The Joker: The Grayson Trilogy, #4

By Georgia Rose

When a tormented ex-soldier returns to Melton Manor, he doesn't expect another wounded soul to be his saviour.

 

He's the life of every party. But deep down his guilt from clandestine military activities eats away at him. Desperate to prevent causing more sorrow in the world, he numbs his pain with alcohol and shallow sexual liaisons…

 

After a particularly awkward one-night stand forces him to rethink his serial affairs, he returns to work at the sprawling Melton Manor Estate. It's only when he meets stable-manager Emma Grayson that he truly begins to question his stance against commitment. Will the guilt-ridden soldier leave himself vulnerable to a deeper love, or will his wounded soul quit the party for good?

 

The Joker is a standalone glimpse into the world of the Grayson Trilogy, a dark romantic suspense series. If you like meaningful moments, authentic lives, and troubled characters, then you'll love this thought-provoking short story showing a different side of the Melton Estate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Georgia Rose
• Release date: Apr 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781386314486

Georgia Rose

Georgia Rose is a writer and the author of the romantic and suspenseful Grayson Trilogy books: A Single Step, Before the Dawn and Thicker than Water. Following completion of the trilogy she has been asked for more and so has written a short story, The Joker, which is based on a favourite character from the series and is available to download for free from the platform of your choice. Her fourth novel, Parallel Lies, encompasses crime along with Georgia’s usual blending of genre. Georgia’s background in countryside living, riding, instructing and working with horses has provided the knowledge needed for some of her storylines; the others are a product of her passion for people watching and her overactive imagination! She has also recently started running workshops and providing one-to-one support for those wishing to learn how to self-publish and you can find her, under her real name, at www.threeshirespublishing.com. Following a long stint working in the law Georgia set up her own business providing administration services for other companies which she does to this day managing to entwine that work along with her writing. Her busy life is set in a tranquil part of rural Cambridgeshire in the UK where she lives with her much neglected husband and dog. Their son, currently at university, comes and goes and their daughter, having delighted them all for long enough, has eventually moved out, married, and is discovering the joys of being all grown up and having a mortgage!

Book preview

‘Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on.’

Billy Connolly

The Joker

Last night amid the tumble of hair, limbs, alcohol and passion, he noticed a crack on the ceiling.

Barely visible when he woke, his heart hammering in the dark, now it is clearer, a definite ridge casting a shadow that deepens as day arrives. The crack probably needs looking at and he’s thankful it’s not his problem.

Unable to get back to sleep, his go-to remedies of booze and sex failing him, he can’t avoid what startled him awake. It had been a while since he had dreamt so vividly. He’d hoped that phase had passed and he wonders, why now?

He can still hear Nick’s voice, echoing from his dream, and it unsettles him.

All yer canna do is laugh in the face of madness, Nick would say.

Entertainer. Leader. Morale booster.

Nick was at the heart of any gathering as with wry humour he’d regale the troops with tales that his idol, and fellow Scot, The Big Yin, Billy Connolly himself would have been proud of.

Wingman. Drinking partner. Friend.

They’d got each other into, and out of, trouble.

A hand stirs on his chest and he glances down. Unadorned fingers with natural, trimmed nails rest there, pale against his tanned skin. He turns his head to look at their owner. She’s pretty. Fair skin, a smattering of freckles across cheeks and nose, thick lashes that cover green eyes.

Bewitching eyes.

She looks wholesome, fresh and innocent. She proved last night she was anything but.

They’d had fun. She was fun.

What he looks for. What he needs. Nothing more.

Meet, fuck, leave – his complete MO.

But something feels different. He might revisit, he thinks, surprising himself.

Immediately quashing that thought, he knows he won’t.

His life has been