Pearls of Wisdom

By Chantilly White

A long-simmering love. A proper proposal. One incredible night.
Billy Wingate has never been with a woman. He’s never held a gun. In fact, he’s never been outside his home state of Indiana. But it’s 1942. The world is at war, and Billy’s life is about to change forever.
On the eve of departing for the war, Billy finally gathers the courage to ask his dream girl, sexy town librarian April Collins, to be his bride. But when his proposal turns into a steamy night of passion, Billy is determined to make every moment count. They both know his first time may be his last. . .
A short, H-O-T historical romance, Pearls of Wisdom is 15,000 words (about 35 pages).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chantilly White
• Release date: Apr 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476158617

Chantilly White

Like her readers, romance author Chantilly White lives in the real world, but she also knows the value of escapism. As a shy girl in a new school, Chantilly discovered the priceless ability to escape her surroundings through reading the latest romance novels or by taking pen in hand to write her own stories. Reading and writing have been a joy ever since. Now, Chantilly loves providing the same joy to her readers. Pure Hearts ~ Sinful Pleasures is more than just her tagline. It’s her promise. Whether they’re looking for a sweetly fluffy romantic tale or a spicy-hot romp, a sweeping historical romance or a contemporary love story, Chantilly White’s readers know when they delve into one of her stories, they will be transported to a world where love reigns supreme and everyone gets their happily-ever-after. Guaranteed.

Book preview

PEARLS OF WISDOM

Passion For Pearls ~ Story 2

Chantilly White

A SnapDragon Press Novella

Published April 2012 by SnapDragon Press

Copyright © 2012 by Chantilly White, Edited by MLL

Excerpt Pearls of Passion Copyright © 2012 by Chantilly White

Cover Design Copyright © 2012 by Chantilly White

Cover Image Copyright © Byelikova Oksana, via fotolia. Used with licensed permission.

ISBN: 978-1476158617

Digital Edition 1.0/April 2012

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To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, other than for review purposes, or to report a typo or formatting problem so that it can be corrected, please contact the author at [e-mail] Discover more from Chantilly at ChantillyWhite.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is purely coincidental.

PEARLS OF WISDOM

Chantilly White

Chantilly White needs to be on your auto-buy list; I know she’s on mine.

–Lucy Monroe, USA Today bestselling author

A long-simmering love. A proper proposal. One incredible night.

Billy Wingate has never been with a woman. He’s never held a gun. In fact, he’s never been outside his home state of Indiana. But it’s 1942. The world is at war, and Billy’s life is about to change forever.

On the eve of departing for the war, Billy finally gathers the courage to ask his dream girl, sexy town librarian April Collins, to be his bride. But when his proposal turns into a steamy night of passion, Billy is determined to make every moment count. They both know his first time could be his last…

DEDICATION

This love story is dedicated to the servicemen and women of the United States of America, throughout history—past, present, future, whether in peacetime or in war—in honor of their dedication and sacrifice. And to their loved ones, who serve alongside them every moment, in spirit if not in deed, sacrificing a part of their own hearts and the presence of their loved ones in the service and protection of this great land. Thank you for all you are and all that you do.

No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,

Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,

To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,

Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And so live ever—or else swoon to death.

~John Keats, Bright Star, Would I Were Stedfast as Thou Art

TABLE of CONTENTS

Story Summary

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Epilogue

Thank You!

Excerpt: Pearls of Passion

Book List

Acknowledgements

About Chantilly

PEARLS OF WISDOM

Chantilly White

CHAPTER ONE

Waterside, Indiana ~ May, 1942

The pearl-and-diamond engagement ring weighed like a thousand-pound, shining beacon in Billy Wingate’s breast pocket.

Billy tried and failed to regulate his breathing as he adjusted his straight black tie, stalling on the walk outside the tiny town library. A riot of flowers bloomed along the edge of the lawn, throwing scent into the air like confetti at a Fourth of July parade, and the glass library doors sparkled in the late-afternoon sun. The glimmering light made him squint.

His new khakis, as close to the uniform he’d soon receive as he could find, were heavily starched and sharply creased. They fit snugly over the toned body of a man full-grown, but the doors reflected the same boyish face he’d stared at in the mirror all his life. The one that had earned him his most-hated nickname—Pretty Boy Billy—a taunt he’d tolerated with good-natured grins and silent groans for years.

Billy frowned. After all this time, did Miss April still see him as a boy?

Show her you’re a man. Don’t be a coward.

Signing his life over to Uncle Sam had been a snap compared to asking Miss April one simple question.

Faking confidence, Billy strode through the doors and swept his gaze across the familiar front counter, the stacks of books and small row of tables.

There.

Leaning over Mrs. Dennis’s shoulder to point out some bit of information, Miss April had her back to him. She wore a summer dress as red as Pop’s Chevy Cabriolet, with tiny white polka dots all over it. It skimmed her back and narrow waist and flared over her hips to swirl to her knees. Leaning over as she was, the skirt drifted up a bit in back. Billy swallowed hard as his eyes traced the smooth, shapely muscles along the backs of her thighs where the skirt’s hem flirted with lightly tanned skin.

His heart thudded, heavy as cannon fire, and the rolling waves of Lake Michigan, washing the shore across the street, seemed to rush