Professor Caresse Deveau is all about work and trying to solve the meaning behind her reoccurring dream. Her mother’s interference of getting a son-in-law and a grandbaby is non-stop. Hoping for some rest and relaxation on their mother and daughter cruise, her mother cancels at the last minute.

Was this a ploy on her mother’s part to see her find a boyfriend?

Dennie Lang, owner of several vineyards in the US and England, is onboard to train the crew to serve his wines. From the first moment he sees Caresse, he is attracted to her and with the help of the Captain Neil Becker, his ex-brother-in-law, arranges to be seated at a dinner table for two.

When unseen forces worked to bring them together, there is someone trying to make sure it doesn’t happen and sets other events into motion. Will their new-found love at first sight be enough to keep them together?

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Release Date: July 18, 2023
Genre: Contemporary Romance

A Pink Satin Romance

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Excerpt

Chapter One

 

The sky darkened.

Thunder and lightning rippled across the clouds. Tall stalks of cotton waved in the forceful winds. A young girl was talking to two male workers.

“Keep her safe, Missy. Give her to the Master,” one of the men said and handed the young girl a doll.

Before the girl could reply, a black-haired man in the distance standing next to a carriage piled high with luggage and furniture, yelled. “Nicolette.”

The girl hugged the doll. She ran toward the man but fell and the doll flew out of her hands. Franticly, on her hands and knees, she searched the ground, ignoring the cotton stalks as they pulled at her hair and tore her dress.

“Go Missy. We’ll take care of her,” one of the men said.

“Nicolette! Nicolette! Come here. We have to leave right now for New Orleans!”

“Daddy, I cannot find her! I cannot leave without her.”

A woman’s bonnet’d head appeared in the carriage’s window. Strands of black hair blew across her face.

“Nicolette, now! I will have one of the field hands bring her to the city. Come here this instant. We are leaving the plantation.”

The young girl got to her feet and hurried, wiping tears while looking over her shoulder. The man picked up the child and placed her inside the carriage. He joined the woman and girl and snapped to the driver to be on their way.

 

* * *

 

Professor Caresse Deveau awoke with a shudder, placing a hand over her heart as she sat up in bed.

The images of her recurring dream now faded, leaving her breathless. She waited for the unwavering pain of sadness, which usually came after waking.

Her heart ached every time at the little girl’s anguish when she’d stared at the house. It had to be the family’s home, but why were they leaving?

Grabbing her iPad from the nightstand, she quickly opened ‘notes’ and typed.

Young girl long black hair lost her doll.

Tall man same hair color. Daddy.

Woman in a coach. Black hair too. Large hat.

Caresse deleted the word hat and typed bonnet and underlined it. Closing her eyes, she forced her mind to remember more. It worked. Quickly, she added.

Girl wore a dress to her knees with black ankle boots.

White apron.

Plantation–two story house with balconies.

Boarded up windows.

Two male workers. Field hands?

Called the girl, Missy and the dad, Master.

Then nothing. The memories of the dream gone.

For years, it had haunted her, but lately it was coming more often and playing out more of the vision. She didn’t know what else to call it because she never dreamed in color except for this vision-nightmare. It always started with the man shouting to the crying young girl and calling the name Nicolette.

Frustrated, Caresse pushed off the handmade quilt and scrolled through pages of notes until she came to one from a year ago.

Man’s face etched with deep concern as if he knew something he couldn’t share. Or something tragic would happen.

Swiping upward, she reread the newly entered comments. Excitement set in over tonight’s vision; she’d seen a woman for the first time. She forced herself to concentrate on the woman.

Nothing.

The girl hadn’t called the woman anything. Could it have been the girl’s mother? Or an aunt? Maybe a governess?

Next to the remark about the woman, she added, mother with a question mark. Then underlined the word plantation and bolded a possible location, The South.

It would be a huge land area to search, but she’d be able to comb through pictures of old plantations in the college library.

Glancing to the top of the screen, the iPad showed it was almost 4:00 a.m. She’d been at this for over an hour. Closing her eyes, the adrenaline high long gone, she longed for sleep.

For the last couple of years, she’d been determined to solve the puzzle, but now it was consuming all her spare time. She had even reached out to several of her colleagues at the university, for advice. None had been able to help interpret what the dreams meant or why she was experiencing them. They had encouraged her to keep a diary.

And so began her methodical writing. Which led her to embark on a research of her family ancestry.

Tapping the calendar, her schedule of classes, lectures, and tutoring appointments were scattered across the whole week. Then in bold letters, “Mother Daughter Cruise”.

Damn.

She had forgotten the cruise was next week. Her mother, Elita, had been way too quiet about the preparation. What was she up to? Usually, there would’ve been emails and calls, but now as she thought about it there had been none. Zilch.

An unconscious smile formed on her mouth for a moment and then disappeared as a sickening feeling came on. She’d bet any amount of money her mother, forever being a matchmaker, had somehow arranged for a man to be her date on the cruise.

Her father, Chase, simply ignored all the orchestrated endless dates. All her mother wanted was grandbabies, like yesterday.

Love didn’t just happen. At least it hadn’t for her. Who’s to say it ever would? One would have to have time and a personal life to date, which she didn’t have.

Being one of the youngest history professors at The University of New Orleans for the last five years, she’d worked harder than the others to prove that she was just like them. If she was going to find a husband like her mother wanted, it would require her resignation as department chair. That would solve her free time problem.

Caresse brushed aside all thoughts of love, dates, her mother, and the pending seven-day cruise. Saving the notes, she turned off the iPad and set it on the nightstand. Reaching for the quilt, she inhaled sharply, afraid to move.

At the foot of her bed stood the ‘Little Girl’ from her dreams, crying.

Caresse blinked.

The girl remained a shimmer of black and white, with raised arms as if she was reaching out.

An eerie silence ensued, and the room grew colder.

“Help find her.”

The request came in a low hoarse voice with a southern twang. Caresse held her breath.

“Help find her.”

Once the girl repeated the request, she lowered her arms, turned, and vanished.

 

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