Emilie Rose - The Lottery Winner

Her secret or her second chance? It was her choice

Winning the lottery should have been a dream. Instead, Jessie Martin’s life is transformed into a nightmare. In order to protect herself and her family, she flees to Key West. But in a world where no one can be trusted, even paradise seems like a prison.

Breaking the rules of her seclusion to waitress at a local restaurant, Jessie suspects the owner’s sexy nephew, Logan Nash, knows she’s hiding something. Caught between the truth and lies, Jessie won’t risk anyone discovering who she really is. Even if she’s falling for this one perfect guy...

“What do you want, Logan?”

“I’m just being friendly. Here.”

Logan offered her the bag. Jessie took it. Their fingers bumped. So did her pulse rate.

“Why?”

He laughed—a low rumble of sound. “Are you always suspicious when people are nice to you?”

“You’ve made it clear you don’t like or trust me. So why are you really here?”

“Because Miri’s important to me, and she likes you.”

He tied off the kayak, then climbed onto the dock. His legs were long and tanned and lightly swirled with dark hair. Even his bare feet were sexy.

So he was attractive. Big deal.

That didn’t mean she was attracted to him... Definitely not.

Dear Reader,

Have you ever dreamed of winning the lottery? I think most, if not all, of us have. We believe that a few million dollars will solve all of our problems. When I started reading the real stories of big lottery winners, I learned that isn’t usually the case. Winning the jackpot is, in fact, a curse for most winners. That’s how this story began.

When elementary-school teacher Jessamine wins, her life is turned upside down. She’s forced into hiding and must reevaluate the things that are most important in her life—and those are not the material things she can buy. Then she finds a man she can love, but how can she ever be sure he loves her and not the fortune she’s won?

I hope you enjoy Jessamine’s journey.

Emilie Rose

USA TODAY Bestselling Author

The Lottery Winner

EMILIE

ROSE

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestselling author and two-time RITA® Award finalist EMILIE ROSE lives in North Carolina with her own romance hero. Writing is her third career. She’s managed a medical office and a home day care—neither offered half as much satisfaction as plotting happy endings. Her hobbies include gardening, fishing, cooking and traveling to find her next book setting. Visit her website, emilierose.com, or email her at EmilieRoseAuthor@aol.com.

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I thank the Lord for blessing me with this amazing career and for filling my head with characters and stories that need to be told.

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

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

JESSAMINE MARTIN TRIED to appreciate the fingers of peach and salmon creeping over the rooftops as she walked along the Key West boardwalk, but she was too busy waiting for the new pay-as-you-go phone in her pocket to vibrate to concentrate on which tints she could blend to attain those specific hues.

She missed her family and work. As noisy and chaotic as teaching art to elementary school kids might be, the routine was normal, comforting. This unrelenting solitude wasn’t. She couldn’t even keep track of what day it was unless she checked her watch. Monday. She used to love Mondays. They represented the beginning of a week doing what she loved. That had changed the day the school board demanded she leave.

She wanted her old life back.

Gulls squawked and waddled away as she passed, and fish churned the waters of Key West Bight, waiting for the tourists who weren’t up yet to buy food pellets from the gumball machines and toss them into the water. After six weeks of walking this stretch, she could identify some of her nonhuman companions as regulars by their size, colors and scars. So sick of her own company and lack of purpose, she was almost desperate enough to talk to them.

The waterfront was quiet at the cusp of dawn. Only fishermen moved about, preparing their charter boats for a day of excitement and adventure, traveling out to the Gulf for fishing or to the Tortugas for diving. Her day would be filled with more of the same monotonous schedule she’d adopted since arriving. She’d read another of the paperbacks she’d picked up at the Key West library or do a little painting or sketching if she could rouse the muse. But even her muse yearned for the stark lines of South Carolina’s rolling hills, bare deciduous trees and thick pines.

The phone buzzed against her hip. She snatched it up so quickly she nearly dropped it as she fumbled to find the right button to answer the unfamiliar device.

“Is everyone okay?” she blurted.

“All good here. How are you, Li’l Bit? Enjoying your vacation?”

She bit her tongue on the automatic impulse to tell her brother for the zillionth time not to call her Li’l Bit and that this was in no way a vacation. But at this point, she didn’t care what Brandon said as long as he called. “Have there been any more...incidents?”

“The extra workers Dad hired and the Cherokee County deputies are keeping an eye on the orchard. And the Gaffney police have units watching your house and Leah’s and the kids’ day care.”

She’d been horrified when her brother told her even her sister’s family was in danger. Jessamine couldn’t live with herself if something happened to her precious niece and nephew.

“Can I come home?”

Silence filled her ear, and she pictured his grimace. Could she blame him? Same question. Different day. “Not yet,” he responded finally. “That dumb redhead with the local news showed up at Mom and Dad’s last night with a camera crew. She noticed that your car’s been in the same spot in the driveway for weeks and suggested the disappearance of the state’s largest lottery winner is due to foul play. She wants permission to search the orchard. She expects to find your body buried under the peach trees.”

Not the answer Jessamine had wanted. “I wish I’d never bought that stupid ticket. I only wanted change for a five.”

“Don’t be a drama queen. Millions of people would kill to be in your shoes. Literally, Jessamine. Remember that. Watch your back. And remember, you wouldn’t be in this predicament if you’d learn to say no instead of giving that mooch money every time she asks.”

Mortification burned her face. Guilty as charged. “I’ve learned my lesson.”

“I hope so, because being a people pleaser will take you down. Seventy percent of lottery winners end up bankrupt or dead within a few years.”