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    Finding the Fairy Tale (Book 3 of the Connor's)
    Finding the Fairy Tale (Book 3 of the Connor's)
    Finding the Fairy Tale (Book 3 of the Connor's)
    Ebook273 pages3 hours

    Finding the Fairy Tale (Book 3 of the Connor's)

    By Rita Hestand

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    Lucas dream as a chef was to open his own restaurant in the heart of Houston and make it the best in Texas. Emily Armstrong his fiance had helped him make the restaurant a success. With her connections he couldn't lose. Oddly though, the high-class restaurant became more Emily than Lucas.
    But the minute he saw Frankie McCall, he realized what his life was missing...her!

    He'd used Frankie, he'd been with Frankie five years when Emily told him he had to get rid of her, if he wanted Emily. So he did. Biggest mistake of his life he realized two years later. How could a man be so wrong about a situation, and the bigger question was, how could he win Frankie back into his life?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRita Hestand
    Release dateNov 10, 2017
    ISBN9781370881222
    Finding the Fairy Tale (Book 3 of the Connor's)
    Author

    Rita Hestand

    Hi friendsI'd like to ask a favor, not just for me but for all writers. PLease when we offer a free book, it would be wonderful if you'd take the time to rate the book. This doesn't take much time out of your day and authors really apreciate your time to do this. I know not everyone wants to sit down and write a review, but rating the book will help as well. And a big thanks to all who do this. You never know how much an author appreciates you taking the time to do this.I finally finished The Car Stalker. Hope you'll check it out. This is the second book in the stalker series. Like I said mystery is much different from romance all though there are elements in romance in my stalker books too. Today I finished an another book in my series of Vets coming home, Better Every Day. This book takes the angle of when family interrupts your plans. When a one-night stand is much more. I love this story as it hits home. So two new books out now and more coming.I'm taking the time to write while confined at home. But lack of seeing people outside, and living alone all the time is not new to me. I've got lots of stories to tell so be on the lookout for my newest releases. You might check out my Searchin g for You Indian romance on Amazon too.There are several new free books for you enjoyment, since your stuck at home. Home you enjoy them.As for a bio, suffice it to say, I'm a Texan tried and true. I have grown children and grandchildren and already some great-grandchildren. I've done multi jobs in my lifetime giving me a variety of experiences to write and talk about. I've done many different kinds of work from Texas Instruments, to City of Garland, to working for the Wylie Independent School District. I've worked for a hat factory, filing insurance claims, secretarial work, to waitress work. My writing reflects my varied background. Another note I've had a in home day care for twenty years too. So when I write about something I have a general knowledge of it too, which is a real bonus for me. Just like my public work, my writing varies too from contemporary to historical, I write romance, thrillers, children's. A lot of people might say gee, that's a lot of different jobs, and it is, but, I've learned from them all, and I use that experience in my writing.I want to thank all the readers over a length of time that have tried some of my books. I hope I've enlightened and entertained you. I hope I've shared some love in this world. Sharing love can't be bad, it's God given.God bless.Other places to see my bookshttps://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/rita-hestand/https://itunes.apple.com/us/author/rita-hestand/id365799219?mt=11www.scriptsforschools.com/rita-hestandhttps://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/search?query=rita%20hestand&fcsearchfield=author

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      Book preview

      Finding the Fairy Tale (Book 3 of the Connor's) - Rita Hestand

      Finding the Fairy Tale

      Rita Hestand

      Finding the Fairy Tale

      Book Three of the Connor's Series

      Rita Hestand

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright© 2017 by Rita Hestand

      All Rights Reserved

      ISBN 978-1370881222

      Cover Design by: www.coverinked.com

      License Note

      This book, Finding the Fairy Tale is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be copied or reproduced in any manner without express written permission of the author. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy or copies. If you did not purchase this book or it was not purchased for your use, please go to Smashwords.com to purchase your personal copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Finding the Fairy Tale is a work of fiction. Though some of the cities and towns exist they are used in a fictitious manner for purposes of this work. All characters are works of fiction and any names or characteristics like any person past, present or future are coincidental.

      Dedication

      Sometimes when we love, we don't realize what we have until it's gone. Love is precious, be careful with it. To love the body is gratifying, to love the mind, is intelligent, but to love the soul is true happiness! Here's hoping you all find it.!

