“I’m certainly not here for my health.” She pushed past him, and he caught a glimpse of two trim ankles that made him want to write her mother a thank-you note.
He hurried to his desk and held out the chair for her. Then he sat down opposite her, behind the desk. “To be perfectly clear, you are here to be my secretary, Miss March?”
“I am,” she said.
“Only my secretary?”
She gave a shrug. “I’m open to the possibilities.”
“I only ask because I’m afraid I’m ten seconds away from falling in love with you. Then, of course, I’ll ask you to marry me at some point.”
She didn’t answer, only lifted her wrist to stare at her wristwatch.
“Miss March?”
“I’m counting ten seconds,” she said. “Time’s up. Do you love me yet?”
“Madly.”
“So I have the job?”
He smiled at her, and across the world, the toes of every woman curled even though they didn’t quite know why.
“You’re hired.”
Excerpt fromThe Last Hurrah(The Duke of Chicago series #13) by Tom Hightower and Medda Baker. Copyright © 2026 The Tom Hightower Estate. Reprinted by permission of Dime House Publishing.
Book Seven
SCIENCE FICTION
Chapter Thirty-Six
The book was easy enough to find, displayed prominently in the window of A Long Story, the only bookstore within twenty miles of Frankie’s hometown of Aurora, Nevada. On the colorful book cover, a man and a woman in vintage party clothes followed the shadow of a hare over a hill. The title wasThe March Hare Mysteryand the author—no,authors—were Maxine Blake…and Jessa Charming.
Frankie had stopped there on her day off, relieved there were copies left. She snatched one off the New Release table and took it straight to the register.
“I finished this one last night,” the woman behind the counter said, scanning the barcode.
“I don’t need a bag,” Frankie said. “I’ll start it on the bus home.”
She wanted to ask but didn’t want to ask but finally she asked it.
“So…how is it?” Frankie said, nervously. “Does it read like a Book Witch book, or can you tell there’s a new writer?”
“I couldn’t tell,” the bookseller said. “Jessa Charming was a good choice. Better than the alternative, right? No one wanted to see the series end.”
“Definitely,” Frankie said as she took the book, the receipt tucked inside alongside a free bookmark. “I need my Duke and Rainy fix.”
She held out her arm, displaying her black umbrella tattoo to the bookseller.
“Nice,” the bookseller said.
Frankie gave a polite wave as she left the store. While she waited for the bus to arrive, she opened the book to the first page and began reading…
All stories are love stories if you love stories.
She froze. A strange tingling sensation crept up the back of her neck.
