TODAY, WE HAVE PLEASURE IN WELCOMING AUTHOR, KAREN NAYLOR, WHO IS SHARING AN EXCERPT FROM HER DEBUT ROM-COM, 'CHRISTMAS EVIE' #RWRTeamBlog #ReadWriteRepeat
- Eva Bielby
- Oct 18
- 9 min read
Updated: Oct 19
BLURB:
Evie is a dating disaster, which is only made worse when she learns she’s been dating Italian twins. At the same time.
Evie agrees to go on a date with one of her friend’s brothers. It has nothing to do with Nathaniel, the hot guy working at the tea rooms or the King Clause, which means she’s to be married by Christmas.
Nathaniel offers to look after his sister Rosalie’s tea rooms while she’s in hospital. It has nothing to do with the fact he thinks the owner of the florist opposite the tea rooms is ‘the one.’ Nor his mistake in telling his mum he’ll be bringing home a girl to Capri for Christmas. Or forgetting to tell Evie he has a twin.
A case of mistaken identity threatens to turn Christmas, and Evie’s dreams, into more than a dating disaster. With her heart at stake, can she set her future on the right twin?
*****
EXCERPT (chapter nine)
“Oh Rose, it’s so good to hear from you. I worried when you weren’t at the tea rooms.” Eveline released an elongated breath.
“I can imagine, sorry, I didn’t get time to let you know. All a bit rushed,” Rosalie said.
“How are you?” Eveline sat.
“Sore, but better than I was. Looking forward to being waited on hand and foot by my lot.”
“The least you can expect.” Eveline smiled, imaging Rose’s family doing just that.
“True. And how are the tea rooms doing? Have you been in?”
“Yes. Busy. Struggle to get a table busy.” Eveline didn’t want to tell Rosalie the real reason why. If Eveline did, she’d have to say she’d agreed to go on a date with the guy running the tea rooms. This might lead to an unwanted conversation regarding dates.
“I can imagine. Glad the eye candy is good for business.” Rosalie laughed, her tone conspiratorial.
Eveline presumed this meant he wasn’t from some random agency. Unsure of Rosalie’s relationship with Romano, Eveline decided to play it safe.
“Profit is always good, so a brilliant decision on your part.”
“The best, I reckon. Talking about monumental decisions, I got your message, and I organized a date with my brother. Now I hope I haven’t made the wrong call.”
She’d already called her brother. Oh no. Plus, why did Eveline get the impression Rosalie had guessed she was attracted to Romano? It didn’t mean Eveline wouldn’t go on a date with Rosalie’s brother if she’d already made the arrangements. Two dates weren’t Eveline’s idea of fun, yet she couldn’t renege now. She didn’t want to upset her friend, especially if she’d gone to some trouble.
“No, no, it’s fine. I chickened out, left you another message. You obviously didn’t get the second message in time, so don’t worry.”
“I mean, I could try to call him at work. Would do him good to get a cancellation. Dent to his ego and all that.”
“Heck, no Rosalie, don’t do that. I don’t want to upset anyone.” She’d no idea how close Rosalie was to her brother and didn’t want to cause any friction.
“Then you’ll go despite---”
“Yes,” Eveline interrupted, not wanting her to belabor the point and highlight her interchangeable moods, “Definitely. When?”
“I organized the date for Saturday night. Is that okay?”
This only gave her twenty-four hours between the Romano date and this one. Eveline closed her eyes. Plasters. It would be like ripping one off. Get the torture over quick. She opened her eyes and plunged in, “Saturday is fine. Where?”
“Thai Edge. He loves spicy.”
Great. Her last date there hadn’t exactly gone well. “Do you know where Thai Edge is?” Rosalie asked, uncertainty in her voice.
Eveline had taken too much time to answer because the silence lengthened.
“Yes. Sure. Time?”
“I thought eight thirty. That way, you don’t have to stay too long if you decide good looks and excellent prospects aren’t for you.” Rosalie laughed.
“That’s fine.” Eveline could hear voices in the background at Rosalie’s end.
“Sorry Eveline, I must go. The doctor’s here.”
“Okay. Feel better soon.”
“Thanks and good luck.”
I’ll need it. Eveline hung up. What on earth was she going to talk to Rosalie’s brother about? She wasn’t even sure which one she’d agreed to spend the evening with. What were their names again? Right. Nate or Luke. She doubted they’d have anything in common except Rosalie.
