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    When Chemistry Wins: The Dark Horse Trilogy, #1
    When Chemistry Wins: The Dark Horse Trilogy, #1
    When Chemistry Wins: The Dark Horse Trilogy, #1
    Ebook88 pages2 hours

    When Chemistry Wins: The Dark Horse Trilogy, #1

    By Cynthia Dane

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    About this ebook

    "Two households, both alike in dignity; From ancient grudge break to new mutiny."

    STAR-CROSSED LOVERS

    The Mitchells and the Halls are embroiled in the most heated gubernatorial election the state has ever seen.. Kerri Mitchell, the governor's debutante daughter, yearns for a life free from her family's controlling grasp. A life where her worth isn't based on how vapid and innocent she can appear on the evening news.

    Hunter Hall doesn't see eye-to-eye with his father, Governor Mitchell's nemesis. He's tired of the campaigning, the false promises, and the dirty mudslinging that comes with modern politics... and tired of having no one to share his life with.

    One fateful night brings these two souls together. One fateful night that changes the course of these two families' fates forever.

    For when it comes down to it, will Kerri and Hunter choose their families... or love?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarachou Press
    Release dateJun 11, 2015
    ISBN9781513010724
    When Chemistry Wins: The Dark Horse Trilogy, #1

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      Book preview

      When Chemistry Wins - Cynthia Dane

      When Chemistry Wins

      THE DARK HORSE TRILOGY

      #1

      Cynthia Dane

      BARACHOU PRESS

      When Chemistry Wins

      THE DARK HORSE TRILOGY, #1

      Copyright: Cynthia Dane

      Published: 24th November 2014

      Publisher: Barachou Press

      This is a work of fiction. Any and all similarities to any characters, settings, or situations are purely coincidental.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

      Editor: Lindsay York

      Cover Design: Yoly @ Cormar Covers

      Chapter 1

      Twenty years of fundraising dinners, and they never became easier to bear.

      Kerri sat a few feet away from her father, illustrious Governor Raymond Mitchell, the man heralded as the savior of the state. Or so his yes-people and biggest fans said at every fundraiser. Tonight Governor Mitchell sat within the mansion dining hall, welcoming this potential donor and that slobbering constituent. Kerri’s father had a talent for charming every man and woman who crossed his path. The hard part was convincing the people of the state he never met to reelect him.

      But he had done it before and would probably do it again. Kerri figured, anyway. Her father always won his bids as far back as she could remember, when she was a child toddling underfoot and winning hearts like her father. Some things really were genetic.

      How lovely you look tonight! exclaimed an older woman wearing a glittering red dress. She placed a white-gloved hand on Kerri’s shoulder and smiled at her with porcelain teeth. You look just like your mother did at your age. Bless you both. You’ll be a fine young lady if you aren’t already. The lady gave another pat before getting in line to speak with Raymond.

      You should say thank you. Brenda, Kerri’s mother and holder of the title Gubernatorial First Wife, said with a sniff of her nose. Although I really don’t think you look like me. You don’t have my nose. Or hair. Or anything. Pass me the butter.

      Brenda could talk. She was the one who snipped this and snipped that. And I don’t just mean her hair. By the grace of the cosmetic surgery God she had yet to have a botched procedure, but Brenda Mitchell didn’t look like the older version of the woman in her college photos. The long nose was missing, for one. When people said Kerri was lucky to get her father’s nose, Brenda feigned ignorance about why Kerri couldn’t have her nose.

      Kerri passed the butter dish and went back to staring at the spectacle of political reverie before her. Men dressed in tuxedos; women dressed in prom wear for the elderly. Or maybe they were upscale bridesmaid dresses. When Kerri was a child, she loved the glamour of cocktail dresses, evening gowns, beaded shawls, high-heels, expensive perfume, diamond jewelry, and coifed hair. The way these women talked, as if they were delicate Southern belles who had happened to stumble into Yankee territory, was exquisite. But as Kerri aged, she realized that most of the women were faker than Brenda’s face.

      The men weren’t much better. They would promise one thing, like a donation of ten-thousand dollars for Raymond’s campaign, and then never follow through. Raymond pruned them, never to be seen at these dinners again.

      Unlike Vanessa Vanderbilt, who never gave a dime but still showed up every year to chat up Brenda, her old roommate – and one of the few people to remember that nose.

      Kerri! she cried, sitting in the chair on the other side of the governor’s daughter. Brenda leaned forward and smiled the product of many teeth whitening strips at her old friend. I didn’t expect to see you here. Your mother told me you would be touring Europe this summer.

      Kerri glanced at her mother. As you can see, I am most certainly not in Europe. That was her mother’s invention. The same woman who offered to throw money at her to go to the socially approved countries of Western Europe. I decided to hang out at home for the summer.

      Oh, through the big campaign season?

      I don’t know about that long… Kerri could barely stomach campaign season as it was. All the promises, the schmoozing, the stress, the yelling, the… she couldn’t even think about it. Not that hanging out in the governor’s mansion was much better. It was in the middle of nowhere, or at least related to the state capital, which was miles down the main highway. Since she graduated college in May, Kerri had been trapped between deciding her future and not wanting to do anything. Her hope was to return home and retake her bearings. But without any friends around and the campaign season in full swing, she felt like she was suffocating in sheer boredom. The only reason she wasn’t hopping the next plane to Europe was because….

      …She wasn’t entirely sure why she wasn’t.

      Vanessa Vanderbilt gave kisses to both Kerri and Brenda before taking her leave.

      Don’t be so rude. Brenda was about as threatening as a poodle falling asleep on a soft bed. It doesn’t make you endearing.

      Ah, yes, endearing. The word Brenda shoved down her daughter’s throat for the past twenty-two years. Endearing meant a good girl who didn’t curse or wear outrageous makeup. It also meant a girl who dated clean-cut boys like Henry Harrington or Wilson Randall, the first her assigned high school boyfriend and the second her wilder boyfriend in college. He was only wilder because he owned a motorcycle, much to Brenda’s horror.

      Endearing was boring. Controlling. Kerri didn’t speak much because she didn’t get along with the people her parents courted, but that didn’t mean she was a good girl. I think. She didn’t get much chance to be bad.

      More people came by, each one more insufferable than the last. They asked Kerri what she planned to do in the future. She was going to go into politics like her father, right? She couldn’t think of anything worse. Twenty years of dealing with it as an upfront witness? Kerri wondered how anyone could stand it at that point.

      You know what you should do, Miss Mitchell? a well-meaning woman said only five minutes later. "Now is a good time to find a nice boy to settle down with.

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