Once Upon a Marriage

By Sara Daniel

Time is running out for Armina Keer to have the baby she’s always wanted. Before she can move on with her life, she needs her estranged husband to sign their divorce papers. When she can’t get him to respond, her meddling uncles arrange for a trip to his inn. Despite vowing to guard her broken heart, she has to settle the past before she can have a future.

Ian Keer might not deserve a second chance with his wife, but he’s not going to give up one either, not with the immediate flaming attraction still between them. While her uncles’ antics wreak havoc on life at The Inn, he offers her the ultimate gamble: Spend the night with him, and afterwards he’ll sign the papers if she still wants to leave.

With everything riding on one night together, Ian must convince her that their love is strong enough the second time around, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Decadent Publishing
• Release date: Jun 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781613336922

Book preview

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

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

Once Upon a Marriage

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014 by Sara Daniel

ISBN: 978-1-61333-692-2

Cover art by Syneca Featherstone

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

Look for us online at:

www.decadentpublishing.com

Decadent Publishing Beyond Fairytales

Coming Soon!

A Riddle for Love

Operation Owl

Darkest Magic

You Belong to Me

Her Real Life Hero

Starlight Cowboy

Also by Sara Daniel

More Than a Fantasy

One Night with the Bride

Captivating the CEO

One Night with the Bridesmaid

One Night with the Groom

Once Upon a Marriage

By

Sara Daniel

A Beyond Fairytales Adaptation of

Grimm’s Three Army Surgeons

~Dedication~

To every old man who is still young at heart.

Chapter One

Once upon a time, the gnomish man in woolen green pants and a red shirt intoned as he tossed his hat on the sidewalk of the busy Chicago street corner.

Turning up the collar of her coat against the chilly spring wind, Armina Keer paused, enchanted by the old bearded man who couldn’t have been any taller than four feet.

The man folded his legs and sank to a sitting position in front of his upturned hat, then continued his story. War and disease claimed limbs and organs from the good people of this land. My name is Nicodemus. Gather ’round, and I will tell you the tale of ‘The Three Army Surgeons.’

If she hadn’t been late for work, she would have loved to listen to the old man’s lyrical voice as he spun his tale. But she didn’t need to hear the story. As CEO of Three Surgeons Prosthetics, she lived it, bringing limbs to people who no longer had use of their own.

After peeling a couple of bills from her wallet, she nudged her way through the crowd and dropped the money in the hat.

Nicodemus’s bright eyes met hers. Thank you, Soldier.

She jerked in surprise. Her uncle and his cronies were the only people who called her Soldier. Yet, considering the start to his story, the coincidence seemed fitting. Giving the little man a short nod, she threaded her way through the crowd and down the street, into her office building.

After greeting the doorman, she took the elevator to the top floor. As soon as she stepped out, her secretary, Camille, jumped up from her desk. The three surgeons are already in your office. I tried to delay them, but they wouldn’t listen. They strut around this place like they own it.

Armina smiled. That’s because they do.

But you’re the boss now. They should respect that.

She patted Camille’s agitated hands. They like to think they’re still running the show. I’ll handle them. Hold my calls, unless it’s the fertility clinic.

Strolling into her office, she took a moment to observe the three elderly gentlemen before they noticed her. Uncle Ned, the only one who’d actually been a surgeon, sat behind her desk, thumbing through a report on the latest sensor implants to control prosthetic motion.

Lenny, who’d lost an eye over forty years before in Vietnam, watched, as Frank attempted to tie his sneaker with his prosthetic hand, having lost his original extremity in the same attack that had injured Lenny.

You can’t do it with that type of prosthetic, but you will with your new one. After you finish physical therapy, you’ll be able to make twice as many hand contortions, Uncle Ned said without looking up. He hadn’t just been the surgeon who’d patched up the other two on the battlefield, he’d also ensured their injuries wouldn’t stop them from leading productive lives.

As civilians, they’d founded Three Surgeons Prosthetics and ran it for decades until Ned’s heart problems two years before forced him into retirement and they offered the helm to Armina.

She closed the door softly behind her. All three of you at once. It must be my lucky day.

They jumped as if she’d caught them doing something wrong. Not surprising, since putting the three of them together equaled a recipe for mischief.

You don’t need to give my secretary such a hard time, she pointed out.

She thinks she can fit us into a fifteen-minute time slot, Lenny complained.

As if we don’t have the right to be here any time we please, Frank added, giving up on tying his white sneaker and tucking the loose laces into the cuff of his black sock.

Ned rose from behind the desk. I wasn’t taking over, just warming your seat for you, Soldier.

Sure you were. She gave each of them a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she walked through the room. You’re welcome here anytime, no matter what Camille tells you. After hanging up her coat, she sat down and folded her hands on the desk. What’s on your mind today, Surgeons?

They exchanged meaningful glances, another clue they had something up their sleeves. Although some of the staff privately joked that stooges described them better, underneath their antics and borderline ridiculousness, their minds remained sharp, and Armina never underestimated them.

I’m due for a new eye prosthetic, Lenny said.

Yes. Have you made the appointment yet? She’d been nagging him for almost six months, as the old eye neared the end of its life and clearly bothered him.

I got the new sensors implanted, Frank said before Lenny could reply. "So I’m ready for my new hand. Is

Reviews for Once Upon a Marriage

[lolakarns · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Short and sexy second-chance love story. The author worked in an old fairy tale in a clever way and I loved the practical jokes the three older men played, but the true heart of the story came through Ian's attempts to re-woo his wife.