      Blessings

      Rita Hestand

      Table of Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Chapter Fifteen

      Chapter Sixteen

      Chapter Seventeen

      Chapter Eighteen

      Chapter Nineteen

      Chapter Twenty

      Chapter Twenty-One

      Chapter Twenty-Two

      Chapter Twenty-Three

      Chapter Twenty-Four

      About the Author

      Rita's Other Books

      Chapter One

      Frankie McCall? he whispered her name under his breath, like a prayer. His glance slid quickly over her with appreciation. God, I've missed you!

      What did you say? His friend asked as they passed the open bistro in the lobby.

      Lucas turned to look at her once more, then turned to his friend.

      Nothing, he shook his head, but he did look over his shoulder at her one more time to assure himself he wasn't dreaming. It was her. It was Frankie, Francis Ann McCall.

      Seeing her sent a warm flush through his body. He licked his lips, his hands seemed to sweat.

      You seem a bit preoccupied, Lucas. Dale Kennedy his headwaiter told him as they walked outside to their cars.

      Lucas Connor let a shy smile leak. Yeah, I guess I was. Sorry.

      Was she that pretty, boss? Dale chuckled.

      Lucas glanced at him, thankful he couldn't see his real expression, knowing Dale was a man he could trust. Yeah—she was.

      Dale turned his head in question, Don't worry, I won't tell Emily. A man has a right to look. You sure you're ready for marriage, though? I mean Emily's a good-looking gal, but…

      Yeah, sure, I mean, I guess. The wedding's kind of freaking me out, but yeah, Emily is great. Was he assuring Dale or himself. He couldn't be sure now, Frankie flustered him.

      Okay, if you say so. See ya in a bit.

      Lucas nodded. He wondered about that. Dale's 'if you say so' comment struck him as odd. Did others see Emily as the not so perfect lady, after all?

      He ran a quick list of her attributes in his mind, calculating just how she stacked up. But he couldn't dare compare Emily and Frankie. They were entirely different, in every way. Frankie was warm, friendly, inviting, and very passionate. Emily on the other hand was a picture of sophistication. Still, in comparison, Emily came up wanting, her cold calculating ways didn't endear her to him.

      He had to admit, his mind wasn't on Emily Armstrong, his fiancé at the moment. But he was a man, and seeing Frankie again was a shocker. Of all the people he could run into, it had to be Frankie. Not that he minded, he'd missed her, he suddenly realized. That shocked his system to admit, but it was true.

      He'd broken up with her two years ago. He'd known it was best. He loved Emily. Didn't he? He and Emily could go a long way to making his career happen. But that was the problem. Emily was more concerned with his career than his personal needs. She had a practical and analytical mind, but passion played no part in her life. He thought at first it was just her will to see him succeed, but now he was convinced it was part of her nature. She came off cold and unfeeling.

      She wasn't romantic in any sense of the word. Everything was to further his position, his restaurant, his career as a chef. Naturally, it didn't hurt her to get most of the credit for his success.

      If Emily was so right for him, why did he look at Frankie that way? He knew the answer to that one, too.

      Frankie was warm, inviting and very passionate. She cared about people, about life.

      We had a history, that's why!

      Even dressed in black tights, a plaid mini skirt, and black sweater with a white blouse beneath it, he would recognize Frankie anywhere. It wasn't the outfit, it was her luscious body, and her gorgeous black hair that hung in curls around her shoulders and back. She had the warmest brown eyes he'd ever seen. Behind those warm brown eyes, was a woman that felt things.

      But Lucas suddenly stopped for a moment there on the sidewalk and it hit him like a brick falling from the roof of the seventeen-floor building. No, it wasn't just her luscious body, her beautiful hair, or the fact that she turned him on with just a smile. It was the fact that she listened when he talked. And quite suddenly he knew he missed that. She cared about people, about him. And in reflection, he had treated her badly.

      Still guilt wasn't what he was feeling and he knew it.

      Just that quick glimpse was enough to heat his insides, his gut churning, his face flushing a bit. Dammit! She still had a solid grip on his libido too. Why not, he had the best sex of his life with Frankie. The passion they had shared was like nothing he'd shared before or after her. He remembered how her lips would turn to butter when he kissed her, every time. He remembered when he was down, she'd pump him up. How she'd listen to him when he became frustrated from something at work.

      They'd been together five years, in between him dating Emily the last three. Why had he started that? Why had he turned to Emily, when what he needed most he got from Frankie?

      He still went back to Frankie. His own guilt played a big part in him breaking up with her. He'd chosen Emily, and it was for a selfish reason. Emily could help him build a career in the restaurant business. Emily had connections that would benefit him. And he'd been an ambition freak back then. God, there was nothing like looking at yourself in a mirror.

