Seducing Their Swan Read online

  Seducing Their Swan

  Wickedly Ever After

  Book Three

  by Gracie Meadows

  © Copyright October 2014 JK Publishing, Inc.

  ISBN #

  All cover art and logo © Copyright October 2014 by JK Publishing, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  Artwork by Jess Buffett

  Published by JK Publishing, Inc.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publishing company.

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  Dedication

  Many of us have moments in our life when we feel as if we don’t fit and we are missing a piece of an unknown puzzle. But maybe it’s not that at all, but the puzzle is not even ours, and we have something greater inside us.

  This book maybe about the Ugly Duckling, something we all know about. But I hope you read this and realize we all are beautiful and wonderful inside and out. It just takes the right people to make us look in the mirror and see it.

  Spread your wings and fly…the world is out there for you!

  Gracie

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  The Ugly Duckling

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Books by Gracie Meadows

  Excerpt from Robin and Her Merry Men

  Excerpt from His Sleeping Beau

  JK Publishing, Inc.

  The Ugly Duckling

  "I will fly away to them, to the royal birds; and they will beat me, because I, that am so ugly, dare to come near them. But it is all the same. Better he killed by them than to be pursued by ducks, and beaten by fowls, and pushed about by the girl who takes care of the poultry yard, and to suffer hunger in winter!" And it flew out into the water, and swam toward the beautiful swans: they looked at it, and came sailing down upon it with outspread wings. "Kill me!" said the poor creature, and bent its head down upon the water, expecting nothing but death. But what was this that it saw in the clear water? It beheld its own image; and, behold! It was no longer a clumsy dark-gray bird, ugly and hateful to look at, but a—swan!

  It matters nothing if one is born in a duck-yard, if one has only lain in a swan’s egg. It felt quite glad at all the need and misfortune it had suffered; now it realized its happiness in all the splendor that surrounded it. And the great swans swam round it, and stroked it with their beaks.

  Into the garden came little children, who threw bread and corn into the water; and the youngest cried, “There is a new one!” and the other children shouted joyously, "Yes, a new one has arrived!” And they clapped their hands and danced about, and ran to their father and mother; and bread and cake were thrown into the water; and they all said, "The new one is the most beautiful of all! So young and handsome!" and the old swans bowed their heads before him.

  Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wings, for he did not know what to do; he was so happy, and yet not at all proud. He thought how he had been persecuted and despised; and now he heard them saying that he was the most beautiful of all birds. Even the elder-tree bent its branches straight down into the water before him, and the sun shone warm and mild. Then his wings rustled, he lifted his slender neck, and cried rejoicing from the depths of his heart,

  "I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the Ugly Duckling!"

  Hans Christen Anderson

  Chapter One

  Evangeline Hodgens—or Evan, as everyone called her, sat at the table eating her bowl of fruit flavored cereal thinking about her assignment she had to finish for her last class. Her very last semester at school and she was stoked at how quickly everything was happening. She wasn’t going away to college, she couldn’t afford it. Hell, if it weren’t for her working at Dave’s Tire and Lube, her and her daddy would be out on the street. Sure, he worked, but even then that wasn’t enough to pay for the medical bills her momma raked up over the years while she was sick. It sucked not having insurance, but they did what they could. Taking the last bite, she went to the sink to wash her bowl and placed it on the rack to dry.

  “Daddy, I’m heading out to school. Don’t forget I have to work tonight so I put dinner in the fridge,” she yelled before exiting their small singlewide trailer. Making sure the door behind her was shut good and tight, she hitched her backpack tightly across her shoulders before making the five-mile walk to school. The bus didn’t come down her road, which suited her fine, she didn’t want others to see where she lived anyway. She wasn’t ashamed per se, but her dad cut their yards for a living. Most people her age had big ass trucks tricked out with the fixin’s, or small sports cars. Taking a deep breath of the warm Georgia summer morning, she put one foot in front of the other and went on her way.

