First Fight Friday: Touched to the Soul by Elsa Winckler

Goats solve their differences head-on. They don’t give the silent treatment or yell, they butt heads, and then it’s over.
Cowboy Marvin has learned humans resolve issues differently especially those romantically involved. His curiosity sparked, he has invited authors to stop by on Fridays and share a first fight from one of their books.

Author

   Elsa Winckler      

    is here for ...

First Fight Friday 

with a scene from 

Touched to the Soul

Zoe Sutherland can't stand the pushy, arrogant architect 
David Cavallo. He was just too damn sure of himself.

David has one goal: get rid of the pesky interior designer. 
But since he's been forced into close proximity with 
the beautiful Zoe, everything's gone downhill.

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Dale leaned back in his chair and stared at her. She looked calm and very collected. Her dark hair was swept up, leaving just a few tendrils curled softly against her face. His fingers itched to touch them, he remembered the silkiness.

And then she swallowed. He bit the insides of his cheeks to prevent him from smiling. So, the lady wasn’t as cool as she pretended to be.

“I tried to contact you after Don and Caitlin’s wedding but you never answered any of my messages.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You know perfectly well why I ignored those messages,” she said primly.

He leaned forward, enjoying her obvious discomfort. “You see, that’s just it. I don’t know. You kissed me, stormed away, and ignored all the messages I sent you.”

Her lips trembled slightly. “You were the one who kissed me,” she said, her eyes stormy.

“You didn’t kiss me back?” he asked, not quite understanding why he couldn’t stop baiting her.

She inhaled audibly, bent her head for a few seconds before she opened the file. “We can go ahead with the contract. That is, if you still want me to.”

“Oh, I still want you…” he said solemnly, waiting a millisecond before he added “…to.”

Her flared nostrils were the only indication that she’d caught his meaning.

“Good.” She got up. “I’ll ask Susan to contact you for the next meeting. Please make sure whoever you send has all the information available—budget, timeline and of course if…”

He also got up slowly. “Seeing that my brother suggested we make use of your firm, I will be working with you. Directly.” He emphasized the last word. “I don’t mind doing favors, but when money is involved, I have to protect the investment we’ll be making. I have to make sure you are not just a pretty face but can actually do the job. You obviously don’t really want to work for me, but you’ve realized it’s good for business. Therefore, I have to make sure our business doesn’t suffer because of yours.”
Copyright © Elsa Winckler

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Touched to the Soul by Elsa Winckler 

Zoe Sutherland can't stand the pushy, arrogant architect David Cavallo. He was just too damn sure of himself, too handsome, too…everything. Maneuvered into working as the interior decorator on his latest project, a glamorous new hotel, Zoe can't keep her mind on the job. And worse, the strange man won't give her access to the hotel's floor plans. How is she supposed to finish the design when she doesn't have the plans? And when the obnoxious man distracts her with every smoldering look, every touch...


David has one goal: get rid of the pesky interior designer. Since he's been forced into close proximity with the beautiful Zoe, everything's gone downhill. And to make matters worse, she's only out to further her own career—and he's not about to give her the hotel's plans so she can steal his ideas. He needs to get her out of his system, and sleeping with her seems like the best way to do that. When it comes to women, he's found the best way to handle them is to love 'em and leave 'em. But something strange is happening...because after a night of loving Zoe, he's finding it harder than ever to leave…

Touched to the Soul

is available on

Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon AU ~ All Romance ~ Kobo

Check out Elsa's 

First Fight Friday: Touched to the Heart

Elsa's bio:

I have been reading love stories for as long as I can remember and when I ‘met’ the classic authors like Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Henry James The Brontë sisters, etc. during my studies, I was hooked for life.

I married my college boyfriend and soul mate and after 39 years, 3 beautiful children and 3 grandchildren, he still makes me weak in the knees. We are fortunate to live in the picturesque little seaside village of Betty's Bay, South Africa with the ocean a block away and a beautiful mountain right behind us. And although life so far has not always been an easy ride, it has always been an exiting and interesting one!

I like the heroines in my stories to be beautiful, feisty, independent and headstrong. And the heroes must be strong but possess a generous amount of sensitivity. They are of course, also gorgeous! My stories typically incorporate the family background of the characters to better understand where they come from and who they are when we meet them in the story.

Follow Elsa Winckler online

WEBSITE ~ FACEBOOK ~ TWITTER ~ GOODREADS ~ BLOG   
PINTEREST ~ WATTPAD ~ GOOGLE PLUS 

              
Thanks for sharing Elsa!

First Fight Friday: The Summer We Loved by Wendy Lou Jones

Goats solve their differences head-on. They don’t give the silent treatment or yell, they butt heads then it’s over.

Cowboy Marvin has learned humans resolve issues differently especially those romantically involved. His curiosity sparked, he has invited authors to stop by on Fridays and share the first fight out of their latest book.

