Primary Colors (15 page)

In
PRIMARY COLORS
, Nia Ludzecky is stuck in her grief and can’t find a way out of her sorrow over the untimely death of her beloved husband. When she meets famous modern artist Rafe Castle, she’s attracted to his gentle demeanor and lack of arrogance. But despite her feelings for him, she still finds it hard to leave the past behind and embrace love after loss. Rafe, however, doesn’t give
up on her.

RISKY BUSINESS
follows Magdalena Ludzecky, a career woman extraordinaire, who has everything, including Logan Price, her coworker and best friend outside of the family. But then they find attraction growing between them. And no, they both think, this can’t happen! Do they have a chance at romance or are Logan and Magdalena going to lose each other forever? Plot twists abound in this friends
to lovers tale.

In
THE WAY WE WERE
, Ana Ludzecky had it all—a sexy husband, a beautiful daughter, a great job and the best extended family in the world. Then, tragedy strikes and her life turns upside down. Unable to bear the suffering of her sisters, she has trouble settling back into life with her husband Jared Creswell and their daughter. But Jared makes some bad choices that eventually lead to the dissolution
of their marriage. Thrown together again, will the love that has never died surface and save them both?

At sixteen, Sofia Ludzecky, from
HANDLE WITH CARE
, was diagnosed with leukemia and the disease changed her future. She’s chosen a Zen lifestyle as a yoga studio owner and teacher. When she meets football Coach Max Walker at the high school where she’s running a class, his outgoing personality, his bent for competition and his boisterous family upset her. But Max wants Sofia, and he’s always
gotten what he wants.

In
LOVE STORY
, Elizabeita Ludzecky fears deeply for her family, which has been fraught with tragedy. She copes by being the carefree, risk-taking baby of the family, as well as an up-and-coming curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. But when hardened cop Nick Casella goes undercover at the museum, he sees the real Elizabeita and he’s shockingly attracted to this beautiful too-young-for-him
woman. Elizabeita returns his feelings and goes after him with all she has. With secret and lies as the basis of a relationship, does this one have any chance of surviving?

Continue reading for some exciting excerpts from related stories:

Click here for a look at RISKY BUSINESS, Magdalena’s story.

Click here for a peek at CLOSE TO YOU, Caterina’s story.

Click here for a look at PROMISES TO KEEP Luke’s story.
He’s the older brother of all these females!

Copyright 2015 Kathryn Shay

Cover art by Patricia Ryan

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please return to the online bookseller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

“I think we have what we need for our due diligence, Mr. Holland.” Magdalena smiled graciously at the owner of The Natural Life stores. “I hope you’re as excited as we are about the potential investment in your company by Price and Associates.” Magdalena had joined the private-equity after graduate school
.

The owner held her gaze. “Mostly,
it feels like I’m handing my first born off to someone else to raise.”

She gave him a sympathetic look. “Most of the companies we do business with have those initial reactions. Maybe you could look at it as sending your child off to school, where others can invest their time, energy and money into him.”

Carter Holland nodded. “So, where do we go from here?”

“Price and Associates analyze
all the documents and visit more stores.”

Logan sat forward. “Ms. Ludzecky and I are both operational analysts.”
The Power Team
, they’d been called by the media. “We’ll analyze your strengths and weaknesses to make sure we want to invest, but we don’t get to this phase without being fairly certain we do.”

“And you’ll complete a management assessment, correct?”

“Yes.” This was Logan’s
baby. “We’ll evaluate your staff and see if there’s any overlap or duplication of effort within the stores or in upper management.” There most likely would be layoffs, which Holland had to know.

Once again, Magdalena admired her colleague and friend for being able to handle the personnel task with emotional aplomb. She was glad she didn’t have to do that part of the assessment, though she’d
be consulted.

After answering a few more questions, Logan stood. “We’ll be in touch about our decision. Before that, if we need anything else from you. One promise I can make is that we’ll be fair and save as many jobs as we can.”

“Which is why I want to work with your firm.” He stood and so did Magdalena
.

She offered her hand first. “Thank you for your time. I’m sure we can take that
baby of yours to greater heights than you could alone.”

“I hope so.”

“You won’t be sorry, Mr. Holland,” Logan told him.

Together, they left the office and soon stood on the streets of New York’s Financial District. Magdalena didn’t live too far from here. Early January sported one of its sunny winter days, so she and Logan stopped to talk. “He’s nervous,” she said, glancing back at
the building.

“All owners are when they want to grow their business and go with private-equity investment. But Price wouldn’t be pursuing the company if we didn’t think it was good for all of us.”

She squeezed his arm. “Of course we wouldn’t. And I know you’re not crazy about the layoffs.”

Pointedly, he took a bead on her. “Then why don’t you do this part?”

“But you got your undergrad
in human resources. Mine’s in finance and analytics.” Checking her watch, she saw it was 1:00 p.m. “Want to get something to eat with me and Ana?”

“No thanks. I have a lunch date.”

Having worked with him with over seven years, Magdalena rolled her eyes. “I know what
that
means. Shall I bring a sandwich back to the office for you?”

“I’ll have you know, Teresa and I are
eating
this time.
She has to be at the theater early to go over some dances with the choreographer.” Logan dated the current star of
All of Me
, the hottest ticket on Broadway. Magdalena liked the woman, though from what he said about her, she could be mercurial in her moods. Logan called it artistic temperament.

“You’re good at finding time for
other
business,” she teased.

“Stop.” Though he liked a variety
of women in his life, Logan was good-hearted and never duped any of them into thinking the relationship would last forever. He also didn’t give that heart of his to anyone. Often, Magdalena wondered why.

They both crossed to the curb. “Why’s Ana in town?”

Her older sister was the Dean of Admissions at Mount Mary’s in Brooklyn and was often in the city for her job. She still lived in the
other borough, in the same house she once shared with Jared the Jerk.

“A recruiting fair.”

“How is she, Mags? I know you worry about her.”

“Because she’s bitter and still very sad, even after more than two years. Why wouldn’t I worry?”

“It’s never what it appears on the surface, why people break up.”

Because she loved Logan in many ways, she listened to him. “You’re right.
Have a good lunch.”

He hailed a cab and she took out her phone. As she watched him get into the taxi, which always seemed to come right away for him, she could see why women flocked to him. Six three, all muscles with sky blue eyes, he was a stunner. For the hundredth time, she was grateful she was immune to his charms. She much rather preferred to have him in her life as a friend she could
count on.

And she could. In every way.

SECRET SERVICE AGENT C.J. (Caterina) Ludzecky and her three colleagues hustled into New York City’s Memorial Hospital on the heels of the Second Lady and the vice president of the United States. Though she kept her emotions at bay when she was on the job, C.J. couldn’t help but empathize with Bailey O’Neil, the vice president’s wife of two years.
She remembered well the night her own father had died in an institution far too similar to this one. She’d been fifteen, and she and her brother, Lukasz, had taken it the hardest, probably because they were the oldest of his eight children. Briefly, C.J. wondered how Bailey’s brothers were faring. Embedded in her memory was the image of holding a weeping Luke in her arms. His vulnerability had crushed
her. She considered saying a prayer for this family, but dismissed the notion; she didn’t believe in that anymore.

The group of six reached the admittance desk and were met by a man dressed in an impeccable suit. “Mr. Vice President. Ms. O’Neil. I’m sorry to meet you under these circumstances. I’m James Jones. I manage New York Memorial.”