Captured In Ink (Art of Love Series)
Captured In Ink
Book Three of the
Art of Love
Serie
s
by
Donna McDonald
* * * * *
Copyright 2011 by Donna McDonald
Cover by LFD Designs for Authors
Edited by Toby Minton
Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should remove it from your device and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.
This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my new beta readers for their fast reading and great feedback.
Thanks to my editor whose editing is awesome, but whose encouragement is priceless.
Thanks to Brett Hatfield for talking to me about what it’s like to be a graphic artist.
Thanks to my readers for patiently waiting for the next book in the series.
Dedication
To my son Michael who always makes me laugh, and who couldn’t believe I actually put one of our family jokes in this book. I love you, honey.
Chapter 1
Riding shotgun in his best friend’s beat-up work truck, Shane Larson was more depressed than he could ever remember being in his life. Instead of working on his latest graphic novel like he should be doing, in a moment of weakness he had rashly promised to do manual labor for Joe just so he wouldn’t have to spend one more frustrated day alone.
Tomorrow would be
two weeks
. Two weeks since he had met the mysterious
Ann
who continued to haunt him. He couldn’t even think of an adequate clinical term for his condition, but Shane had to admit he’d been a depressed mess since waking up alone without her. For a man so close to getting a distinguished doctorate in understanding the human mind from a prestigious school, Shane Larson certainly wasn’t being much help to himself.
“So how is the book coming along?” Joe asked, trying to bring Shane’s attention out of his head and into the pickup with him.
“Not fast enough,” Shane replied flatly. “I’m probably going to miss my first deadline ever, and it’s all her fault.”
“Her fault? You mean the mysterious
Ann
?” Joe asked, laughing in his disbelief.
“I still can’t believe she ran away, Joe,” Shane said sadly.
Joe laughed. “Well, it’s not like you haven’t done that plenty of times yourself.”
“I guess that’s true,” Shane admitted. Maybe part of his problem was that he
was
usually the one who snuck out and left his bed partner sleeping. It was easy to do when you weren’t interested in staying to get to know the person better, but he refused to believe that had been the case for her.
She had responded too honestly to him, and he had made her laugh. They had connected—
damn it.
“It was different with her,” Shane said firmly, staring out the window again.
Joseph McEldowney had known Shane Larson since they were in middle school and he was usually the most level-headed person in the world. Nothing much twisted Shane’s shorts into a knot. Even the lovely Angela from their sophomore year in college hadn’t caused this much soul-searching angst, Joe thought.
“Damn, Larson—just how good in bed was the woman? And does she have a sister?” Joe asked, trying to get Shane riled up because any emotion was better than the funk.
“Yeah right—like I’m going to tell
you
how good she was,” Shane replied, irritated with the lecherous question, even if it was just Joe being Joe. “It wasn’t just the sex. I liked her. Didn’t you ever just like a woman, Joe? Why is that so hard to get?”
And he
had
liked her, Shane thought fiercely, not that the sex hadn’t also been life-changing. A few months ago his father had chastised him for his dating habits, asking if Shane had ever ached to be back inside a woman. His teasing reply to his Dad had been a resounding no, but he would be answering that question a hell of a lot differently if it ever came up again.
Now he ached for a woman all right, one specific woman, and worse than that, Shane wanted the whole package. He wanted to feel her under him, but he also wanted to hear her laughter when he amused her. He wanted to hear her telling him where to buy shoes and how important it was to follow his dreams. He wanted to hear her respectful, appreciative voice saying just about anything that made her green-eyed gaze hold his.
And he wanted her hands. God, her tiny hands had been so strong and sure on him. He couldn’t imagine anyone touching him intimately now but her.
The way Shane saw it, she had totally hooked him in about as many ways as was possible. A woman wasn’t supposed to change a guy this much and then just leave without a word.
In the two weeks that had passed since he’d been with her, Shane had been begging the universe daily for another chance.
“Damn it, Shane. I’m not good at comforting people. You look scary enough without adding to it with that serial killer scowl of yours,” Joe said, laughing. “My customer is a single mother with four kids. I’d just as soon not frighten them.”
“Get off my case, McEldowney. I’m doing you a favor even being here. I should be home working instead of playing with you,” Shane countered, trying to make enough conversation to distract his brain from dwelling on her. “How long does it take to hang gutter anyway?”
“Not too long. This is a good size ranch house, but we’re just repairing the one side. A couple hours tops, I’m guessing. You got a hot date tonight or something?” Joe asked, trying to tease Shane into a good mood.
“Don’t start on me about hot dates,” Shane said harshly. “If you hadn’t abandoned me two weeks ago for your hot date I wouldn’t have met the woman and took her home with me. The woman was like crack
,
and I got addicted in one damn night.”
Joe’s laughter rang out in the truck cab. “I can’t believe you never got her to tell you who she was,” he said, shaking his head. “Women bare their souls to you, Larson. All those months of abstaining must have made you lose your magic touch.”
Shane shook his head as well. “I did not lose my magic touch. The woman was committed to keeping it to just one-night despite what happened between us. I swear I’d cash in all my good karma just for a chance to be with her again. You can’t know what it’s like until you’ve been with the perfect person.”
For months now, Joe had been watching in stunned disbelief as Shane sent all women away with a polite “no thanks,” no matter how beautiful, how leggy, or how willing. Maybe Shane really was in love, which was not in Joe’s opinion an admirable condition for a man under the age of thirty. But Shane was just any man.
“The universe listens to you,” Joe said finally, adding another shrug. “If I ever see someone fitting her description at the club again, I’ll let you know. I don’t get the urge you have to track her down, but I would let you know if I saw her.”
“Thanks,” Shane said sincerely, as Joe pulled up at the curb in front of his client’s house.
Joe stopped the truck and reached over to squeeze Shane’s arm in support. “Come on. Let’s get this over with. Maybe we’ll grab a beer after.”
“I don’t believe this. Look at that. Like I needed more reminders.” Shane said, frowning.
Ann had said she drove a mini-van, though Shane couldn’t imagine the tiny woman he remembered actually driving something that large. The universe was obviously having a laugh at his expense this morning because a mini-van with a sporty car parked next to it was in the driveway. He told himself not to angst about it and almost succeeded in wiping the frown from his face when a tall teenage boy walked out of the house, carrying a pretty little girl in his arms.