Handpicked Husband & the Bride Next Door by Winnie Griggs

Author:Winnie Griggs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-04-23T16:01:54+00:00

* * *

Everett Fulton forced his heavy eyelids open, peering blearily around his darkened room. The faint memory of his dream lingered a moment—childhood images of his home in England. Already it was fading, leaving him to wonder if the muffled clatter that had awakened him had been real or only part of his dream.

A moment later, another series of thuds answered the question.

Jerked to full awareness, he tossed off the covers and swiveled so that his feet hit the floor.

It sounded as if someone was rummaging around downstairs. If the not-so-stealthy intruder did any harm to his printing press...

Swiftly crossing the room, Everett paused only long enough to pull on a pair of pants and retrieve the iron poker that rested against the cold fireplace.

Just because he didn’t own a gun didn’t mean he couldn’t defend himself.

Without bothering with a lamp, Everett stole down the stairs, carefully avoiding the fourth tread that had an annoying tendency to creak. His ears strained for some sign of just where his trespasser might be lurking.

He moved to the larger front room first, the room that housed his printing press and served as his office. A faint light filtered in from the large window that faced the street. His gaze went immediately to the bulky shadow that was his printing press. Most of the type was already laboriously set for this week’s paper. He would have no compunction whatsoever in trouncing anyone who dared tamper with his work.

Everett’s brow furrowed. All was quiet now, but he’d been certain the noise had come from down here. And everything seemed as he’d left it when he locked the doors and headed upstairs earlier.

Tightening his grip on the poker, he eased farther into the room. Taking a deep breath, he sprang around the corner of the press, his makeshift weapon raised. “Ha!”

But no thug crouched behind the machine’s shadowy bulk.

Feeling foolish, he lowered his arm. Had he misjudged the direction the disturbance had come from? Everett turned to his desk, a sour smile tugging at his lips. If the intruder was after a cash box, he would be sadly disappointed.

Nothing.

He moved into the back room where he stored his blank paper and other supplies, but again, nothing.

Everett rubbed his neck, slowly exiting the room. Maybe he’d imagined the whole thing, after all.

Scriiittch.

He swung back around. It sounded as if something heavy were being dragged across the floor. He approached the far wall cautiously, then heard it again.

The noise was coming from the other side. Someone was in the adjoining building.

He frowned. The supposedly vacant adjoining building.

He’d never been inside, but understood the building didn’t house anything more valuable than cobwebs and a jumble of rubbish and cast-off furnishings. What possible reason could someone have for rattling around in there in the middle of the night?

Everett shrugged and moved back toward the stairs. Other than the annoyance of having his sleep disturbed, it wasn’t any of his concern.

Then he stilled. Except that there might be a story in it.

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