My Heart's Passion by Elizabeth Lapthorne (good books for 7th graders txt) 📗

MY HEART’S PASSION

An Ellora’s Cave Publication, November 2004

Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

1337 Commerce Drive, #13

Stow, OH 44224

ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-4199-0066-8

Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML

MY HEART’S PASSION © 2004 ELIZABETH LAPTHORNE

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

Edited by Martha Punches.

Cover art by Syneca.

Warning:

The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. My Heart’s Passion has been rated S-ensuous by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

Rutledge Werewolves:

My Heart’s Passion

Elizabeth Lapthorne

Prologue

Wednesday

“Are you sure you and Dominic don’t mind?”

Mary laughed huskily.

“Chloe darling, I’m still feeling like a newlywed, even after six months. The last place Dominic and I want is to be within spitting distance of his nieces, nephews, and siblings. They’re a great bunch, and we certainly love them to bits, but someone is always dropping around, interrupting us at delicate moments to have a chat with us, or to play a game of Chase or something. We’re only going away for four and a half days, and we’re only renting a cabin thirty miles on the other side of the park—but trust me, no one is going to disturb us and we can have some fun before bub arrives and we can’t make polite or even half-believable excuses anymore.”

Chloe grinned. “One last fuck-fest before you become responsible adults, hmm?”

Mary laughed. “Who said anything about being responsible, Chlo? I’m only talking about having a baby—not starting a career in politics or something.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and heard an answering snicker from the other end of the line. They might be on opposite sides of the state, but Chloe shared a special closeness with her cousin. They were best friends as well as family.

“Anyway,” Mary continued, “I think you’ll enjoy the break—after six months of standing in as a high school teacher anyone would need a break. Just don’t complain to me when all the rugrats over here insist you play games with them. They’re darling children—but they’ll drive you nuts if you let them.”

“I think I can handle a handful of overenthusiastic kids after subbing for six months and coping with thirty junior high teenagers in a cooking class. As long as the kids don’t start a food fight, we’ll get along just fine.”

“A long weekend away, hopefully hidden in the cabin, might give you the time you need to think about where you want to go now.”

Chloe sighed. “Mar, please don’t start on that again. You know I don’t want to study anymore.”

Chloe’s refusal to keep a steady job, what she liked to refer to as her “itchy feet” was a running joke between the two of them. She couldn’t bear the thought of bogging herself down in more studies. Instead, she had taken the first available job after graduating high school.

Moving from job to job, Mary had shown constant astonishment at her innate skill to pick up jobs with ease, and then finding something different to do.

“Well, some time out in the cabin might be helpful to you. Take a break and you can think about things and read to your heart’s content. I’ve already mailed you the keys, so we’ll leave very early tomorrow morning. You can move in anytime after about eleven tomorrow morning. Those keys should arrive first thing tomorrow morning, and once they arrive you can start that awful drive. Don’t forget Dominic, the lazy ass, hasn’t fixed the lock as of yet. It might stick a little, so don’t be afraid to jiggle the key. He swears to have it fixed by the time we leave, but I’m not holding my breath. Oh, and one more thing—”

“Mmmm?”

“Be careful in the woods Thursday night. It’s the full moon.”

“Oh. Right. Sure.”

Chloe wasn’t really sure what more to say. She believed Mary, who insisted Dominic was a werewolf. Yet at the same time, she didn’t believe her. It was rather confusing and she didn’t think about it much. Mary had assured her they weren’t the werewolves of movies—insane killers and feasters of flesh. But rather, insisted they were mostly normal men, who happened to turn into wolves and run around in the huge national park on the evenings of the full moon.

Chloe didn’t like to think of it any more than she wanted to think about Dominic’s brother, Samuel. She had been Mary’s bridesmaid, and Samuel had been the groomsman. She had spent most of the wedding avoiding the drop-dead handsome man.

It had been the strangest feeling, walking down the aisle ahead of Mary, feeling proud and sad at the same time. She was overjoyed for Mary finally finding the love she deserved. Yet, having her brother and cousin moving to the other side of the state to be with this family had made her feel slightly odd.

She was happy for them, but sad at the same time. She wasn’t sure what she thought of the large, boisterous family. She certainly liked them, but also resented them slightly. That resentment