      But had it made him a happy man?

      The answer startled him. No!

      Looking back, it was quite a reflection. He'd done Frankie so wrong, and it was easy to see, now! He'd treated her like some backstreet whore, and Frankie was never that.

      But from the looks of it, she turned her life around. She had a regular job obviously and she looked fantastic. Working in a coffee bistro was a shocker, and in the same building he worked in, that was ironic.

      Woe! He wasn't supposed to notice. But he couldn't stop himself. Frankie was more than lust and sex rolled into a neat little package. She was the best friend he ever had. He could tell her anything, and it wouldn't go any further. So why was he just now noticing her good attributes?

      This could be a problem.

      This was a problem!

      He remembered all the times he and Leann, his sister had talked about him leading a double life. Marry one and dump the other.

      Yeah, but which one?

      That big brother, is up to you. Leann had laughed with a little sympathy. But it isn't right the way you are doing it.

      Emily is from a good family, stable, hardworking and we connect on a business level even though I couldn't work with her, myself. Frankie, she listens, she always listens, it's more than sex Leann, it always has been.

      Look, Leann approached him with a kiss on the cheek. Whatever your heart tells you, is usually right. You think things out too much. But it's what's in your heart that holds the answer. Ask yourself this one question, what do each of them mean to you, and why?

      Lucas sighed, he hadn't gone with his heart, because his libido was also engaged with Frankie. At the time he passed it off as physical attraction. So, he thought their relationship more frivolous. But had it been? Emily would be the wife that would help him achieve all his goals and be there with him. At least, that's what he'd thought at the time. Emily dressed elegantly most of the time, her hair was perfect, her smile was automatic, and she knew how to impress people. At the time that had mattered to Lucas as he was ambitious.

      But had he chosen well? Why was he doubting himself now?

      Doubts clouded his good thinking.

      One thing was certain, seeing Frankie again made him wonder if he'd chosen well at all.

      Of course, pre-wedding jitters often did that, a friend had told him. Perhaps that's what it was. After all, he'd wrote Frankie off, and maybe it was better left that way, at least for her.

      But something, in the deepest part of him rejected that.

      Then he suddenly realized that he hadn't ever written her off. He did quit seeing her, but he could never write her off. She was a huge part of him, and he was beginning to see just how big. How could one glance change everything?

      A million questions danced in his head as he got into his Ferrari and peeled out of his parking spot.

      Memories of him and Frankie swirled through his head as he drove much too fast down the road. He firmed his lips and gripped the steering wheel as his memory engaged in the past. He'd missed her, really missed her!

      Why had he told her goodbye?

      He knew why, he couldn't keep her on a string and marry Emily. That would be all wrong. Frankie had been such a good friend to him too. No matter what she was doing, where she was at, she'd stop and listen. She listened when he had self-doubts about what he could do. Come to think of it, it wasn't Emily that reinforced his confidence, it was Frankie. And he had missed that too.

      Had he let ambition and making something of himself cloud all his better thinking? Had he become such a snob that all he wanted was a career?

      Yes, he had.

      Seeing himself in this light he realized what a louse he was.

      Because one thing was crystal clear now, he still longed to be with Frankie, and not just sexually. He remembered all the uptight nights that he had gone to Frankie's and she had soothed his brow, listened to his troubles and bolstered his ego.

      With Frankie he was relaxed, happy, and himself. With Emily, he was all business and getting ahead.

      Emily was an upstanding, beautiful, woman who encouraged him buying his own restaurant and wanted to see him prosper. She knew all the right people and she helped him build quite a clientele. She was the kind of woman he needed on his arm, to guide him along to success. She was goodie-two-shoes. Frankie was the girl across the tracks. And that was how he based his decision. Dear God, he was a snob, too!

      When Emily found out he was seeing someone else too, she told him to choose. And he did. It took him nearly a month to make the decision.

      But had he made the right decision? He'd often wondered, especially the last two years without Frankie.

      What on earth was Frankie doing here? Why now, when the wedding was only a month and a half away did Frankie reappear in his life?

      He had to admit something pulled his interest, it always had. But he had to squash that. He was getting married soon, to Emily, they'd dated for three years now and she came from a very old family from New Orleans, too. Emily was a lady, something he was sure he wanted in a woman.

      Was that it, or had it been her family connections that had spurred him on with Emily?

