Adoring Stacey

Adoring Stacey
 
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 Elsa Winckler
 Table of Contents
 Title Page
 Adoring Stacey (Unexpected Love, #4)
 dedication
 CHAPTER 1
 CHAPTER 2
 CHAPTER 3
 CHAPTER 4
 CHAPTER 5
 CHAPTER 6
 CHAPTER 7
 CHAPTER 8
 CHAPTER 9
 CHAPTER 10
 CHAPTER 11
 CHAPTER 12
 CHAPTER 13
 CHAPTER 14
 CHAPTER 15
 CHAPTER 16
 CHAPTER 17
 CHAPTER 18
 CHAPTER 19
 CHAPTER 20
 Acknowledgements
 DON’T MISS THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE UNEXPECTED LOVE SERIES | KISSING CHARLIE: #1
 PROTECTING LINDSAY: #2
 LOVING BROOKE: #3
 About the Author
 The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, places, or events is coincidental and not intended by the author.
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 If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property and reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher. In such case the author has not received any payment for this “stripped book.”
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 Adoring Stacey
 Copyright © 2023 Elsa Winckler
 All rights reserved.
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 ISBN: (ebook) 978-1-958136-25-6
 (print) 978-1-958136-26-3
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 Inkspell Publishing
 207 Moonglow Circle #101
 Murrells Inlet, SC 29576
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 Edited By Rie Langdon
 Cover Art By Fantasia Frog
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 This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The copying, scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions, and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
 dedication
 
 
 
 To our son Johan for all his love and support
 CHAPTER 1
 
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 “I simply have to talk to Stacey, right now!” Eleanor Johnson’s voice carried right to the back of the shop where Stacey Lawrence happened to be working in her office. “I’ve been here twice already this morning.”
 Swallowing a soft groan, Stacey got up and walked to the front of her printing-slash-design-slash-handling-computer-related-problems shop.
 “Oh, Stacey, there you are!” Eleanor beamed and rushed closer, her arms outstretched, ready for a hug. “I’ve just been telling Billie here it’s urgent that I talk to you. It seems I keep missing you today.”
 Guiltily, Stacey returned the older woman’s hug. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Eleanor Johnson. In fact, she loved talking to the flamboyant, funny, and endearing local artist, but besides the fact that she was crazy busy on this freezing last Friday of October, she was also extremely wary of Eleanor’s self-proclaimed matchmaking skills.
 As a very happy single woman, her biggest frustration since moving to Alisson, Montana two years before was that everyone in this town, especially Eleanor, seemed bent on finding her the one thing she seriously didn’t want: a husband.
 When she’d arrived here, two of the first people she’d met were the two Wilson sisters, Charlie and Lindsay, both local businesswomen. It had been such a surprise to discover that they, like Stacey, were also originally from South Africa.
 Over the last two years, Charlie had married Eleanor’s son Logan and Lindsay had married Blake Davidson, an ex-FBI agent who was now one of the owners of the local dojo in town.
 Eleanor’s daughter Brooke, also a renowned artist, had married Charlie and Lindsay’s brother Gavin, and he’d subsequently moved to Alisson during the past year. Although Eleanor had never admitted she’d played any active role in these love matches, the town gossip mill was full of stories of how she’d wrangled things to get the couples together.
 Eleanor had been shamelessly inquisitive about Stacey’s history ever since her arrival in town, but so far, she’d managed to evade the older woman’s questions by offering simple, vague answers with a smile. Even though Stacey preferred not to think of the past—it wasn’t as if she had anything to hide—but she’d quickly picked up on Eleanor’s not-so-subtle-attempts to try and find her a husband.
 So, the less Stacey talked about her herself, the quicker Eleanor would find a new subject to try her matchmaking skills on, she’d reasoned. However, since Brooke and Gavin had tied the knot in June earlier that year, it was clear Eleanor had turned the focus of her skills on Stacey with renewed gusto, something that made Stacey even more wary.
 “I need your help, dear,” Eleanor was saying.
 Stacey smiled tentatively. “As long as it’s not about dating anyone, I’m happy to help.”
 Eleanor sighed dramatically. “You are one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. With all that glorious red hair and your beautiful sapphire blue eyes, you have all the single men—and, I’m afraid, even some not-so-single men—in this town just about salivating after you—”
 Rolling her eyes, Stacey groaned out loud to stop her. “Seriously, Eleanor, I’ve—”
 “Don’t worry,” Eleanor interrupted, seemingly resigned. “I know. I’ve received the message: you’re happily single. I’ve given up hope to get you married, so you can relax. My matchmaking skills are obviously not working on you. I’m here to ask if you can make posters for the Bachelor Auction.”
 Stacey laughed in surprise. “Bachelor Auction? Are you serious? I didn’t know that was actually a thing.”
 Eleanor patted her arm. “It’s a fun way to fundraise, my dear. The town hasn’t done it in ages, but when the mayor asked what we could do to raise money for some of the local kids who want to go to college and can’t afford it, someone suggested a Bachelor Auction. Everyone was keen on the idea. We’re hoping to rope in all the bachelors in town and on the neighboring ranches. We don’t have much time; it must be done before all the Christmas festivities start, so it’s to be held in three weeks in the town hall and we need to advertise the event, hence the need for posters. And of course, we’ll need pictures of all of our bachelors taking part. Would you mind doing that for us? You take such