Fellow Harper Impulse author 

Wendy Lou Jones  

       

is here for ...

First Fight Friday 

with a scene from 

The Summer We Loved

Dr Peter Florin is the sexy bad boy of St Steven’s hospital. Despite his love ‘em and leave ‘em attitude, every woman still wants him 
–and nurse Jenny White is no exception. 

Pete is haunted by a dark childhood and tragic loss. As she watches 
him spiral down into despair, Jenny realises she might be 
the only one who can drag him back. 

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Pete wiggled his foot. It wasn’t quite as swollen as before, but it still hurt to move. His throat was a little better, not half so painful now, but to his disgust, he still felt incredibly weak. One more night, he thought. Tomorrow he would get himself off home and face the music, alone.

Jenny returned after lunch and came straight up to see him. “How is the wounded warrior, then?” she asked. 

“Bored,” he said.

“Obviously getting better, then. How about the ankle?”

“Hurting.”

“Your throat?”

He felt his neck and screwed up his face. “So-so.”

“Am I going to get anything more than one-word answers today?” she asked and his body responded. He let his gaze travel down the length of her and then slowly back up. His forbidden fruit he had lusted after for so long. She was stronger now. Could he dare to try it? Maybe, if he could shut her up for long enough. He beckoned her in closer with his hand. And she sat down on the side of the bed. Should he be doing this? His brain wasn’t happy, so he turned it to mute. He took hold of her hand and started stroking the back with the pad of his thumb. She looked into his eyes, a world of uncertainty watching him. 

“Thank you… for finding me,” he murmured and he let his fingertips play gently with the soft delicate skin of her forearm and hand. He could see fire in her eyes, as they widened before him. Her breathing quickened and her cheeks flushed. He hadn’t lost it. He leaned in, pulling her gently to him and-

“I talked to Anna from occy health today,” she blurted out, pulling back out of his reach and standing up, away.

Damn! Disappointment and sudden relief swept over him. Then it dawned on him. Wait a minute. What had she said? Pete couldn’t believe it. Bloody meddling woman! “What did you go and do that for?” he snapped. “I’ll ring the hospital when I’m God-damn good and ready! I don’t need you apologising for me.” He tried to stand up, but his weakened response was not having the dominating effect he had reached for and he crumpled back down, swearing. He let out a loud huff of discontent. The tension eased, but he wasn’t happy. “Go on, then. What did you tell them?”

“I just asked if ‘hypothetically’ I had a person in my care who had been missing for a while from work, how I should go about helping them back? ‘Hypothetically’.” She was looking straight at him now, cautious, but daring him to disapprove.

He sighed. “Just that?”

“No. We discussed things, but it was all ‘hypothetical’. I didn’t mention your name once.”

Like she’d actually have to. Pete doubted there were many other people who worked at St Steven’s who had gone AWOL from work in the past few weeks. 

So the game was up. Half the hospital would know by morning. He rested back against the pillows. “So… What did they say?”

“You have to ring them, Pete. And you have to be back in work on Monday. It’s been more than two weeks. Any longer and you’ll be out on your ear.”

He considered this. “Might not be such a bad thing.”

Jenny’s brow creased. “You are kidding me? After all the work and years you’ve put in? You have to get back in there and finish it, Pete. You have to get this exam done and complete the course. For heaven’s sake, you’re nearly there. You can’t throw it all away over… What the hell is this over, Pete? Because, for the life of me, I still don’t know. You won’t speak to me. You won’t share. You won’t tell me anything. You’ve been given so much in this life. Why do you have to be so ungrateful?”

Been given so much? What had he been given? He had had to fight for everything he had. Fight and work, and damn hard too. “You may have had a wonderful childhood and cruised on through till now, Jen, but I’m damn sure I didn’t. What do you want from me? Do you want me to spill my guts to you so you can feel like you’ve done your bit? So you can tick me off your list of lost causes? I’ve got nothing and no one and that’s all there’s ever been!” He took a deep breath and stared at the wall, wishing to God she’d just walk away. Just walk off and complain to her friends about the miserable excuse for a man taking root in her bedroom. But she didn’t. She just stood there and looked at him.

He could see her frame was tense. It might even be shaking. Her eyes were so unreadable; he never knew what was going on inside her head. As for having a crack at her? Hadn’t that just been a peach of an idea? He swore again, under his breath, and looked back at her. 

His gaze sunk to the bed. She should run away, far, far away from him. He didn’t deserve her care, or affection. She should kick him out on his ear for being inexcusably ungrateful, but instead, she quietly walked over and sat down next to him and took hold of his hand. It was a simple, innocent connection, but in that moment, Pete held his breath and felt her warm, loving touch mending him.

Copyright © Wendy Lou Jones

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The Summer We Loved by Wendy Lou Jones

Dr Peter Florin is the sexy bad boy of St Steven’s hospital. Despite his love ‘em and leave ‘em attitude, every woman still wants him 

–and nurse Jenny White is no exception. 