      Trouble was, now he could see it. He could see the selfishness in that, the ego.

      He was at the top right now. His restaurant was making good money and the critics were all good to him.

      But seeing Frankie, made his heart stir like a locomotive. Why had he had that reaction? He had to admit, it was Frankie that made his heart do a flip-flop.

      Dear God, had he traded love for ambition?

      'Follow your heart!' his sister had told him.

      He hadn't. He'd followed his career.

      Perhaps he and Emily had concentrated too much on the business and not enough on the personal level. Because try as he did, he still didn't feel he could tell Emily everything. He had never talked to her about Frankie, she didn't want to hear about it. She only wanted him to end it. And he did.

      Emily had changed too, especially over the past year. She had become more confident of herself, more assertive, and more aggressive.

      He rather liked the shy girl, she used to be.

      What a time for Frankie to reappear. He would have to talk to her, he wanted to talk to her. He still kicked himself a million times for busting up with her. Had he just thought that? Dear God, he had to get Frankie out of his mind, his system. She could easily ruin everything he'd planned for the last year.

      But something niggled.

      Marrying Emily was supposed to be perfect. She had started as his assistant and she'd been good, but not as good as he wanted her to be. So, Emily to spare their relationship took a job in an office downtown and now they had the perfect life. All the while, Emily had gained a stronger personality. She took on her mother's qualities of arrogant, self-assured, almost to the point of egotist.

      It was perfect, wasn't it?

      That's what he told himself every day. And yet, every day he felt there was something missing.

      At Emily's that afternoon she was busy planning the wedding. It wasn't something he wanted to think about right now. Weddings, the food, the music, the flowers he told her to hire a Wedding Planner, but she insisted that her and her mother could plan it and it wouldn't cost so much. Emily was thrifty, and he should be proud, but now that he was making very good money, he didn't understand her reluctance. He wanted a quiet, simple wedding, with just family and a few friends. Emily's family had already planned two hundred guests. With his family and friends, it would be three hundred guests.

      She wanted the wedding at The Rolling Hills Country Club in Arlington where her family were members. She planned on announcing it in the paper.

      He wanted a simple outside ranch wedding himself. He found country clubs stuffy and boring.

      But it was her wedding and she should have what she wanted, he thought. If only they'd keep the guest list down to about fifty, it might be pleasant. He would try to tone that down, if she'd let him.

      Let him? My God, when had he let Emily take over his life? That was the real problem. In some things, Emily had taken over for him. At the time it was good, he'd been busy building his restaurant and making famous dishes he knew would please his clientele. He'd quickly made a name for himself, building his menu's as a Chef that impressed even Emily's family.

      The shy girl that Emily once was, had changed before his eyes and at first it had tickled him, but now, she took on a sophistication he didn't appreciate most of the time. He didn't think she was being herself any longer and it bothered him. She was no longer the sweet, shy girl he fell in love with. She'd put on an air of sophistication, gained confidence in her job, and in the knowledge, that she came from a good family. She reminded him of that regularly too. One of the many things that annoyed him. At times Emily was too arrogant and almost to the point of snobbish. Lucas put little stock in all that, but he had to reconcile this in his mind. He'd chosen Emily, and yet for the life of him, he couldn't remember why. Perhaps it was the very change in her that made him doubt the relationship now.

      Still, he'd invested a lot of time into their relationship, he couldn't break it off now. They'd done television shows together and he now had a chance to have his own chef show, his own restaurant and he was making good money. Sometimes Emily regretted taking an office job, but they did get along much better not working together. She wasn't cut out for being a chef. That was all her mother's idea.

      Why was he even thinking like this today?

      Glad you came by, Emily quickly interrupted his train of thought. I want you to taste some cakes. She smiled when she saw him coming toward her. He stopped, bent and kissed her on the lips.

      Surprised she smiled.

      Cakes, really? Lucas rolled his eyes at her.

      We have to have cakes. And we must get this done. So, taste these and tell me which ones you like, we'll have a bride cake and a groom cake. Emily insisted.

      Giving in to her whims had become second nature to Lucas lately. He shrugged and tasted the six cakes before him. There was lemon chiffon, there was chocolate éclair, there was brownie supreme, vanilla ice cream, Strawberry cream, and Red Velvet.

      He tasted all of them as Emily and her mother stood close by watching him.

      I definitely like the Red Velvet and Brownie Supreme.

      Oh, but we can't have two chocolates….

      Then you choose. He insisted.

      "I like the vanilla, and the lemon

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