Coming Friday 7 pm PST. Lynne Marshall Author of: HER BABY, HIS LOVE SEE EXCERPT

Coming Friday

7 pm PST.

Lynne Marshall

Author of:

All Taylor Clark ever wanted was a normal life and a traditional family, but so far she’s had neither. Soon after discovering that her boyfriend was secretly engaged and she moves to Charity, Montana for a fresh start, she realizes she’s pregnant. As her new friendly and sexy landlord helps her settle in, they become friends, although Taylor has to keep reminding herself to keep her distance. The last thing she needs is to start something new.

As an ex-con, Joe Collins knows a little something about fresh starts. Despite his determination to keep his head down, he can’t ignore Taylor’s natural beauty or obvious vulnerability. In short time, a tentative friendship blooms along with something more precious—trust.

When Taylor’s ex comes to town, he threatens everything that Joe and Taylor have built together. Joe steps up to care for and protect her, even though he risks losing more than the woman he loves.

Joe loaded the large five-gallon containers onto a flat metal wagon and pulled them up to the register with little effort.  Taylor followed behind his lanky strides. Once there, slowly and meticulously he calculated the totals.

Taylor tried not to stare at him so she bought extra planting soil and one small decorative pot she spotted at the last minute.

He smiled and one dimple popped up on his cheek, and while she was in the territory, she noticed a small patch of reddish beard growing just beneath his lower lip. 

As he continued to smile, she glimpsed a tiny gap between otherwise straight front teeth.  His grin seemed kind and welcoming.  Oh, please don’t do that.  She smiled back and felt her cheeks warm up, again.  They stood grinning at each other for an awkward moment or two before it occurred to her that he was waiting for her to pay.

“Oh!  Excuse me.” She got out her debut card then handed it to him. “Here.”

He was still smiling when he took it.  Fine lines fanned out from those pale brown eyes on an otherwise tanned face.  He had a long nose, masculine and appealing.  Deep creases shot up his cheeks and accentuated his single-dimple smile.  She recovered from his charming assault while he ran the card through the machine.

When the nurseryman handed her the receipt, she avoided his gaze.  All men were scoundrels weren’t they?  He walked her and the purchases to the car in humble silence making her want to squirm; still she couldn’t ignore how well he filled out his jeans.  After pulling the wagon to the bumper, he lay plastic on the back seat and car floor with great care placed the shrubs inside.

He certainly didn’t seem like a scoundrel.  Problem was, neither had Clay, nor Matt, nor Gary, nor Rich, at first, and her judgment was still in serious need of adjustment.

“Thank you for all of your help,” Taylor said.  “It was very … helpful.” Cringe.

“You’re welcome, Taylor.”  He surprised her.  She figured he noticed her name from the debit card.  She looked for a nametag or something on him, but couldn’t find one.  Once again, stuck without words, and hesitant to ask his name figuring what was the point, she simply nodded when he shut the hatchback.

 ##

Just before pulling the empty cart back to the front of the nursery, Joe Collins stopped and watched the sleek, auburn-haired woman, with amazing green eyes, wipe the dust from her hands and get into her car.  He’d noticed her when she’d first walked into the nursery.  He’d gone back to work, but attempted to keep track of her whereabouts without being too obvious.  Because of the headphones, he’d hardly heard the sound of her sandals crunching on gravel when she’d approached.  The sight of the woman’s feet, complete with a delicate braided silver toe ring and deep red pedicure, had highjacked his attention.  Something he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in ages had made itself known and surprised him. Attraction.

Those feet were attached to long, shapely legs that had been close enough to touch, and a verse from the Song of Solomon came to mind - How beautiful your sandaled feet… your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman’s hands.  To distract from his wayward thoughts, he’d spoken to her and helped her choose the plants.

His gaze lingered on the foot that dangled gracefully a second or two before slipping inside her car.  He returned the headphones to his ears and released the pause button as she backed out and drove off.  Another verse accompanied an uncomfortable longing.  Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun? 

Now itchy and restless, he switched from classical to country.  The up-tempo song helped blast away his unwanted feelings until a short time later, when Brad Paisley sang some words that hit home, and Joe agreed that life was more interesting now that Taylor had come to town.

