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Down at the Bottom Garden
by Daisy Banks
Category: Romance/Fantasy
Description: Kathleen had fled to her grandmother's garden to escape the pain and humiliation, wishing she could escape the marriage her father had arranged for her. She hadn't truly expected anything at all to happen when she voiced the words her grandmother had taught her. It was a weak spell at best and Ash wasn't all that inclined to help, even though she was a beautiful witch. She roused his temper as much as she'd aroused him, however, and he wasn't at all sorry he'd brought her down to his size. Rating: Spicy-adult situations/(magical)forced seduction.
eBook Publisher: New Concepts Publishing, 2007
eBookwise Release Date: March 2009
 
15 Reader Ratings:
Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [71 KB]
Words: 15549
Reading time: 44-62 min.
'Kyle and I have been lovers for months, our baby will be born in January. I thought you'd like to know.' The words Kathleen had heard from the sickly sweet voice down the phone still rang in her head. She had fled to the far end of the garden, a ball of fury lodged in her stomach. She'd suspected he didn't love her, but this a week before their wedding. The weeds were high. The lazy afternoon bees buzzed as Kathleen looked down at the massive blue diamond ring. Tears blinded her vision. "Bloody ugly thing," she sobbed as she twisted it from her finger. The only thing that prevented her from throwing the ring into the ditch by the back wall was the memory of her father's insistence that things of value were important. She shoved it into the tiny pocket of her jeans. "Bloody, ugly thing." She sniffed the tears back and smelled the sweetness of honeyed Alyssum. There was no way she was marrying Kyle De Corsie next week, no matter what everyone thought. The dress would stay on the nasty purple silk hanger and they could all whistle Dixie until they felt better. If she didn't arrive at the tiny church, though, the press would be on her tail hotter than the hounds of hell. She'd be in all the Sundays, Weekly's, Daily's and anything else, her picture plastered over the net once more, the poor little rich girl who just couldn't cope. Even worse than that would be her grandmother's tearful disappointment. They were only here at the cottage for the wedding and grandma was so very thrilled. Despair trickled over her, there was no way out. Daddy had stitched up the deal with Kyle and his publishing company so tightly. He was a grand man was Daddy, but he didn't understand how it felt to be a twenty year old heiress. At home she'd been leeched on by any and every guy with a dwindling stash from sea to shining sea. There had never been one who wasn't more interested in the money than in her, and Kyle was just the same. A huge sigh escaped her as she sat amongst the remnants of grandma's garden nursery. This part of the garden hadn't changed since she was a child and grandma insisted it stayed that way. The weeds were thriving, the ragged, spiny sticky weed rampant and the old fence posts struggling to stand tall. The rickety shed was lopsided now, part of the roof crumbling away and only cobwebs grew in its window. "Be dammed the lot of them! I won't marry him. By Nightshade, by Foxglove, by the bitter dregs of the cup, be dammed if I will." Her tears slid softly down her cheek and she buried her face in her hands.
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