Eveline said this to Georgia the next day, hoping for some advice. Not about what to wear, though Georgia loved to advise on this.
“We can think of a few conversation starters if you like. Honestly, if you wear the red dress, he’ll be too busy drooling to form a coherent sentence,” Georgia advised.
As if. Eveline still felt unsure whether the red dress would be the right decision. A little low cut, too short for a blind date. She glanced at the blouse she wore. Maybe she should swap the dress for a nice trouser suit paired with this? Make time to get the blouse washed and ready by then.
“If you’ve got it, flaunt it, Eve,” Georgia said, as her gaze followed Eveline’s. “Wear the red dress for the date with HCG too, for the same reason.”
“I do have a face, you know. A personality.”
“Course you have but play to your strengths.”
“Thanks.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” Georgia held out her hand like she was about to stop a bus. “Trust me, though, men like a bit of cleavage.”
“I’m sure they do, yet I don’t want to create the wrong impression.”
“HCG is seriously smoking. Like anyone would care what impression they were creating. Every woman in Rose’s was proper green with envy when he asked you on a date. You’ve got to capitalize on that.”
“It’s not a business deal,” Eveline said, shaking her head.
“You don’t need to tell me. The last thing on my mind with sexy Romano would be business, if you see what I mean.” Georgia’s lurid wink told Eveline exactly what she meant.
“Georgia!”
“Oh, don’t be like that. You’re honestly trying to get me to believe you don’t want to rip those clothes off his toned torso? I mean, imagine the delights that lie beneath that apron.”
Eveline could imagine. This was part of the problem.
“Regardless, I will not be wearing a low-cut dress.”
“Short works too. You’ve got great legs.”
“Thank you, I think.” Eveline frowned.
“Don’t look so worried. I’ll make you some prompt cards.”
“I don’t need cards. I’m sure I can come up with a few things to talk about.” If his voice and face don’t render me speechless, like sometimes happened in the past. No, she’d make sure it wouldn’t. And even if it did, at least she had the back-up date with Rosalie’s brother.
“True, but who wants to talk with a mouth like his?” Georgia said.
This was pretty much what went through her mind when Eveline spotted him at the bar, her gaze drawn to the direction every woman in the place’s gaze gravitated to like magnets. Even the women with dates. Who could blame them?
If those movie star good looks weren’t enough, he wore a shirt emphasizing the broad-shouldered toned body underneath and a pair of black pants which made his legs seem endless. Wasn’t that supposed to be a woman thing?
As she made her way over, she wondered if the blue gray of his shirt would enhance the dark chocolate-color in his eyes. The weight of every stare fell on her when all the other women realized who she was walking to. Eveline could well imagine what they were thinking: she was his date?
Romano stood when she approached and unleashed his smile. Eveline concentrated on not stumbling over her own feet. She pictured him in the rose-covered apron he’d been wearing in the tea rooms to try and relax. It didn’t work. She sure wasn’t going to imagine him naked, like Georgia suggested earlier. How the heck would that help with Eveline’s racing pulse?
“Eveline,” he said. With his accent coloring it, her name had never sounded this exotic. She’d never particularly been keen on her name, the spelling being close to evil in its pronunciation, yet now… One day she might even like it, if he spent the rest of his life saying her name while he gazed at her the way he did.
“Would you care for a drink?”
Was that a good idea? Yes. A drink would be something to stop her from turning around and running.
She nodded and glanced at an abandoned wine glass on the bar, unsure if her voice would be steady. If her legs were anything to go by, probably not.
Romano gestured toward the chair next to him, then turned to order the drinks, giving her a spectacular view of his rear. Oh my goodness, it looked even better in the black pants, tightening across his tempting curves as he leaned. She grabbed the chair and sat down. Hard.
Look somewhere else. Eveline glanced around the room. A table with three women stared back. One winked, another inclined her head to indicate Romano and grinned. The third one put up her thumb.
The blush heated from Eveline’s neck to her forehead. She broke eye contact.
He placed a white wine in front of her, like he’d read her mind. How did he?
“It’s hot in here.” He tapped his own glass. The contents appeared to be the same as hers. Romano drank white wine. Well, he was hardly going to drink Peroni despite what Georgia said and did that mean he’d seen her blush, made it seem like she’d got hot? The only thing hot in there was him. She still found it hard to believe he’d asked her for a date.
