Lucky for Love
()
About this ebook
Love on the luxurious high seas! A new novel by Marina Oliver.
Can one find love a second time? Julie, still mourning her husband Andrew, who was killed in a car smash three years ago, doesn't expect to when she is bullied into taking a cruise by her sister Susan, who works in the gift shop on the ship. She is resigned rather than enthusiastic, and recalls her earlier holiday when she tried to forget Andrew. That was a disaster when, thrown together with Steven, the only other singleton in the party, she misread his attentions - and intentions.
Robert, who lost his fiancée just before their wedding, and hasn't looked at another woman since, has other things on his mind as he tries to solve the mystery of thefts from wealthy passengers who inhabit the expensive penthouse suites. With the help of his aunt and cousin, who will invite suspects to parties in their suite, he hopes to trap the thief.
And then Steven takes a hand. Julie is furious with Susan, who has engineered his presence, and does her best to evade him, but Stephen is hoping to pick up the relationship
Marina Oliver
Most writers can't help themselves! It's a compulsion. Getting published, though, is something really special, and having been so fortunate myself I now try to help aspiring writers by handing on tips it took me years to work out. I've published over 60 titles, including four in the How To Books' Successful Writing Series, and Writing Historical Fiction for Studymates.I have judged short story competitions, been a final judge for the Harry Bowling Prize and was an adviser to the 3rd edition of Twentieth Century Romance and Historical Writers 1994. If you want to find out more about your favourite authors, consult this book. I once wrote an article on writing romantic fiction for the BBC's web page, for Valentine's day.I have given talks and workshops for the Arts Council and at most of the major Writing Conferences, and helped establish the Romantic Novelists' Association's annual conference. I was Chairman of the RNA 1991-3, ran their New Writers' Scheme and edited their newsletter. I am now a Vice-President.As well as writing I have edited books for Transita, featuring women 'of a certain age', and for Choc Lit where gorgeous heros are the norm.I was asked to write A Century of Achievement, a 290 page history of my old school, Queen Mary's High School, Walsall, and commissioned to write a book on Castles and Corvedale to accompany a new circular walk in the area.Most of my Regencies written under the pseudonym Sally James are now published in ebook format as well as many others of my out of print novels which my husband is putting into ebook format. Our daughter Debbie is helping with designing the covers. For details of all my books and my many pseudonyms see my website.
Read more from Marina Oliver
Eugenie and the Earl: Regency Romance Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Why? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Marriage for the Earl: Regency Romanc Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chaperone Bride: Regency Romance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Once Bitten Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Island Quest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDallington Hall 1720-2020 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marriage Gamble Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mating the Llama Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Murdered Earl: Regency Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPassionate Campaign Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChance-met Stranger Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLord Clifford's Dillema: Regency Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Irish Bride: Regency Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoyal Courtship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFires in the Forest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConvict Queen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOh Baby! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Baron's Bride Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Question of Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVirginian Lover Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Lucky for Love
Related ebooks
The Sailors of Svalgsay: The Sixth Book of Dubious Magic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Innocent's One-Night Confession: An Emotional and Sensual Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBroken For Me (Be for Me: Hunter) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChosen As The Frenchman's Bride Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Coming Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemory Lane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVengeance On Tyneside Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecond Chances: New Hope Series, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpirit Of Atlantis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Very Maverick Christmas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Charlotte Diamond Mysteries Bundle 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQueen of Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsISLAND OF SECRETS: Time Travel, Gothic Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Empty Place Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStoneheart and the Axe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl in an Empty Cage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBy The Howling: Murderous Secrets Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pregnant By The Desert King Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hooked: Studs in Spurs, #4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fatal Journeys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMating the Llama Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSentimental Journey: A Christmas at Ruby's Place: The Ruby's Place Christmas Collection, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Parchment Scroll Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeptember Storm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnemy Waters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The CEO: Workplace liaisons, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Retreat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBehind the Mask Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne More Round Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder, Forgotten Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Mystery For You
The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This Is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: Inspiration for the 20th Century Studios Major Motion Picture A Haunting in Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Staircase: Nancy Drew #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5False Witness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pieces of Her: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Murdery Mystery Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Under a Red Moon: A 1920s Bangalore Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in the Library: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kept Woman: A Will Trent Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pharmacist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life We Bury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Did I Kill You?: A Thriller Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Eight Perfect Murders: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Agatha Christie Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe People Next Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dean Koontz: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Lucky for Love
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Lucky for Love - Marina Oliver
LUCKY FOR LOVE
BY
MARINA OLIVER
Can one find love a second time? Julie, still mourning her husband Andrew, who was killed in a car smash three years ago, doesn't expect to when she is bullied into taking a cruise by her sister Susan, who works in the gift shop on the ship. She is resigned rather than enthusiastic, and recalls her earlier holiday when she tried to forget Andrew. That was a disaster when, thrown together with Steven, the only other singleton in the party, she misread his attentions - and intentions.
Robert, who lost his fiancée just before their wedding, and hasn't looked at another woman since, has other things on his mind as he tries to solve the mystery of thefts from wealthy passengers who inhabit the expensive penthouse suites. With the help of his aunt and cousin, who will invite suspects to parties in their suite, he hopes to trap the thief.
And then Steven takes a hand. Julie is furious with Susan, who has engineered his presence, and does her best to evade him, but Stephen is hoping to pick up the relationship again and is impervious to snubs.
Lucky For Love
By Marina Oliver
Copyright © 2016 Marina Oliver
Smashwords Edition
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover Design by Debbie Oliver
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form, including digital and electronic or mechanical, without the prior written consent of the Publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
See details of other books by Marina Oliver at
http:/www.marina-oliver.net.
