The Art of Ethan

Beaufort, North Carolina, Book 1

By: Cara North

Narrated by: Laurissa Gibson

Grace McPherson anxiously awaits her cousin Megan’s return home. She hasn’t seen Megan in a few years, though they e-mail and talk regularly on the telephone. Megan is the only family Grace has left and vice versa. Megan is bringing her fiancé Chase and his older brother Ethan along for the visit. Grace suspects she has some harebrained plan to hook her and Ethan up, but Grace is through with men. They are more trouble than they are worth, and she didn’t need any distractions. She was perfectly fine living alone.

Ethan Young needed to get away from all the wild women in New York. He couldn’t very well escape to a deserted island when his little brother was getting married in a few weeks, so he agreed to go along to North Carolina.

Megan insisted on eating at a restaurant where the chef, of the female variety, was pissed at Ethan. By the time they arrived in North Carolina, he had used two emergency bags, and his stomach felt ready to drop out of his body altogether.

Grace was definitely attracted to Ethan, but he kept throwing up, a dead man wasn’t exactly what she had in mind. Taking them home and getting Ethan into bed to rest was the first priority of this visit. Once he was awake and well, he wasted no time in trying to seduce her. But Grace couldn’t, she wouldn’t risk her relationship with Megan for a single night of unadulterated pleasure. No matter how tempting he was.

Ethan had never been turned down before and he didn’t like being turned down now. The more Grace evaded his advances, the more he wanted her. It was a novel thing to actually work for a woman’s attention. He kinda liked it, and he really like Grace. She was unlike any woman he had ever met. Strong, earthy, she was real. His money, his status, none of that mattered to her, he had to win her over based on his own merits.

Grace tried to resist, but Ethan had a way of penetrating her senses and stirring emotions she thought were long buried. Like the fact that she had lost her mother, and never really cried about that. Or, the fact that she was lonely, and didn’t want to live alone forever. He made short work of opening her heart up for the entire world to see then heading back to New York.

Her only hope was the plan they connived together for Megan’s wedding would help him get rid of a stalker, and help her get into his heart. But could she give up everything she has ever known and take a chance like that? Will he be willing to give up his entire life and the beautiful women of the city for a small town girl?

Ethan tells her he loves her, but she thinks she imagined it, since they were at the peak of an orgasm when he said it. Ethan deals with the realization that he did mean it. And Grace apparently didn’t care. Unfortunately for her, he wasn’t giving up so easily.

Unfortunately for both of them, neither was his stalker Chloe. She set his stairwell on fire, almost causing the entire gallery and apartment above it to go up in flames, with him in it! Ethan goes to the only place he really feels safe now, Grace, her home, her arms.

It is during his stay in North Carolina the second time they discover that condoms sometimes break.

When they return to New York, Grace indulges Megan to take a pregnancy test for her to get a party pass for the bachelorette party, and Grace discovers that she is pregnant. When she finally tells Ethan, he is more than a little excited; he is downright ready to drop everything he has to be with her and his child.

Welcome to Beaufort, North Carolina. Grace loves the rich history and culture of the small town she lives in. Ethan loves art. He is a renowned artist in New York and could never imagine leaving the city for anyone or anything. Then he met Grace.

©1999 Cara North (P)2020 Cara North