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A Heart's Gift, A Heart’s Gift. The book is the winner of the 2017 Faith, Catherine Castle's Tuesday Wedding Tales blog series, Christian Historical, historical romance, Lena Nelson Dooley, marriage of convenience novel
Welcome to Tuesday Wedding Tales blog series, where wedding themed stories are the fare.
Today’s guest is multi-published author Lena Nelson Dooley, who will be telling us about her historical Christian romance book, A Heart’s Gift. The book is the winner of the 2017 Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award for Long Historicals.
Welcome, Lena.
Thanks, Catherine,
A Heart’s Gift is marriage-of-convenience novel set near the continental divide in Colorado in the 1890’s. Both the Franklin Vine and the Lorinda Sullivan have legitimate reasons for not wanting to allow another person into their hearts—deep hurts from the past. They were thrown together in the same house, complete with a housekeeper, and the household runs smoothly for quite a while.
A marriage in-name-only looks like the perfect solution for both of them. He wants an heir; she has a baby from her first marriage. She wonders how she’ll provide for her child; he owns a large successful ranch, so she’ll never have to worry about that again.
What could go wrong?
They don’t want anyone else to know the situation of their relationship, so they keep it a secret. Something happens at the wedding that puts each of them in a sudden and dramatic downturn … Or is it an upturn?
You, as the reader will need to decide for yourself. Events spiral out of their control until someone from the heroes past reappears in their lives and puts the heroine in mortal danger. The event from the wedding becomes the one thing both of them cling to in their minds and hearts.
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A Heart’s Gift
By Lena Nelson Dooley
Because of an earlier betrayal, Franklin vows never to open his heart to another woman. But he desires an heir.
When Lorinda is finally out from under the control of men who made all the decisions in her life, she promises herself she will never allow a man to control her again. But how can she provide for her infant son?
A marriage of convenience seems like the perfect arrangement, until two people from Franklin’s past endanger Lorinda. How can he save her? And how will this affect the way they feel about each other?
Excerpt:
Flames danced on the opposite side of the room from the cold black stove sitting on a slab of rock. The smoke didn’t come from the pot-belly. Flames? Her heart jumped into her throat and thrashed like a bird caught in a snare. She stared, fascinated at the macabre dance before her. The fire leapt, eating its way through the log wall and wooden floor. Wavering tongues of light took a bite from her curtains then raced up the fabric, consuming everything in their way.
Panic rose like a specter in her mind. The fear stole her breath away. She had to get out of here. Lorinda took a deep breath and held it. She quickly turned around and thrust her feet into the men’s boots beside her bed. Her breath swooshed out. She leaned over for a moment, light-headed. She’d never make it across the burning room if she couldn’t hold her breath any longer than that.
Her agitation reached the baby, and it squirmed and thumped inside her. She grabbed a handkerchief from the top drawer of the chest and held it tight over her nose before plunging into the mounting inferno. She pulled her garments close, trying to keep the flames from grabbing them as well.
Lorinda lumbered across the dwindling floor to the front door. The door stuck. Panic screamed inside her. The metal handle was almost too hot to hold. Using the hem of the robe, she grasped it again. She put her whole weight into wrenching the heavy door open and stumbled away from the intense heat melting an ever-widening circle in the dwindling snow. Tongues of fire burst after her, and she was barely able to stay out of their reach.
When the flames no longer scorched her, Lorinda stopped and took several deep breaths, trying to cleanse her lungs from the choking smoke, but the hacking coughs continued. She felt woozy, swaying a moment before straightening her spine. She walked around the log cabin, watching the fire that consumed everything she owned. Her hands clutched the hard pokes in her pockets. Everything, except the gold.
Want to read more? You can find A Heart’s Gift at Amazon.
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About the Author:
Multi-published author Lena Nelson Dooley has had more than 875,000 copies of her books sold. She is a member of ACFW and the local chapter, ACFW – DFW. She’s a member of Christian Authors’ Network and Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas.
She has been on the ECPA and CBA Bestseller lists, Publisher’s Weekly bestseller list, and several Amazon Bestseller lists as well as a reviewers’ Top Ten Books of 2011. She has won a dozen awards.
She hosts “The Lena Nelson Dooley Show” on the Along Came a Writer blog radio network.
Connect with Lena at her
Elaine Manders writes about the strong, capable women from history and the men who love them. Her stories are loaded with romance, suspense, faith, and a dash of humor. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, sewing, and crochet. She lives in Central Georgia with her husband, Robert, and a happy bichon-poodle mix.
Catherine Castle 