In-Laws, Outlaws, and Uninvited Guests: Miss Fortune World: SS Beauty, #8

By Kamaryn Kelsey

The In-laws: Harry's family had come to Ann Arbor for the wedding of Harry's niece, Ashley. When they left two problems remained. Momma Knight and an outlaw.

The Outlaws: A less-than-scrupulous event planner turned Ashley's dream wedding into a nightmare. With Ashley and her new husband in Mexico for their honeymoon, the family expects Harry to fix things with the event planner. How? Send in Matt and Sady as an engaged couple in desperate need of her services. With Amanda on board as the maid of honor, they work to beat the planner at her own game.

The Uninvited Guests: It's bad timing for Matt's ex-girlfriend Emily and her companion to come for a surprise visit. Emily is hoping to pick up where things left off while her companion is letting things drop. Unpleasant things!

An addition to the Knight Investigations team, another round at the shooting range for Sady, and a wild dinner party hosted by Amanda keep things lively and set matters straight.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J&R Fan Fiction
• Release date: Sep 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386472322

Book preview

Author's note:

This is Book 8 in the SS Beauty series and is not intended to standalone.

This is a work of fiction. Other than Jana DeLeon's original story elements, the characters and names are creations of the author's imagination.

The series is not about Fortune Redding, Sinful, and the Swamp Team. SS Beauty is Sandy-Sue Morrow and the series is about her and the life she makes for herself. The S.S. Books revolve around Morrow's niece, Sandy-Sue. She tires of her European vacation and comes home early, to Morrow's dismay. Wondering about her inheritance in Sinful, she takes a bus trip to check it out.

Morrow sends Matt Meadows, who has done security work for him in the past, to keep an eye on her and to keep her from crossing paths with Fortune, and blowing Fortune's cover.

At this point in her life, Sandy-Sue decides she's leaving the past behind, along with her name. She shortens it to Sady (sometimes she uses Sassafras or Sassy, the name she first gave Matt in book one of the series.) I took the liberty of giving Morrow a first name, John, since he makes appearances throughout the series and it didn't make sense for Sady to refer to him as Uncle Morrow.

After the adventure in Louisiana, Morrow sends Sady to work for two former operatives, now retired and operating their own business, Knight Investigations in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Harry and CJ Knight are a husband and wife team.

Amanda Keller, saucy and smart mouthed neighbor, soon becomes Sady's best friend. She likes to give Matt a hard time about anything and everything. After losing her job at the university, she joins the investigation company.

Matt Meadows, Sady's love interest in the series, has stayed in Michigan. After Morrow repeatedly sends him back to Michigan to keep on eye on his niece, he realizes it will continue, so he makes the move as well.

Character descriptions:

Sady Morrow- Tall, slender, with long brown hair and big brown eyes. She often uses beauty pageant skills on the job. She is sweet, and sometimes goofy. However, she's intelligent and can be tough, when necessary.

Matt Meadows- Tall, dark, and handsome. He has blue eyes and unshaven stubble. Hence, Amanda's nicknames for him, Stubbles or Blue Eyes. Frequently grumpy because of Amanda's constant picking. Matt sometimes uses Sady's pet name, Sassafras.

Amanda Keller- Short, full-figured, black, and beautiful. She grew up in an exclusive suburb of Detroit. She has a smart mouth, a high tolerance for alcohol, and a full social dating calendar. She likes handsome men and isn't shy about saying so.

CJ Knight- Short in stature, with clipped gray hair, green eyes, and an even shorter fuse. CJ is impatient and lethal with her hands. Even though she's small, she keeps them all in line.

Harry Knight- Hot dang handsome with Siberian Husky light blue eyes, a stunning white smile, and good build. Amanda calls him Handsome, and he is- even though he is bald. Harry looks out for his team and plays the big brother/ father to Sady.

The stories behind the supporting characters are developed throughout the series.

Chapter 1

Spring was in the Monday morning air. Michigan flowers bloomed, trees budded, and the birds sang their happy little spring songs. Sady Morrow glared at the robin that just pooped on her Ford Mustang. Go home, she yelled at the bird as it flew off, droppings still coming from its butt. We don't need any more of your kind here.

Do you have a prejudice against all migrating birds, or just robins in particular? Matt Meadows, Sady's co-worker at Knight Investigations, looked out the back door of the office.

I have a prejudice against any bird that poops on Justin, she scowled.

You might want to move your car then, he advised. That's a bird drop target zone.

My car is named Justin and don't be ridiculous. Birds don't have flying poop patterns, she said looking up at the sky as if to make sure.

Don't say I didn't warn you. I parked on the other side of the lot. So did CJ... and so did Harry? Matt and Sady both looked at the vehicles. CJ and Harry drove separately to work? That never happened.

Well, it's too late to prevent the bird mess, anyway, Sady said as she pushed past Matt to enter the office. Uh, oh. CJ and Harry both had their office doors closed. What's going on? she whispered to Matt.

Smells like a fight, he replied, sniffing the air. He jumped when CJ smacked him on the back of the head.

It's not a fight, she said. It's war! She stomped to the break room for another cup of coffee, glaring at her husband's door as she passed.

Better get the fire extinguisher, Matt whispered to Sady. Harry's door is about to combust. He jumped out of the way as CJ came through with her coffee. Hey, CJ. Do you want to talk about it? he asked jokingly. His answer came in the form of her slamming door.

Earth to Matt, Sady snickered. You need to buy 'How to Read Facial Expressions for Dummies.' I'm surprised she didn't turn those laser eyes on you. You'd be a melted blob of DNA right now.

They both swung around as Harry's door opened, and he looked into the hall. I suppose she took all the coffee and didn't start another pot.

Long night, Harry? Matt asked. He got the same response- a slamming door. Matt and Sady exchanged another glance. This was bad. Harry and CJ had been married over twenty years. CJ had the patience and temper of a hand grenade with the pin pulled. Harry was the one who calmly put the pin back and kept her from exploding.

What happened over the weekend? Sady pondered with a worried look in her brown eyes. A former beauty pageant contestant, Sady was naturally pretty with long brown hair and brown eyes. Tall and slender, she preferred blue jeans and no makeup now. She left behind her cute given name, Sandy-Sue, along with the pageant lifestyle.

They were fine when they left on Friday, Matt replied. They had Ashley's wedding on Saturday. Do you think that's when it happened? Ashley was Harry's niece.

Only if CJ tried wearing high heels, Sady said. CJ was a small, tough, no-nonsense woman. Her reputation was more deadly that dainty. Even though she was petite, with short gray hair and green eyes, she could take care of herself.

CJ and Harry worked for Sady's uncle in the CIA before they married and moved to Michigan. They didn't talk about that work, but Sady realized it involved things she'd rather not know. It always seemed odd to Sady that kind and gentle Harry had chosen that line of work. Obviously, there was a lot