A Priceless Yellow Diamond, Romance and Mystery in Las Vegas

Welcome to Nancy Famolari's Place. “Yellow Diamond Caper” is my sixth novel, but it's a new setting for me me. Las Vegas always seems to mean romance and adventure, so this book takes you to Las Vegas.
If you're interested in how The Yellow Diamond Caper was written, checkout the post (http://nancygfamolari.blogspot.com/2013/01/turning-short-story-into-novel.html) on this blog. The book is available from Amazon.

Free Book:

I'm giving away a free copy of Yellow Diamond Caper, if you leave a comment on this post. I will put the names of those who comment in a hat and have my husband pick the winner. I will announce the winner on a post on this site. I will contact the winner directly if you leave an email address. The choice is a signed paperback copy of the book, or an ebook

Blurb: 

Kaylyn is convinced her husband, Alex, is having an affair with Marcia, his assistant. Straightening up the bedroom, Kaylyn shakes out his pants, and a huge yellow diamond falls out. It's almost their anniversary. It must be her present. She tries it on, but it won't come off. She's already late. She and Alex are due at a party. Hiding the diamond in her palm, she hopes no one will notice, but at the party, Bruce, Marcia's husband, sees the ring and immediately recognizes it as one he designed for his wife. Kaylyn is crushed. Her fears about the affair are confirmed. Leaving the party, she sees a brochure for Fantasy Romance. Why not? Furious, she takes off for a week in Las Vegas, but someone is trying to make her leave. Did the yellow diamond follow her?

Excerpt::

     Navy blue suit pants lay crumpled on the bedroom floor where Alex tossed them the night before. Kaylyn sighed and stooped to pick them up. Why couldn’t husbands hang up anything? When he came from work, Alex tossed his clothes at the chair; when he missed, which was frequently, he left them on the floor. Then he wondered why they were wrinkled. She grasped the pants by the cuffs, aligned the seams, and gave a vigorous shake to find the creases. Something fell out of the pocket, hit the Chinese rug and bounced onto the hardwood floor under the dresser with a musical clink. He’d probably left his lucky silver dollar in his pocket again.

     She shoved back the wisps of dark hair escaping from her pony tail. She was already running late. Now she’d have to crawl around on the floor searching for the coin.

She dropped to her knees. Her cheek touched the floor as she bent over to peer under the dresser. Something that looked like a piece of rock had rolled into the back corner. He must have gotten a new lucky piece. Gingerly, she thrust her hand under the dresser and felt around on the polished boards. Alex would be furious if he couldn’t find one of his precious possessions. She sighed. She was going to be late getting dressed for the evening, and he would be furious anyway. Tonight was his big night, the announcement of his promotion. He’d warned her to be on time.

     She raked her fingers across the floor, encountering only a few dust bunnies. Ugh, she should do a better job of cleaning. Trying one last time to reach the object, she lay flat on her stomach and pushed her hand as far back as she could. Her fingers touched something smooth and hard. She pulled it toward her and closed her hand over it. It felt like a ring. Sitting back on her heels, she opened her hand. A huge oval diamond, the color of summer sun, radiated sparkles of light. Kaylyn gasped. She’d never seen such a gorgeous ring. Triangular white diamonds flanked the yellow diamond setting it off to perfection.

     Her breath caught in her throat. What was this expensive ring doing in Alex’s pocket? She frowned then a smile crept across her face. She gazed at the plain gold band on her finger. She’d always wanted a diamond engagement ring. Their anniversary was this month. This must be her present. It wasn’t in a box, but . . .

The ring cut into her palm as she hugged it to her heart. He wanted to surprise her, perhaps hide the ring and watch her excitement when she discovered it. She ached to try it on.

Holding her breath, she slid the ring on her finger. It stuck at the knuckle, but she pushed it over. Twisting her hand back and forth, she delighted in the fiery stabs of color. She’d never seen anything so beautiful. He did love her.

     A powerful engine roared to a stop outside. Kaylyn gasped. It was Alex’s Porsche. She should have been ready by now. Desperately, she twisted the yellow diamond. It wouldn’t come off.  

Meet Nancy Famolari:

 Nancy Famolari splits her time between her farm in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania and a smaller farm near Ocala, Florida. She and her husband love riding their Paso Finos in the Endless Mountains and in the Goethe Forest near Ocala. She is the author of the Montbleu Murder series. The Endless Mountains, a lovely rural area with many small towns dating from the early 1800s provides background for the novels in this series. She also writes romance novels about her experiences racing, breed ina and training standardbred horses for harness racing. For more information visit her site.