  The school was built by some big named man who she really didn’t give a rat’s ass about but she went with a smile. She was known as the loner or the one people rarely spoke
to. She didn’t do dances, clubs or whatever high society people do. She kept her nose down.

  “Hey, Evan.” Looking up as she rounded the corner of the school was Adam and his brother, Brett. Both were jerks and all around jocks. She knew what they saw when they looked at her. A gawky little girl with crazy blond hair that flowed everywhere but was kept up in a messy pony. Ripped jeans and an oversized t-shirt. Normally she wore coveralls when she worked, so baggy clothes worked for her. It had been the same thing she wore for the last four years. No desire for make-up or beauty products, she was plain and was the ugly duckling in a high school class of gorgeous and amazing creatures. Smiling back, she did a small shy wave only to have Amanda Philips standing next to Adam glaring at her. Oh crapola, I shouldn’t have done that!

  “Oh, I didn’t know it was white trash day. Oh wait, it’s not, it’s just your normal look. I would suggest trying to take a bath with water and not in a pigpen, Evan; we have standards in this school after all. Oh, and tell your dad that he needs to come early, my mom has some flowers that need tending to before my party.” Evan stopped and wanted to tell her to fuck off in her pink Barbie car but she only had one more week. One more week to deal with these people and then she would speak up and damn the consequences.

  “Mandy, that’s enough,” Adam snapped.

  “Oh, I forgot, you have a soft spot for charity.”

  “No, I don’t give to charity but the principal is over there and the last thing I want is for some white trash nobody to screw up my plans because she doesn’t know her place in this school.”

  The comment shouldn’t have bothered her, hell, it was like this every day. When it came to the all American preppy kids, they didn’t really acknowledge her unless it was to put her down. Walking away, she headed to class to finish another day in the kiddy prison.

  The day passed by quickly as she ate lunch with her friend, Amy, in the small square, that was their student quad. It was a normal routine for them.

  “So any plans this month?”

  “Month, hell, sweets, I’m leaving in four days for New York. I took the internship there and they want me to start before classes. I can’t wait to get out of this podunk town. I am just shocked you are staying here.” Amy took another drink from her diet coke. She was the most unique person she had ever met. Her eye for fashion was something she could never grasp. Today she was sporting a colorful tutu with high laced combat boots and a tank top that stated “Bite Me” secured with safety pins topped off with braided pigtails. To say she was her own person was something else. But she came from a life of riches and parents who came from old money and big time land developers. So not in the realm of Amy land but she loved the girl, regardless.

  “I can’t go, you know this already. I won’t even know where to begin for a career. It seems the only thing I am good at is changing oil or tires in thirty minutes or less. Not taking after my dad, even though I love him. I got nothing and I will be stuck here when you become rich and famous and I can go on those shows and do the behind the scenes events,” she giggled while finishing her water and PBJ sandwich.

  “I think there is more in you than you think.” Evan smiled at her but in her heart of hearts, she knew that it wasn’t in the cards for her. That thought and everything else was stopped short by the sound of the bell. Taking one last breath, she headed to finish yet another day in the life of the rich and snobbish.

  *****

  Evan got to work early like normal and changed into her blue coveralls that shockingly were the cleanest in the shop. Big Dave, the owner, was on the phone when a customer came in.

  “Hey, ya’ll, what can I do ya for?” She put on the sweet southern accent she was known for and smiled.

  “I need an oil change.” She looked up and was hypnotized by the piercing honey colored eyes of none other than Adam Graham and his big Ford truck.

  “Okay, I can help with that. I just need you to leave me the keys and I can take care of it for you.” Smiling again, she held her hand out only to have him look at her like she was a conundrum.

  “You do the changes? But you’re a girl, and oh hell, forget it,” he asked with a questioning yet mocking tone. Not wanting to look offended, even though she was, she nodded.

