The Guardian: The Mystical Matchmaker, #2

By Siobhan Kearney

A chance encounter.

A runaway dog.

A hidden graveyard.

And a sexy guardian.

A simple afternoon stroll turns Phoebe's life upside down when her dog, Fallon, escapes. A breathless chase leads her straight into Edward's strong arms... and his purpose. Will Phoebe be able to protect her heart while Edward protects his charges?

• Language: English
• Publisher: RoseLark Publishing
• Release date: Sep 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386469384

Siobhan Kearney

Siobhan has always believed in fairy tales, spirits, and kissing underneath the mistletoe. She wrote her first story when she was eight -- a harrowing tale about a brave Amtrak who saved a slow moving freight train in the mountains of Colorado and had a romance with an equally heroic commuter train. She was eight; it wasn't that complex. When she isn't beating her head against the keyboard creating paranormal love stories, she works as a research assistant for a world-class structural engineer. One day she hopes to join her boss in being Wiki-worthy, but for now she'll settle for relative obscurity. She enjoys spending time with her family, exploring nature, reading, gardening, and talking about herself in the third person. You can find out more about her at:  https://www.roselarkpublishing.com/siobhan-kearney

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By Siobhan Kearney

Copyright © 2018 RoseLark Publishing

All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Dedication

To Bear: The real life inspiration for Fallon. We'll miss you so much, big boy. You were the bestest of doggos. May you run forever and painlessly over the rainbow bridge.

Chapter One

Leaves crunched under Phoebe Werner’s and her dog, Fallon’s, feet. The brightly colored offerings covered the sidewalks and lawns of her neighborhood like a movable carpet. The sound of rakes scraping over grass, punctuated by the loud roar of leaf blowers, filtered through the streets. Warm beams of sunlight bathed the late afternoon with rich golden light.

It was autumn, her favorite time of year. A time when nature cloaked itself in all the hues of the sunset and the air smelled of wood smoke and cider. Phoebe paused, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. She wanted to savor this moment -- sear it into her memory -- before the cold winds blew. As if summoned, a gentle breeze ruffled her short dark brown hair. Phoebe couldn’t get enough, but knew the season was fleeting. Halloween was coming up and afterward was her favorite holiday: Thanksgiving. She could almost taste the pumpkin pie and oyster stuffing.

Beside her, Fallon tugged on his leash, a low whine of longing slipping from his lips.

Probably a squirrel, Phoebe thought, not bothering to open her eyes. The black and fawn deerhound mix had a weakness for the fuzzy-tailed rodents. He’d often hurl himself against her picture window when he saw one. Fallon had even gone through her screen door one time to chase after a particularly large squirrel, resulting in an amused handyman and a contrite dog.

The hound tugged on his leash again, his tail swinging wildly to thump against her jean-clad leg. The anticipatory whine was in full force.

Definitely a squirrel.

Sighing, Phoebe opened her eyes and glanced around, trying to find the object of her dog’s excitement. Except it wasn’t a squirrel. She followed Fallon’s gaze to an old woman wearing a large straw hat kneeling in the garden of a small grey craftsman house. Phoebe blinked. She’d walked past this house for years; it’d always been abandoned and rather sad -- the overgrown yard and weed-strewn garden proclaiming its lonely state for all to see. Now, the weeds were gone, the flowerbeds tamed with late-blooming roses fluttering in the wind. Somehow she’d missed someone finally moving in.

Fallon whined again, his whole rear end quivering in barely contained excitement.

Phoebe smiled, stroking the dog’s black ears. He wanted to say hi to the lady. She knew from experience he wasn’t going to be deterred. She could tug and pull him, and eventually he’d give up, but if she did, she knew she’d have a despondent animal who’d look at her with liquid brown eyes and sigh like the world was ending before climbing into her lap for reassurance. Since she did not want almost a hundred pounds of dog on top of her, there was only one thing to do.

Hello! Phoebe’s greeting was cheerful, non-threatening. Something made semi-difficult considering her almost six foot height. I like what you’ve done with the outside.

The old woman turned her head, revealing bright pink cat-eye glasses and even brighter white hair. Her face was weathered with deep laugh lines at the corners of her