TUESDAY TALES - FREE READS FROM 11 AUTHORS

Welcome and thanks for stopping by. Our authors are writing to the prompt of "holiday" today, so appropriate with Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's approaching.  


Jean Joachim (Contemporary Romance - "R", language)
"Grey & Carrie's Christmas, Pt. 1 from "The Marriage List"
 December 23, four p.m.

Grey inched his Jag XK into traffic and moved slowly toward the West Side Highway along with the other drivers anxious to start their Christmas holiday. Thrumming his fingers on the steering wheel, impatience tugging at his nerves, he wanted to get home.

Karen Cino (Contemporary romance)

Alexandra tied the belt around her red and white fleece robe, the one Billy had waiting for her after making love.  Billy had strategically planned out the day and didn’t miss a single thing.  The matching robes added the finishing touches, leaving her hungry for more days like today. 

Linna Drehmel (Sci Fi/Fantasy)

"Burdens of Proof, Pt 4"

With all of her might she yanked her left foot back dragging Bal’thon’s foot with hers. In that split second when he was off balance she shoved his chest and he fell, landing hard on his back. She sprang into action and tried to jump over him and run, but Bal’thon took a wild swipe at her left leg as she made her desperate attempt to escape and the blade of his dagger sliced though her dress and cut deeply into her left leg.

Linday Downs (Christmas Story)
With everyone so intent on catching up, no one heard Jenna when she drove up to the house. The holiday hosts, Alison and Richard Bosch, along with Emily Dahill, and Maggie and Jack from England, walked out on the flagstone deck.
Sherry Gloag (Sweet Contemporary Romance)

Henri Pierre Gasquet hesitated before knocking on his father’s office door.  They’d shared breakfast together less than an hour ago and talked over many things, including Henri’s killer schedule for the next several months.  The king had given no indication of the need for a formal meeting this morning.  With a fatalistic shrug, he knocked, waited a second, then turned the handle and entered the room.

Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy (Literary)

"Holidays of the Heart"

  When most people talked about their family home, the ancestral manse, they referred to something grand, a mansion maybe or at least a fine old house with both style and character.  For Ruthie and the rest of her large and now scattered clan, their grandparents’ home came closest to being an old home place or family home any of them could claim.  Despite the sentimental clutter surrounding any thought of the place and the love drenched memories, she admitted the house was nothing more than an old frame house in a poor neighborhood, one never aspiring to any pretension beyond blue collar.  The roof sagged, the walls leaned, and the sole fine thing to come out of it had been love.
Stefan Ellery (Sci Fi)Paul, couldn't believe this was happening to him.  His parents gone in

a matter of minutes.  He did not know what to do.

J.R. Jenkins (Contemporary, holiday)

 “Why would I give up the best thing that’s ever happened to me?” I didn’t really think about it as I was saying it. It just sort of came out. The words didn’t suprise me so much as the bluntness.
Kerry Flowers  (Mystery/suspense)

The night was anything but perfect, so thought Amber as she pulled into the driveway of her home. She just got back from the third blind date she was set up on this week. The night started out like any ordinary night does for a single mom, trying to raise a daughter, but the blind date made it a bad night.
Kathleen Ball  (Contemporary cowboy romance)
"Summer's Desire"
Most days Stone didn't know what to expect. One moment Summer looked at him with her big green eyes filled with longing and immeasurable promises. Then she'd give him the look of the devil for something he supposedly did.
Kay Springsteen (Contemporary Romance -"R")
“Stupid!” muttered Anna under her breath as she yanked open her closet door. She reached in, shoving dresses and blouses back and forth without really seeing what she was touching.