heart attack if you even mentioned blood boiling or toes curling."
She
shook her head, biting her lip again to stifle a giggle. She lost the battle as
an image of Robert's prim and proper face popped through her mind and she
laughed out loud. He probably would have a heart attack if she mentioned
wanting him to "curl her toes". "Stop it Maddy. Robert's a good
man and I was lucky to find him. He'll make partner by next year."
Maddy
snorted again and took off walking. "You're selling yourself short,"
she paused for emphasis, "again."
The
trail grew steeper and the two fell into a comfortable silence. Gabriella tried
hard to concentrate on the sounds of nature around her, keep her breathing
even, but Maddy's words kept coming back to haunt her. She was fond of Robert,
and their relationship didn't take up a lot of her time. Dinner once a week, a
movie on the weekend sometimes followed by a half hour of hand holding and
Robert telling her about his latest case. He'd explained his need to work
almost every night and weekends. If he was going to be a Supreme Court justice
he had little time for anything else. Until now that had been enough. Caring
for her mother and writing had filled the lonely hours from dusk until dawn.
She
hadn't realized how deep into her own thoughts she'd been until she bumped into
Maddy at the top of the trail. "Sorry."
"There's
something I need to tell you." Maddy walked a few feet off the trail,
putting space between them. "I'm leaving for England next week. I've been
offered a partnership in a clinic there."
Gabriella
felt her heart skip a beat, a feeling of loneliness settling over her. She
wouldn't have survived without Maddy to lean on the last two years. And she
certainly would never have submitted her first manuscript to Harcourt without
constant prodding. She'd been more surprised than anyone when Harcourt not only
bought the manuscript with a hefty advance, but offered a contract to purchase
her next four novels. The extra money had allowed her to hire help with her
mother, and over the next twenty four months she'd managed to publish six more
books.
Staring
down at the canyon below she concentrated on the vast golden fields before
pasting a smile on her face and turning back to Maddy. "Sounds like a
great opportunity. You'll do wonderful there."
The
smile faltered as she took in the stiff stance, set jaw of her best friend.
"Go with me, Ree. Remember the nights we sat up talking about the great
adventures we were going to have. The places we would see? After England I'm going to Africa."
Her light blue eyes darkened. "It's not too late. We can still have those
adventures. You should be living romances not writing about them. This isn't
you. Robert isn't you."
For
a moment the old feelings of excitement threatened to emerge, but two years of
penny pinching to afford her mother's expensive pain medications after the
insurance had denied her claims had created a sensibility she couldn't quite
overcome. Even with the advances and sales of her books she'd barely managed to
keep them out of bankruptcy. "We'll see."
The
trip back down the trail was much more somber than their past trips, the
parting in the parking lot quicker as if both were anxious to put distance
between them. "Call me and we'll celebrate the night before you
leave."
Maddy
waved at her as she pulled into traffic. "Next Wednesday then."
Gabriella
stood watching the car until it was out of sight. The hike had been planned to
ease her feelings of loss. To jumpstart a new life and overcome her writer's
block. Opening the car door she climbed behind the wheel. Maddy was sailing off
into the spring of her life, leaving behind the cold, stark winter that had
suddenly enveloped Gabriella.
Dark scene after breakup with boyfriend: This scene sort of snuck up on me in the writing. Do I keep it? Do I toss it and forget Robert Gray? What do you think?
Robert
Gray drove slowly past the house, his hands tightening on the wheel as he noted
the red jaguar in the drive. It was all that bitch, Madeleine's fault.
Gabriella had been perfectly malleable before she came back on the scene. He
cursed silently as he headed back into town. He'd wasted six months on this
deal. Six months of chaste hand-holding and kisses when what he'd really wanted
to do was push her down, rip off her clothes and watch her eyes widen as he
took her, hands wrapped around her throat. Hear her hoarse voice as she begged
him to stop. But he couldn't do that. Not yet. His client wanted that property,
and he wanted to please that client. This was his future and no blonde bimbo
was going to ruin it for him.
The
thoughts of what he would do to Gabriella once she was really his excited his
desire and he turned down a well-known street and headed for the last house on
the right. He'd have to be careful this time. The last time he'd almost gone too
far and killed the girl.
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