Risking Mr Wrong

By Teena Raffa

Elinor Andersen is an ultra-conservative bank officer looking for a lifetime commitment. Fisherman Africa Brown is a sexual predator keen to add another notch to the bedpost. When Elinor loses her job and agrees to help out at the historic local hotel where he lives in between fishing trips, their common cause to save the building from a developer reveals another side to the obnoxious ruffian.

To Elinor's dismay she falls in love with this Mr Very Wrong. Dare she heed her misbehaving heat and take a chance – or listen to her head and settle for the security her ex-fiance is offering?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sea Song Publications
• Release date: Nov 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9780645150346

Teena Raffa

Teena Raffa has had a love affair with words for as long as she can remember. Some people can’t do without chocolate. Teena can’t imagine her life without books. An avid reader and lifelong writer, she is now flirting with romance after many years of writing for children. Teena lives near the beach south of Perth in sunny Western Australia with the love of her life and a golden labrador with anxiety issues and a toast obsession. When she is not reading or writing, Teena enjoys family gatherings, and dabbling in art. She can often be found sea-gazing along the local beach path, or sun-dreaming on the back patio at home.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

‘I CAN get you the gun .’

Mike Manders leant conspiratorially across the restaurant table towards the slender young woman sitting opposite him.

The third member of the trio, who occupied the dim corner farthest from the window, spluttered into her orange juice.

He paid her no heed. One dark slash of an eyebrow lifted and he lowered the Bronx accent to just above a whisper for the benefit of nearby diners as his attention remained on the immaculately groomed brunette sitting opposite.

‘Just say the word, sweetheart.’

Elinor Andersen searched the much-loved familiar face and asked, surprise in the southern drawl, ‘You’d do that for me?’

Mike enclosed her fragile hand in his king-size paw. ‘Anything, sweetheart – well, almost.’ With a wry shrug he leant back in his chair. ‘I’d draw the line at doing the deed for you. You know me, gentle as a lamb, wouldn’t hurt a fly. Besides it would break my heart to destroy something so lovely. You’re too beautiful to die.’

Elinor struggled to contain her emotions. ‘But I’ve nothing to live for. Not now.’

‘Stop it!’ Their irate companion glared at them. ‘I mean it, that’s enough.’

The laughter Elinor had been holding back bubbled out in an infectious froth of effervescence. Mike’s loud guffaws joined it.

‘Laugh, Jules, it’s a joke. Funny – you know, ha ha.’ Elinor’s prompting failed to achieve the desired result.

Julie Manders remained serious. ‘Suicide is no laughing matter,’ she said. ‘It happens far too often. The statistics are sobering. And believe me, it’s no joke for the people left behind. You shouldn’t even think it, let alone talk about how you’re going to do it. And over a stupid man.’

‘I don’t have a man,’ Elinor reminded Julie in her everyday voice.

‘Stupid or otherwise,’ put in Mike, also abandoning the fake persona.

Elinor nodded. ‘That’s just the problem.’

Ignoring her sister, Julie directed the full brunt of her annoyance at the man sitting between them. ‘You should know better. Don’t encourage her.’

‘Me?’ Both eyebrows lifted this time in a show of innocence. ‘I wasn’t the one who said if I wasn’t married with children by the time I was thirty I’d go out into the nearest paddock and shoot myself. And here it is, Ellie’s thirty-second birthday and no groom in sight, so I’m just trying to help my beloved sister-in-law in her time of need.’

Returning to private investigator mode, he muttered out of the corner of his mouth, ‘Well, sweetheart, what’ll it be? Shotgun or pistol? And will the chook pen do for want of a handy paddock?’

Tossing her short dark curls, Julie shoved her chair away from the table, snatched up her purse and glowered at them. ‘I’m going to the loo. Maybe by the time I get back the two of you

will have regained your senses and stopped behaving like a pair of third-rate actors in a pathetic B-grade movie.’ She turned on Mike. ‘As for you, you’re incorrigible. I don’t know why I married you.’

‘I do!’ He gave her a disarming smile.

Still shaking her head, Julie began to squeeze between the crowded tables in the direction of the conveniences.

‘Wow!’ Elinor gulped down a swig of her apple juice and stared at Mike. ‘Where did that come from? PMT?’

‘Uh uh.’ He grinned. ‘Pregnancy. We’re doing our bit to boost Australia’s population.’

It was Elinor’s turn to splutter. ‘You’re kidding!’ ‘That’s about it, kiddo.’

‘Wow,’ she said again. ‘That’s great – isn’t it?’

‘Sure it is. Don’t tell Jules I told you, though. She wants to make An Announcement during lunch at your folks’ place on the weekend.’

Ah. So that explained why Julie had been so disappointed this evening when their parents had opted out of Elinor’s birthday dinner because their father had to work

overtime. She had wanted to share her wonderful news at a family occasion. And it was wonderful news. There was no question of that. Elinor was thrilled for Julie and Mike. But her high spirits of a few minutes ago had suddenly vanished.

Why did her younger sister lead such a charmed life? She didn’t begrudge Julie her lovely husband Mike, of course, nor the children. Just the thought of her small nephew and niece returned Elinor’s smile for a moment. Solemn little Jamie and whirlwind Tess. She loved them to bits. And she loved Julie no less, and wanted the best for her.

But sometimes it niggled that everything just fell into place for Julie without any apparent effort. Top marks at school and later at uni, then no trouble at all landing a plum position with a public relations consultancy. Guys falling over themselves to catch her attention from the time she started high school. She’d just had to snap her fingers and they were hers for the asking. Now she had warm, funny, loveable Mike, two beautiful children and a third on the way, and a lovely new home. It was wonderful that everything was working out so well for her. Elinor wouldn’t have wanted Julie to miss out on any of it, not for a minute.

But she wanted it all, too. Someone who loved her unconditionally, who wanted to share her life, father their

children. The marriage certificate was a preference, not an essential. She’d made that stupid ‘shoot me in the paddock’ comment as a joke while they were watching black and white movie classics one afternoon. Trust Mike to remember it.

But there was no denying the fact: here she was, thirty- two years old, with no loving man on the scene, no immediate hope of the children she yearned for and no home to call her own. It had made sense to return home after the break-up with Justin. Where else would she have gone to heal her shattered heart? But there hadn’t been time to wallow for too long in self- pity over a broken engagement. Nan’s diagnosis with dementia and Mum’s need for help during her mother’s awful decline saw to that.

Elinor gave herself a mental shake. That was all in the past. This was now. Clearly she’d slipped into a comfortable rut. It was time for change.

‘My turn,’ she said, slipping out of her seat as Julie returned.

And it would be. She’d do whatever it took to make sure

of that.

With a new sense of commitment to changing her life, Elinor wove her way between the crowded tables in the tiny Italian restaurant in Fremantle they frequented more for the excellent food than the ambience. The toilets were located outside in an alley behind the building and Elinor’s thoughts were lost in creating an action plan for the future as she entered them. Reality hit like a deluge of cold water. She stood just inside the door and gaped.

CHAPTER 2

Agiant, leather-clad man with a wild tawny mane had a hot blonde backed up against the wall near the washbasin. They were devouring each other with an animal hunger, hands clawing at hair and skin, bodies heaving, breathing ragged. The blonde’s slinky black skirt was hiked up to reveal a scrap of purple lace G-string. The ties of her scarlet halter top were loose and one breast bounced free.

The man’s left hand explored beneath