This is my first time participating in Excerpt Monday. If you want more info, click HERE.

This excerpt is from a previously published novella that is looking for a new home, but is in the midst of being re-edited.

Chase quietly opened the door at her Mom’s house and snuck through the kitchen. She wanted to get into the house without the fuss that usually greeted her arrival.

“Chase, what are you doing skulking in the kitchen?” Her mother’s voice came from behind her.

Chase paused and looked back. “I wasn’t skulking Mom, I was merely trying to get a glass of water.” Grabbing the nearest glass, she headed towards the water cooler.

Her mother cocked an eyebrow. “Well, you might want to try a clean glass then.” She took it out of Chase’s hand and set it down. “Really Chase, there are refreshments in the living room. We have all been waiting on you to get started. Let’s go.” She walked out of the room.

Chase followed slowly and watched her mother’s back, taking in the beautiful cream silk blouse and black pin-striped slacks. Put together as always and not a hair out of place. Looking down at herself, she noticed there were already wrinkles in her pants. And, somehow, she’d spilled something on her top, probably the takeout she had eaten in the car on the way over. Eaten in secret and haste, because it was never good to be too hungry around her family. Besides making her cranky no one really ate and therefore they treated her oddly whenever she had more than one bite of anything. Chase never understood why there was always so much food around, but no one ate it. It was a complete waste.

When they entered the living room, her mother pointed to a chair beside her brother and said, “Sit.”

Chris nudged her when she sat down. “Ha, I knew you would come. Couldn’t resist it could you? I’ve been hearing whispers that old Grandma actually had some money somewhere.”

Chase shook her head in disgust. “Chris, you really take the cake, you know? Grandma was wonderful to you, to all of us, and all you can think about is whether you going to get any money now?”

“Your holier than thou act isn’t working today, Chase. You obviously want what’s coming to you. Why else are you here?”

“I wouldn’t be if some guy, who claims to be the executor of Grandma’s will, hadn’t called and forced me to come. I don’t want her money. I’d rather have her back.”

“Ssshhh,” hissed their mother, making the face that said they were making a spectacle of themselves. And therefore her.

A man at the front of the room cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. Chase glanced up. He was tall, dark and gorgeous. She guessed him to be over six feet, with dark brown hair that had a slight wave to it. Not too short or too long, but it suited him perfectly. She caught a flash of beautiful green eyes as he looked around the room and waited for everyone to settle down. Maybe they were contact lenses–they were much too bright to be real.

“Excuse me, but I’d like to get started.” When he spoke, Chase realized it was the voice on the phone. Ahhh, Mr. Weston. Nice to see his looks matched his voice. That seldom happened in her world.

“My name is Reece Weston. I’m here representing the estate of Mrs. Nancy Chase Taylor. She had asked me to gather you all here and take care of certain matters for her.”

“Yeah, right, scammer,” Chris muttered under his breath.

Surprised at his tone, Chase quickly glanced at him. “What do you mean?” she whispered. “Do you know this guy?”

“Nah, no one seems to know him. He just suddenly appeared during Grandma’s last days. There’s talk that she was so taken with him she literally forgot about the rest of us.”

“I was with Grandma a lot during the final days. She never mentioned this guy, and I never saw him.” Chase returned her gaze toward the front of the room, intent on hearing what Mr. Weston had to say.

Check out the other EM participants (nb: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site):
Organizers:
Mel Berthier, Urban Fantasy (PG 13)
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG)

AND:

Christina DeLorenzo, YA (PG 13)
Bryn Donovan, Paranormal (PG)
Babette James, Fantasy Romance (PG 13)
Cynthia Justlin, Contemporary Romance (PG 13)
Kaige, Historical Romance (PG 13)
Adelle Laudan Contemporary Romance (PG 13)
Jeannie Lin, Historical Romance (PG 13)
RF Long, Paranormal (PG 13)
Crista McHugh, Paranormal (PG 13)
Dara Sorensen, Paranormal (PG)

Evie Byrne, Historical Romance (R)
Grace Draven, Fantasy Romance (R)
Cate Hart, YA- Paranormal (R)
Aithne Jarretta, Paranormal (R)
Inez Kelley, Contemporary Romantic Comedy (R)
Aislinn Kerry, Paranormal (R)
Kim Knox, Erotic- Sci-fi Suspense (R)
Cherrie Lynn, Erotic- Contemporary Romance (R)
Alina Morgan, Urban Fantasy (R)

Stephanie Adkins, Erotic- Supsense (NC 17)
Ella Drake, Sci-Fi Romance (NC 17)
Annie Nicholas, Sci-Fi Romance (NC 17)
Kirsten Saell, Erotic – Fantasy (NC 17)

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Excerpt Monday, My Books, Reading, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.