For one night she thought she saw the real Pete, but ever since then he’s kept his distance 

and so she has kept hers…

Only Pete is a man haunted by a dark childhood and a tragic loss, and as she watches him spiral 

down into despair, Jenny realises she might

be the only one who can drag him back.

So she does – at the risk of her own, already bruised and battered heart. For no matter what she tells herself, such a man is surely impossible to change – and even more impossible to resist.

‘One Stop’ Buy links:

The Summer We Loved

Check out Wendy's other books

First Fight Friday: By My Side

‘One Stop’ Buy links:
By My Side

   

‘One Stop’ Buy links:  

The Songbird and the Soldier

Wendy's bio:

My name is Wendy Lou Jones. I was born and raised in West Sussex, England and moved to Birmingham to study Medicine at University, where I was lucky enough to meet my husband. We now live in a little village in Herefordshire with our two grubby boys. I discovered a love of writing not long after my youngest son started school. And if you were to ask me what it was that made me make the switch, I’d tell you quite simply, that it started with a dream.

Follow Wendy Lou Jones online
WEBSITE ~ FACEBOOK ~ TWITTER ~ BLOG ~ GOOGLE+

Thanks for sharing Wendy!

First Fight Friday: By My Side by Wendy Lou Jones

Goats solve their differences head-on. They don’t give the silent treatment or yell, they butt heads then it’s over.

Cowboy Marvin has learned humans resolve issues differently especially those romantically involved. His curiosity sparked, he has invited authors to stop by on Fridays and share the first fight out of their latest book.

Fellow Harper Impulse author

Wendy Lou Jones  

       
is here for ...

First Fight Friday 

with a scene from 

By My Side 

Kate is a nurse from A&E who is transferring a patient up to a
ward when she witnesses a consultant being far too severe on
a patient. Sadly, Kate has recently had experience of a 
surgeon being harsh to someone she loves and, incensed, 
she immediately goes off to find someone to tell. 

Lurking in a cupboard, venting at some colleagues, she is so distracted, she doesn’t notice the man himself coming up 
behind her and he is not impressed. Taking the matter 
in hand, he escorts her to Sister’s office to have it 
out with her and here is where we pick the story up…

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Mr Elliott was tall and dark: a striking man, whose features, suffused with even a modicum of warmth, might have been quite good looking on anyone else, but on him, they favoured only his gravitas. Unfortunately, in the serious light of her current situation, Kate couldn't help but quake.

She had to be strong. She had to stand up for the weak and the ill, the people who couldn't fight for themselves. It was going to be down to her to make him see how unfeeling he had been.

Grey-blue eyes bore into her as the silence lingered like a guillotine above her head and the trembling inside her began to grow.

"So you think, Nurse…" he said, deliberately peering closer at her uniform to read the name on her badge. "Excuse me, Staff Nurse Heath, that I should be reported for speaking plainly to one of my patients, do you? Maybe you would be kind enough to enlighten me as to why?"

Kate’s jaw clenched. He was patronising her, she was well aware of it, but while the little courage she had left remained, she was going to speak her mind. With the callous words of the surgeon who had recently treated her grandfather so appallingly hurtling to the forefront of her mind, she looked up into his steel-armoured eyes. 

"It was quite obvious that you were completely out of order in there," she said. "What gave you the right to judge that poor lad? I bet you don't even know the first thing about him; stuck up there in your ivory tower where life is so easy and Armani suits grow on trees. Who’s to say it wasn’t a genuine accident? But you wouldn't think of that, would you? You just laid into him. He was a quivering wreck by the time you’d finished."

Mr Elliott stood, poised in obvious frustration for a moment and then, when his voice finally broke, it was clenched and steady, as if a great force was being needed to keep it so. "And how should I have addressed the situation instead, may I ask?"

By this time Kate was rapidly running out of fire. She knew how to fight when her opponent shouted back, but this cool, calculated analysis had her on the wrong foot. She searched for something further to say, but came up blank.

"What, no sound advice? No words of wisdom?"

Kate bristled and shot him a glare, cursing her brain for letting her down right when she needed it.

"Maybe I had better remind you of your objections. I think the word 'bully' was in there, and from what I can remember you were attempting to incite mutiny on one of my wards. So would you care to elaborate on any of that? You were very free with your opinions a few minutes ago." He looked at her for a moment as her brain struggled hard to find the right words to say. "Maybe you should try running my team, doing my clinics and operating on my patients for a few days and then come back to me. At least then you might have some idea of what you're talking about."

"I wasn't questioning your abilities as a doctor,” she said, suddenly finding the spark she needed and tossing it right back at him, but her conviction was waning.

"Oh? Well, that is a relief." His tone had taken on a sarcastic quality that ignited the dying embers of her rage.

