My Blog's Been Hijacked!

I knew I'd regret creating such strong characters in my books! They told me in no uncertain terms that the blog belonged to them during the month of December, and that I should go away and not worry about it until the new year. I tried to talk them out of it, but I just wasted my breath. I finally agreed to let Elizabeth Lane, my heroine in Return Engagement, be in charge of organizing everything. She agreed and asked her cousin Nikki Lane (The Best Selling Toy OF The Season) to help her. I don't know what all they have planned, but Elizabeth said it'll be good so check back often to see what they are up to. See you in January, I guess.

Elizabeth: You have fun, Elaine. We’ll take care of things for you. It’ll be so much fun to share my Christmas with all of your readers. Nikki, say hello to the readers.

Nikki: Hello.

Elizabeth: You’ll have to excuse Nikki. She’s a little overwhelmed right now because she’s never been on a blog before.

Nikki: That’s right! I don’t know why I agreed to this.

Elizabeth: Because I asked you to, of course. Buck up. We’ll have fun.

Nikki: That’s easy for you to say! You’re an actress. You’re always in the public eye. I don’t know how you can stand it either. I mean, you never have any privacy. Why, just the other day you told me that Richard threw a fit when you went out to eat and the paparazzi wouldn’t leave you alone. I’m not surprised because you’re a major star, but he probably overreacted. He has a bad temper, and …

Elizabeth: Nikki does tend to run on when she gets wound up.

Nikki: I do not! How can you even say such a thing on a blog? I’ve a good mind to go home and …

Elizabeth: Yes, you do run on. Be quiet now, and let me tell the folks what we’re doing today.

Nikki: What are we doing today? You never told me either.

Elizabeth: Today we’re going to share something from the book Elaine wrote about you. Then we’re offering a contest.

Nikki: A contest! I just love contests! What do we have to do? Can I enter it?

Elizabeth: No, of course you can’t enter it. All the readers have to do is read the excerpt and then answer this question: What did Tommy break?

Nikki: Oh, okay. What’s the prize?

Elizabeth: An electronic copy of The Best Selling Toy Of The Season.

Nikki: Oh, wow, that’s so cool!

Elizabeth: I thought so. Readers, don’t forget to leave your email address so we can contact you if you win. Thanks for stopping by and come back soon. We have a lot planned for the month of December.

Excerpt: In this excerpt, Tommy, Elaine's hero in the Best Selling Toy, stops by a discount store to buy a gag gift to take to a Christmas party. That’s where he and Nikki met.

Tommy glanced at his watch; he was going to be late. He hurried to the checkout line, and there time stood still. Every register had an enormous line, and it took forever to check out even one customer.

Finally, his turn came. He thankfully paid for his gag gift and joined the throngs of people either going out or coming in. He saw Bill English and lifted his hand to wave goodbye, but he didn’t see the woman in front of him until he plowed into her. Both he and the young woman who had helped him find his gift went sprawling to the floor. Something in her bag broke with a loud crash when Tommy’s knee smashed into it.

All the Super Mart employees in the vicinity came running, including Bill English. “Are you guys okay?”

“I’m fine,” Tommy assured him as visions of lawsuits danced in his head. “Ma’am, are you okay?”

To his horror, the young woman burst into tears. “You’ve ruined everything! Teddy and Michael are going to be so disappointed, and I guess they’ll stop believing in Santa Claus, but you don’t care.”

She jerked her bag toward her and held out two broken toys for Tommy to see. “These robots are all that my boys asked for this year. I put them on layaway back in September, and I finished paying for them today. They’re the best selling toy of the season. You can’t find them anywhere, and now you’ve broken mine.”

She shot Tommy a look of bitter enmity. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, she scrambled to her feet and stalked out of the store.

“Be ashamed,” lectured one of the customers. “You ruined her boys’ Christmas.”

“Yeah,” a man in the crowd contributed. “You could at least have offered to pay for it.”

The Super Mart employee nodded their agreement. “Look at the way he’s dressed. He’s got money to burn. He won’t even pay for Nikki’s loss, and it was all his fault.”

The crowd drifted away, and Bill picked up Tommy’s bag and handed it to him. “It was an accident, Tommy. I know you didn’t mean to do it.”

“Who was that woman? I’ll go back to the toy department and buy two more robots to replace the ones I broke. Give me her name and address, and I’ll have them sent to her tonight.”

Bill shook his head. “She told you the truth. Everybody’s sold out of those little robots. You can’t buy them anywhere.”

A look of determination came to rest on Tommy’s face. If Bill had ever seen Tommy in court, he would have recognized it immediately. Many of Tommy’s legal opponents shivered when this expression crossed his face, for as one of them put it, ‘A Rottweiller would turn a steak loose quicker than he’d give up when he looks like that.’

“You let me worry about finding the toys. What’s her name and address?”

“Her name is Nikki Lane, and she lives in trailer number five in Higgins Court.”