Men of Riverside Print Volume 4
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Men of Riverside Volume Four
Convincing Landon
Afraid of being openly gay, Landon rejected Kendall after a brief affair. Will they be able to make a fresh start when chance reunites them years later?
Landon Tully is a social worker who only returned to Riverside for his father’s funeral. But when a job opportunity opens up, he decides to stay for a while. Within days he runs into Kendall Gable, the man he’d thought was too young for him eight years ago – only now Kendall is all grown up and on the opposite side of a bidding contest for the land Landon has been asked to obtain to build a homeless shelter.
Kendall has made a life for himself as an architect. Focusing on work has helped him fill the hole in his life that Landon left behind. Running into him is painful, but helps him realise some of the issues in his professional life need fixing.
Will Kendall be able to convince himself, and Landon, that they deserve a life together after all?
Reader Advisory: This book is the seventh in a series and, while it can be read on its own, it is best read in sequence.
Helping Harry
Tim’s attraction to his friend Harry flares up once again when they run into each other at their ten-year reunion, but will it be enough to build the lasting relationship they’ve both longed for?
Tim Jacobi, who owns and runs his parent’s car dealership, is professionally successful but lonely. When his high school reunion brings his best friend Harry back to Riverside after a ten-year separation, he realises he is still attracted to him. And this time around, he can admit it to himself.
Harry can’t believe the strong feelings his best friend awakens in him. Despite being afraid of rejection, he opens up and tells him the truth about the intervening years-why he is now divorced and has sole custody of his two children.
When Harry’s ex-wife reappears-demanding not only visitation rights, but threatening to sue for custody-Tim find himself facing more obstacles than he’d expected. Will he run for cover or help Harry get the relationship and life he has always wanted?
Reader Advisory: This story is the eighth in this series and the stories, while they can be read on their own, are best read in sequence.
Pages: 252
Words: 65,655
Heat Index:
Cover Artist: Posh Gosh
Book Type: Paperback
All Books, Men of Riverside, Paperbacks, Contemporary, Collection of Novellas
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Copyright © Serena Yates, 2011
All Rights Reserved, Total-E-Ntwined Limited, T/A Total-E-Bound.
Excerpt From: Convincing Landon
Riverside, Texas
Thursday, June 6, 1991
"No!" The ragged scream tore into the mid-afternoon silence, brutally ending the peaceful quiet time just before the day’s chores were done.
Landon’s head jerked up, his eyes rising from the dusty ground he’d mindlessly been staring at as he was walking towards the very building that the pain-filled sound had come from. The barn they kept the horses in was just as ramshackle as most of the other buildings on their run-down farm, but it pretty much served its purpose most of the time.
Who was even in there right now? Most of the hands hadn’t returned from the fields yet, wouldn’t be expected back for at least another hour. Hell, he wasn’t supposed to be here, either. But the dress rehearsal for tomorrow’s graduation ceremony at Riverside High had gone so well, they’d all been sent home early.
Another scream, more muffled than the first one, spurred him into action. He ran the rest of the way, pushing the heavy wooden doors open with enough force to bruise his hands. It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust from the glaring sunshine to the half-dark of the barn’s interior. He scanned the mostly empty stalls, quickly walking past them towards the tack room, searching for anything out of order.
"Please. Please don’t." The voice sounded small and scared, and undeniably belonged to his younger brother, Greg.
"Shut up." Ray was five years older than Landon and nobody would call him soft. Or even nice. But the venom dripping from his short utterance just now was chilling.
Landon almost ran to the last stall, stumbling in his haste to reach Greg. He gripped the wooden separation for support, only vaguely noticing the splinters penetrating his skin. What he saw not only confirmed his suspicions from hearing the screams, but made the blood freeze in his veins.
Greg was curled up in the foetal position on the floor, straw sticking to his jeans and the T-shirt that had slipped up, exposing several bruises on his sides. His hands covered his head as Ray kicked him brutally in the back with the heavy cowboy boots their eldest brother preferred to wear.
"Stop it!" Landon stepped farther into the stall, attempting to get between Ray and Greg to stop this madness.
Greg whimpered.
Ray looked up, the anger in his eyes quickly giving way to shock.
"What are you doing here?" Ray staggered, supporting himself by placing a hand on the back wall when he reached it. "You...you’re not supposed to be back yet."
"I’m glad I returned earlier." Landon went on his knees to place a supporting hand on Greg’s head, not taking his eyes off Ray for a second. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Just a little much-needed discipline." Ray sneered at Greg’s cowering form. "Let the little shit here know that his easy days are over, now that you’re graduating and moving away. It’s about time he starts pulling his weight around here."
Excerpt From: Helping Harry
Portland, Oregon
Thursday, June 10, 2010
"You’ll behave for Pamela, won’t you, Jessica?" Harry Lear gave his nine-year-old daughter the sternest look he could muster. He needed a weekend away, something he hadn’t had since last year’s acrimonious divorce from his alcoholic wife. And what better excuse than his ten-year reunion at Riverside High?
"Do I have to?" Jessica’s pout had been perfected over years of practice and had worn out several nannies and babysitters already.
"Please." He knew from experience that being polite and honest worked best.
"We’ll be good." Tyler, his five-year-old son, tilted his head and looked at Jessica with a calculating glint in his eyes. "I bet Daddy will get us some really neat gifts if we’re good."
Harry barely suppressed a grin. The little bugger was just as conniving as his sister, but he was usually more restrained about it. People underestimated him, but his kind of logic worked with Jessica, so Harry let it slide.
"Okay." Jessica nodded and smiled at her little brother. She loved him to pieces and would do anything he asked...usually.
"Great!" Tyler jumped up and down as if he’d already received his gift.
"Thanks, kids. I really appreciate this." Harry hugged each of them before opening the door just as the school bus stopped across the street. "Pamela will pick you up from school like we discussed and you’ll stay with her until I come to get you from her place on Sunday night."
"We know." Jessica rolled her eyes as she picked up the pinkest schoolbag in existence. "You already told us about ten times."
"Yeah, we’re not babies!" Tyler followed his sister’s example and grabbed his LEGO Police backpack.
"I know you’re not." Harry grinned and opened his arms. "Can I still get a hug?"
"Oh...okay." Despite Jessica’s put-upon look, she hugged him tightly before stepping back to make room for Tyler.
"Bye, Daddy." Tyler gave him a manly slap on the back and followed his sister out the door.
Harry stood and watched them get on the bus before he closed the door and returned to cleaning up the kitchen and finalising his packing. He’d miss them something awful, but this would be good for him. Ever since the divorce and getting sole custody, he’d been totally focused on them. Part of it was because he was afraid Lisa might want them back once she was out of rehab, part of it was because he couldn’t imagine what losing them would be like. Thanks to Lisa’s admission that she’d only become pregnant to make him marry her, he’d never been as attached to her as he was to Jessica and Tyler. He’d liked her, but he would never have married her, especially not right out of high school.
He sighed as he walked upstairs to check his suitcase. Had there been any mistakes he hadn’t made? He missed Riverside and the sun and warmth of Texas terribly. Lisa was the one who’d wanted to follow her parents back to Oregon when her father was transferred. Had it been up to him, they would have figured out a way to make it work and he would’ve got his computer engineering degree in Riverside, where he belonged.
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