"No, it was your lack of compassion that I was questioning," Kate said. "It's not your right to play judge and jury, deciding who should be worthy of treatment and who should not. Are you absolutely certain he was the one to blame for the crash? It’s just as likely that he wasn’t. In fact we had one, just the other day, where a woman swerved to avoid a cat and crashed head-long into a van coming in the opposite direction."

Elliott's face paled. His stone wall cracked just a little as Kate could see the doubt settling in. For a second she could sense his turmoil and found new strength in his weakness. She looked at him straight in the eyes. "Precisely."

"Do you know what happened to bring him in here?" he asked, pausing for a moment to see if Kate would respond, but she didn’t. "No, you don't, do you? So I say to you, if someone had been a bit harder on that lad a few years ago, then maybe I wouldn't have another patient fighting for her life on ITU right now." He let out a small breath. "Maybe you should keep your nose out of business that does not concern you from now on and go back to… A&E?" He looked at her for confirmation of her department. "And concentrate on your own job. And the next time you try accusing someone of being 'unprofessional', I suggest you make absolutely sure your own behaviour is beyond reproach, or it might end up being you that gets reported for misconduct and not the poor wretch who finds himself on the sharp end of your malicious and ill-founded gossip."

Kate was defeated. Tears threatened to well up but she was damned if she was going to give him the pleasure of seeing it. She looked at the dull grey floor in front of her, Elliott's crisp black leather shoes firmly blocking her way. He hesitated for a moment, his brow crinkling and then he opened the door and stood back, letting her slip away in silence.

Copyright © Wendy Lou Jones

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By My Side by Wendy Lou Jones

Betrayed by her boyfriend and best friend, Lena is left empty; trapped under a weight of guilt and loneliness. Then, at her lowest point and when 
she needs it most, a mysterious stranger comes into her life with a tale of friendship, 
family, and finding love in the most 
unexpected of places…

Katy Heath is definitely not thinking of love
when she comes across consultant, Adam Elliott, berating some poor patient on the ward one day. 
In fact it is Dr Peter Florin who quickly has everyone’s hearts aflutter with his easy
smiles and practised charm.

Yet Katy comes to realise that there’s more to Adam than his determination to push everyone away and it’s not long 
before she finds herself longing to reach out to touch 
the man within, healing the pain of his past.

As Lena is drawn into Katy’s story, she begins to learn – just as Katy does - that the course of true love never did run smooth.

 'What a beautiful storyline this was. This is the first time I have read a book about a story within a story and at first I wasn’t sure if it was going to work but I soon became wrapped up in the story of Kate and Adam. It is full of emotion and romance and is very delicately written it was a very moving read... I have to admit to having a lump in my throat whilst reading this book it is a very emotional book and I won’t forget the ending of this book in a hurry. This book was both heartbreaking and at the same time an uplifting read it really is a thought provoking book. Pop this one on your TBR lists but have a box of Kleenex at the ready.'- 4 Stars from ReaLovesBooks

'Powerful and emotional is how I would describe By My Side, added to the fact that I just did not want this story to end. I loved the ending but as I was approaching it, I had to slow down my reading because I wasn’t ready to let it go just yet! Every step in Kate and Adam’s story was striking and important and at times, I felt like I was reading with a lump in my throat. Combined with Lena’s involvement, towards the end this book was always going to be a little different and unlike so many other emotional romance novels, it was the perfect ending.'
- 4.5 Stars from Reviewedthebook

By My Side

is available on 

Amazon ~ iTunes ~ Kobo ~ Sainsbury's ~ Nook

  GooglePlay ~ HarperImpulse    

Check out Wendy's debut book 

The Songbird and the Soldier

A really sweet and emotional read, and an excellent debut 
from Wendy Lou Jones.’ - My Written Romance

Wendy's bio:

My name is Wendy Lou Jones. I was born and raised in West Sussex, England and moved to Birmingham to study Medicine at University, where I was lucky enough to meet my husband. We now live in a little village in Herefordshire with our two grubby boys. I discovered a love of writing not long after my youngest son started school. And if you were to ask me what it was that made me make the switch, I’d tell you quite simply, that it started with a dream.

Follow Wendy Lou Jones online
WEBSITE ~ FACEBOOK ~ TWITTER ~ BLOG  ~ GOOGLE+

Thanks for sharing Wendy!

First Fight Friday: The Eligible Princess: Princess Lakshaya (Kamboj Princesses Saga Book 2) by Summerita Rhayne

Goats solve their differences head-on. They don’t give the silent treatment or yell, they butt heads, then it’s over.


Cowboy Marvin has learned humans resolve issues differently especially those romantically involved. His curiosity sparked, he has invited authors to stop by on Fridays and share the first fight out of their latest book.

Author 

Summerita Rhayne 
    
        
        

  is here for ...

First Fight Friday 

with a scene from

The Eligible Princess: Princess Lakshaya
(Kamboj Princesses Saga Book 2)

King Kartikeya is determined to do anything to keep the kingdom he 
has taken with strategy and sheer guts. If that involves 
charming a princess into marriage, then so be it.

