Island Hearts (Jenny's Turn and Stray Lady)
Read Island Hearts (Jenny's Turn and Stray Lady) Online
Authors: Vanessa Grant
Tags: #Romance, #anthology, #Contemporary Women, #Contemporary Romance, #Fiction
Island Hearts
Book 1: Jenny’s Turn
Book 2: Stray Lady
by
Vanessa Grant
… Island Hearts
two classic Vanessa Grant romance novels
JENNY’S TURN
Life with Jake was fascinating!
His energy, arrogance and talent made working with him an exciting experience. For years Jenny had managed to keep her growing feelings for him under control.
Sometimes he looked at her as if he wanted her; but then he wanted so many women, didn't he? She wasn't about to become one of the gang. Loving, Jenny had learned early in life, only brought pain, and she knew the only way to get over Jake was to leave Vancouver and get out of his life. So she ran – but a Pacific Island just south of Alaska wasn’t nearly far enough!
STRAY LADY
One minute George was sailing single-handed down Canada's west coast, willing the salt breezes to show her how to go on living without her late husband. The next she was being pulled from the waves by island lighthouse keeper Lyle Stevens and drawn into a magic existence with Lyle and his daughter.
Lyle offered George love and the home she'd never known – but did she have the courage to gamble on love again?
Jenny’s Turn
by
Vanessa Grant
Author’s Note
I have a special fondness for this novel, which I originally wrote in the 1980s. In editing JENNY’S TURN for publication in this electronic edition, I considered bringing the story forward in time to the 21
st
Century. In the end, I decided that it should remain set in the time frame in which it was written. So although the manuscript has been edited for this edition, the story reflects the customs, beliefs, and mores of the 1980s.
One important thing that has changed since the story was written is the name of the islands where my Haida hero was born. In 2008, the name of the Queen Charlotte Islands was officially changed back to the original First Nations name -
Haida Gwaii
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my mother
and, of course, to Brian, always
Chapter 1
Jenny was editing a video on the computer, trying to ignore interruptions. Charlotte, at the switchboard, knew that she was out to all callers – except, of course, to Jake.
Charlotte was new, not long out of business school. Given time, Jenny hoped she would turn into an efficient receptionist. Today, she was simply hoping Charlotte had the tact and sense to keep any callers happy while keeping them away from Jenny.
Normally she could work intensely for hours, shutting out the noises around her, tuning into her work. Not on this job.
Last month, she had asked Jake to give her a challenge, a new project to work on. He’d handed her the Madison contract.
Hamburgers!
How could
anyone
get excited about doing training videos for a fast food chain?
There! The grand finale! The hot, steaming beef patty resting on a bun dripping with relish— darn! She could have sworn she had already cut out that shot. The garbage can showed all too clearly in the background!
A door slammed, echoing through the building.
Jenny’s hand jerked, sending a sharp black line through her notes. Her heart thudded a crashing impact against her rib cage.
Jake
!
Other people opened that door gently. Jake always burst in, throwing it open explosively. Once, she had suggested he have a rubber stopper installed, but he’d shrugged and laughed. She suspected he never noticed the noise it made. Or did he notice, and like the effect?
“Any messages, Charlotte?” His voice was like the rest of him. Too big. Too aggressive. It carried clearly from the outer office. No one ignored Jake. Jenny tried, looking back down at the Madison hamburger.
“Jennifer?” he called out, before he even got to her doorway. How could anyone ignore that voice?
He expected her to drop whatever she was doing and dash out to see what he wanted. She was used to that. Normally, it wouldn’t bother her, but lately—
She let her long, brown hair fall across her face as she concentrated on the video. If she let him interrupt her now, she’d have to watch the whole darned thing again to get the feel for that last scene!