The Bed and Breakfast Man: Those Flirty Forties and Nifty Fifties, #1

By Amanda Ward

You are never too old to fall in love...

At forty-eight, Joy Welles runs her bed and breakfast with the love and care one has for a child.
Each guest she takes in, she treats as if they are the most important person in the world. Until Christian and his granddaughter arrive to spend Christmas, and carry out his mothers' final wish.

The tables are turned on Joy as for the first time, she is on the receiving end of the love and care. Burdened by the scars of her past, and scared of allowing herself to love again she builds up a wall of safety, only for Christian and his dogged determination to tumble them down.

Together can the couple learn to release their demons and like the river, move on with their lives
entwined?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books To Go Now
• Release date: Jun 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386097730

Book preview

Excerpt from Bed and Breakfast Man

I wonder if it will snow this year. Sonia mused out loud, stirring Christian from his reverie about the weather.

You never know honey, stranger things have happened, he replied. I just hope it’s comfortable, and there is a warm, friendly welcome.

Stranger things have happened. We’ve never spent Christmas away from home before. You and Gan always cooked and we have our own way of doing things

Sonia, anyone hearing you talk like this would think you’re middle-aged instead of a twenty-year-old with the world at her feet

Copyright

Bed and Breakfast Man

Books to Go Now Publication

Copyright © Amanda Ward 2014

Books to Go Now

Cover Design by Romance Novel Covers Now

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For information on the cover illustration and design, contact [e-mail]

First eBook Edition June 2014

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.

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Chapter One

Beccles on Christmas Day could be one of the loneliest places in the world. Eerily still and yet so very quiet. With a gentle rain drizzling on her, Joy Welles stood in her usual spot and leaned against the wind-battered granite wall near the church, her eyes cast down on the scene that unfolded below her. Boats of various shapes and sizes bobbed gently to the motion of the rippling river. Houseboats lined the opposite side, their bows gaily decorated for the festive season. Catching a glimpse of a waving hand, Joy returned the gesture and forced a smile. Under her breath, she murmured the Lord’s Prayer, thanked him for her health and asked the same question she’d been praying for the past fifteen years: to look after her children and that one day they would accept her and finally rekindle their broken relationship.

ONE YEAR LATER....

Christian Moore glared at the fresh sheet of pristine white paper and dared it to suddenly appear with the drawings he needed. He rubbed his hand over his heavily stubbled chin, then gave into frustration, put the pencil down with a clatter and stood up.

Grumpy? a high, breathy voice called as he heard the front door open with a creak. I really should get those hinges oiled, he thought.

In here, Sonia.

Bloody hell, it’s Father Christmas. His granddaughter’s head peered around his office door with her tongue poking out cheekily. Her dimples and expression making her appear more teen than her twenty years of age.

Funny Son, funny. I’ve been working— well, trying to anyway. What are you doing here? I thought you were spending Christmas with Sebastian and his parents? He hugged his diminutive young granddaughter warmly, towering over her at six-foot four inches tall.

I decided to spend Christmas with you, she said, hugging him in return. Sonia extracted herself from his arms, and turned her face in the direction of the onyx black marble mantelpiece. In the middle, a small blue and white china urn was the only ornament. I, er, thought you might need me this year.

Christian’s glance fell on the urn, the bane of his life for the past six months. His mother passed away earlier in the year and wanted her ashes placed in the urn with his father.

You do know you have to do it this year, don’t you, Grumpy? On Christmas Day?

He nodded slowly. I don’t think we’ll find somewhere to stay though. Most bed and breakfast places are closed in the winter.

Sonia rubbed her hand up and down her grandfather’s arm in a comforting way. Let me take care of that for you. Besides, Christmas is three weeks away... Sonia sniffed at the musty air and looked around disdainfully at the copious piles of screwed up paper scattered on the floor. "I think you could do with a change of scenery, even if it is to take care of Gan’s last wish. Who