UNSUNG

A Country Roads Novel

Shannon Richard

New York    Boston

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To Jessica Lemmon,

It just goes to show that sometimes this weird and wonderful life knows exactly what it’s doing,

especially when it gives me extraordinary friends like you.

Thank you for being a constant sounding board in both this fictional land of writing and in the real world.

Acknowledgments

I remember the days when friends of mine would read what I wrote and I couldn’t be in the same room because I was so terrified of what they thought. Never once did any of them give me anything but support and love in this crazy dream of mine. It’s because of their words of encouragement and support that this dream became a reality and these stories have been written.

Thank you to all of my very first Beta readers: Kaitie Hotard, Gloria Berry, Diana Quintero, Katie Crandall, Catie Humphreys, Jenna Robinson, Jennifer Pezzuto, Jennifer Ewing, Kelly Filippini, Marina McCue, Sarah Pennell, Katie Waldow, Tyler Sojourner, Kerrie Alexander, Molly Kane, Heather Seeman, Mike Widener, Chris Widener, Amanda Blanchard, Michelle Blanchard, Ronald Richard, my parents, and to everyone else who ever took the time to read for me. I appreciate you all more than you know.

Then there are all of the lovely Beta readers who I’ve acquired since then, especially Nikki Rushbrook. You are a wealth of information and insight. Thank you for always offering up your invaluable knowledge. Also, thank you to Amy Lipford for your dry wit and real-time talk.

And finally, thank you to my agent Sarah E. Younger, my editor Megha Parekh, my publicist Julie Paulauski, and everyone at Grand Central Publishing for all of the hard work you do day in and day out.

Forever

Love at first sight was something I’d never seen

but you walked in and became every single one of my dreams

Violet eyes and the lips of a goddess

I knew I’d want more than just one kiss

A day, a week, a month, a year

It would never be enough

I want forever

Forever, honey

Forever with you

A million simple things that aren’t so simple at all

Your hand in mine

The taste of your tongue

Your head on my chest

You stealing my heart

A day, a week, a month, a year

It would never be enough

I want forever

Forever, honey

Forever with you

You were something I never knew I always wanted

Something I never knew I always needed

And now that I know, I can’t let go

I need forever, honey

Forever with you

Prologue Found

June 20th

The crowd of people in the ballroom of the Brogan-Meyers Hotel was only getting thicker as the minutes passed. The space was packed with men in tuxes and women in designer dresses of varying lengths. Some gowns trailed along the floor, perilously close to getting trampled on, while others had barely enough fabric to cover the women wearing them.

Harper Laurence’s dress was somewhere in the middle. The midnight blue fabric clung to every single curve of her body, the neckline dipping just low enough to show her very impressive cleavage without being too immodest. Add to that the fact that it made her violet eyes pop, and looked pretty spectacular with her long black hair if she did say so herself.

Or she would’ve said so if it had been a few months ago.

She’d grabbed the dress when she’d been packing. It had been a magic dress before tonight and she’d always been able to rock it with every ounce of her confidence.

But said confidence was gone.

Gone. Gone. Gone.

She’d had it before. Before she’d been left by her fiancé. Before she’d taken a trip to Tennessee to get away. Before she’d fallen in love with a stranger.

But was he really a stranger?

No. Not by the end. Not when everything was all said and done. Not when she’d turned tail and ran scared. But he’d broken the rules…and so had she.

The rules had been so simple. Well, rule really. There’d just been the one: nothing personal.

But she’d been fooling herself from the moment she’d met him. Everything about their time together had been personal. Every moment she’d spent with him. How was it that she’d fallen faster and harder for him in two days, felt more for him in those hours than she ever had for her ex? How was that even possible?

And now everything was five thousand times more complicated.

What had she been thinking coming here?

Her stomach rolled and she closed her eyes, breathing deeply through her nose and counting her breaths until the nausea subsided to a tolerable level. When she opened her eyes it was to find Mel making her way over, a champagne glass in each hand.

Melanie Hart was one of Harper’s best friends and the reason she was at the party in the first place. A party of beyond attractive athletes, celebrities within elbow rubbing distance no matter where she stood, a handful of very important politicians, and even a Nobel Peace Prize winner. But as the Jacksonville Stampede had just won the Stanley Cup, it was a reason to celebrate. A distraction as Mel had put it.

A distraction from Harper’s current predicament? Impossible. There wasn’t anything that could detract from what was occupying her brain.

Harper raised an eyebrow as Mel passed her a glass.

“It’s ginger ale. Maybe that will calm your stomach,” Mel said as she brushed one of her short blond curls behind her ear.

“Maybe.” Harper nodded, not feeling confident in that prospect at all.

“Come on. Let’s go find my husband and the boys before they get into trouble.” Mel grabbed Harper’s hand and led her across the room. Good thing, too, because the crowd of people was thick and it wouldn’t take a lot to get lost among them.

Her eyes caught on a couple in the corner, the woman obviously pregnant and the man resting his hand on her belly as he whispered in her ear, grinning. The sight made her both sad and envious beyond reason.

She tipped the glass of soda back, wishing it were something much stronger. The bubbles popped against her nose and lips as the cold liquid hit her tongue.

Mel’s pace slowed and her grip on Harper’s hand loosened. Mel was talking and Harper turned her head at the sound of her own name being said.

Her eyes landed on the man directly across from her and she choked on her sip of soda, coughing uncontrollably.

He was here. The rule-breaking stranger was standing right in front of her, the green-gold gaze that she knew so well focused on her.

Yup, there was nothing in the world that could calm her stomach now. No more hiding from the reality she was going to have to face head on in this moment. No more running away.

It was Liam. He’d found her.