Can the answer to her curse lie in the dreams of the past?

 

Once Upon A Dream

© 2012 Jennifer Archer

 

When Professor Alex Simon moves to Canyon, Texas from England, he welcomes the opportunity to change his locale. Not only would he be aiding his recently widowed sister, but he would have a chance to forget a failed relationship. 

Robin Wise is less than impressed by her new neighbor– and his little devil-cat. The feline taunts her dog, and its stuffy owner has the gall to blame her pup for the squabbles. But at a second glance, Alex isn't quite as nerdy as he seems. As a matter of fact, when he isn't insulting her dog, he can be quite charming. 

But Robin has her own problems. An inherited curse looms over her impending thirtieth birthday, and until Robin can overcome the hex, she can't indulge in any fantasy she might have regarding the more-perfect-by-the-minute professor. No matter how she wishes she had the courage to act on the awakened desire in her heart.

 

Enjoy the following excerpt for Once Upon a Dream:

 

Alex began his usual bedtime ritual: floss three minutes, brush two, gargle one. Then he told himself Johnny Amigo wouldn’t preoccupy himself with such finicky grooming habits. So, disgusted by his own tendencies, he turned his back on his dental floss and went to bed.

But the beer he’d consumed tasted stale in his mouth, and he couldn’t sleep. So, ten minutes after turning out the light, he rose again and resigned himself to resuming the habitual routine.

He still couldn’t sleep.

For the second time, Alex got up. He opened the window wider, hoping fresh air and the sounds of the summer rain shower would do the trick. He couldn’t quit thinking about the caller who’d followed him on Doctor Dave’s radio program. Finally…a woman who claimed to understand him, and he’d never know who she was. Just his luck.

Her fears were as illogical as his own. More so. As an academic, a professor of both botany and entomology, Alex didn’t believe in curses and other such superstitions. Still, he could understand how a woman, even an intelligent one, with the caller’s family history might become obsessed with such beliefs, logical or not. Although she was a stranger, for some reason, he wished he could help, that he could convince her the so-called curse could only hurt her if she believed in it.

Giving up on sleep, Alex switched on the bedside lamp and sat up. He reached for Amigo’s Justice, the second book in the Johnny Amigo trilogy. The first in the series had been checked out, so he had yet to read it. If Alex couldn’t rescue the damsel in distress on the radio, he guessed he might as well see how Johnny fared with his damsel.

After readjusting and plumping the pillows beneath his shoulders, Alex slipped on his glasses and started to read. Fifteen minutes later, his eyes drifted shut. Amigo’s Justice slipped from his fingers, slid down his bare stomach, then toppled to the floor.

A breeze rippled the bedroom curtains, but Alex was unaware. He didn’t see the blue butterfly flutter into the room through the tiny hole in the window screen. At first the butterfly settled on the pillow beside Alex’s head. But after a moment, it perched atop his nose, causing a tickle and making him sneeze.

And Alex dreamed…