Free Return to Pearl Island, Bonus Chapters by Julie Ortolon Page B

interview her for their morning show?
    “I really don’t know about this, Chance.”
    “Aurora, you’re going to do great.” He squeezed her hands. “I
know
it.”
    “I’ll try,” she said, searching for courage.
    “If I know you, you’ll do more than try.” As his gaze traveled over her face, admiration softened his eyes. “How did I ever get so lucky to have you fall in love with me?”
    “Marguerite’s charm?” she suggested.
    “Must be. It’s the only explanation.”
    ”Either that”—she draped her arms over his shoulders, determined to be brave—”or I simply have exceptional taste in men.”
    “That too.” He lowered his mouth toward her.
    “Wait!” She pulled back. “My lip gloss.”
    “Looks yummy. Is it flavored?”
    “Very Berry.” She grinned.
    “Mmm,” he murmured and kissed her.
    She expected a quick peck, but his mouth settled in to toy and taste, sending a thrill of excitement through her. After eight years of marriage, he still knew how to curl her toes. Forgetting her nerves, she molded her body to his and kissed him back.
    “Mo-om!” a young voice drew the word out in a two-syllable complaint.
    Rory pulled back, laughing at her daughter’s tone. Seven-year-old Lauren, who’d been coloring in the living room, now stood in the doorway with hands on hips. Dressed in a yellow sundress, she looked like an irritated ray of sunshine with long, blond ringlets. Thanks to her Gran’ma Ellen and Great Aunt Viv, she’d turned into quite the little fashionista. And oh, the horror of finding her parents in a lip lock.
    “Sorry, Peanut,” Rory offered, backing away from her equally amused husband. “What do you need?”
    “Not me.” Lauren pointed back toward the open great room. “AJ!”
    “What?” Rory hurried forward. She’d had the children in her peripheral vision while putting on makeup, but then Chance had kissed her. She’d only taken her eye off AJ for a few seconds but she knew her son. Reaching the door, she spotted four-year-old AJ in the kitchen—standing on top of the counter with a cabinet open. Rising onto his toes, he reached toward the top shelf.
    “Adrian James Chancellor,” she called, leaping into action, weaving her way through furniture, and brightly colored toys. “What are you doing?”
    With a guilty start, he turned and saw her coming. “I’m not up here,” he said, trying to scramble down the way he’d gone up, by using open drawers as a ladder. “You don’t see me.”
    “Oh, yes I do.” She reached him in time to pluck him into her arms before he could break a drawer and tumble to the floor. “How did you get these open? I have child locks on these.”
    “Like that’s going to stop our little Evil Knievel,” Chance said striding into the scene with Lauren in his wake. He looked amused and just a tiny bit proud.
    Rory scowled at him, then at her son. “You little stinker, what were you doing?”
    “Animule Crackers!”
    “You’re about to have breakfast, so no, you can’t have crackers. Plus, you’re supposed to ask, remember?” Shifting him to her side, she closed the drawers, making sure they latched. “You do not climb up on the counter to get them yourself. Do you understand?”
    He pushed his bottom lip out in a mulish pout she knew all too well. Like his sister, he had golden curls and an angel’s face, but his came paired with a sturdy body and a daredevil’s heart.
    “I swear to you, Chance,” she told her husband, “your son is going to be the death of me.”
    “He gets that from you, not me,” Chance said.
    “What?”
    “Determination. Come here, rascal.” When Chance held out his hands, AJ leapt eagerly out of Rory’s arms with no fear of gravity. Chance caught him, as he always did, then held him up so they could talk eye to eye. “Your mommy’s nervous enough today, so you need to be an extra good boy, okay?”
    “‘Kay,” AJ agreed, which meant nothing. Rory knew he’d be right back to his