If The Shoe Fits

If The Shoe Fits
, Copyright 2013 Judi
Fennell

Published by Mergenie Books

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or
reviews—without permission or in writing from the author, Judi
Fennell. This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events,
and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s
imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any
similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental
and not intended by the author.

For more information on the author and her
works, please see
www.JudiFennell.com

ISBN: 978-0-9854534-5-9

For my children

It’s always for my
children.

Table of Contents

Once Upon A Time

About The Author and Other Books

Beauty and The Best
, preview of
another Once-Upon-A-Time Romance

O
nce upon a
time…

a long time ago

in a land far, far away,

there lived a girl by the name of
Cinderella.

This is not her story.

This
is the story of Lucinda Isabella
Casteleoni,

who, like her namesake,

has a wicked stepmother, two tacky
stepsisters,

and countless hours of hard work to (not) look
forward to.

But unlike that fairy tale princess,

Bella’s Prince Charming is nowhere to be
found.

Until
a little old man with sparkling
green eyes

opens a shoe store down the street.

Then the magic begins...

Chapter One

Where was a fairy godmother when she needed
one?

Bella Casteleoni gripped the railing on the
steps outside the law office. Her stepmother was
not
going
to send her little sister to boarding school if Bella had anything
to say about it. Unfortunately however, the language she needed to
speak was Cash since a custody battle required lots of it. And
while Bella had been saving for one, she hadn’t counted on it
happening just yet. But Madeleine’s latest threats had upped the
stakes.

That witch had been using Sophia—as well as
the family business—as a pawn for years. And now the woman wasn’t
just threatening to sell off the family restaurant, but to also
send the fourth-grader away merely because, in the months since
Dad’s death, she’d found single parenthood counterproductive to the
life she’d become accustomed to since marrying their
father.

Bella would show her
counterproductive…

She picked up her pace, her pumps clicking on
the stone steps. If only she’d won that contract to cater the
hospital charity auction dinner, she’d have a good chunk of her
arsenal. But she hadn’t. Which meant she’d have to find some other
way to knock Madeleine’s feet out from under her.

Like the dove that flew in her face did to
her…

Bella missed the next step, stumbled down the
last one, and found her skirt ripped up the middle when she landed
butt-first on the pavement with one of her pumps flying off to
God-knew-where.

Two seconds later, something—make that
some
one—
ended up sprawled across her lap.

“
Ooomph
!”

A very large, very male someone.

Bella groaned as the big hunk of maleness
hefted himself off her and got to his feet while she yanked the
torn edges of her skirt together. Great. Add
mending
to her
To-Do list. As if she needed more on it.

A hand appeared in front of her. “Here, I’m
sorry. Let me help you up.” The deep, husky voice resonated down
her spine.

She looked up. Standing above her with broadly
sculpted shoulders outlined against the afternoon sky, was one of
the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen. Coffee-colored eyes,
perfectly molded lips, sleek mahogany hair that showed just a hint
of wave as it blew in the afternoon breeze, and those cheekbones.
Good Lord. This guy could’ve been the model for Michelangelo’s
David, but with a much stronger jaw line.

And clothing.

“
Miss? Are you okay?”

“
Um, yes. I think I am. Are
you?”

“
Yeah, I’m good.”

He certainly was.

Praying her blush didn’t give away her
thoughts, Bella looked around and spied her shoe on the next
section of sidewalk. “Great,” she muttered, taking the proffered
hand.

“
I said I was sorry.”

At five-six, Bella wasn’t exactly short, but
he dwarfed her by a good eight inches. Tall, dark, and handsome.
Like something from a fairy tale. Too bad she’d stopped believing
in those ten years ago when a drunk driver had killed her mother
and put Dad in a wheelchair, and the downward spiral of depression
that had led to her and Sophia’s current situation had
begun.

No. She couldn’t go there. Fighting Madeleine
was going to take every bit of strength she had. And some she
didn’t.

This guy looked to have strength to
spare.

She shook her head. Bad idea. There was no
reason to drag someone else into her mess.

Speaking of mess… She brushed away a strand of
blonde hair that had escaped the ponytail she’d scraped it into
earlier. “I wasn’t talking about you. My shoe.” She nodded toward
it.

“
Oh. Hang on, I’ll get it for
you.” Tall, Dark, and Handsome crossed the three feet of concrete
with the grace and speed of an athlete. Filled out those slacks
pretty nicely, too.

Bella bit back a smile. Good to know Madeleine
and her machinations hadn’t sucked all the beauty from her
world.

Then he rocked it with one hell of a sexy
smile when he returned with her shoe.

Tall, Dark, and
Potent
.

Bella teetered on her one pump as she tried to
put the other back on, the teetering having more to do with
balancing on one thin heel than his potency. At least, that’s what
she told herself.

The hand he put on her waist to steady her,
however, made her a liar.

“
Here, let me,” he said, slipping
the shoe from her suddenly boneless fingers, then sinking to one
knee and slipping it on her foot.

Charming, too.
Prince
Charming,
maybe?

As his light blue dress shirt stretched across
those strong shoulders and the unbuttoned collar gapped open to
reveal a strong, corded neck, she took a deep breath. If only he
really
were
Prince Charming…

She glanced heavenward with a silent plea,
only to have to duck as the dove circled back around and nearly
poked her in the eye with a wing as it headed toward one of the
ornamental cherry trees lining the sidewalk.

Prince Charming stood and put his hands on his
hips. “There. Shoe’s in place. How ‘bout everything
else?”

“
Everything else?”

His eyes skimmed her body. “Yeah. Anything
else broken? Missing?”

“
Well, if you don’t count the
skirt, I guess I’m in good shape.”

He quirked his eyebrows and she blushed at the
double entendre she hadn’t intended. Oh, God. He thought she was
flirting with him.

She so wasn’t. She didn’t have time to flirt
now, much less date, Prince Charming or not. Sophia’s fifth grade
year started in a few months and Bella had to ensure that her
sister stayed in that school. With all she needed to accomplish in
such a short period of time, she’d be lucky to have time to sleep
alone
, never mind
with
anyone. And if Madeleine ever
got wind of her having a relationship, forget it. Sophia would be
shipped off on the next flight.

“
I mean, yes, I’m fine. Thank you.
Have a nice day.” She spun on that heel, willing the stupid tingle
his interest had sparked to go away, and headed toward her
car.

“
Hey, wait a minute.” Prince
Charming caught up to her and grabbed an arm. Awareness sizzled
through her.

She took a deep breath and glanced over her
shoulder. “Yes?”

“
I’m Reese.” His hand hadn’t left
her arm and his fingers were doing all sorts of wonderful twirly
moves on her skin.

She tugged. She did
not
have time for
this. Not now, not in the next five minutes, nor the next five
years.

“
And I’m late. Thank you for your
assistance. Have a nice day.” She gave him a slim smile and walked
away. Another life, maybe.

“
Hey, Cindabella!” called a
nasal-y voice from behind her.

Drew
. Bella missed a step, groaning
while she tried to regain her balance. That stupid nickname. Her
stepsisters found it funny. Bella did not.

But Drew would keep calling her until she
turned around, so, resigning herself to three minutes of torture,
Bella took another deep breath and turned around—

To find Prince Charming, er, Reese, with his
arms folded, one shoe crossed over the other, and that mocking
eyebrow almost touching his hair. “Cinda
bella
?”