# Where Dreams Are Born



## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

Currently on sale for 99 cents at all online bookstores. Hope you'll check it out. 
http://amzn.to/160QSjZ

Where Dreams Are Born

It was supposed to be a win-win situation--a safe environment in which to raise a son for single mom Vicky, housekeeping and childcare for widowed Jack. Believing they've had their shot at happiness, neither is looking to complicate their lives with a romantic entanglement. At first Jack sees Vicky as skinny and plain, guarded with him, but openly warm with his children, an important quality for a man who grew up in the foster care system. However, his growing attraction to the woman who scrubs his toilets and does his laundry complicates their working relationship. Vicky, too, is reluctant to get involved, having been down that road before with disastrous results.

When Jack learns his best friend fathered Vicky's son and now wants partial custody, he feels threatened. He's come to care deeply for both, and doesn't want to lose the family they've become. In desperation he offers a radical solution--marriage. Vicky knows she can do worse than marry Jack, but wonders how successful their marriage would be when its only reason for being was to keep from losing her son. Add to this a troubled child with a secret about her dead mother and a vindictive ex bent on revenge and problems abound.

http://amzn.to/160QSjZ


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

Congratulations, Joyce!

I wish you many sales.  

Karen


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

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## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

How about a snippet from Where Dreams are Born?

Vicky took little notice as her employer went upstairs to change, still stunned by the trust he placed in her. Especially since their informal interview that morning yielded only trivial information on both sides. He didn't poke into her life to any great extent, and she, returning the favor, accorded him the same courtesy.

An angry howl from the family room alerted Vicky to trouble brewing. Screaming at the top of her lungs, Suzy struggled to disengage her baby sister's fingers from her hair. When Jodie refused to let go, Suzy bopped her one. Now two children howled. Linda, oblivious to the battle raging beside her, continued playing with her Barbie doll. Vicky separated the children, dried four teary eyes, and then returned to the kitchen just as the oven timer buzzed.

A movement from outside caught her eye, and she glanced up to see Jack hoist himself from the pool, adjust the fabric of his suit around his tight buttocks, and then stride out of sight.

Remembering her pie, Vicky removed it to a rack to cool. And though she didn't want to, she found herself searching out her employer again. When he came into view, she couldn't take her eyes off him, captivated by the sunlight glinting off the slick muscles of his well-toned body. Perched on the edge of the pool, he looked like an Olympic hopeful preparing to win a gold medal. He pushed off, and the force of his dive propelled him halfway across the pool. His movements, smooth and graceful, indicated he was athletic as well as intelligent. It was a combination that had been her undoing once before.

But Jack Hazlett, despite his expensive sheep's clothing or present lack of same, was her employer. And though she intended to be the best, damn housekeeper and nanny the man ever had, if he expected more than child tending . . . well, he'd have to get his rocks off with someone else. She was through with his kind.

Finished with his swim, Jack came inside. "Damn, it's cold in here," he said, shivering. "Do you have the air on?"

"No," she said, giving him a wide berth.

Wrapping his towel tighter, he inched closer to the oven for warmth. "Mmm, that pie sure smells good."

"Thanks," she said, trying not to notice that his hair was as black and shiny as a newborn pup's, and his ears, pink and nicely shaped, resembled the rare, perfect shells she and Tommy sometimes found at the beach.

Her skittering eyes landed on the water pooling at his feet. Noticing the direction of her gaze, he stared at the puddle like a little boy who'd just had an embarrassing accident. "Sorry," he said, dropping his towel to the floor and mopping it with his foot.

Unsettled by the sight of a half-naked man less than five feet away, Vicky tore off her apron and reached for her purse. "If there's nothing else then, I'll be going now. See you in the morning." Before he had a chance to engage her in further conversation, she rushed out.

Joyce


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## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

Here is an excerpt from Where Dreams are Born.

In the foster care system, most of the kids learned early on to rein in their emotions, wary of showing anger when ragged lest they become the butt of every prank. And God help the poor tyke who couldn't control a quivery lip and brimming eyes. Even joy was suspect, a kid sooner scorning that which brought pleasure than risk having it snatched away by mean-spirited playmates.
After surviving a childhood as bereft as one could imagine, Jack felt it his duty to prevent a similar experience for Tommy. What boy wouldn't benefit from having a man in his corner, someone with whom he could toss a ball, watch scary movies on a rainy Sunday, or just plain hang out and grouse about the peculiarities of the opposite sex?

Jack paused in the hallway outside his room, transfixed by the figure pirouetting in front of his mirror. On her third twirl, she saw him and stopped so suddenly she nearly tipped over.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you come home," she said in a breathy voice. Eyes large and luminous, she tugged at the pale wisps of hair at the nape of her neck. "I hope you don't mind, but I spent more than I planned. I have all the receipts here."

