One Ring to Rule
1.5/5
()
About this ebook
Lindsey Cartwright didn't set out to become the Wicked Witch of Comics. But then she fell for hot-shot artist Kent Farrington. . .and got dumped. When he walked out, he left her with no explanation and zero sense of humor.
Kent knows he's got a hard road ahead if he wants to win Lindsey back. He'll need to catch her at the perfect time, in the perfect place. What could be better than the biggest comic book convention of the year?
WARNING: Nosy fans, extreme cinnamon buns and vulgar lemons.
20,264 Words
Christa Maurice
Christa Maurice has been obsessed with rock stars from early childhood when her older brother started randomly quizzing her on rock trivia. How many first graders knew who the headliners were on the Black and Blue Tour? Christa did. (Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult.) When not listening to music and/or writing, she enjoys traveling, reading and science fiction. Keep Coming Back To Love is the sixth book in her Drawn to the Rhythm Romance series. Readers can find Christa on Facebook or visit her website at christamaurice.com. Sign up for her newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bQrDN5.
Read more from Christa Maurice
Three Alarm Tenant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMelody Unchained Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to One Ring to Rule
Related ebooks
A Valentine Promise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStay Tuned Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Road Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlissa's Miracle Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Party Girl (A novella from the world of House of Payne): House Of Payne Series, #12.5 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courtship of Camellia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Season Of Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Tame A Bride Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne Wife Too Many Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Bracelet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty on the Outside Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Love Lost and Found Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove Proof Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJilted Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMedicine Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst Time We Laughed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWaking the Lion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNever a Bride: At the Shore, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCammie Healy: Mitchell - Healy Series, #9 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bad Boy of New Orleans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Second Chance with the Billionaire: A Standalone Billionaire Romance Short Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wrong Couple: An Arranged Marriage Series Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Moving Forward: The Evans Family, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNever Mind The Botox: Alex Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homecoming Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouthern Inferno Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreak Free to Deceive: Escape From Reality Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5One Mother Wanted Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Truth and Consequences Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Contemporary Romance For You
Icebreaker: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Intense: Erotic Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dirty Thirty Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wildfire: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ugly Love: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful Bastard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before We Were Strangers: A Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The American Roommate Experiment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful Stranger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Your Perfects: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ruin Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spanish Love Deception: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swear on This Life: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sweet Filthy Boy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Starts with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under the Roses Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Beautiful Disaster: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scandalized Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stone Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Cinderella: A Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe Someday Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The True Love Experiment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heart Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Simple Wild: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5November 9: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confess: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Point of Retreat: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe Not: A Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for One Ring to Rule
2 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
One Ring to Rule - Christa Maurice
http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/
For my husband, who taught me way more about comics than I ever wanted to know.
Chapter 1
Gary, put that thing out or go outside. You know there’s no smoking in the convention center,
Lindsey said through gritted teeth.
Gary glared at her as he pinched out his cigarette and slid it back into the carton. He reminded her of a kitten trying to intimidate a boa constrictor. She also had a pretty good idea what was running through his mind. One didn’t become the ‘Wicked Witch of Comics’ without knowing how one got there. Snapping open her gold compact, she ran a hand across her sleek chignon of caramel-colored hair before fixing her golden eyes on the convention room doors. The ultimate fanboys, the ones who’d paid extra so they could come in an hour earlier than the regular fans, would be waddling through them any moment. Thus would begin the longest weekend of her life.
Or the longest weekend of her life since the last convention she’d been forced to attend before she’d sworn off them in humiliation.
Here they come,
Brad said as the doors swung open. He slipped his sunglasses up his nose and closed his eyes. Brad was one of the hottest artists going, which was why he was scheduled for this early signing session, but he started bar-Con last night. He was so hung over he hadn’t managed breakfast this morning.
Frank, the line’s main writer, shot Brad a dirty look.
Lindsey ground her teeth, annoyed that Brad thought it was okay to show up at a Con dressed like a bum, reeking of alcohol, and hungover within an inch of his life. If she’d known he was going to pull this, she would have scheduled him for a later slot and a night lecture just to keep him out of the bar for a few extra hours. The fanboys paid too much money to meet him. They deserved better.
Kent had never appeared at a Con less than impeccably groomed and completely alert. Kent valued his fans. Unlike Brad, Kent had known who made him a fan favorite—the fans.
Of course, Kent had also walked out on his lover and disappeared from the face of the Earth without warning, so maybe he hadn’t been aware of who made him a fan favorite. He hadn’t gotten those plum assignments on his own. He’d had a good fairy on the editorial staff helping him. A very stupid fairy.
Lindsey turned her back to the table to give herself time to recover, away from the grueling scrutiny of the first visitors. Four years later and the memory of Kent still made her run hot and cold. Hot because her skin remembered his hands. Cold because her heart remembered coming home from work to find him gone, down to the last scrap of watercolor paper. His studio had looked like Whoville on Christmas morning. Nothing but a rime of dust on the carpet around where his drawing table sat and a note telling her he was sorry he wasn’t the man she needed.
Hello, Lindsey.
Lindsey spun around, her blood now running both hotter and colder. Her heart fluttered into her throat. That sultry voice had haunted her dreams for four years.
He stood on the other side of the table with his portfolio propped beside him. He’d pulled his raven’s wing black hair back in a loose ponytail at the base of his neck. His silver eyes studied her. Lindsey's mouth went dry while her palms started to sweat. She felt his eyes on her skin as surely as she had remembered feeling his hands. Heat began to gain on the cold lump in her stomach.
Kent Farrington. Holy crap, Batman. How have you been?
Gary reached across the table to shake Kent’s hand. He glanced at Lindsey. It’s been ages, hasn’t it? I mean years.
I came to see Lindsey,
Kent answered a different question, managing to shake Gary’s hand without breaking eye contact with Lindsey.
No, you didn’t,
Lindsey snapped. Heat won out over cold as her blood shot to a boil. The sheer gall of the man, walking into the convention like he belonged here.
Oh hey, that’s right. You two used to be a thing.
Gary glanced at Lindsey again. Blinking out of her stupor, she saw he remembered that before she’d become the ‘Wicked Witch,’ she’d been the office ‘Hot Babe.’
Yes, Lindsey Lou Who, I did,
Kent said smiling.
Lindsey scowled at his playing with her name. It had taken over a year and one very ugly editorial meeting before they’d stopped calling her Lindsey Hop. She didn’t want Lindsey Lou Who to be the next fight.
No. You did not.
She stomped around the backdrop to hide. He couldn’t come into this small square of privacy. It was only for employees, and Kent hadn’t worked for her publisher in years. She’d made sure of that. She tried not to think about what his smile still did to her, but her thighs were already trembling. Her body was coated with a sheen of sweat almost in preparation for him. She scowled, her muscle memory seemed to recall him perfectly even if her heart had gone senile and forgotten the pain of his abandonment. A pain she struggled to remember.
Sssst Lindsey,
Amy, her assistant, whispered from a gap on the other side of the display. Her eyes were bright with excitement, which Lindsey assumed was from the presence of her boss’s ex. Is he really here?
Yes, he really is.
Kent set down his portfolio and straightened.
Lindsey spun around. She should have known she wouldn’t be safe here. He tugged his vest straight in what appeared to be a nervous gesture, but how likely was that? Kent hadn’t been nervous since his first day of kindergarten. He might not have been nervous even then.
What are you doing here?
Lindsey hissed.
I came to talk to you.
He stepped forward.
Lindsey tried to back up and bumped into a