RETURN TO AUDUBON SPRINGS
By
RoseAnn DeFranco

BLURB: 

When Emma Grant returns to her family's Audubon Springs beach house to fulfill the stipulations of her father's will, she has every intention of forcing her former lover out of the house for good. She's never fit into her wealthy family and would prefer avoiding her past, but with her brother threatening to reveal her young daughter, she has no choice.

Rafe Iuliano has other plans. The wealthy Grants tried to bribe him out of Emma's life years ago, but he's determined to prove once and for all that a master carpenter is worthy of Emma and the house.

Their ridiculous and steamy battle for the house reignites the love and passion that bloomed between them years ago. But when Rafe discovers she's kept their daughter a secret for two years, can he overcome anger and pride to claim his family and the love of his life, or will the deception drive a final wedge between them?




Excerpt 

Emma pulled herself to a standing position. “Don’t pretend you know anything about me.”

“I know more about you than you know about yourself, and that pisses you off!”

“Maybe once, but you know nothing about me now!” She scanned the kitchen, anger bubbling inside her. Spotting the eggs, she grabbed one out of the carton and smashed it into his chest.

“For real?” He looked down at his shirt, mouth hanging open in surprise.

A sane person would have backed away after catching the murderous look in his eyes. Emma didn’t budge.

“Do you need to cleanse now that you’ve touched that egg?”

“Cleanse? Ha! After the Iuliano brother assault, nothing short of bombing will cleanse this place. In fact, after your little stunt last night, I should level the whole house, and call in an exorcist, or animal control!”

“You do that, Emma.” He picked up the bottle of syrup and squirted a generous amount on the plate of pancakes. “Just remember anything you do to this house, you only get to do to half of it.” He smirked then grabbed a pancake from the plate. “Caveman, hungry. Eat!” he said, in his best Tarzan impersonation. He moved to shove the whole thing in his mouth, but then changed course at the last minute and smashed the pancake into her chest, smearing syrup all over her halter top.

“You are going to pay for that,” she said between clenched teeth.

“Princess, stuck living in this house with you, I already am.”




AUTHOR INFORMATION:  


RoseAnn DeFranco grew up in upstate NY with her nose in a book and a song in her heart. Following the pursuit of a musical theatre career in NYC, she turned her creative energy to writing romance. RoseAnn blogs about her writing experiences with her critique partners at www.the violetfemmes.com. A NJ shore transplant, she enjoys time spent at the beach with her family. She would love to one day live in a quaint shore town like the fictional town Audubon Springs from her BROTHERS OF AUDUBON SPRINGS series. More information about these Contemporary Romantic Comedies can be found at www.radefranco.com.