When I sat down to write this book, I had the image of a formerly bubbly, beautiful young woman, who had changed drastically in the thirteen years since she’d met and fallen in love with her high-school sweetheart. He’d left for boot camp, been chosen for Special Forces, become a Green Beret medic, traveled the world, and carried on with his life. She’d made a painful decision, harbored a huge secret, and paid a devastatingly high emotional price. And it had changed her life. The choices we make in our youth often come back to haunt us.

As this reunion story unfolds, I hope you’ll fall in love with my gorgeous hero, Beck, as much as I did. And I suspect, once you’ve scratched the gruff exterior of my heroine, January, you’ll want to be friends with her.

A bit about Special Forces medics here. They are first on scene in the battlefield, and what they do for the injured can save lives. Their training is intense, and in all my years in nursing I haven’t come close to doing many of the procedures our medics learn in their Special Forces training. Hats off to those who volunteer for this difficult job. There is only one word to describe them. Heroes!

I love to hear from readers. If I’ve struck a chord with you in this book, let me know. Or if you’d just like to say hello, you can visit me at my website: www.lynnemarshall.com.

Thirteen years back Beck Braxton enlisted in the Army and left town, but not before asking his girl to wait for him. She didn't. Now he needs a Medic refresher course and the RN he's assigned to is the last person he wants to see.

January Stewart gave up being that bubbly, carefree girl who'd fallen in love with her high school bad boy when she was forced to make a painful decision all by herself. Thirteen years later she harbors a huge secret.  

She owes him the truth. He wants to get even. But that old chemistry keeps messing up their plans...

link:  http://a.co/bejYUih

Jan finally had a chance to take her dinner break around eight p.m. She notified Carmen and headed for the nurses’ lounge. Unable to wait one more second to read the special letter, she dug it out of her pocket and ripped it open. This time every year, as promised, the updated letter arrived.

A shining smile from Meghan Jean greeted her inside the envelope. She’d be twelve and a half now, and in seventh grade. Long dark brown French braids rested on her bony shoulders. A handful of freckles were sprinkled across her nose, a nose very much like Jan’s. But the eyes were definitely placed and shaped like her father’s, except their color was blue...like hers.

Dear January,

We’re reporting in on this year’s progress with our daughter. Meghan has joined the track team and also loves to dance. She scored in the top ten percent for her annual scholastic testing and her teachers want to place her in some gifted classes. It seems that out of the blue she has discovered a love of art, and wants to take painting classes. She continues to be a warm and loving girl with a natural excitement and curiosity for life even though puberty is fast approaching. Meghan absolutely hates wearing braces, but we’ve discovered clear wires and sometimes she likes to have bright blue ones applied just for fun. As you know, she’s quite the ham and keeps Daryl and me laughing. We promised her a Disney World vacation this year and she can barely go to sleep each night from thinking about it.

On another note, something new has cropped up in school. Meghan’s science class is studying genetics and genealogy and she is suddenly bursting with questions about her birth parents. Would it be okay for us to tell her a bit more about you? We understand that you never named the father, but if there is any information whatsoever you can provide, we’d appreciate it.

As always, Daryl and I are so grateful to you for your unselfish act and want you to know we treat our daughter as the precious gift she is. We pray that life is treating you well.

All the best,

The Williams

The last part of the letter went blurry. Had it been an unselfish act? Could giving her daughter away to strangers in an open adoption be considered anything less than an easy way out for a frightened seventeen-year-old? Sure, they had been well screened, willing and anxious to become parents, but they’d solved her “problem” and life had never been the same since.

She glanced again at the school picture, and choked back her tears.

The door flew open behind her. “Apparently only the nurses keep fresh coffee in the pot,” Beck said.

Jan startled, dropping the letter, and the picture went flying through the air to the floor. She scrambled to reach it before Beck could see, but he was just as quick.

She leaned. He knelt. They almost bumped heads. They looked into each other’s eyes. Fear of being found out sent a rocket fueled with adrenaline through her chest. His hand rested on top of hers on the picture on the floor.

Lynne Marshall used to worry she had a serious problem with day dreaming, until she discovered she was supposed to write those stories. Now traditionally published with Harlequin for more than ten years with over twenty-five books as a category romance author, and more recently with TULE Publishing, she has also gone hybrid.  She is a Southern California native, has been married to a New Englander for a long time, and has two adult children of whom she is super proud. She is also an adoring grandmother of two beautiful little girls, a woman of faith, a dog lover (Milo can vouch for that), a cat admirer, a meandering walker, a curious traveler, and an optimistic participant in this wild journey called life.

www.lynnemarshall.com

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