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eBook Category: Romance
eBook Description: Heartbeat is the story of Jenny Canpata and Jeffrey Scott, two star-crossed young lovers compelled by fate to live apart, yet destined to love each other forever. Raised on her father's luxurious country estate in Pennsylvania, Jenny is one of life's beautiful people who have it all. Besides possessing looks, intelligence and wealth, her father is Martin Canpata--the most feared and respected attorney in Morgan County. Through his involvement in organized crime, he has acquired the power to manipulate people's lives in order to suit his own needs. He uses that power to incarcerate Jeffrey's father. Jeffrey Scott tried hard to head off the overpowering emotions that Jenny created in him, but his love was too strong. Then Martin delivered his ultimatum: "If you stop seeing Jenny, I'll see that your father is spared a longer prison sentence." Moving from Pennsylvania to California, to war-torn Lebanon, this is a genuine love story that survives numerous obstacles: class distinction, family feuds, corruption, physical separation, and the complications brought about by angst and passionate desire.

eBook Publisher: SynergEbooks, Published: SynergEbooks, 2003
Fictionwise Release Date: April 2004

4 Reader Ratings: Great Good OK Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [544 KB], eReader (PDB) [201 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [188 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [167 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [166 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [209 KB], hiebook (KML) [464 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [245 KB], iSilo (PDB) [154 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [193 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [230 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [252 KB]
Words: 58933
Reading time: 168-235 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

Jenny forced herself to buy a copy of the national newspaper before she boarded the jet bound for Pennsylvania. The news of the bombing in Beirut dominated the front page.

Perhaps reading the story would help Jenny to stop denying reality, but she doubted it. She still prayed that the whole thing was a nightmare, that she would wake up and he would be at her side once again, announcing their marriage to their families as they had planned.

"Your ticket, please?" The voice of the stewardess pulled Jenny back to reality.

Jenny handed the stewardess her ticket.

"Enjoy your flight."

Jenny nodded and made her way through the narrow aisle to her window seat.

Once the jet had leveled above the clouds, Jenny unfastened her seat belt and opened the folded newspaper in her lap.

TWO HUNDRED AMERICAN G.I.'s FEARED DEAD. The bold letters of the headline roused a powerful yearning in Jenny to travel back in time ...

Mr. and Mrs. Martin Canpata were giving a barbecue in honor of their daughter's acceptance into law school. The guest list consisted of the elite of suburban Towering Heights.

The celebration was held on the neatly clipped grounds of the three-hundred-acre sprawling estate. The aroma of barbecued chicken floated in the air along with the soft music played by the three-piece band assembled on the patio.

"You look just divine, Jenny," complimented Mrs. Turner, the wife of the newly elected judge of Morgan County.

"Thank you, Mrs. Turner." Jenny gave her a radiant smile, then continued through the crowd, greeting familiar faces.

Suddenly Jenny felt shivers of uneasiness slide down her back. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

She scanned the surrounding area, trying her best to appear casual, but hoping to catch the person watching her.

A man propped himself against the bar near the band and watched the woman who was making an effort to be friendly to all the guests. Whoever she was she was beautiful.

When she smiled, she was lovelier than any woman he could recall. Her shining silken hair clung to her delicately boned face before falling gracefully over her shoulders right down to her buttocks. Her petite body was sensuous and exciting, he thought. Her ivory-colored, sleeveless dress clung in all the right places, emphasizing her full breasts, curved hips and shapely legs.

He felt his pulse racing. His palms became damp with perspiration. Damn! Had he lost his mind? He asked himself. It was impossible for him to become involved with a woman of her obvious genteel background and upbringing.

But it was too late. He was completely captivated. He felt compelled to move closer. He had to meet her. It was then he discovered who she was. Martin Canpata's loud voice boomed and his dictatorial tone claimed everyone's attention as he summoned his daughter to his side.

He put his arm around Jenny's shoulder. "Jenny, these are the Muellers." He introduced the middle-aged couple with a look in his eyes that Jenny recognized immediately.

She was quite familiar with the Mueller name. Mr. Mueller was her father's biggest client and head of Mueller Real Estate, the largest real estate agency in the state.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Jenny responded to her father's eyes of steel, which demanded a show of her well-drilled training for entertaining people of such high caliber.