His jaw dropped. "Uh, no. No, I don't mind."

"I stopped off at the beauty parlor too." She smiled, and her smile assaulted him. Everything in the room dimmed but her and that killer smile. "What do you think?" she said, showing no mercy.

Jack stared back. What did he think? Her hair, once drab and lifeless, now seemed almost iridescent, the shade a dazzling blend of Christmas tinsel shot through with gold dust. Had it always been that sparkly? And her eyes, once as mesmerizing as muddy water swirling down a storm drain, now reminded him of melted honey.

"Do I look presentable?" she asked, firing another volley of smiles.

Jack surrendered without a fight. "Uh, yeah," he mumbled. "You look―terrific."

Once the words fell out of his mouth, both blushed, aware his positive response took their relationship out of one realm and into another.
***

Thanks for reading.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

Congratulations, Joyce! Great review.


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## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

I'm reviving my threads here in the Book Bazaar. Today I have a new excerpt for you.

Jack pried the child's dimpled arms from his neck, kissed her sisters, and rumpled Tommy's hair. "Where's your mom, sport?"

"Upstairs trying on her new clothes."

"Daddy," Linda said, tugging at his arm. "Can you take us to the park after supper?"

"Can't, honey, I have a racquetball game tonight."

"Tomorrow?"

"Can't then either, babe. I promised Tommy we'd work on his pitching arm."

The little girl's face clouded over.

"Honey, I'm sorry. I already promised Tommy. Besides, Daddy needs time to do just guy stuff. I'll take all of you to the park some other time, okay?"

Linda's bottom lip bulged. "Ohh-kay," she said, drawing out each forlorn syllable.

Hoping to cheer her up, Jack tickled her under the chin. "But, hey, we're all going to the beach on Sunday. That'll be fun."

Linda returned his announcement with a feeble smile, Suzy greeted it with a delighted shriek, and Jodie merely wrinkled her button nose and grinned.

Jack grinned as well, amazed by his children's diverse personalities. Linda, independent and controlled, expressed her feelings subtly if at all; Suzy, abounding with exuberance, shared every emotion the instant she experienced it, vocally, animatedly, and uninhibitedly; sweet, even-tempered Jodie fell somewhere in between, not as aloof as one sister, not as vociferous as the other. A real mixed bag, he thought as he climbed the stairs, unlike the children he grew up with.

In the foster care system, most of the kids learned early on to rein in their emotions, wary of showing anger when ragged lest they become the butt of every prank. And God help the poor tyke who couldn't control a quivery lip and brimming eyes. Even joy was suspect, a kid sooner scorning that which brought him pleasure than risk having it snatched away by mean-spirited playmates.

******
I hope you'll check it out.


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## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

Jack watched Vicky retreat to her little patch of sand, ashamed of himself for not insisting she stay, but glad to be relieved of the veiled innuendos and knowing winks from people who normally showed more class. As she weaved through the crowd, a few guests standing about with drinks in their hands twisted their necks to look at her, no doubt wondering who she was, why they'd never seen her before, and who she came with. As they would for any attractive woman.

The sudden notion that others might find Vicky attractive gave a new wrinkle to Jack's thoughts, and he looked to the peach-colored speck in the distance with a strange sense of pride.

Then reality knocked some sense into him. Vicky wasn't his wife, his lover, or his date. She was, plain and simple, his domestic help. And he had no reason―or right―to feel anything.

"Hi," a tall redhead from the secretarial pool purred as she snaked her arm around his. "Remember me?"

For the next several minutes, Jack endured the uncomfortable flattery of a woman on the prowl. The woman he knew only as Glynis wore an eye searing, lime green bikini with a matching swatch of cloth tucked into her generous cleavage. The cover-up covered little, however, and she seemed to delight in his embarrassed glances up, down, and everywhere but at the cushiony mounds from which the fabric flowed.

"Jack, glad you made it," said Russ, coming to his rescue. "Did you bring the kids and the nanny?"

Jack winced at the word. "Yes," he answered. "I brought the―nanny."

The pert blonde beside Russ pecked a welcome on Jack's cheek. "Jack, good to see you," Claire Glendenning said. "And where are those sweet little girls? I can't wait to see them again."

Jack directed her up the beach with instructions to look for a woman in a peach outfit with a baby on her lap. He could've added she was also young, blonde, slender, and pretty, but he sensed enough speculation floating about without his adding to it.

**********


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## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

You can get Where Dreams Are Born for only 99 cents at all online bookstores until Jan.2, 2021. After that date it will revert to its regular price. Hope you get a chance to check it out. Here's a link since my lineup at the bottom of my posts seems to have disappeared.
http://amzn.to/160QSjZ


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