(Sinclair Sisters #1)
Publication date: April 22nd 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

There aren’t many jobs available in the tiny village of Arness, Scotland, which is why Mairi Sinclair works online—as a virtual girlfriend. For a weekly fee, she emails, messages and sends photos to desk-bound geeks around the world. Nothing dodgy, mind you, she keeps her clothes on! Mairi loves her job, because the last thing she wants is to be tied down to one man forever. Life is so much simpler when you can keep men at a distance.

And that’s why she’s upset when her virtual boyfriends start turning up in town. Someone has hacked her online presence and given out her real life address. To make matters worse, they’ve told the world that she’s looking for a husband and the first virtual boyfriend to romance her properly will win the role in real life. Mairi needs help to fend off the hordes. She needs help to hide and find out who sold out her details. Fortunately, local mechanic and one time boyfriend, Keir McKenzie, is more than willing to help her—for a price. He too wants a chance to win Mairi’s heart and tie her down forever.

Excerpt

At eight thirty on a Saturday morning, Mairi Sinclair opened her front door to find Captain Kirk smiling at her—a five-foot-four Pakistani Captain Kirk.

“You are surprised.” He beamed. “This is good.”

Mairi blinked several times, but no, he was still there. “Amir?”

“Who else would it be on this fine Scottish morning?” He tugged at the hem of his gold captain’s uniform.

“Amir? In Scotland? At my house?”

He opened his mouth to say something else, but Mairi needed a minute. She held up her hand. “Just a sec.” And shut the door.

“Who was that?” One of Mairi’s three older sisters, Agnes, was dressed for a shift working reception at a hotel in Campbeltown. She wore a navy pantsuit, black heels and a crisp white shirt. Her golden blonde hair was in a neat French knot, and her makeup was minimal. She looked every inch the hotel manager she aspired to be, and no doubt would be, once she’d passed her final exams. “Mairi, pay attention. Who’s at the door?”

“Amir.” Mairi wondered if more coffee would help her brain cope with finding one of her online boyfriends on her doorstep.

“Amir who?” Agnes headed for the kitchen alcove in their living area.

“He’s an online boyfriend.”

Agnes stopped dead and turned slowly toward her. “One of your geeks is here? In person?”

Mairi nodded.

“How does he know your address? I thought the agency you work with said those details would never get out. I thought all those guys were supposed to stay firmly online.”

“Yeah.” There was nothing else to say.

When she’d been a little girl, Mairi hadn’t dreamed of growing up to become a fake online girlfriend to a bunch of socially inept men. Nope, she’d dreamed of castles and princess gowns and white knights. She nearly burst out laughing at the thought. It was so far from the truth it was almost hysterical. In all of Mairi’s childhood dreams, she’d been the knight. And she hadn’t been concerned with saving any foppish princes, either. No, Mairi had wanted to travel the world, seeking adventure and fighting dragons. Instead, she was stuck in Arness, sharing a tiny flat with her grumpy-arsed sister and dealing with an unwelcome Captain Kirk wannabe. This was not the happy ending she’d hoped for.

“Why is your online boyfriend here?” Agnes demanded, jarring Mairi out of her maudlin thoughts. “How did he get your address?”

“I don’t know.” And she didn’t like it. There was a reason this job was perfect for her: it meant she got to keep men at arm’s length. No chance of getting in too deep. No chance of falling in love and getting her heart broken by trusting the wrong man again.

“Well, ask him!” Agnes did that toe-tapping thing that Mairi hated, which was even more intimidating when she was dressed in her power suit.

With a scowl at her sister, Mairi turned and opened the door, to find a beaming Amir, exactly where she’d left him.

“Amir, how did you get my address?” And why the hell did you fly all the way from Pakistan to visit me? Didn’t he realize their relationship was fake? He paid her weekly—that should have been a giant clue.

He looked slightly confused for a second, before the smile appeared again. “This is a test, beautiful Mairi. I can answer this most easy of questions. You yourself posted the address on your website page. Now, I have something of the utmost importance to ask you.” He rooted around in his trouser pocket.

“Just a minute.” Mairi shut the door and looked at her sister. “He says I put the address on my page.”

Agnes pointed at the laptop sitting on their tiny dining table, and Mairi headed toward it. A few keystrokes later, and she was looking at a notice she had definitely not posted.

I’m tired of being single. As much as I’ve enjoyed being a girlfriend to all of you, I now want more. I want marriage and a family. I want my own happily ever after. The only problem is that I’ve managed to fall a little bit in love with all of my wonderful boyfriends. So, I’m giving you a challenge—a quest. Whoever gets to Arness, Scotland, first and wins my heart in person will win my hand in marriage. So, scale the walls of my castle, woo me with your knightly skills, and save this fair maiden from a life of loneliness and heartache. May the best man win!

It was followed by her street address, and a link to a Facebook page called Mairi’s Wedding Challenge, where supposedly she was going to give updates as things progressed. The message ended with a Photoshopped image of her as Rapunzel, leaning out of a tower and gazing wistfully into the distance, presumably for her prince.

“I’m going to vomit.” Mairi bent over and put her head between her knees.

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About the Author

Janet is a Scot who moved to New Zealand fifteen years ago. Among other things, she’s been an artist, a teacher, a security guard at a castle, a magazine editor, and a cleaner in a drop in center for drug addicts (NOT the best job!). She now writes full-time and is working on her 19th book. Her books have won several awards, including the Daphne du Maurier award for excellence in mystery and suspense. When she isn’t living in her head, she raises two kids, one husband, and several random animals. She survives on chocolate and caffeine.

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