Cover Girl

“Nope. But I’ve already got the two trainees digging through the slush pile, so you never know what you might find.”

“Don’t I know it.” Her mind wandered back to her first days at the publishing house, when she pulled Rose Fontaine out of the massive pile of manuscripts. She couldn’t help but smile.

“What?”

“I was just thinking, before electronic submissions we actually had a slush pile room that was filled about six feet high with real paper manuscripts. It looked like something from one of those hoarding reality shows. One day the pile fell over while I was sitting on the floor reading and it actually buried me in an avalanche of paper.” The phone interrupted her thoughts and the name she saw on her cell made her eyes widen. “Holy shit, it’s Bella Farentino.”

“And she only calls when she’s got something good. Put it on speaker. Gretch wants to listen.”

Keira sat up straight. Gretch leaned forward as she answered the call and engaged the speaker. “Hi, Bella!”

“How’s my favorite romance editor?”

“I’d be better if I found the next big thing.”

“Yeah, I hear ya. Seriously, how you holdin’ up, kiddo? I read the article about you in The Post last week.”

Keira’s eyes misted at the thought of her best friend. “Hangin’ in there, but it’s tough. I keep seeing things that remind me of Rose. Still can’t believe she’s gone.”

“You were a good friend to her, Keira. And the woman was an absolute gem.”

“She was the best. So, did you just call to check on me, or have you got something that will brighten my day?”

“Like I said, I read the article in The Post, and I’ve got the answer to your prayers. No disrespect to your dear friend, but I found the next Rose Fontaine.”

Keira and Gretch both sat up straight, eyebrows up. “And this person would be…”

“Debut author named Alex Bauer. The book is called Ring Girl. Honest to God, the best romance I’ve read in years. Funny as hell and will make you cry at the same time. A lot like Rose’s books with the same snarky voice. Went through the whole manuscript in one shot, kept me up till three in the morning. The author has an incredible style. Anyway, I’m calling you first.”

“And how many editors are you calling today?”

“One. You. I’m giving you an exclusive. You’ve always been fair with me, Keira, I trust you and consider you a friend. Besides, the universe and the New York Post tell me you need some good fortune and I need a good deed to balance out what I’m gonna tell the priest in confession this week. But I will tell ya, if you want this book, it’s gonna cost ya. Because after the exclusive, you’re gonna have to take a number to get it.”

“If you found the next Rose then money is no object. How long do I have?”

“Till close of business Thursday. If you don’t want it or your offer isn’t acceptable to the author, I’m sending it out Friday. And then I guarantee it will go up for auction. If you want it, you gotta pre-empt it. So you’ve got four days. But guess what, Keira?”

“What?”

“You’re only gonna need one of those days.” Keira heard a keyboard tapping. “Okay, it’s on the way to your inbox. Enjoy.”

“Bella, I can’t thank you enough. I really appreciate you thinking of me.”

“You’ll be thinking of me tomorrow, honey. And when you do, be thinking of a big number that will knock my socks off. Tell Jill to open up the vault. Operators are standing by.”

“I’ll start reading right now. Bye, Bella.”

“Talk soon, kiddo. And smile. God and Bella love you.”

Keira hung up, quickly flipped open her laptop and clicked on her email as Gretch got up and moved behind her. She looked up at her assistant. “Gretch, I can forward it to you.”

“Nah, we gotta read the first part together. I wanna see the look on your face that you had when you found Rose.”

Keira smiled as she maneuvered the mouse over the email attachment from Bella. “Ready?”

“Let’s rock.”

The manuscript opened and page one filled the screen.

By page ten, both women were beaming.

“So who was that?” asked Alex.

“The number one editor in romance, Keira Madison. She’s the one who discovered Rose Fontaine.” Bella reached behind her and pulled a New York tabloid from the credenza, flipped it open, then handed it to Alex. “Here’s an article about her that was in The Post on Friday. It’ll help you get familiar with her, since I think it’s a stone-cold lock she’ll buy your book.”

Alex looked at the paper and studied the photo above the article. “Hey, this is the editor I saw at the writer’s conference. The one who said romance was the easiest genre to crack. She’s indirectly responsible for the book. What a wild coincidence.”

Bella reached for her candy jar, grabbed a Hershey kiss, unwrapped it and leaned back as she popped it in her mouth. “Small world. Serendipity is a beautiful thing.”

“She single?”

“Why?”

“I’ve got a thing for redheads. And she seemed pretty cute from a distance.” He looked at the photo again. “Looks even better here.”

Bella rolled her eyes. “Ah, so that’s why your heroine is a tall, skinny redhead and looks exactly like Keira. Ring Girl is your own personal fantasy.”

He shrugged. “It’s fun creating Miss Right on paper. Anyway, is this Keira available? When I heard her talk she went on this funny rant about how she never meets men in her profession. I listened to her for a few minutes and she sounded like she had a lot of spunk. Also my type.”

“She wrote the book on spunk. Well, let me ask you this… is the male love interest in your book based on you? Emotionally, I mean.”

“Pretty much. Why?”

“I’ve known Keira a long time. And what you’re written describes her perfect man.”

His eyes widened. “Really.”

“Yep.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Is she currently seeing anyone?”

“Had lunch with her a few weeks ago, and she’s still spending Saturday nights with a bubble bath, a book and a bottle of wine.”

“Terrible waste of an attractive redhead.”

“Huh. I always thought she was kinda plain.”

“She’s my type. All men have a type, you know.”