Amie Denman: Carousel Nights

Every first love deserves a second chance

June Hamilton left home to pursue her dream of dancing on Broadway. Seven years later, she has one regret: Mel Preston, her teenage crush and onetime summer love. Now a single dad and the head of maintenance at Starlight Point, her family’s amusement park, Mel’s easy smile still makes her heart beat in triple time. But June came home with a plan. She would spend the summer revitalizing the park’s aging theaters, then make a graceful exit back to the big city. Until Mel and his young son start making a powerful claim on her emotions, and June faces an impossible decision...

“Can you help me?”

Mel didn’t answer. He concentrated on the scuffed toe of his work boot. “Can this wait until next month or next year?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I won’t be here next year.”

He shook his head. “None of my business if you want to keep running away from home.”

Her cheeks colored and he knew he’d struck a nerve. He’d had no intention of firing any weapons, but it had been a very long day.

June cocked her head and studied him. “You don’t ever wonder if there’s something else out there for you—something outside of Starlight Point?”

He shook his head again.

“You want to stay on this merry-go-round your whole life? Working all year getting ready for a summer of twelve-hour days?”

Mel glanced at the dusty wall clock. “Fifteen hours.”

June sighed, uncrossing her arms. “Some things in life you only get one solid chance at,” she said. “Apparently you don’t get that. Nobody seems to.”

She flung the shop door open and disappeared into the night.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for visiting Starlight Point as you read Carousel Nights. Can you imagine inheriting a summer resort and amusement park? It sounds like great fun and hard work to me. I love an old-fashioned theme park with a carousel, cotton candy, roller coasters and the sound of the waves on the shore.

This is the second book in the Starlight Point Stories miniseries. The first book, Under the Boardwalk, followed Jack Hamilton, the oldest of the Hamilton children, in the first summer they inherit Starlight Point. In Carousel Nights, middle child June Hamilton struggles with a tough choice: continue the Broadway career she always wanted, or come home and devote herself to Starlight Point? A summer romance she left behind years ago sweetens and complicates her decision. The third book in the series will be available in December 2016 and follows Evie, the youngest member of the family, as she finds her place at Starlight Point.

This is my eighth published novel, and they all take place in the summer and by the water. I love sunshine and waves because they are fleeting, like the first rush of falling in love. For me, writing about July days and the sparkle of the blue water makes them last all winter long. I hope reading Carousel Nights puts summer and love in your heart.

Thank you for reading my book. I hope you’ll visit me at amiedenman.com, follow me on Twitter, @amiedenman, or send me an email at author@amiedenman.com.

Happy summer, wherever you are!

Amie Denman

Carousel Nights

Amie Denman

www.millsandboon.co.uk

AMIE DENMAN is the author of eight contemporary romances full of humor and heart. Born with an overdeveloped sense of curiosity, she’s been known to chase fire trucks on her bicycle and eavesdrop on lovers’ conversations. Amie lives in Ohio with her husband, two sons, a big yellow Labrador and two cats. She believes everything is fun: especially wedding cake, show tunes, roller coasters and falling in love.

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Carousel Nights is dedicated to my parents, who encouraged their four daughters to be anything they wanted to be. Thank you for your unwavering love and for taking us on all those vacations that sparked our curiosity and imagination.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

I SURE AM far from Broadway. Right back where I started.

For June Hamilton, standing on the stage of the Midway Theater was pure nostalgia. She had danced her first semiprofessional steps here during the summers. But she had no intention of dancing her last ones on stage at her family’s amusement park. Her legs were still good for six or seven seasons of New York City, and she still had a dream to chase.

“Thank you for spending your summer at Starlight Point,” she said. The performers gathered around her shifted even closer. “You’ll dance your legs off doing five shows a day, but the experience you’ll gain can take you anywhere.”

“You’ve been on Broadway for ages, right?” a girl with a tiny waist and a movie-star face asked.

“Hey,” June said, narrowing her eyes but smiling at the girl. “Only a few years, and I’m going back for the fall season. After I transform this theater and the Starlight Saloon into standing-room-only attractions.”

She had one month until the two theaters at Starlight Point opened for the summer.

Today she and her stage manager, Megan, would begin a marathon of rehearsals and performances. The new crop of college-aged performers gathered on stage at the Midway Theater, leggings and loose sweatshirts ready to come off so they could dance.

June handed a shop broom to one of the guys. “Do you mind knocking off some of the construction dust?”

The young man smiled, perfect white teeth giving him a showbiz gleam. “Didn’t know I’d be dancing in a work zone,” he said, taking the broom and heading downstage.

“Life of the theater,” June said. “You never know what you’re getting into.”

“It’s all good. I’m happy to have a summer job.”

“Sorry I’m late,” Megan said, coming through a back door onto the rear of the stage. “I was battling my computer files and uploading practice music to my phone.” She headed for a small set of speakers propped on a cardboard box. “I love the show you’ve put together,” she continued, fumbling with a cord and searching the back of the speaker for a place to plug it in.

“Everyone loves Broadway, especially people who are willing to take a break from spinny rides and cotton candy,” June said, smiling at the six-months-pregnant stage manager, who still managed to look like a dancer despite her protruding belly. “At least I hope so.”