COMING HOME is HERE!

Do you remember the first time you were in a new place or met a new person and felt you belonged, that you’d finally come home? Maybe it’s a new house, where you walked in the front door and said to yourself, “This is what I’ve been looking for.” Mine was the first date with my future husband. I knew this man was my “home” no matter where life took us—and it’s taken us quite a few places!

In my short story, COMING HOME, Jericho Hawken meets Maryland Henry and her three nieces and knows he’s found what he’s been searching for. But there are some really big "boulders" in their path to happiness.

I’m so happy to share that Coming Home has been released as an electronic short story for only .99!  [It was first released as part of the Hearts and Spurs anthology from Prairie Rose Publications.]

Here’s a little taste:

COMING HOME:  Sometimes it takes two to make dreams come true.

When a man who believes he’ll never have a home and family…

Former U.S. Marshal Jericho Hawken should have been shepherding a wagon train to new territory, but he unwillingly left them vulnerable to a vicious raider. The murder of the settlers he was supposed to be guarding is the hardest thing he’s ever had to face…until he meets the sister of one of the settlers.

…finds a woman who has lost everything…

Instead of a joyous reunion with her brother, Maryland Henry has come to River’s Bend to take responsibility for her three orphaned nieces. Fired from her teaching position and with no other family on whom to rely, Mary believes Jericho Hawken is responsible for all her woes. Or is he what she’s been searching for all along?

It takes a lot of forgiveness and a few fireworks to realize that together their dreams can come true.

Excerpt:

Jericho met her gaze. “I was hired as extra security for their wagon train and was assigned to ride with the group of wagons they traveled in. I spent a lot of nights at your family’s fire on the trip out from Saint Louis. Your brother and his wife were kind and generous people.”

He watched Mary’s throat work as she battled back tears that made her blue eyes seem huge in her pale face. When she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, he knew his time for avoiding the truth was over.

“What happened, Mr. Hawken?”

Self-loathing threatened to choke him. “I’m not sure.”

She glanced at Matt, then returned her piercing gaze to Jericho. “I don’t understand. Did it happen at night? Was it too dark for you to see?”

He gulped down the liquid in his glass and carefully set the crystal aside when he wanted to hurl it against the stone hearth. “I wasn’t there.”

“Where—”

“I was in jail.”

The tiny bit of color the brandy had given her drained away. “What!”

“You can’t hate me more than I despise myself, Miss Henry.” He rose and prowled the room. “I saw—someone I knew. From my past. Someone I thought never to lay eyes on again. It’s no excuse, but I got drunk. When the law decided I needed to extend my stay in their little town, the wagons went on without me. I followed as soon as they let me go. I was only a couple of hours behind, but… It was one hour too long.”

I’m giving away an electronic copy of COMING HOME to one reader who leaves a comment today.

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Tracy