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The Comeback of Roy Walker
Stephanie Doyle
She's the key to his career - and his heartRoy Walker never did like the taste of humble pie. Too bad he's getting his share of it now that he needs to pitch one more season of pro baseball. Worse, he can't achieve it without the help of physiotherapist Lane Baker - the one woman who won't have anything to do with him. Somehow he has to make amends for the past.But his intentions to be a better man get sidelined by the combustible connection between him and Lane. Ego aside, it's time to admit he never stopped wanting her…and his greatest comeback will be winning her!
She’s the key to his career—and his heart
Roy Walker never did like the taste of humble pie. Too bad he’s getting his share of it now that he needs to pitch one more season of pro baseball. Worse, he can’t achieve it without the help of physiotherapist Lane Baker—the one woman who won’t have anything to do with him. Somehow he has to make amends for the past.
But his intentions to be a better man get sidelined by the combustible connection between him and Lane. Ego aside, it’s time to admit he never stopped wanting her…and his greatest comeback will be winning her!
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
Never would Lane have believed she’d hear those words from Roy’s mouth. It threw her. Set her off her game for a moment.
“You really need to throw again?” The question was a stall. She knew he wouldn’t be here asking if he didn’t need to throw. But this conversation gave her a moment to regroup.
“It’s the only thing I know how to do.” He shrugged. “The only thing I’m good for.”
In a weird way she found herself missing the old Roy. Which made no sense at all. But since nothing in her life made sense right now, Lane figured this little episode was par for the course.
She had no job. She had no life. She had a father and a sister, who, although they may have betrayed her, did seem to need her.
And Roy. She had Roy. Roy Walker needed her and that was just about the craziest thing she could imagine happening today.
“Okay. I’ll do it. Let’s go see if we can turn your arm back into a rifle.”
Dear Reader (#uf1e66ad5-1ab9-5021-9abf-98319dc11de7),
It’s hard to know where to start to explain why I wanted to write a book about baseball. The first reason is my love of baseball movies. Bull Durham, Major League, For Love of the Game, Field of Dreams… Okay, my love might be more about Kevin Costner than the sport. Still, I do love those movies and wanted to pay homage to them in this series, The Bakers of Baseball.
I also happen to love the game. As a former season ticket holder, I’ve spent some great summer nights watching my team, and I wanted to join my love of the game with my love of writing.
This series starts off with Roy Walker, a once great pitcher who has lost his fortune and needs to start over in the minors. The problem is to get back to form he needs the help of the one woman who never wants to see him again. Honestly, at the beginning of this book I think the only thing Lane and Roy have in common is their love of baseball. Whether they figure the rest of it out…well, you’ll have to read the story to see.
I love to hear from readers, so if you enjoy this story or just want to chat about the Phillies contact me at stephaniedoyle.net (http://www.stephaniedoyle.net) or send a Tweet to @StephDoyleRW (https://twitter.com/StephDoyleRW).
Happy reading!
Stephanie Doyle
The Comeback
of Roy Walker
Stephanie
Doyle
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
STEPHANIE DOYLE, a dedicated romance reader, began to pen her own romantic adventures at age sixteen. She began submitting to Mills & Boon at age eighteen and by twenty-six her first book was published. Fifteen years later she still loves what she does as each book is a new adventure. She lives in South Jersey with her cat, Hermione, the designated princess of the whole house. When Stephanie’s not reading or writing, in the summer she is most likely watching a baseball game and eating a hot dog.
Contents
Cover (#u31df5166-120e-55c5-a22b-900f4bc860d1)
Back Cover Text (#u3683e325-40f0-5ab0-9795-faac102d8469)
Introduction (#uece1e763-1ea1-561c-948b-7a2d1fa5ef0d)
Dear Reader
Title Page (#u4e9981a9-c843-5547-b6a6-b61df3770b9a)
About the Author (#u9d7d4b75-b584-57c6-bc9f-007320e9cd2f)
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
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#uf1e66ad5-1ab9-5021-9abf-98319dc11de7)
Five years ago
“GREAT PARTY, ROY!”
“Thanks,” Roy said dismissively, nodding to some woman he didn’t recognize.
Yes, it was a great party. Booze was flowing, food was plentiful. The music was loud and people were starting to dance. Any second now something would break and then he could call this party a true success. Not that he really cared one way or the other.
The invitation had come as surprise to many of his teammates. It was completely out of character for Roy to want to socialize with them outside of work let alone host a party with free booze and food. In fact, for many of the players this was the first time they had seen the inside of his apartment.
But everyone knew this was Roy Walker’s last year on the team. It had been Roy’s plan from the moment he stepped on the diamond to dictate when he stepped off for good. He always said he would go out on top and this season was it. His final farewell. And kicking it all off with a huge party before they got down to the grueling business of the one-hundred-and-sixty-two-game season seemed like the perfect idea. His colleagues no doubt thought that maybe, after all this time and with his career coming to an end, Roy Walker was finally starting to loosen up.
He wasn’t.
