Be My Love Song Read Free

skepticism.
    Maddie grew flustered. How was she going to pull this off?
There was no way she could ask the real Weston Rogers to dinner. Heck, she
didn’t even know him. There was no way she could call him up and coerce Mr.
Rogers into pretending to be her boyfriend. He was a professional.
    Professional! That was it! She’d hire someone! A
professional. A professional escort. “He’ll be here for dinner tonight,
Valentine’s Eve. You can meet him then.”
    Morgana didn’t look entirely convinced. There was doubt in
her eyes. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

 
    Chapter
Two
     
     
     
    The flowers had been delivered. All of the rooms were full
of paying, happy guests and the cook had prepared a sumptuous meal for those
who wanted to dine in. Romance was in the air.
    Madeline walked the lobby of Windswept, running a hand over
the fine wood mantle which had once been part of the bow of a pirate ship. Her
daddy loved this place and so did she. The B&B was blessed with a great
reputation, a five star rating and had been reviewed in several major
newspapers and magazines. Presidents had slept here, confederate soldiers had
been cared for in the lobby, and the guestrooms had been filled with the
homeless when surge waters had swept the island. This was her home. Her family
wanted to sell it, pocket the money and live in the manner to which they were
accustomed. Madeline disagreed, she wanted Windswept. She’d never be rich, but
she was comfortable and content. Her family could do the same. If he were
alive, Martin Cross would never sell Windswept and she wasn’t about to either.
    The guests who came to stay with her enjoyed their escape
from the everyday. Within these walls they were able to leave their troubles
behind. Madeline and her staff gave them a carefree stay with sumptuous baths,
soft as air mattresses and service with a smile. If they encountered a spirit
from the past—well, there was no extra charge.
    Today, Valentine’s Eve, everyone seemed content—except the
owner, Madeline Cross. She was attempting to locate a man who would pretend to
be her lover. “There’s no listing in the yellow pages for escorts,” she
grumbled. Slamming the phone book closed, she turned to the computer instead.
When Elaine, the temporary help, crept up behind her, Madeline angled the
monitor so she couldn’t see. Doing a google search for ‘male escort services
Galveston Texas,’ she hit enter and waited to see what would happen. To her
immense relief, several website links popped up. Quickly, she scanned them. The
one that caught her eye was named BOYSQUAD.
    Okay.
    Maddie clicked on it and was shocked when a page of
thumbnail photos popped up. Hmmm, she’d been expecting men in suits, but what
she got was shirtless shots of men’s torsos with rippling abs or ones of a
man’s bare backside. Neither pose was very helpful for her purposes. She wanted
faces! Nevertheless, Madeline studied them one by one and finally clicked on a
gentleman by the name of Rod Long. “He sounds reasonable and has a nice chest.”
She enlarged the photo, but there was no more to it than what she was
seeing—only bigger. Seeing that Elaine and Tilly were nowhere in sight, she
dialed the number and was shocked when someone answered on the second ring.
    “What can I do you for?”
    The poorly worded question took Maddie by surprise. “Good morning,
sir. Are you Rod Long?”
    “You got him.”
    “Very good, I hope you’re well. My name is Madeline Cross.”
She greeted him in a congenial voice. “I would like to enquire if you’re
available for dinner this evening?”
    “Dinner?” She could hear some typing and a voice in the
background. “Will I be spending the night?”
    Madeline thought. “Give me your rates and let me consider
it.” Actually, if it wasn’t too expensive that scenario might go a long way in
solving her problem.
    “Well, I charge a hundred dollars an hour or eight hundred
for the whole night. If you want