Christine Presents: Friday's Featured Title

Title: Death of a Waterfall

Author: Kara Leigh Miller

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Genre: Contemporary Romance

Excerpt Heat Level: 1

Book Heat Level: 4

Buy at: www.roguephoenixpress.com

Twenty year old, college freshman, Teghan Jacobs didn’t think anything could be worse than learning she’s pregnant by a man she’s been dating less than six months. Boy, was she wrong. Her mother whose drowning in the river of denial refuses to take a side on the issue. Her overbearing, manipulative father threatens to disown her and cut her off from her trust fund if she doesn’t have an abortion.

Donnie Marks couldn’t be happier. The woman he loves, the woman he fought so hard to be with, is going to have his baby. Life has never been better. But when she shows up in his dorm, sobbing and heartbroken, he learns the horrible truth of what happened. He vows to get revenge on the man who's responsible: Teghan's father.

EXCERPT

Teghan had been waiting for this day for three long months. She'd been dreading it for just as long. Having survived her brother's relentless teasing, her older sister's dramatics, her mother's smothering, and her father's domineering ways, she had finally made it. She was heading to college and for the first time in her life, she was going to be on her own. Okay, so the Hayden Falls University campus was less than an hour from her house, but she was living in the dorms, and that represented a level of freedom she hadn't experienced before. The possibilities of what she could do were endless. She'd thought taking time off after high school to spend a year in London with her brother and best friend had been exciting. It was nothing compared to this--probably because her father had hired a live-in bodyguard to keep tabs on them in London, which was such a drag. But there was no need for her father to do that now. She was truly free.

And then her family arrived seconds later in her father's ugly green Lincoln Navigator. It was officially moving day.

"Mom, are the balloons really necessary?" Teghan asked.

Her mother, Rachel, maneuvered around the tiny dorm room with an ostentatious purple vase filled with white roses. Large foil balloons in the shapes of hearts that read "Congratulations," "We love you," and "Good luck" were tied to the rim. She set them on the desk that stood at the foot of the single bed. "They give the room color, don't ya think?"

Teghan dropped her face into her hands and shook her head in disbelief. "Paint will give the room color," she mumbled.

"Don't talk back to your mother, Teghan," her father, Rob, said as he entered the room, arms full of luggage. He piled it on the bed. "This is it?" Rob asked, looking around the sardine can of a room. "Well, this is just unacceptable. I'm going to the student housing office." He pointed his finger at the luggage. "Don't unpack a thing until I get back."

"Daddy!" Teghan said. "Don't!"

"Don't be ridiculous. I won't allow you to live in these conditions."

"Your father's right, sweetie. It doesn't look as though this carpet has had a proper cleaning in years," her mother said.

"I agree. This room sucks and it's ugly, but causing a scene at the housing department isn't going to change anything."

"Trevor! Get in here," Rob shouted, sticking his head out the door.

"Oh God," Teghan groaned. She'd begged her brother to stay home.

"Now stop it, Teghan. Your brother wanted to be here for this," Rachel said. "He's leaving for Rygard on Monday. You should be happy he wants to share this day with you." Tears welled up in her eyes. "It's too bad your sister couldn't be here."

"Mom, don't cry." Teghan gave her mother a hug. She, too, was sad that her older sister wasn't able to be here, but she was in Kentucky with her soon-to-be husband.

"I refuse to participate in a group hug," Trevor joked. He walked the rest of the way into the room and whistled. "Bitchin' room, sis."

"Watch your mouth, boy," Rob scolded him.

"Sorry, Dad," Trevor said and frowned.                                  

Teghan broke free from her mother's death-grip hug and was now standing by the door, which to her horror, had never been closed.

"Where's that person? You know the resident assistant?" Rob asked.

Trevor laughed. "It's called the resident advisor, Dad."

Rob walked toward the door. He had that certain gait about him again--the one where he'd tuck his hands into his pockets, purse his lips, and purposefully step harder than necessary, making it sound like he was stomping. Teghan knew that meant he was displeased and intent on getting results. She cringed. What a way to make an impression. She'd be forever known as the spoiled rich girl who had to have Daddy yell at people until she got her way. That was a reputation she'd had in high school, and it was one she didn't want to have in college. She had to stop him.