Author Note
I've been lucky enough to do several lecture cruises on luxury ships, and always meant to set a romance on one. Most cruises last around two weeks, so the progression of any romance has to be swift, the attraction immediate, and opportunities for development frequent. One meets entertaining, interesting, and sometimes odd characters, amongst passengers and crew. As a guest lecturer I was privy to some of the behind the scenes activity as well as being with the passengers.
LUCKY FOR LOVE
BY MARINA OLIVER
Chapter 1
'You need a break, a holiday, but one where you'll meet people, not sit in a hotel room on your own, pining,' Susan Phillips had declared.
Julie Carstairs suppressed a grin. Susan was still the same bossy elder sister she had been in her teens, but it would be useless to tell her so. If she pretended to listen Susan would probably forget it by next week. And she didn't pine all the time. Not every day, at least.
'You mean some sort of residential course?' Julie Carstairs asked. 'I tried that last year, and just came to the conclusion I had absolutely no talent for either sketching or painting. No thanks, it simply made me feel utterly useless.'
Susan was impatient. 'Not that sort of break. I am suggesting a cruise, that's what you should do. And if you came with me you wouldn't be alone, even though I'm working on the ship.'
'Me? A cruise? But Susan, surely only old people, pensioners, go on cruises?'
Susan laughed. 'You're out of touch, Julie. Not these days. We even have children, but not many, and it's not holiday time. Some of the bigger ships have special facilities, crêches and playgroups, but thank goodness our ship is one of the small ones, and we haven't gone that far.'
'I'll think about it.' That would shut Susan up. She had thought about it, for an hour or two, and dismissed the idea. It didn't sound like her at all.
*
Robert Fellows glanced up from the papers he was reading, and across the aisle towards the girl in the first seat. He didn't seem able to stop looking at her. It wasn't just her looks. She was pretty, with her dark auburn curly hair and pale face, but nothing like as beautiful as the red-haired girl seated next to him, or Lucy, who had changed his life six years ago. Yet something about her attracted his attention. Perhaps it was the slight droop to her shoulders, the resigned attitude he detected in her down-turned lips, but most of all the wistfulness he'd seen in her clear green eyes when she happened to glance towards him for a moment.
She'd looked straight through him, it had seemed, as though her thoughts were far away, and not very pleasant ones at that. It was not the sort of expression to be expected of someone setting off on holiday in the south of Spain. Most of the other passengers seemed to be looking forward to a time in the sun. Some of them, no doubt, would be heading for a cruise ship, others driving off to hotels and villas along the Costa del Sol. It wasn't the height of the holiday season, but the plane was full. Plenty of Brits thought two weeks in Spain's winter sun, or on a luxury cruise to the Canaries preferable to the cold in England.
He shook his head to clear it. He had no time to waste wondering about the sorrows of a stranger, and no interest in women since he'd lost Lucy. He had a job to do, one which needed his full concentration, and if he didn't manage to solve the mystery in the next two weeks the police would have to be brought in, with all the bad publicity for the firm that would produce. But he couldn't resist looking to see whether she wore a wedding ring, and was oddly cheered to see she didn't. Her only ring was a deep green emerald worn on her right hand. Emeralds, he recalled, implied wisdom and love, and to give a lover an emerald made them faithful. It was a symbol of hope. Well, that remained to be tested.
*
Julie sat hunched in her seat. She'd refused the plastic lunch offering, apart from a tiny cup of coffee, and was wishing she hadn't allowed Susan, on a few days off while the cruise ship she worked on underwent a minor overhaul, to hustle her into coming. Susan hadn't permitted her time to think, but then Susan never did stop to think herself, she was far more impulsive than Julie had ever been. If she'd had longer to consider it she'd have been stronger, and refused. It had been the anniversary of Andrew's death, and she'd been vulnerable, so when Susan produced photographs of the ship and itineraries, and talked about the facilities and the many wonderful places it called at, she had shrugged and agreed, so here they were, starting off from Malaga and heading for the Canaries, with a final stop in Casablanca. It had been easier to let her sister have her own way, and make all the arrangements.
Though she was committed now Julie still wasn't at all sure about this holiday, but then, she hadn't been sure of much for ages. Two years ago she'd thought she was at last getting over her loss, even beginning to open her mind to the possibility of happiness once more, and then it had all fallen apart again.
She took a deep breath. She must shake off this negative attitude, she had to try and enjoy herself, if only for Susan's sake. It was only for two weeks, and on the bright side was the fact she would not have to cook. Devising interesting meals for one was usually too much trouble, and she normally ended up with something on toast, or a freezer meal. At least on the ship she'd have plenty of choice, and from the sample menus Susan had displayed, things she didn't normally taste unless she went out with friends. She could make the big decisions she'd been putting off for months when she got back to England.
She could hear Susan chattering to the woman in the window seat. From the occasional words she caught it seemed as though the woman was a fellow passenger, but one who had never before been on a cruise. Susan was reassuring her that the ship was stable, she wouldn't feel the movement, and she need not worry about being on her own.
'There are plenty of other singles,' Susan said. 'You'll soon meet people to talk to. And if you play bridge there are regular games. Why, there are even men to dance with.'
The woman laughed, and said her dancing days were long over, but she did play bridge.
Julie stopped listening. She wondered whether Susan was expecting her to talk to other passengers, to bare her soul, perhaps? She shook her head slightly. She'd resolutely avoided talking about herself and her feelings after Andrew died, even to friends, apart from that one occasion when she had let her guard drop, and what a disaster that had been. It had only reawakened the agony she'd thought was beginning to lessen.
Well, she could relax in the sun. And there would be the various stops where she could try to forget, though perhaps seeing the places she and Andrew had intended to visit one day might not be the best way to forget how life had