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    The Consequential Heart
    The Consequential Heart
    The Consequential Heart
    Ebook80 pages1 hour

    The Consequential Heart

    By Paula Freda

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A Novella (Clean Romance, Murder Mystery, Suspense)
    There was a time JoAnn felt Jim was attracted to her, before he met Lexie, but Lexie broke his heart and married someone else. Was there the least bit of chance, JoAnn pondered wistfully, that she might replace his lost love and capture and mend his broken heart? The way to his heart was clear. But he would first have to open its door and let her in.

    Excerpt:
    ...Jim and Harold's law firm often represented the embezzled corporation in legal suits. JoAnn and both lawyers and their secretaries were called to the precinct to represent the firm after E.J. Stanton, the company's president, discovered and reported to the authorities a $100,000 dollar unexplained deficit, and accused Alliston, the bookkeeper, of embezzlement, but Jim felt Stanton's evidence against Alliston was dubious and decided to represent the accused Treasurer. No such money was found deposited into any account relating to Alliston's personal finances. The man swore he was innocent. But he was the most likely suspect since he handled all the company's finances. Jim hired a P.I. to investigate. Although the P.I. found no authentic proof that would stand up in court, he did lead Jim to form certain conclusions about who might have been the actual embezzler.

    "And you remember who I mentioned in my notes," Jim whispered.

    "Yes, I do." JoAnn answered. "But those suspicions were never made public."

    "Nevertheless, my office was broken into and files searched. Nothing was discovered missing except the file I carried with me in my briefcase."

    "Alliston's," JoAnn said, shakily."

    Jim nodded.

    "We are all in danger, aren't we?" JoAnn said.

    "Yes we are," Jim said. "There's already been one murder committed relative to this case."....

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPaula Freda
    Release dateJan 4, 2014
    ISBN9781310257346
    The Consequential Heart
    Author

    Paula Freda

    About the AuthorDorothy Paula Freda, is also known under her pen names Paula Freda and Marianne Dora Rose. Herbooks range from Fiction and Non-fiction Adventure, Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Poetry, Articles, Essays and How-to-Write Instructional complete with Lessons and optional assignments.Homemaker, mother of two grown sons, and former off-the-desk publisher of a family-oriented print small press, (1984 thru 1999), The Pink Chameleon, that she now publishes on line, Paula was raised by her grandmother and mother, and has been writing for as long as she can remember. Even before she could set pencil to paper, she would spin her stories in the recording booths in the Brooklyn Coney Island Arcades for a quarter per 3-minute record. She states, "I love the English language, love words and seeing them on display, typed and alive. A romantic at heart, I write simply and emotionally. One of my former editors kindly described my work, '...her pieces are always deep, gentle and refreshing....'" Paula further states, "My stories are sensitive, deeply emotional, sensual when appropriate, yet non-graphic, family fare, pageturners. My hope is that my writing will bring entertainment and uplift the human spirit, bring a smile to your face and your soul, and leave you filled with a generous amount of hope."

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      Book preview

      The Consequential Heart - Paula Freda

      The Consequential Heart

      by Paula Freda

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright by Dorothy Paula Freda - (Pseudonym - Paula Freda)

      January 2014

      Bookcover Insert Photo

      Licensed by Dorothy Paula Freda

      from iStockphoto.com

      All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof. This is a work of fiction; names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

      Dedication

      With thanks to my Dear Lord Jesus and his Blessed Mother Mary whose strength, guidance, and her Holy Rosary, are my anchor in this troubled world, I dedicate this book to my husband, Domenick, whose love, patience and kindness over the past 43 years have kept my dreams and view of the romantic alive and vibrant.

      THE CONSEQUENTIAL HEART

      by Paula Freda

      CHAPTER ONE

      My dear JoAnn,

      It was a pleasant surprise to receive your letter. I'm doing fine and at last, I've found my happiness. Chris and I are married. I think this answers your question. The path is clear for you. Jim is a good man and I believe you can make him happy. And if he's attracted to you, I wish you all the luck you will need to capture his heart totally. My prayers are with you. May you find the happiness we have found.

      Love,

      Lexie and Chris

      JoAnn refolded the letter and placed it inside her middle desk drawer. She glanced at the door to her employer's office. Jim was due to return today from his escape to Montreal, where he'd gone to convalesce emotionally from his break-up with Lexie.

      In the year JoAnn had worked for him as his secretary at his father's firm, she had never seen him as despondent as that morning a month ago when he had stopped at her apartment. She was in the midst of drinking her coffee at the table in the breakfast nook of her apartment, when the jarring noise of a doorbell oppressed by a heavy nerve-wracked finger, startled her into almost dropping her mug. Luckily, as was her habit, besides holding the mug with one hand, her other hand was closed about it as well.

      Warily, she rose from her dinette chair, and walked slowly to the door, and peered through the eyehole at who the door attendant below had allowed to enter the building. She jumped back as the door rattled under a fist knocking impatiently. Jim's voice confirmed whom she thought she'd glimpsed behind her door. JoAnn, are you there?!

      Jim? What's wrong? she exclaimed, unlocking her door and opening it wide.

      The face that gazed down at her was haggard from lack of sleep. The eyes were red-rimmed and the expression desperate.

      Oh my God, what happened to you? JoAnn cried, pulling him into the apartment.

      Nothing— he started to deny. He knew his features told another story. Lexie left me. His shoulders drooped.

      You've been driving all night, haven't you? JoAnn asked.

      I stopped at my parents' home. They were kind and understanding, but I needed to figure out the why's and wherefore's myself. It was either stop at a bar and get drunk, or go somewhere quiet that didn't remind me of Lexie. The night sky was clear. I drove to Jones Beach.

      Were you thinking of catching Pneumonia and guilting her into coming back to you? JoAnn asked, finding it difficult to hide her anger both at Lexie and at Jim. Her feelings for him overrode the anger, and the I-told-you-so attitude. Oh my poor, dear sweet Jim, she consoled, pulling him into her embrace. In the office, she would never speak to him in that tone or those words. He was her employer. But since that first day he had hired her as his secretary, a warm friendship had grown between them. He was single, bonded to no one, and welcomed their initial attraction. Their characters similar in many ways, they had dated. Jim was a gentleman in every sense of the word. That first year JoAnn was sure that he was on the verge of proposing marriage when Lexie Driscoll, looking tired and lost, had applied for a job she was highly overqualified to accept.

      Lexie was a tall, statuesque, strong-willed young woman, with light blue eyes that even JoAnn, blonde and blue-eyed herself, had to admit were not easy to ignore. During college, JoAnn had done a paper on classic talkies. Among the first to be filmed, was a movie titled It. The It referred to a special quality some men and women possessed that guaranteed they were certain to win the partner of their choice. Lexie possessed that quality. One look from those eyes, would fell a man like Jim in his boots. JoAnn had heard talk in the Ladies Lounge that Lexie's mother possessed those same eyes, and quality of character that enabled her to capture the heart of a not-so-easily swayed Montanan horse rancher. Lexie's parents owned and ran a cattle and a horse ranch, and had recently celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary.

      The moment Jim set eyes on Lexie, he was lost, as was any chance of his proposing to his secretary. JoAnn never blamed him or held ill feelings toward him or Lexie. Not that she did not battle with the green-eyed monster that daily attacked her. She honestly felt she would make Jim happier than Lexie ever could. Lexie always seemed to keep one step back from Jim. No reason given. JoAnn had suspected for the longest time that Lexie carried a torch for someone else. Feeling

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