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    Reasonable Explanations
    Reasonable Explanations
    Reasonable Explanations
    Ebook129 pages1 hour

    Reasonable Explanations

    By Joannie Kay

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Halloween was Realtor Amelia Cartwright's favorite time of year. She enjoyed decorating and throwing Halloween parties, but most of all she enjoyed pranks. However, this year's prank was one that would land her in prison if her U.S. Marshal husband learned what she was up to. He worked in the WITSEC program, and Tom was unaware that his pretty wife had good reason to hate the man he was protecting.

    Gus Acardi was terrified of the ghostly sounds in the old house the WITSEC program assigned to him while he was waiting to testify against Mob Boss Alfonso. The Marshals thought Gus was crazy, but he knew that ghosts existed, and these ghosts were trying to make him repent before Alfonso's new soldiers found him and killed him! They made all sorts of noise at night, and Gus was losing his mind.

    Marshal Tom Cartwright did his best to tolerate his adorable wife's fascination with all things Halloween, and he permitted her to turn their home and yard into the best decorated in town, and the children enjoyed Trick or Treating with them each year, but Tom would let nothing interfere with keeping Amelia safe and healthy, even if that meant giving her a sound bottom warming every so often.

    Did she take this year's Halloween prank just a bit too far?

    How far is too far when it comes to Halloween pranks? Maybe, if it's one that could land her in jail...

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBlushing
    Release dateNov 11, 2014
    ISBN9781627505765
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      Book preview

      Reasonable Explanations - Joannie Kay

      Reasonable Explanations

      By

      Joannie Kay

      Copyright 2014 Blushing Books and Joannie Kay

      Published by Blushing Books at Smashwords

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Published by Blushing Books®,

      a subsidiary of

      ABCD Graphics and Design

      977 Seminole Trail #233

      Charlottesville, VA 22901

      The trademark Blushing Books®

      is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

      Kay, Joannie

      Reasonable Explanations

      eBook ISBN: 978-1-62750-576-5

      Cover Design by ABCD Graphics & Design

      This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

      Table of Contents:

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      About the Author

      Blushing Books

      Chapter One

      Gus Acardi woke with a start, positive he heard someone in the house with him. He reached for his bedside table, opened the drawer, and took out his gun, all the while looking around the room for any sign of movement. Damn it, show yourself! he growled, but no one answered. He threw off the blanket and sheet, and then got to his bare feet and walked through the old house, wondering yet again why the United States Marshal witness protection service put him in this old house. Every time he complained about the noise and voices keeping him awake, they told him there was a reasonable explanation. The hell with that! Someone was tryin’ to make him crazy, and they were succeeding. Whoever was doing this to him was tryin’ to scare him into havin’ a heart attack!

      He walked the entire house, all three floors of it, just as he’d done for the last two weeks, and again, he found nothing. The freakin’ house was haunted, and the damned Marshals knew it and put him here on purpose because they didn’t like him. They didn’t believe that he wasn’t the one who offed them kids. And they put him here to torment him.

      Gus returned to his bedroom, locked the door with the new deadbolts he’d installed, and then he lay down on his bed and bawled. He’d been afraid of ghosts since he was a little kid and his brothers told him all those true stories about the house next door. This haunting was all Giorgio and Ricco’s fault. They were the ones who insisted he join them in working for Alfonso. They were killed in retaliation for taking Caliston’s ugly daughters and raping them. Gus was smarter; he was careful to work behind the scenes, especially when it involved doing things that were going to mean retaliation and revenge. That was what made him so valuable to the cops. When he was captured, he was the one person who knew enough of the inner workings of Alfonso’s ‘family’ to put Alfonso and thirteen others in prison for the rest of their lives. Sadly for Gus, it meant that he was living alone in a small town with spooky haunted houses. He had no one around him who cared about him, either. His wife and kids went their own ways long ago, and hell, he didn’t even know how old his kids were now! Who could think with that howling going on?

      * * * * *

      Hello, babe! Amelia sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes as Tom entered the room, trying to be quiet so he wouldn’t wake her.