Princess Lakshaya infinitely prefers the study of science to 
the art of impressing a suitor. But refusing a king as 
opulent as Kartik is out of question.

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Lakshaya frowned when her ride came to an abrupt halt. Another, bigger elephant was lined up at the gate. An elephant dressed up in gold and glitter. Lakshaya pulled away the curtain of her palanquin fully and found her mount abreast of King Kartikeya’s.

‘Let me go first, Maharaj,’ she said, without preamble. ‘I was here before you.’

Laughing dark eyes stared back at her. His voice easily carried over the distance to her. ‘Rajkumari, a man must always go first. To make sure the path is clear and safe for the lady.’

‘You are late, shrimath,’ she yelled back. Then blushed a little and said more temperately. ‘You should have come earlier if you wanted to go first.’

The mahouts began to wait for them to settle it. Kartik gestured and drew his elephant still closer to the princess’s. The foot soldiers began to smile at this little domestic scene playing out in front of them.

Lakshaya knew she should back down but that complacent smile on his face incensed her. She began to remember why she was upset about his marriage proposal. He hadn’t bothered to let her know, had he? While the true format was to approach the parents first, the kings who loved their queens made sure they were acquiescent even before going to the swayamwar. They weren’t in love but he had rather taken for granted he would be accepted, hadn’t he?

The wind blew from east to west and carried his words to her away from others’ hearing. ‘Let me take care of you, princess. Soon I would, in any case.’

Velvet words. Was she supposed to melt on hearing them? ‘I’m not sure a king who takes so long to get ready will suit me,’ she shot back.

He threw back his head and laughed. ‘You’re early, I’m not late.’

‘I don’t have to wear ten thousand ornaments.’ She threw a disdainful look at his armlets and the multiple chains gracing his broad chest along with the broad gold chest piece.

‘If I didn’t, who would know me as the ruler?’ he said in pure grammatically correct Sanskrit. ‘I would be outlawed. I might be recognized for what I truly am.’

‘What you are truly?' She reiterated, curiosity piqued further when he grinned but said nothing. 'What do you mean? What is it that you might be recognized as?’

‘As a sthaga,’ he said in a low voice only she could hear.

‘A ruffian?’ she whispered, afraid she had misheard him and might commit a blunder in speaking it aloud.

He had read the movement of her lips because he continued. ‘You think I could not be a ruffian? I’m a looter, Princess Lakshaya. Haven’t you heard?’

He was leading her on! ‘From your doot?’ she shot back. ‘So you boast of what he was told to convey to us? That you steal maidens’ hearts when you look at them? I heartily mislike the overly admiring phrases, I’ll have you know.’

‘I’ll banish him when I get back,’ he said, grinning. ‘How dare he annoy a princess? Now, should I proceed?’

‘Of course not. And I never asked you to banish the poor man!’ Her throat would get parched if she continued to shout.

‘Oh now he’s a poor man, is he? If not his banishment, then tell me, what would please you?’

‘Give him some task like writing a poetry volume on Bagalpur.’ she said. Her anger was evaporating at his obvious attempt to placate, a smile beginning to peep out at his serious inquiry. Was King Kartik really set on pleasing her as he showed he was, to ask her what should be done about his staff? Maybe she had misjudged him about the sudden proposal. She must ask him why he had proposed in a rush when the moment was more opportune. ‘His language was good,’ she conceded.

‘Sounds perfect. So I agree to your wish and now you must agree to mine.’ ‘Ah! So that is how the land lies. You want to have your own way at all costs.’ She darted him a miffed glance

Copyright © Summerita Rhayne

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The Eligible Princess by Summerita Rhayne

After Hidden Passion, 
the Kamboj Princesses Saga continues 
with Rukmani’s sister Lakshaya... 

King Kartikeya must marry a princess. He's determined to do anything to keep the
kingdom he has taken with strategy 
and sheer guts. 

If that involves charming a princess into marriage, then so be it.

Princess Lakshaya infinitely prefers the study of science to the art of impressing a suitor. In fact, she would rather have no more proposals at all. But refusing a king as opulent as Kartik is out of question. 

Drawn against her will by the force of his attraction, she begins to accept him, only to discover hidden secrets along the way.

Can she bring herself to go ahead with this marriage?

Set in Early Middle Ages in India, 
Book 2 in the Kamboj Princesses Saga follows Lakshaya 
in her journey to discover desire, passion, intrigue and love.

The Eligible Princess: Princess Lakshaya
Kamboj Princesses Saga Book 2 

is listed on 
Goodreads

and is available to buy on
Kindle on Amazon ~ Print on Amazon






And check out 
Kamboj Princesses Saga Book 1

Hidden Passion: Princess Rukmani

About Summerita: 

Summerita Rhayne loves to write sensual and emotional romance in diverse genres like contemporary and historical. There's no knowing when some quirky - or sometimes even not so quirky - happening in daily life might trigger her right brain and then she's off craving a new story. She loves writing characters who learn and grow and find their way out of their troubles and emotional hang-ups. Hot, sensual heroes and sassy but sweet heroines mostly fit the bill in her stories. She also believes that a touch of humor never goes amiss in a book.

