THE DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES
By
Barbara
Longley
BLURB:
Ryan
Malloy has lost it all. After his fiancée dies in a tragic accident, he enlists
in the army, only to lose his best friend in a roadside bombing. Wracked with
guilt and grief, Ryan finds life unbearable—until a job offer from his former
commander gives him a glimmer of hope. And in the tiny town of Perfect,
Indiana, the man who thought he had nothing left to live for meets the only
woman who can tempt him into risking his battered heart one last time...
Paige
Langford has it all: wealth, beauty, and ambition. But when her boyfriend’s
betrayal leads to the loss of her job and her reputation, she retreats to her
brother’s rural Indiana home to regroup. There she meets Ryan Malloy, a gruff,
hard-drinking loner whose surly temper can’t hide the haunted misery in his
eyes. He is everything Paige never wanted, yet he may be exactly what she
needs—if only they can overcome their personal demons to forge a love strong
enough to save them both.
Throwing
her shoulders back, Paige knocked on Mr. Weil’s door.
“Come
in,” he barked from inside.
Smoothing
her face into a professional mien, she opened the door and strode in. One look
at his expression, and she faltered. He looked serious. Seriously unhappy. What
the hell?
“Have
a seat, Langford.” He moved a pile of folders aside.
She
took one of the chairs in front of his huge, imposing desk. “You wanted to see
me?”
“Hmmm.”
He scowled her way. “Meyer Construction needed our bid five business days ago.
They never got it. They’ve gone with another supplier.”
An
adrenaline shock hit her system, and her heart leaped to her throat. She
gripped the arms of the chair. “That’s impossible! I sent that bid with a
same-day courier two days before it was due.”
“Like
I said—they never got it.” He leaned back in his expensive leather chair and
fixed her with a baleful scowl. “I’ve also had two other accounts you handled
complain that their bids were late, holding them up and delaying their
contractors. If it weren’t for Anthony Rutger’s intervention, we would’ve lost
those accounts as well.”
“Anthony’s…intervention?”
Her mind spun with the implications. Anthony?
Her
mind flew back to the day the courier had come to the lobby for the Meyer bid.
She’d been in the middle of a phone call, and Anthony had offered to take the
envelope down to the lobby for her. At the time, she’d thought it was sweet.
Come to think of it, he’d also offered to put a few of her bids into the
office’s outgoing mail bin for her. No, he wouldn’t purposefully sabotage her.
Would he? They were a couple.
Heat
filled her face. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Damn
straight it won’t. You’re fired.”
“Oh,
no. There’s been a mistake. I had somebody else put the bids in the mail for me.
They must’ve forgotten, or…” Shit. Shit.
Shit. She glanced around the office as the reality of Anthony’s betrayal
sank in. “I won’t let it happen again, Mr. Weil. I’ll get the Meyer account
back somehow.” She sucked in a breath. “From now on, I will personally put
things in the out bin myself, and—”
“Miss
Langford, you’re done here.”
AUTHOR INFORMATION:
As a child, Barbara Longley moved frequently, learning early
on how to entertain herself with stories. Adulthood didn’t tame her peripatetic
ways: she has lived on an Appalachian commune, taught on an Indian reservation,
and traveled the country from coast to coast. After having children of her own,
she decided to try staying put, choosing Minnesota as her home. By day, she
puts her master’s degree in special education to use teaching elementary
school. By night, she explores all things mythical, paranormal, and newsworthy,
channeling what she learns into her writing.
LINKS:
http://www.barbaralongley.com
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ReplyDeleteurgh...what a jerk! I'd definitely call him out on it! That's so terrible!
ReplyDeleteandralynn7@gmail.com
I hope Paige gets him back for what he did.
ReplyDeleteKit3247(at)aol(dot)com
I really love the this story and want to read the entire book.
ReplyDeleteIt just hit me that Anthony, the betrayer, is also the boyfriend. Double whammy!!
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com