Synopsis

Molly wasn’t looking for love — or a mystery — but she found both.

Molly Miller is an overworked and underpaid librarian struggling to raise her three kids herself. The only romances she has time for are the novels she returns to the shelves. Then one day, David Conrad walks into the Fairview Public Library. He looks just like the sexy pirate on the cover of a romance novel her best friend, Lori, has been reading, so they secretly refer to him as The Pirate Man. But the truth is even stranger. His appearance means old secrets are about to be revealed, and not everyone in town will be happy about that.

Who is David Conrad?

David immediately rubs Molly the wrong way. But she somehow keeps getting entangled with him in ways she can’t seem to avoid. He claims to be descended from a prominent Fairview family that was brutally murdered in the 1950s. The Conrad murders were never solved, and now that a Conrad is back in town and asking questions, the people of Fairview are in for some surprises. So is Molly. Who’d have thought an irritating Pirate Man could capture her heart?

Excerpt

This scene is not remotely romantic, but shows off Molly and her love interest, David, and the villain, Matt, who is the president of the library board and thus her boss. He’s been harassing her since high school.

Fairview wasn’t a wealthy town. She was surprised at how many people depended on the library, despite Matt’s contention that it was basically a place for poor moms to get free kid activities. She once again wondered why someone so uninterested in public libraries would want to be the president of a library board. Would he really do this just to get Molly’s goat as often as possible?

Speak of the devil. As if her thoughts had summoned him, Matt walked through the front door. She forced herself to speak to him cordially.

“Well, good morning, Mr. Green,” she said.

“Molly,” he nodded in return. “Let’s see this bathroom you can’t seem to keep functioning.”

“It’s the ladies, in the back. There aren’t any patrons this early. You can walk right in,” she said, seething. He was back shortly.

“It looks just fine to me,” he said. “To hear Johnny tell it, the bathrooms were a disaster. Tried to tell me we need to do a complete remodel.”

“We do need to do a complete remodel,” she said.

“Oh, and I suppose you’re a plumbing expert,” Matt said.

“I do know that antique plumbing fixtures eventually start to fail, and these are clearly failing,” she said.

“I bet some kid flushed a wad of paper down the toilet and made it overflow,” Matt said. “You probably just weren’t paying attention to the kids. I’ve told you before, you need to keep an eye on them or you never know what they’ll get up to. Hell, you know that. I heard about young Thomas, tearing hell out of the old Conrad place over the weekend.”

Molly hadn’t noticed, but David had quietly walked up and now he spoke. He put down a folder he’d been carrying.

“I was here when the plumber switched out the toilets. I can attest that the problem wasn’t a wad of paper. That plumbing is going to just get worse,” David said.

“Oh, you’re the new Conrad in town. Didn’t know you were a specialist in plumbing. Or in libraries. I did hear you were a regular specialist on handing juvenile delinquents. Heard you decided to let the kids off. I heard why, too.” Matt gave him a knowing little smirk.

“That’s no concern of yours,” David said. Molly saw Matt’s face darken.

“This library is no concern of yours, either,” Matt said. “Molly, I’d have thought better of you than to just hire the very first man to give you a second look. But I guess when you haven’t gotten a date in years, you’ll do whatever it takes, won’t you?”

Before she could even react, David did. His fist shot out and caught Matt squarely on the chin. Matt brought his hand to his chin and touched it, as if unsure to believe that David had really hit it.

“You need to apologize,” David said.

“I will do no such thing! You are fired, Mr. Conrad! Get out of here this instant. I’m calling the sheriff, and your ass is going to be arrested and run out of town.”

“You can’t run me out of town. I own a house here. You can have me arrested if you want the gossip, but I can guarantee it won’t be good publicity for the bank if I tell the whole story.”

“You’re a nobody! You think anybody cares you’re a Conrad? Everybody in town knows exactly what’s going on in this library. You two, carrying on. It’s disgusting. And after taking advantage of Tina Macintosh, too. But I guess you’re the type of womanizer Molly likes. Her husband was the same way. Some women don’t have any standards.”

David’s voice became very low, so low Molly had to strain to hear the words.

“You will not talk to her that way. And you will not spread nasty gossip, either. If you do, so help me God, you will live to regret it.”

“Get the hell out of this library! I’m not going to call the sheriff because you’re right, I don’t want the publicity. But you get out of here right now, and don’t come back. Or it’s not just your job. It’s Molly’s too. Now get out!” Matt’s face was red and he was literally spitting as he yelled. Molly had seen Matt mad before, but never like this. She took a step backward, involuntarily. David still looked absolutely calm. She saw his right hand was still in a fist, and as she watched, he relaxed it, but took another step toward Matt.

“Oh, I’ll go quietly. And I apologize for hitting you. I don’t want Ms. Miller to lose her job on account of me. But I can promise you, if I hear you do anything to her, anything at all, you will answer to me. And I can assure you, I do not make idle threats. If I hear a whisper of gossip about any of this, or if she loses her job, you’ll get more than just a little tap on the jaw next time.” He turned to Molly. “If you need me, you know how to get in touch.” She nodded, dumbfounded. He turned around, picked up the folder of papers and slowly walked across the lobby, pausing at the door to stare at Matt pointedly. And then he was gone.

Molly stared at Matt. She had never seen anyone stand up to him like that. Not in high school, not since.

About the Author

Sophia Sinclair grew up in a town so small (pop. 170!) that the little town of Fairview where this series is set seems like the big city to her. For many years, she was the editor of a small town’s daily newspaper, so she understands the rhythms of small-town life. When she started writing romances, she decided to set them all in a small town called Fairview. If you’re from a small town, you’ll feel like you’ve been there. If you’re from a larger city, don’t be surprised if you start yearning for small-town life. It’s often said that in a small town, everybody knows everyone else’s business, but the truth is, there are still a lot of secrets in small towns!

She is married to a European man, has two grown children and two lovely grandbabies she spoils to death. There’s a little bit of Sophia in every one of her books. Molly is a librarian who wears plain dark dresses and looks very conservative but often wears racy underwear under that plain black dress. Sophia dresses the same. Lori likes to have a good time and always has lots of boyfriends before meeting the love of her life. Sophia will take the Fifth on that one. Catarina has a German poem on her bedroom wall; Sophia has the first two lines of that same poem tattooed on her upper thigh, in German. (It’s Rilke, and the first two lines translate to: “You see, I want a lot. Perhaps I want everything.” As for Julie in Perfect Fit, Sophia is mad about all aspects of pregnancy, breastfeeding, childbirth, and babies. She attended many of her friend’s births, taught breastfeeding to WIC moms as a volunteer, started a business that handled pumps, bras, slings etc., and gave very serious thought to working as a lactation consultant, doula or midwife once the newspaper industry died. Instead, she started writing these romance novels, and she very, very much hopes you’ll enjoy them.

She also writes for Curvicality.com, an online women’s lifestyle magazine aimed at plus-size women. That’s why Julie in Perfect Fit is plus-sized. She wanted to show that love is for everyone; not just the thinner ladies.  Here is an example of the fun stuff she writes there.

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