She divides her time between family, job and writing - and loves winding down with music, movies and the internet!

Follow Summerita Rhayne online

WEBSITE ~ TWITTER ~ Amazon Author Page

Thanks for sharing Summerita!

First Fight Friday: The Vintage Cinema Club by Jane Linfoot

Goats solve their differences head-on. They don’t give the silent treatment or yell, they butt heads then it’s over.


Cowboy Marvin has learned humans resolve issues differently especially those romantically involved. His curiosity sparked, he has invited authors to stop by on Fridays and share the first fight out of their latest book.

Fellow Harper Impulse 
author 

Jane Linfoot 
    
        
        
           is here for ...

First Fight Friday 

with a scene from

The Vintage Cinema Club 

The Vintage Cinema Club is a story about three friends, Izzy, Luce 

and Dida, and their fight to save their lovely vintage shop in an 

old cinema. Local property developer, Xander, is moving in to buy 

the cinema building, and he and Izzy are at loggerheads 

throughout the story. This is their first meeting, 

and the first of their many fights. 

Xander finds Izzy dumpster diving on his building site. 

Needless to say, he isn’t very pleased...

And sassy Izzy isn’t about to back down...

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‘Hey, you! Get out of my skip.’

Izzy froze, rammed her shoulder against the rusty metal container side, and crouched lower, cringing as the male voice resonated above her head and echoed across the building site.

Damn it. She kicked herself for coming back for one last look, when she should have got away. In some ways this afternoon’s bombshell news that the cinema building was up for sale made it more important than ever for her to get her hands on stock. They weren’t going to give up, they were going to fight to survive, and tonight’s skip raid was a symbol of that determination. Ever since she, Dida and Luce had launched Vintage at the Cinema, they’d dreamed of a time when business would be booming, and it was ironic that now it was actually happening, it looked as if it might be snatched away.

Something about tonight’s desperation spun Izzy back to the time when she’d first discovered the joys of skip scavenging, when her mum walked out on her dad. With four kids and an empty flat, skips had provided Izzy with most of her bedroom furniture. Those fledgeling finds had kick started Izzy’s love of rescuing what other people threw away. It turned out she had a flair for making old, unwanted things beautiful. At least one good thing had come out of her parents’ break up, and the talents she’d discovered back then had exploded with the opportunity of Vintage at the Cinema.

A stripped out cinema building was a big place to fill, especially when the furniture you put in there was flying out as fast as it went in. But ending up on a building site, in a skip, with some guy yelling at you, wasn’t the best of places to spend a Wednesday evening.

‘Oi! I said move it!’ 

He was still there then. Izzy shuddered.

Luce, always teased her about her compulsion for searching through skips, but it was true that Izzy found it very hard, if not impossible to pass a skip without diving into it. In her experience, there was often treasure to be found, but right now, with an angry man bearing down on her, she was wishing she hadn’t let that last glance into the second, almost empty skip, entice her. She closed her hand around the small carved plaster cherub she’d found lurking at the bottom. Dusk was no time to get caught in the act, even if she had okayed it with the builders earlier.

‘Think you can come round breaking my windows do you, just because the house is empty?’ Enter one apoplectic guy, who’d totally got the wrong end of the stick. He didn’t sound too close, but he only had to walk across, and peer over the skip edge, and she’d be done for. ‘Did you hear me? I know you’re there.’

Fierce and well spoken – they were the worst sort. 

Izzy grimaced, braced herself for trouble, and began to unfold her legs. Time to face whatever was coming her way. It was a daily hazard of skulking round skips – sometimes it was inevitable, you pissed people off. And Izzy couldn’t bear to see old pieces with the potential to be pretty being tossed away. It broke her heart to think of lovely old things being smashed up by ignorant people who didn’t know any better. As she saw it, she was on a rescue mission here, and no one in their right mind would object to that, once they saw reason. Although from the way Mr Shouty was limbering up, she wasn’t sure reason was going to have much to do with this.

Slowly, she unfolded, to get a peep at what she was dealing with here, and as her nose drew level with the skip edge, she got a full frontal view of the man she was annoying. Talk about chiseled cheekbones. Add in eyes the colour of darkness, a body that would have made most women she knew ache to peel off his well-cut clothes, and for a fraction of a nano second she fell resoundingly, heart-stoppingly, scorchingly in love. She’d always wondered what her friends meant when they talked about thunderbolts, and now she knew. Before she could say “oh my sweet jesus”, her lips had parted, and she was letting out a long, wavering sigh.

Smitten or what?