      Hey, honey. I didn’t mean to wake you. He walked over and leaned down to kiss her willing lips.

      I was awake, she admitted. How did your shift go?

      Boring, thank goodness. The witness went to bed early and not a peep out of her. Bates showed up right on time to relieve me, and I was glad to see her; I’m tired.

      Well, come to bed and we’ll catch a couple hours of sleep before I need to get up and go to work.

      I hate it when we work such different shifts. What did you do all evening? he asked.

      Oh, not much, she said.

      Did you go out?

      Just for a bit. They have a new Halloween store beside the mall.

      You and Halloween! he said with a smile, shaking his head. His wife absolutely loved this time of year. She always planned a party, unless it was out of the question for some reason. She also dressed up to give out treats to the children who came to their door. Amelia loved to decorate the yard and the front of their house, too. Their house was always the most spectacular in the neighborhood, and she said it was because she didn’t get to participate in Halloween when she was a child. I’m glad you found something fun to do while I was working, but honey, I want you to be careful out there. I think the locals may have a serial rapist on the loose.

      You know I can take care of myself.

      Yes, under the usual circumstances, but I don’t want you to be so overconfident that you aren’t being cautious, he warned.

      You should know me better than that, babe! I’m always cautious; but I will be extra careful if it makes you feel better.

      It will definitely make me feel better, Ame. He nodded earnestly.

      She loved it when he called her by his special nickname for her. It sounded like ‘Amy’, but he meant it as a shortening of her name. He’d told her it sounded like another word for ‘love’. Then consider it done, babe, she said with a smile. I would do anything for you, Tommy.

      And I would do anything for you, sweet wife. He crawled into bed, and she snuggled close to him. Tom decided he wasn’t as tired as he thought he was. But Amelia always had that affect on him.

      * * * * *

      Amelia smiled to herself; she was much quieter than Tom was, and she would be out of the house in a few minutes without disturbing him, and that was all well and good. She didn’t want him to know what time she was leaving the house or he would ask questions that she wouldn’t want to answer.

      She got into her car and drove across town until she reached the alley that ran along the railroad tracks. A young man wearing a black hoodie approached the car and opened the passenger side door. Give me the money, he gruffly ordered.

      Not until I examine the merchandise.

      Lady, you’re crazy, he said, but he reached under his hoody and produced a box. He stuck his head out the window and breathed deeply of the fresh air as she removed the lid.

      Oh gosh! That’s rank! she squealed.

      I told you so!

      Yeah, you did. Here’s your money, and worth every penny. She handed him a twenty dollar bill.

      Do you want any more? he asked hopefully.

      No, this will do the trick, she insisted with a wicked grin. She waved at him as he got out of her car, but she took the time to make sure the jumbo Ziploc bag she brought with her was properly closed around the smelly box. She did not want that telltale odor in her car. When she finally reached the parking lot at the real estate office she worked for, she was ten minutes early for the special meeting their broker had called for that morning.

      I’m happy to see at least one person is here on time for the meeting, Rice grumbled when she walked in.

      I’m a punctual person by nature, Amelia said with a smile for the man. At seventy years of age, Rice’s hair was silver, and beautiful, and he certainly didn’t look his age. He was an excellent agent, too, and it was a pleasure to work for him most of the time. However, he occasionally hired a jerk, and that jerk walked into the office at nine o’clock on the dot.

      So, where is everyone? Logan asked, and he managed to sneer and appear insulted at the same time.

      I imagine that Trish and Judy are on their way. Their youngest children can’t be dropped off at school until ten of nine, so give them a bit of time to get here.

      Children are just a hassle I plan to avoid! Logan said dramatically. They are a drain on a person’s time and energy, and who can concentrate with the brats around? There should be a law that people cannot go house hunting with their children in tow.

      "Of course you would say that, but I don’t imagine you need to worry about having children, Logan. No woman in her right mind would marry you!"

      I find that offensive, Amelia.

      Good. I wasn’t trying to compliment you.

      "You redheads and your

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