The Garden of Eden

By Jackie Williams

The beautiful Georgian manor’s garden is crying out for attention, but the blistering summer heat and the distraction of a sun-bronzed, beef-cake builder, are not helping Abi's efforts at restoring the long forgotten idyll to its former beauty. 

Throw into the already steamy mix, a flirtatious, money grabbing superbitch, a mysteriously shady summerhouse, and a bottle of exceptionally special champagne, and Abi may never complete the project before the owner of the house presents his newly restored estate to his wedding party. 

The Garden of Eden is a short, mystery romance of approx 11,000 words, suitable for readers of age 16 and above, due to sensual scenes and some strong language.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie Williams
• Release date: Nov 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519966926

Jackie Williams

My parents brought me up with a huge love of reading. Bedtime stories were a treasured time of adventure and mystery. Romances were the fuel for many a teenage fantasy and my passion still lingers for deliciously smouldering heroes.My daughter persuaded me to write my first book. She wanted one with all the exact ingredients just for her. She loved the tale so much that I published A Perfect Summer. Writing has turned into a grand passion. I couldn't stop at just one book and so I began another. Fifteen books later, I am still full of ideas. Historical romance is now my favourite genre. All those fabulously titled and passionate men are impossibly hard to resist. 

Book preview

Chapter One

Sweat dripped from her brow and ran into the creases at the corners of her eyes. Abi hated those blasted creases, earned from squinting in the sun or rain for far too long. She’d tried wearing sunglasses, but they had proved impossible to use while working. Short of attaching elastic from arm to arm via the back of her head, there was no way that they would survive the everyday perspiration that gathered on her brow and ran down her nose.

She wiped her forearm across her forehead and blinked into the sunshine. The screaming hot weather that had plagued her all summer wasn’t about to give her a break. She blew upwards out of the corner of her mouth to cool her face as she pressed the earth in around the newly planted rose tree.

Looking back at the contents of her wheelbarrow she sighed deeply. Only another fifteen of the perfectly shaped standard trees to plant into the dry ground today. It wasn’t the best time of year to begin planting, but the lady of the house had insisted.

Abi scouted around to make sure that no neighbours could see before she turned the nozzle on the hose and a gush of water burst forth. She knew that she was breaking the hosepipe ban, but if she wanted the plants watered in as they should be she had no alternative. There was no way that she was carrying filled watering cans for this many plants all the way across the huge garden.

The magnificent house standing in the vast expanse of lawn was grossly under-loved, but that was being changed with every passing day. The team of builders looked like ants swarming over the outer walls as they replaced windows, patched up the ancient brickwork, and brought the roof back into line.

She’d not had anything to do with the building team even though she had been employed by the same contractor, but that suited her just fine. She was strictly a garden girl, engaged specifically for her skills with returning ancient and forgotten masterpieces back to their former floral glory.

It would have been a lot easier for her if she had been working after the builders had finished their renovations, but as part of the team she had to be there at the beginning. Explaining over the phone that this project would take months to perfect, her employer had dismissed that detail as irrelevant. She could make a start at the far end of the formal garden and work back towards the house. The owner also wanted her on hand for contractual meetings as she and the builders would also be part of the continued maintenance team. She couldn’t argue with the man. This was a far too good an opportunity to miss. Permanent regular employment in her chosen trade was hard to come by. She simply couldn’t afford to turn the man down.

To date, she had avoided the top end of the garden by the house where the men’s steel toe capped boots had trodden the earth into a rock solid lump of hardened clay. She would need an industrial rotavator before she could do anything with the borders after the builders had finished their