‘You little vandal.’ The guy’s scowl darkened as he whipped his growl into overdrive. ‘I won’t tolerate trespassing scumbags, get off my site, and I mean now.’

Phew. That went some way to blasting away the cupid dust.

Izzy straightened, poked her head and then her shoulders above the edge of the skip, and watched with satisfaction as the guy’s jaw dropped. That would be surprise. And then his gaze honed in on her cleveage. That would be....

Oh shit. Nothing like eye-glue stuck on your boobs to give a girl yet another reality check. And her reality was the one where love and men were top of her Things-To-Avoid list. Yay! to Awful Alistair, who had messed with her heart for three years before stomping on it with the “it’s not you it’s me” thing, throwing in the added rider of “but you are coming over quite possessive” when what it turned out he really meant was he’d been shagging someone else for months. Enough said about that one.

Meanwhile, there was no point wasting her time explaining to this perfect specimen in his impeccably cut suit that she had okayed all this with the builders here earlier in the day. She shuddered to think what his reaction would be, if he knew her van was round the corner, full of things she’d dragged out of his other skip, only minutes before. Driving a van plastered with signs saying “Vintage at the Cinema, Everything Retro” might be great for publicity on a day to day basis, but it was hardly going to help her make an anonymous getaway.

The knot in her stomach tightened. She liked to think of herself as cool in the face of provocation, not that Luce would agree with that, but his unwarranted verbal attack had sent her almost as apoplectic as him.

Behind him, parked next to the house, she glimpsed the over-blown tank of a car he’d just arrived in. Nothing like a gas guzzler to add fuel to her fire. So, not only was he rude and aggressive, he was also that arrogant type who thought he could rule the road, as well as the world, by swanning round in one of those “the rest of humanity can fuck off” vehicles. Izzy always saved her savagest contempt for that kind of guy.

She might be in his skip, behind his hedge, on his building site, but he had it coming to him.

‘If you weren’t such a wasteful and ignorant prat, people like me wouldn’t have to go round rescuing the perfectly good stuff you’d discarded, would we?’ Catching another glimpse of the half renovated house in the background, with piles of discarded floorboards in front of it, gave her a second wind. ‘People like you, who rip the guts out of everything, with complete insensitivity, deserve a lot worse than thieving vandals.’

As she paused for breath, teeth clenched, she noticed he was scrutinising her, and that the thunder on his face had moved on like a passing storm. Wonders never ceased, but she suspected it was her chest popping into view that was responsible. Sad to say, she found her D cups often smoothed the way, although she always preferred to make her progress on a gender neutral footing, on the basis of her own merits. It was a depressing fact of life that some men were remarkably a) shallow and b) susceptible, and Mr Shouty was obviously one of them.

‘So, it’s a female dumpster-diver – and dressed for a party too.’ His tone had morphed from angry to mocking, as he strode across and peered in at her.

Izzy glanced down at her frock. Okay, maybe her flowery fifties tea dress was a bit close fitting, and it might be incongruous, but was there really the need for the attitude? She was only picking up a few bits and bobs – well a van full actually, but that was beside the point. It should have been a piece of cake, in a skirt and heels, without this unwelcome spectator.

‘So what? Are you telling me there’s a dress code now?’ She swished her skirt, and an unintentionally vigorous jerk of her head dislodged her hair comb, and next thing her unruly curls were cascading across her face. Damn. Now she was essentially fighting with one eye.

‘Marilyn Munroe curves, and a red head? Who’d have thought.’ He was almost laughing now.

One raised eyebrow? Curves? She needed to close this down.

‘Whoa, can we cut the sexual harassment?’

Her protest seemed to work, because he baulked momentarily, blinked, and when he looked up again the lust had reverted to bad temper.

‘You’re on my land, you’re invalidating my insurance cover.’ His glare sent her insides onto fast-spin. ‘Just get out before I throw you out.’

Izzy took that as a dismissal. Great, time to go.

She put her hands on the skip edge and pushed, but nothing happened. She tried again, scrabbled with her feet, and winced as the lemon leather of her pointy shoes scraped down the skip side. Authentic fifties footwear hadn’t been the best choice.

She’d got into the skip by climbing on a pile of pallets, then dropping over the side, with no thought to getting out. Now the sides of the skip had her trapped, like a hedgehog in a cattle grid. Clenching her teeth, and forcing her shoulders down, she let out an exasperated sigh.

The guy’s hands were on his hips now, resting on his high end leather belt.

‘Get on with it then.’

Could he not see she was trying to? His attitude was definitely not attractive, she noted. Except he was. He was horribly attractive in fact. Everything about him, from his stubble shadowed jawline to his muscular thighs tensing against the grey wool of those über expensive suit trousers, screamed SEXY, with the caps lock on. She gave herself a mental kick. What the hell was she thinking? After Awful Alaistair, she was steering clear of men. Especially men with choppy brown hair, and definitely arrogant gits like this one. Her resolve was strengthened now she was well on her way to the financial independence she’d always craved. She bit her lip, and blew again.

