Greater Than Rubies, a Novella inspired by the Jewel Trilogy (35 page)

“I walked.”

He narrowed his eyes. “From where?”

She gestured at her pastel pink pants, the matching top, and the white jacket with the pastel slashes of color. “Hello? From the hospital.”

“Are you out of your mind?” She opened her mouth to argue with him, but he cut her off. “That’s easily four or five blocks. Downtown. On a Friday night.”

“It’s not like the streets were deserted or anything.”

“What possessed you to walk?”

She bared her teeth. “It might have something to do with the fact that my car wouldn’t start.”

“Why didn’t you call someone?”

She’d had enough. She was really sorry that she’d whacked him with her umbrella, but the truth was she really couldn’t stand the man and never had been able to stomach him. “I’ve been an adult for a long time, Derrick, and I don’t answer to anyone, most especially you. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve had a really long day and I’m going to bed.”

“Sarah …”

She stood. “No. I’m done. Good night.”

As she brushed by him, his hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her arm. She froze, stared down at him, waiting. “I apologize,” he offered with his most velvet voice.

“I’m not going to fall for the smooth charm, Derrick. Now let me go. I’m tired.”

His jaw clenched as he released her. When he heard the click of her bedroom door shutting, he ripped the ice pack off his back and threw it across the room. He turned and carefully leaned back until his back touched the chair. Then he closed his eyes and sighed.

Six years later. Six years and he was still completely in love with her.

He’d hoped it had been a crush, kind of like what he had for Robin, even a touch for Maxine. The sisters had charmed him the second he laid eyes on them, and he loved them for their beauty and their love of life. Except it was more, much more, with Sarah.

And she couldn’t stand him.

She would never look at him and see anything but the teenager in the ripped leather jacket with the I-dare-you scowl. He’d changed, though, in every way he possibly could. He had cleaned his clothes, cleaned his act, found Christ, and followed God. Like his water baptism cleansed his soul and made him a new person, he shed his past and created a new person. It didn’t matter. She still looked down her perky little befreckled nose at him.

He rubbed his face with his hands and surged to his feet. He thought about her traipsing through the heart of the city alone at this hour with only a purse and an umbrella and thought about all of the terrible things that could have been waiting for her during that five block walk. He whispered a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s protection over her in those early morning hours, and retired to his own bedroom, sorry that their reunion had not gone well at all.

Any secret, unacknowledged hope he had of winning her over with a smoothly executed reunion meeting was now gone forever.

If you missed
Topaz Heat
, part 3 of
The Jewel Trilogy
, buy it now in Paperback or eBook.

HE
very moment Derrick DiNunzio meets Sarah Thomas, he realizes he has a reason to live. Sarah sees only an unshaven tough kid covered with tattoos and shuts down every advance.

Sarah has no memory of her broken young life leading up to the tragic murder of her mother. Her memory begins the morning she wakes in the home of her loving adoptive parents. She doesn't even know her sisters exist until her fifteenth year. She learns to love her siblings, but always feels a little out of place in their presence.

A benevolent billionaire offers Derrick a home and an education. Fresh off the streets and rescued from a criminal future, Derrick sheds his old life. He trades his ripped leather jacket for silk suits; dealing drugs for mentoring "at risk" youth; lock picking and back door jobs for the rigors of mountain climbing and hotel management.

Sarah cannot seem to see beyond the past Derrick left behind … until one day she does. When they finally come together, an indictment threatens their future. Now the heat is on. Will Sarah finally set aside her prejudices and open her heart to true love or will the long forgotten past tear them apart forever?

EADY
for more thrilling romance?

LL
three complete novels in the critically acclaimed Christian romance series
The Jewel Trilogy
−
Sapphire Ice
,
Emerald Fire
, and
Topaz Heat
– are available now in a single anthology collection in Paperback or eBook.

ALLEE BRIDGEMAN
lives with her husband and their three children in small town Kentucky. When she’s not writing Christian romance novels, she blogs about cooking and homemaking at
HalleeTheHomemaker.com
.

Hallee started writing when her oldest child and only daughter was a baby, but a busy professional career and being the wife of a deployed soldier had her shelve her books for another time. Two more children, a cross country move, and God’s perfect timing brought the books back to be dusted off and presented to you now.

Hallee loves coffee, campy action movies, and regular date nights with her husband. Above all else, she loves God with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength; has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ; and relies on the presence of the Holy Spirit.