Finding Chris Evans: The Hollywood Edition (13 page)
Read Finding Chris Evans: The Hollywood Edition Online
Authors: Lizzie Shane
LeeAnn Werth has done everything she must to keep the Werth Inn running strong, including putting aside her dreams of flying away from her tiny north woods town.
But at least this summer, the world has come to her. A mysterious foreign businessman has checked in for some serious R&R, and while LeeAnn knows Cris Evans can’t be the man’s real name, she’s fiercely dedicated to her guests’ privacy. Especially the incredibly gorgeous ones.
For international soccer bad boy Cristopoulis Matretti, Haralson, Minnesota is the perfect hideout. No one here knows he’s embarrassed his native Garronia by punching out his coach… and no one suspects his aunt is a queen. But when a local girl’s unexpected visit sends his bodyguards into an uproar, Cris realizes he must flee again—just when he’s finally getting to know the inn’s dreamy-eyed, hard-working owner. Still, maybe he doesn’t have to leave immediately…
LeeAnn’s not prepared for Cris’s sudden attention, and her defenses go up even as her heart begins to dance. Consorting with guests who make her long for adventure is something a responsible innkeeper simply does not do.
…If only Cristopoulis had ever learned to play by the rules.
The Rockstar Edition
by Erin McCarthy
From her Princess Leia buns to her color-coordinated lightsaber, cosplay-loving Harper Harrison is all about low-stress fun. So when her BFF Ellie invites her to a rock concert she’s all in… right up until Ellie unexpectedly rushes the stage and Harper ends up with a broken arm, courtesy of a security guard built like a Tauntaun.
What could be worse? How about the rock god showing up in the ER?
After a woman breaks her arm at his concert, Chris “Stryker” Evans knows it’s past time for him to reform his bad boy image. Step one: visit the hospital and apologize to the fan. Only then he meets Harper, the self-proclaimed nerd, and hears her laughter and sees her banging curves. Suddenly, an apology isn’t the only thing he wants to give her.
Harper refuses to drop her shields around Stryker, even though he sets her over-active imagination on fire. But when Stryker finds himself falling for this fascinating, funny, down-to-earth woman, he realizes that life beyond the bright lights could hold a galaxy of possibilities. So he hits on a plan to show Harper how he really feels for her…
Sometimes, when you least expect it, love becomes the most powerful force of all.
The Ever After Edition
by Elizabeth Bemis
Worried by an unexpected increase in her caseload, social worker Ellie Mittelstadt is looking for anything to make her smile. When she stops in a fortune teller’s tent at the Haralson Fall Festival, however, she never expects the psychic to predict she’ll fall in love—and with a man named “Chris Evans.” What are the odds?
Worse, she quickly discovers five Chris Evanses in Haralson, which means Ellie can only determine her perfect match via bold—and occasionally hysterical—trial and error. Still, she can’t help wonder…what if?
Dr. John Christopher Evans is new to Haralson, and it’s been a challenging first week. He has a hospital administrator who can’t read his handwriting and business cards and ID badge that read Dr. John Enars, and his first patient is a young boy with an illness that defies diagnosis. The only person keeping the child company is his social worker, Ellie—who instantly charms John with her gentle smile and generous heart. If he had any game, he’d ask her out…but after mourning his late wife for the past couple of years then getting so caught up in his work, he doesn’t even know where to begin.
Ellie’s campaign for true love is going nowhere fast, but at least she’s distracted with her newest charge—and his strong, caring physician “Dr. John”, who’d be perfect except he’s not Chris Evans…and he’s still wearing a wedding band. How in the world will she ever find romance when she can’t stop thinking about Mr. Wrong?
Fortunately for Ellie, fate has things well in hand…
Finding Chris Evans:
The Fortune Teller Edition
Elizabeth Danforth, Madame Esmerelda to her clients, and Aunt Izzy to her family, has run the carnival fortune-telling circuit long enough to know sometimes, fate needs a little nudge. After tragedy struck years ago, she waited too long to ask the universe to bring love back into her life. She’s determined not to let others make the same mistake.
When her travels take her to Haralson, Minnesota, though, she’s surprised by a visit from her nephew Christopher Evans, a widowed pediatric physician. Izzy’s heart breaks when she sees the sadness Chris still carries years after his wife’s passing. Surely there’s something she can do?
Then her next client buzzes in, bright and full of joy, and Izzy hatches a plan. Ellie Mittelstadt is looking for romance, and the universe owes Izzy a favor. She intones her fateful prediction as she lifts her hands over her crystal ball…
“When you find Chris Evans, true love will follow…”
Then she sees not only her beloved nephew Chris swirling in the mist of her visions…but five others! How will Ellie find the right one?
Fortunately, fate has its own plans. With laughter, luck and a little bit of magic, true love’s now on the job of
Finding Chris Evans
.
A beam of light pierced the incense-fogged darkness of her colorful tent, and Elizabeth Danforth, also known to the attendees to the attendees of the Haralson Fall Festival as Esmerelda the gypsy fortune teller, adjusted the sheer scarves across her face so that only her eyes showed.
A man stepped in, his features obscured by the bright noon-day sun backlighting his trim form.
“Velcome. I am Esmerelda. Seet. Seet.” She indicated the bench across from the small round table draped in shimmering, multi-colored scarves. “And who might you be?”
A handsome and familiar face appeared before her, and before she could do more than squeal her recognition, he dropped a kiss high on her cheekbone. “Hi, Aunt Izzy.”
“John Christopher Evans! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to town?”
“Technically, you’re in my town now.” He plopped down on the bench across from her.
“Oh! Your mom said you were moving, but I didn’t catch where.”
“This is what you miss out by not having email or being on Facebook.”
She laughed. “And be tethered to my phone every moment? No thank you. Would you like some tea?”
“Sure.”
Elizabeth poked her head out of the tent to check to see if she had a line. Her assistant sat in front of a TV tray which held a cash box, while she scrolled through something on her phone. “Becky, I’m going to take a break. Let the next person know it’ll be about a half an hour.”
“Sure,” Becky said without ever looking up, and Elizabeth grimaced. That girl was a slave to her technology. She probably hadn’t made eye contact with anyone in a month.
The back portion of Elizabeth’s tent was cordoned off with a curtain, and she ducked behind it to grab two tea cups and a hot pot that was always plugged in and ready to go for those guests who wanted their tea leaves read.
She placed a spoonful of tea leaves directly into each cup and then filled them with hot water. “How are you, Chris?”
“Things are really good.”
Elizabeth studied her nephew closely. She didn’t believe him. Lines bracketed his mouth and creased around his eyes that hadn’t been there a few years before. His aura screamed of loneliness. His wife had been gone for three years, brought down in six short weeks by a cancerous brain tumor.
She took his hands in hers. “Really?” The index finger and thumb on her right hand made contact with the wedding ring he still wore on his left.
She knew what it was like to love deeply, and to take the loss of that love so very hard that it seemed like the world might end. At least she’d had her son, Ben, to help her recover. Having an active toddler had somewhat reduced the temptation of wallowing in her misery—or at least made her too busy to do it for long.
She squeezed his hands before sitting back and taking a sip of her tea. “Are you settling in?”