"That's a lovely dress you're wearing, Jenny," Mrs. Mueller remarked, smiling while gritting her teeth as her husband's eyes closely examined the curves that filled the dress.

"Thank you."

"Come along, George. I see someone I'd like you to meet," Mrs. Mueller suddenly declared, tugging at her husband's arm. "It's very nice to meet you, Jenny," she called over her shoulder as she nearly dragged her husband into a circle of people.

As Jenny excused herself to her father as well, she felt again the same shivers of uneasiness. Paranoid or not, she was positive now that someone's eyes were boring into her back. Deciding that the time had come to put a stop to this nuisance once and for all, she swiftly turned her head.

It was then she saw him, a tall man standing nearby, staring at her with the softest blue eyes she had ever seen. As their eyes locked, they seemed to carry on a brief conversation. Jenny had the sensation of being struck with a powerful object, so intense was her reaction to this man.

As he continued to hold her with his gaze, she took in every detail of his appearance. He looked to be about twenty-four or twenty-five. His soft, brown hair lay in thick waves over his forehead. His face was angular, with strong but perfectly carved features. His tall frame was impressive, and emphasized by the muscle of his all-male form. He was dressed in a western-styled, light blue shirt and a pair of neatly pressed, new-looking jeans.

Jenny remained transfixed, trapped by the stare of a stranger. She had never met a man who could make her feel so strange. Her insides felt weak but at the same time were giving birth to a sensation she never knew existed.

With a force of sheer will, Jenny turned her eyes away from this man who for a moment had wielded the potential power to turn her well-planned future upside down.

The muscles of her face were becoming sore from smiling so much. Sneaking away from the guests for a while certainly would be better than greeting them with a frown, she decided.

She casually drifted away from the noises of the crowd and suddenly darted around the side of the house. She followed the path that led to the stables. Talking to her four-year-old thoroughbred horse would be much easier than finding the correct words to add to the conversation of her father's associates, she thought.

Jenny swung open the stable door. The tensions that had been building within her evaporated instantly as she went inside.

She scooped two handsful of oats from the oversized barrel in the corner and held them out to the well-groomed mare in the end stable. The color of the horse reminded Jenny of the first snowfall blanketing the ground. A beautiful shade of white.

"Just for you, Splendor," Jenny offered.

Jenny's father had given her the thoroughbred the year she started college. At the time, White Splendor was a filly for Jenny to train. And train she did. Jenny spent every spare minute she had with the horse. And a special love developed between them.

"That's a fine-looking animal you've got there," a deep male voice praised.

Jenny was brought back from the private world only she and White Splendor shared with a jolt on hearing his voice. She knew without looking that what she never expected to happen was indeed happening. The mystery man had sought her out.

Slowly she turned her eyes to encounter his handsome face, now so very close to her own. As he towered above her, she could see its smoothness. The exciting fragrance of his cologne drifted downward, causing her pulse to increase its beat.

"I hope I didn't frighten you," he said, a worried look crossing his fine features. "My name is Jeffrey. Jeffrey Scott."

She should tell him he had frightened her, but her lips refused to obey and form the words. "I don't believe I know the name, Mr. Scott." Jenny was surprised at how evenly her words came out when she felt a knot cutting off her breath.

Jeffrey snickered, his gaze dropping instantly to the concrete floor. "There's no reason you should. See, my folks don't have much free time for fancy parties. We're just a farm family, working from dawn to dusk most days." Jeffrey explained, occasionally raising his soft blue eyes to capture Jenny's.

Jenny allowed him to get away with the sarcasm he wished he had better controlled. Excitement was evident in her voice. "Then you must have horses, too."

Jeffrey chuckled. "No, I don't. Horses ... " His voice trailed off suddenly, reaffirming his earlier thoughts. He and Jenny were indeed worlds apart. To him, a horse of his own was a luxury he could only dream of some day owning, while Jenny had no understanding of a dream such as his. Her father's vast wealth made those kind of dreams real every day.

Jenny had a peculiar look in her eyes, intoxicated with desire to know everything about this mysterious man. "Don't you like horses?" she pressed.

Jeffrey kicked a few strands of straw with the toe of his boot. "They're magnificent animals. And someday I will own several," he said and meant it.

Jenny didn't doubt him for a minute. Jeffrey Scott seemed like the type of man who honored his convictions.