The instant Sunshine ushered Trevor and the twentyish female with him into the spa the following evening, her determination to regard him as an investigator, period, stuttered to a halt. Damn the man for being so magnetic and gorgeous. “You’re right on time,” she said, fighting the urge to swoon like a lovesick teenage girl. “We have a lot to cover,” he replied, without an ounce of reciprocal heat in his eyes. At least one of them was all about business. Which was what she wanted in the first place and should’ve put her at ease. Yet his ability to ignore the pull between them and her lack of the same galled her. Lips compressed, she pulled herself together. With any luck, their meeting would end quickly and she could go home. “Depending on how the business operates and how complicated your inventory collection system is, this may not take long,” he commented, as if he’d read her mind. “Before we get into the details, meet Fern, my assistant.” The tall, slender, very pretty assistant. Was he involved with her? Jealousy stabbed Sunshine. Ignoring the feelings she had no business having, she forced a smile, strained as it was. “Hi….

People are always asking, Where do you get your ideas? Oh honey, if they only knew! Here are some of my favorite idea generators. Eavesdropping. I do that a lot. It’s easy, fun, and good for getting those creative juices flowing. Also, when friends say something intriguing, I let them know that some day their story or clever word usage could end up in a book. Fictionalized of course, so that often they won’t recognize themselves. With strangers…. they’ll never know.Observation. People watching is such a kick. Even more fun is making up stories about those you watch. Why are they behaving that way? Who are the people they are with? I’ll bet even non-writers do this. TV, radio, music and the movies. I’ve been known to take a premise or a snippet of and run with it. The end results never look remotely like the show from which I drew my inspiration. Magazines and newspapers. Tons of great stuff there. Especially those advice columns and the stories of personal triumphs over bad situations. And of course, life itself. Something happens to me or a friend or relative, or a friend’s friend, and I get to thinking, What if? I’m…