  “Yup, that’s me. You can have a seat inside, I should have it done in no time.” Again, he stared at her before she grabbed the keys from his hand, walk over opening the driver's side door, setting the paper inside the floorboard they used so she wouldn’t get it dirty. Driving the truck up on the jacks, she got to work on changing the oil.

  Finishing within twenty-three minutes, she was happy to be done. Only having a short shift, she wanted to go home, take a hot shower, and wait for the time to pass until she was done with school altogether. Pulling the truck around, she parked it in the designated spots and clicked the key to lock it. Heading into the office, she saw Adam watching her intently. Walking around to the desk, she started the computer to input all the information she needed, not hearing him walk up to her.

  “So how long have you worked here?” Was he really asking her about her crappy ass job?

  “Um, about three years now. I had just turned sixteen when I started.”

  “Wow, well at least you have something to do once school is over. After all, I am sure for a girl like you it must be hard to find work.”

  “A girl like me, what the hell does that mean?”

  “Look, I’m a nice guy so I’ll be honest. Unless you got a ton of scholarships to go to college, I’m sure you aren’t leaving town. You’re not very pretty, you could be cute if you really worked hard on it, but you live in a trailer with your dad who cuts my grass. So anyway how much?”

  Evan was hopping mad and wanted to punch the little prick in the face but her job was on the line. He was right; she couldn’t do better than this. Gritting her teeth she told him the total, cashed him out, and watched as he started texting on his phone without a simple thank you. Releasing the breath she seemed to have held, she went back to work finishing various tasks before the day ended.

  *****

  The next day went about the same except for computer lab; the damn computer was frozen again. She wanted to chuck it at the dumb idiots using it to check out Facebook and their messages. She, however, was looking into various schools knowing she would never get to go. Growling, she put her head on the desk and just let the time tick by.

  “Need some help?” annoyance rolled off her. Her patience had come and gone, however, looking up she saw the sweet smile of Lawson looking at her. He was a pretty nice guy, but it could be he was batting for the other team and wasn’t interested in her for anything sexual.

  “Na, I got it right where I want it. Don’t think it will run away this time,” she joked.

  “Here let me help. I’m good with computers, bet I can fix it.” Sighing, she went to stand, but was shocked when he pushed her down, scooting a chair closer to her and the evil blinking box in front of her.

  “Okay, well it looks like you have too many pages open, first let’s close those and see what happens. “ He started clicking left and right and soon the screen was back to normal but she couldn’t get it to load any pages. Just when she thought it was all done he chuckled and clicked a few more areas. She had to admit she wasn’t really watching Lawson, but instead the glare Brett was sending to her. Lawson and Brett were good friends and it seemed he didn’t like her talking to him. Oh well, they can all go suck lemons, because I was sitting here, he came to me, she thought.

  “You clicked the internet off.” Turning her head in his direction, she looked to where he was pointing. Feeling like a total goober, she put her head in her hands trying to hide once again from the world from a stupid mistake.

  “It’s okay, it happens a lot with these computers. You’re set up now. But I would suggest trying to look at one page at a time. I saw you had some schools up. Which school are you going to?” If she could find a deep dark hole to hide in, now would be the perfect time
.

  “I’m not,” she mumbled.

  “Not what? Going to school, are you staying here going to community college or something?” He said it like it was a bad thing, making her feel even worse about her answer.

  “Nope, just gonna work at Dave’s Tire and Lube and that’s it.”

  “Oh, umm well, I wish you the best then.” Turning away from him, she did her best to hide the fact her eyes watered. Lawson’s hand touched her shoulder trying to get her attention. Keeping her head down so he didn’t see her cry, he spoke, “Look, I didn’t mean to upset you or anything. I figured with your grades you would be the first person to pack and leave. I’m sorry, Evan.” Quickly wiping the tears away from her eyes, she nodded but just sat there, not trusting her voice.

  “Well, I gotta go back and finish. Maybe we can get together some time before I leave?” She knew it was only a pity invite and said sure so he would leave. And just like that he did. He left her, making her feel like the smallest of the small.