‘Well, what are you waiting for?’

His gravelly voiced query sent goosebumps scurrying up her arms, hotly pursued by a large dose of self disgust. She was in the shit here on every level, and it was time to admit defeat.

‘Actually, I can’t get out.’

She lowered her eyes, tried to swallow the shame-faced words, desperate not to acknowledge the gleeful sneer chasing across that disgustingly beautiful face of his.

‘Not so stroppy now, then.’ He gave a low grunt that might have been a laugh. ‘What do you suggest? Shall I come to help you, or will I get accused of sexual harassment?’ His tone was lazy, and he didn’t move, but the flash of humour in his eyes had Izzy’s heart skipping a beat.

‘Just sling me a pallet, stop gloating, and shut up. Please.’ She watched him stroll forward, grasp a pallet, and swing it high into the air with brutal ease. A hollow clang rang out as the wood thumped down on the skip base, and sent reverberations through the soles of her feet.

‘Thank you.’ She pulled herself up to her full five foot four inches. Then grasping the pallet, she heaved it into position against the skip side, and checked out its stability with one foot.

‘Careful. If you’ve invalidated my public liability cover, I don’t want any accidents.’

God, this guy was a stuffed-shirt. She let out another impatient snort. ‘If you don’t stop going on about insurance, I might have to squash you on my way down.’ And it was bad news that he made her even more insolent than usual, but at least she hadn’t sworn at him yet. She already owed Luce, and her Customer Service Initiative swear box a bomb as it was.

Izzy clambered up the pallet, nudged her way onto the skip edge, and it was just too bad that her skirt was riding up somewhere around her bottom as the guy looked up. She really hadn’t planned to give him an eyeful of underwear.

He staggered backwards, clearing his throat and looking away quickly. ‘Alright up there?’

She dreaded to think what kind of acreage of her knickers she was showing, but frankly she no longer cared. Two kicks sent her pumps flying through the air, then as she splayed her legs, ready to jump, she heard a rip. Crap. The last thing she needed here was to leave her skirt behind her.

‘Hang on....’ The guy sprung towards her with a strangled squawk.

‘Okay, keep your hair on.’ Izzy gasped. Two strides later his hands closed around her waist. The breath left her body as he spun her through a glorious crazy arc, before setting her lightly and neatly on the ground beside him. For a moment she wobbled against the soft fabric of his jacket, getting a blast of aftershave that was way too delicious for someone so bad tempered. And then he stepped away, and she was the one left with wide eyes, and a sagging jaw.

Copyright © Jane Linfoot
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The Vintage Cinema Club by Jane Linfoot  

Izzy is a wow at making unwanted things pretty, but with three brothers and her shabby chic furniture business to run she doesn’t have 
time to date. Could a fabulous 
French proposal change her mind?

Single mum Luce’s vintage bridal dresses are exquisite, but there’s no way she’s ever going 
to wear one or walk down the aisle for that matter. She’s a strictly no romance, 
one night kind of woman – 
or so she thinks… 


Dida seems to have it all – a chocolate and banana cake recipe to die for, lovely kids (most of the time!) and a great lifestyle. But what good is a fabulous home, when your marriage has more cracks than a pavlova and your husband is having it off with half of Lithuania?

Three retro fabulous friends, in love with all things vintage, 
run their dream business from the faded grandeur of a rescued 
cinema. When that dream comes under threat,
they’ll do whatever it takes to save it.

Fans of Lucy Diamond, Michele Gorman and Milly Johnson 
are going to love this heartfelt, funny story.

"A witty, warm-hearted romp through the lives and loves of
three friends – with a cool retro vibe, and a sense of fun 

that will never go out of fashion." – Debbie Johnson, 

author of the best-selling ‘Cold Feet At Christmas’.

The Vintage Cinema Club 

is available on 
Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Harper Impulse 
iTunes ~ Sainsburys ~ Nook ~ Google play 
POD paperback available July 30th



Like Jane's style? Check out her previous First Fight Fridays ^_^

First Fight Friday: The Right Side of Mr. Wrong

First Fight Friday: High Heels & Bicycle Wheels

About Jane: 

I write fun, flirty fiction, with feisty heroines and a bit of an edge.

I live in a mountain kingdom in Derbyshire, England, where my family and pets are kind enough to ignore the domestic chaos – happily, we’re in walking distance of a supermarket. For me, writing romance is cool because I get to wear pretty shoes instead of wellies. I love hearts, flowers, happy endings, all things vintage, most things french. 

When I’m not on facebook, and can’t find an excuse for shopping, I’ll be walking, or gardening. On days when I want to be really scared, I ride a tandem.

Follow Jane Linfoot online

WEBSITE ~ FACEBOOK ~ TWITTER ~ Pinterest

( Lots of Vintage Cinema Club character pages on Pinterest)

Thanks for sharing Jane!