“Roy, this is messed up!” Eddie Britton, the team’s all-star second baseman, threw an arm around Roy’s shoulder. This might be the first time a teammate had ever actually touched him outside of a fist bump or hand slap.
Roy was working on the assumption that messed up was a good thing. Mostly because Eddie was both drunk and smiling.
“I’m glad you’re having a good time.”
“Dude, free booze and food? Of course I’m having a good time. You should have done this years ago, man. People might have actually liked you.” Eddie shook his head. “Now you’re almost done.”
Roy didn’t take offense to the insinuations that no one liked him and that the only way he might have been liked was if he’d been supplying free food and alcohol to his teammates on a more regular basis. Eddie was probably right.
“Well, better late than never,” Roy muttered. Not that this party was about making friends. There was only one objective for having all these people in his place.
“Speaking of friends, where is your girl? She’s coming, right?”
His girl. Just the thought of those two words together made the muscles in his stomach go tight.
“I don’t know who— I’m not dating anyone—”
“No, man. I mean, your girl! Or should I say, Danny’s girl, who you wish was your girl.” Eddie clearly thought that was hysterical.
Roy clenched his jaw. Had he been that obvious? So obvious that even the other guys on the team knew?
“I’ve got to check the beer supply,” Roy said, rather than address that issue.
“That’s cool,” Eddie said, not upset by the brush-off. He stumbled away to take a dive into a couch where a bunch of baseball bunnies had congregated.
Danny’s girl.
Maybe not for long, Roy thought. Not if everything went according to plan. This whole party was nothing more than a charade designed to do something he felt he needed to do. Before he retired.
Yes, after careful consideration Roy had made a decision about one person’s need to know the truth. So he’d formulated a means to reveal it—a big social gathering to bring everything to light. It was meant to be a grand gesture.
This might not be a good idea.
He shook his head. It was too late. The wheels were already in motion. Both Lane and her husband, Danny, were on their way.
Only not together.
“Is this a bring-your-wife party?” Danny had asked.
“Are you kidding?” Roy snickered. “I want everyone to have fun. Bring whoever you like. But there will plenty of female fans in attendance...if you know what I mean.”
Roy recalled the conversation with a heavy sense of dread in his stomach. What he was doing to Danny Worth was wrong. Maybe even cruel. Roy was deliberately setting him up and he was doing so for one reason and one reason only.
Lane Baker Worth deserved better. The daughter of the legendary Duff Baker, a Hall-of-Fame baseball player and manager, Lane was, to Roy, the princess of baseball. Yet, she’d married Danny Worthless. Roy would never understand what she’d been thinking. Maybe if he’d known her back then, he could have stopped it. Certainly her family should have stepped in to avoid the travesty of Lane and Danny’s union.
Roy knew they had been young. Dating when they were nineteen, married at twenty-two. Hell, she was still young now at twenty-six, which was why Roy knew she didn’t have to spend the rest of her life with Danny Worthless. If only she could see him for what he was, she could get out and start over with someone else.
Someone like Roy.
He didn’t like to admit that was his end goal. It made the motivation for this party seem much less noble and infinitely more Machiavellian. He didn’t kid himself to think that just because her marriage to Danny might end, she would suddenly see Roy standing in front of her with open arms.
Maybe because you hit on her the first time you met her.
Roy winced at the memory.
Even with her shiny new diamond engagement ring on her left hand she hadn’t been safe from his come-on, although, to be fair, he hadn’t been all that serious about it. Hitting on the other players’ girls was something he did—Roy’s personal vetting process for the women who dated his teammates, to see where their actual loyalties fell. Were they with the ballplayers because of who they were as men? Or were they baseball bunnies looking for fame and fortune and any player would suffice?
In a way, it was a matter of self-protection. Roy had been hit on by too many wives who wanted to climb the baseball hierarchy. Leaving their husbands to attach themselves to the next highest rung.
The best. Roy Walker.
Once he knew which category the women belonged to, he knew which ones to avoid.
So the come-on to Lane had been a test. In a bar filled with Washington Founders players, her fiancé included, Roy had asked her if she wanted to get together sometime. Just the two of them. To discuss...baseball.
A perfectly harmless invitation that Roy and Lane both knew wasn’t harmless. Only by the time he asked the question he already knew Lane wasn’t the type of woman who jumped from one player to the next. There was something too open about her to be that type. So when he made his pass he expected outrage and fury.
Instead she’d laughed at him. Actually laughed at him. Head back, full-on hysterical laughter.
“Seriously?” she’d said. “Are you kidding me? What are you trying to prove? That you’re some badass who can have any woman he wants? From what I’ve seen so far you’re sullen and brooding. Barely civil to your teammates. Hate to break it to you, Roy, but that doesn’t make you badass and mysterious. It makes you sad and alone. I wonder if you know what love is. Even if I wasn’t engaged, someone like you wouldn’t get to have someone like me.”
In a sort of crazy twist, in that moment when she’d been telling him how pathetic he was, he’d come to admire her. He could see how right she was—someone like him would never be worthy of someone as open and giving as her. He’d spent every day since then trying to establish...what?
