.jpeg)
Christmas Under Wraps:
Blurb:
Though snow never falls in the Everglades, Christmas miracles rain down on Mullet Harbor.
English Professor, Christian Abrams, has thrown his career away to protect his young nephew, Dylan, from an unjust system. When Christian sees the turn off for the Everglades town of Mullet Harbor, “where you’ll always find a Friend,” he and Dylan are running low on fuel for their bodies and for his truck.
The welcoming…but quirky…citizens of the town offer refuge, but Christian can’t take the chance of being caught in the remote location. Elementary teacher, Kaylee McFarland becomes the one element for which Christian hasn’t planned. And his heart certainly hasn’t expected to have any romantic interests as he and Dylan struggle to maintain their freedom.
An ultimatum, a threat, a deep secret, and an overprotective mother light up more than Christmas trees in the holiday comedy.
Extract:
A splash drew Kaylee to the railing to peer into the bayou waters. The inky blackness around her revealed nothing. She hurried back inside, turned on the dock lights, and crept again to the railing.
Abercrombie peered up at her with his beady eyes. Something shadowy floated in the water beside him, and Kaylee leaned for a closer look. The alligator turned his massive head and bit down on his catch. He tossed it like meat.
Kaylee caught sight of something like strings on either side of the object.
A shoe. A black shoe. She’d seen it before. She closed her eyes and pictured the moment. Dylan had stopped at her door when he arrived for the party. He’d told her Herb had bought them for him.
She fought down the scream that threatened to erupt. The massive creature no longer looked benign to her. He was evil.
The gator released the shoe and, with another giant splash, went beneath the surface.
“No!” Could the gator have pulled Dylan beneath the surface? Was he returning to finish him or to drag him further into his murky home?
She gasped. Abigail said that the massive gator had chased Herb on to land. If Dylan had walked to her house and hadn’t seen the creature near the dock, if the kids had fed him during her party, the gator could have sprung on him.
There was no keeping the scream within her. The force of it tore at her throat.
Then her breaths kept coming, too fast, her chest heaving uncontrollably. The world around her grew dark, and she reached for the railing to hold herself up. She slipped onto the wood and darkness enveloped her.
Links: Amazon: http://bit.ly/ChristmasUnderWrapsMH
Website: www.FayLamb.net
All I Want for Christmas:
Blurb:
Knee deep in preparation for her best friend’s Christmas wedding, Abigail Brewster reels when her estranged younger sister returns to Mullet Harbor. She brings secrets, intrigue, and trouble along with her—a crime syndicate set on goals which would destroy the harbor. And Abigail is caught in the middle of their scheme.
Remy Arneaux doesn’t understand the reason for Susan Brewster’s return, and maybe that’s due to the brain fog from his concussion. But he does know enough not to trust her and not to let her near Abigail. The self-centered woman would only hurt her…again. Abigail has had enough pain, even from him. Still, he made a promise to escort someone else to the wedding. And with the promise is a secret that begins to rip apart his relationship with Abigail.
According to Mayor Herb’s edict, nothing is allowed to mar this occasion for his only granddaughter. Not heartbreak, not tirades from a spoiled young woman, and not threats from organized crime.
And Remy, as Sheriff of Mullet Harbor, must arrest it all.
Extract:
Remy held open the door to the wedding shower beyond—the one that would be his demise. Kaylee, Abigail, Marielle, and Mrs. MacFarland stood in front of the men.
Remy stepped in only to hit a rock. Christian stood as if stuck to the floor.
Remy moved to the other side of the mayor.
The Ladies of Mullet Harbor stood in a line facing away from the door like the backside of the Rockettes. They wore old robes tied with belts, and they didn’t move. Following a brief moment of silence, music blared through the center’s sound system. Chorus line music. Remy’s attention fell on the larger backside of a woman in the middle. Momma.
His brain was trying to compute the ramifications of this, but Remy’s psychological training told him that his gaze had to go everywhere but on the ladies as a protective maneuver, one he had been taught to avoid as a law enforcement offer, but one he used now to preserve himself.
The room was still decorated with the risqué décor Remy had viewed earlier, strings that held the cutouts of various forms of lingerie. One of the more talented ladies had salvaged the torn engagement picture of Christian and Kaylee. Only Kaylee’s picture loomed large, and a cut out of a drawn picture of lingerie covered the dress she had actually worn. The original picture had been of Kaylee leaning toward Christian with a kiss on her lips. She’d held her hands behind her back. Craftily placed in her hands was a cardboard cutout of a pair of stilettos. On the poster of Kaylee, in beautiful calligraphy was the caption, “Something Sexy, Something Sweet Will Knock Christian Off His feet.”
To prove that statement, Christian’s picture had been one of mock surprise, and though a little worse for wear, it was now taped to the floor…
Movement caught his attention. Remy’s eyes widened as in complete synchronicity, backs still turned, the women moved bottoms to the music, their hands outstretched above their heads. They lowered them as they continued to move their bottoms in time with the music. Their hands moved toward their belts.
Herb shot him a wild-eyed glare and twirled toward the door. The camera held by a strap around his neck clocked Remy’s still-not-healed arms.
Christian bounded into him. Their heads connected.
“Surprise!” the women chorused.
LINKS: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3GIhgmp
Website: www.FayLamb.net
For both stories my inspiration was to write uplifting stories about Christmas in Florida as I have never experienced a Hallmark Christmas with snow and reindeer. I've never even seen snow. Not once. My Christmases were mostly in seventy to eighty degree temps and Abercrombie the alligator was more likely to be seen than Rudolph the reindeer.
First Line Christmas Under Wraps: Pain shot across Christian Abram's empty stomach.
First Line All I Want for Christmas: Abigail Brewster sat on the large block of coquina rock beside the edge of the waters that lapped between the mangrove stems and up against the shoreline of the bayou.
Comments