Jessa McAdams | A Little White Lie

Have you ever told a little white lie only to have it snowball into an epic, life- altering avalanche? No?

I have a friend who confessed her white lie to me once. She said it haunts her to this day. She and her two sisters were raised by a single mom. Money was always scarce. On her 8th birthday, there was no money at all. Her mother made cream of mushroom soup for her birthday dinner with a bag of mushrooms a neighbor had given her. She apparently apologized profusely for it, knowing that’s not what her daughter wanted.

Well, my friend, good little girl that she was, told her mother that she loved the soup, even though she gagged down every spoonful. And she was effusive in her praise, too—so effusive that for years afterward, cream of mushroom soup became her birthday dinner, and for years, my friend chose to gag on every spoonful rather than confess she’d lied about liking it. Fortunately, I learned my lesson early in life, usually if you tell one lie, no matter how tiny, you find yourself having to tell many more to cover for the first one. Unfortunately, in my new romantic comedy, THE PERFECT BARGAIN, my main character Sloane Chatfield, is just now discovering herself buried beneath a whopper and only a sexy Highlander by the name of Galen Buchanan can rescue her.

Ever since Sloane’s fiancé called off their wedding, her well-intentioned friends have been trying to fix her up. One evening over cocktails and an episode of the Outlander, Sloane confesses that Jaime Fraser is her ultimate fantasy boyfriend. That’s all it takes for her friends to start scouring all of Chicago trying to locate a hot Scot for their friend. The men they fix her up with and the dates they send her on are disasters which only makes them more determined to find Sloane’s perfect man. In an effort to head off any further ill-suited matches Sloane figures she’ll tell one little lie that should solve everything. She tells her friends they can quit searching and they don’t need to attend the next meeting of a Scot ex-pat group, because she’s booked a trip to Scotland and she’s going in search of her very own Highlander. Of course, she has no intention of doing such a thing. Sloane’s job enables her to work anywhere as long as she’s got internet, so she’ll go to Scotland, tell her friends she met a wonderful man and share loads of romantic stories. Once they join her for their vacation at the end of her month stay, she’ll tell them the relationship didn’t work out and she is too heartbroken to date anytime in the near future.

It should have been simple except after she tells them she’s met her perfect Highlander they inform her they are heading over to Scotland ahead of schedule and dying to meet her Jaime Fraser in just a few, short days. Sloane refuses to admit the entire trip to Scotland has been a lie and decides she needs to produce a man who she can claim as her Highlander and then dump while her friends are visiting.

The town of Gairloch is small to say the least and the amount of attractive, eligible men leaves something to be desired. The only reasonable candidate to play her soon to be dumped boyfriend is the surly pub owner who acts put out every day when Sloane comes to sit in his rundown establishment in order to use the only decent wi-fi in town. Desperate, she finds herself making a bargain with the brawny Scot.

Galen thinks the prim and proper Ms. Chatfield has lost her ever loving mind. Not only that, he’s a straight shooter and can’t abide lies. However, the money she’s offering is the answer to his prayers of saving the pub that’s been in his family for generations. It’s only a matter of time before they both discover the bargain isn’t the only thing he can’t resist and that sometimes one small lie can indeed change the rest of your life.

About Jessa McAdams

Jessa McAdams is the new pseudonym of Julia London for her contemporary books.

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About THE PERFECT BARGAIN

American lass seeks brawny Scot...

As if being newly single isn't brutal enough, Sloane Chatfield's friends are getting obnoxious about setting her up. When Sloane insists she's waiting for a certain sexy fictional Highlander to come along, her friends surprise her with a trip to Scotland to find her a new boyfriend. She'd rather have a root canal. But if she can find a Highland hunk to "break her heart" before her friends arrive...

In a remote Highland village, Galen Buchanan is struggling to keep the family pub afloat. Everything is falling apart, he's running out of money, and now there's an opinionated American lass parked at his best table, driving him mad. But then Sloane asks Galen to be her pretend Highland boyfriend...and offers him enough money to save the pub. It's only for a few days, he figures. What's the worst that could happen?