For years I
have written about the Wilding family in the fictional town of Hazard, Wyoming.
The saga began with Joe Wilding and his adopted, part Lakota, brother, Banjo. I
loved them so much I began to write about their children, and then their
grandchildren. They were my family and my friends. I cannot see pictures of
Wyoming or hear about the state without thinking of my Wildings.
I enjoyed
having the Wildings help each other out of tough situations. Through these
stories they counseled one another and shared their hopes, dreams, and burdens.
They supported each other and fought for each other. And they had no problem
speaking their mind when they thought a family member was about to derail.
And now I
have come to the last Wilding story, their part Lakota cousin, Kyle Red Sky. He
is the wisest of the Wilding clan and he has a special Lakota gift. I have
written Kyle into several previous stories in which he has leant a hand to another
Wilding in trouble. He has given wise counsel to his cousins on occasion, and
he has warned them when he knew, in his mystical way, that trouble was coming.
And now, for
my final Wilding, I am telling Kyle’s story. Of all the Wildings, Kyle is the most
deserving of happiness. To make this last book special I have included scenes
here and there in which each of the Wildings from previous stories shows up. I included
Joe and Lola Wilding who are now the elders of the tribe. I wanted to let them
say goodbye. Kyle has always been dear to my heart and it was my desire to show
his depth of character in this last story. I hope I succeeded.
I
Dream of You
By Sarah J. McNeal
Fire Star Press
A
Dream…A Kiss… And Deadly Secrets
Blurb:
Kyle Red Sky dreamed
of the woman with fire in her hair, but when she comes to town, something dark
and dangerous follows her. He wants to help her, but she is reclusive, avoids
men, and the scarf she always wears around her neck tells him she harbors a
dark secret.
Mia Beckett is a
survivor. Finally, she has found sanctuary in a small western town far from
danger where no one knows her or her past and she intends to keep it that way.
But she can’t forget the man she saw once in a dream who told her the paths
they walked were destined to meet. However, when she meets Kyle Red Sky and
realizes he is the man from her dream, she knows, if the dream becomes a
reality, he may die.
Excerpt:
Kyle kicked open the
door of his mother’s former dress shop despite the sign that read, No Men Allowed. The raging fire upstairs
in the private quarters made this an emergency, certainly enough to ignore that
sign. Smoke began to fill the shop as he raced up the stairs calling out the
name of the new shop owner. “Miss Beckett! Miss Mia Beckett, where are you?”
As he reached the
landing of the second floor, he heard someone cough nearby. With the wet
blanket wrapped around him he rushed toward the direction of the cough until he
found the woman lying on the floor almost unconscious from smoke inhalation. As
soon as he removed the wet blanket he wore and wrapped her in its protective
layer, he scooped her up in his arms to carry her away from the flames and
smoke. The scarf she wore fell away from her neck and her head lolled back
against his chest to reveal a thin, straight scar that ran all the way across
her throat from her left ear to her right. It wasn’t an old scar, most likely
no more than two or three months in the past. She attempted to raise a hand as
if to cover her throat and replace the silk scarf. He’d always seen her wear a
scarf of some description or another around her neck since her arrival in town.
Now he knew all those scarves were not her unique sense of fashion, but her
desire to hide the scar. She was a woman attempting to keep a secret.
In a whisper he could barely hear, she said, “Please, don’t
let them see.” And then she fell unconscious.
“You have my word.” He knew there was little chance she
could hear his promise, but it didn’t matter.
Sarah
J. McNeal is a multi-published author who writes
diverse stories filled with heart. She is a retired ER and Critical Care nurse
who lives in North Carolina with her four-legged children, Lily, the Golden
Retriever and Liberty, the cat. Besides her devotion to writing, she also has a
great love of music and plays several instruments including violin, bagpipes,
guitar and harmonica. Her books and short stories may be found at Prairie Rose
Publications and its imprints Painted Pony Books, and Fire Star Press and
Sundown Press. She welcomes you to her website and social media:
![A Christmas Visitor by [McNeal, Sarah J. ]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519VJZM2UjL.jpg)