“Thank-you for agreeing to come here,” he murmured, not quite meeting her gaze. “I wondered if you’d turn up.”
“Why? Because I try to kill off my usual dates?” she said, screwing up her eyelids tight briefly because she’d said the words in her mind out loud.
He laughed. She gulped. How could he be even more devastating when he laughed? His entire face lit up. The skin at the corner of his eyes creased and the grooves in those killer cheekbones deepened.
“No. Because Georgia and the ladies at the tea rooms may have forced you into it.”
It wasn’t exactly a hardship. Her erratic pulse told her otherwise.
“You’re welcome,” she said, then realized how lame she sounded. Heck. She was the lucky one.
“Thanks anyway. You saved me. I got the irrational impression that every woman in there might take turns to act like the redhead.”
Oh, Eveline remembered her. Confident, beautiful. What Eveline imagined would be his type.
“That sounds awfully vain,” he said.
A weird flutter began in her chest when color deepened those gorgeous cheeks. Why would he be embarrassed when he looked like a film star? He must know he did.
“No. I think you’re right. We don’t get many men in Rose’s. Young ones anyway.” Good grief, could she make this situation any worse? At least he no longer sported a blush. “How is Rose, Romano?” His name sounded exciting on her tongue.
His large brown eyes widened, like she’d surprised him. He paused, as though considering his answer. Eveline worried something had happened to Rosalie.
“She’s good. I chatted to her last night, and she’s in excellent form. They may release her soon. Not soon enough for her. This you can imagine.”
Eveline bobbed her head along with him, imagined he was correct, wondering what his relationship to Rosalie may be. Employer/employee? Friends? Should she ask him, or would that be rude?
“I told her how well the tea rooms were doing. She seemed pleased about the profit.”
“That’s good.” Eveline wasn’t surprised as the tea rooms continued to be rammed every day. Word spread fast about the hottie who now worked there. Some even cornered Sasha to grill her for information.
“Shall we eat here? There are enough things on the menu for you?” he asked.
“Yes, forget all the nonsense earlier. Georgia was messing about,” Eveline assured him. The girl had a lot to answer for.
“She is your friend as well as a colleague?”
“I guess you could say that. At times she feels more like my little sister.”
“Ah yes, Rosalie has told me. She can also tease like that. I have a brother, but he is not like her.”
“Does she tease him too?”
“Sometimes. He is very different in personality from me.”
Eveline wondered what his brother looked like; she’d bet her entire bank loan he’d be as gorgeous as Romano. Maybe not as heart-stopping because there’d never be two like him. God wouldn’t be that generous.
“Are you close?” she asked, glanced away. Way too personal a question to ask.
“Yes, even after we moved from home.”
“Home?”
Eveline found herself staring into those eyes again, unable to help it, but his gaze moved off to the side as though remembering.
“Capri. Our parents live in Italy. We were born and raised there.”
“Does this mean you speak Italian?”
“Ma ovviamente amore mio,”
Sweet Lord, she was going to melt right off the darned chair.
She was dying to ask him what he’d said. Some way of saying yes, she presumed, from the way he’d nodded. A very long way to say yes.
“Beautiful,” she murmured, then bit her lip. Great. Why don’t I just faint at his feet?
“I am glad you like my mother tongue.”
His eyes appeared to be sparkling with pleasure. She, however, was relieved he’d not worked out she’d been talking about him.
Off to the side, the waiter hovered.
“Can I take you to your table?”
He took both wine glasses and placed them on his tray.
Eveline stood at the same time Romano did, shifted to make sure she didn’t bump into him. Instead, her elbow caught the tray, knocking the glasses forward and sending white wine cascading down Romano’s shirt. The material went see-through immediately. Her heart kicked up into overdrive.
Look away, screamed the voice in her head. Her gaze clashed with the trio of girls once more.
One mouthed ‘Nice.’ The other, ‘Thank-you.’ The third put both thumbs up and grinned.
Oh, she hadn’t done that on purpose. Did it look like she did? Sugar snap.
**********
COMING SOON: On Wednesday 22nd October, we welcome author, Robin Leeman Donovan, who is sharing chapter 16 of her novel, ''Does It Count As Saving A Life If You Just Don't Kill Someone?'
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