Redemption
(Ladies of Larkspur #3)
Back Cover Blurb:
Murder,
mayhem, marriage, and a horse named Mutiny…
Minnie's impulsiveness has been getting her into
trouble her whole life. She never
expected it to land her on a suspect list for murder, though. With nothing left but a few trunks of
possessions and her own defeat, Minnie leaves San Francisco behind and returns
home. In an effort to protect her family
and friends, she keeps them in the dark about the ongoing investigation and the
possibility that danger may have followed her to Larkspur. When events force her to trust someone with
her secrets, she turns to the sheriff and finds both a friend and an ally.
It may have been four years since he last saw
Minnie, but how could he ever forget her?
When Art finds her sneaking through a back alley in town, he knows
something's wrong. The once vivacious
Minnie is a mere shadow of her former self, all sparkle gone from her eyes. Art
knows that time spent with her will be dangerous to his heart, but he can't
turn Minnie away. Even if it means
protecting her from her own impetuous decisions, he vows to keep her safe.
In her attempt to take responsibility for her own
choices, Minnie shut out her friends, family, and God. An unsolved murder isn't all that's chasing
Minnie, though. Will she find her way
back to the heart of her faith before it's too late?
Excerpt:
August 1882
Minnie needed to get home
quickly. It was imperative. William would be displeased if she was away too
long. He was not kind when angry.
She rushed around the corner
only to be stopped by the familiar sight of police gathered outside the
tenement building where she and William rented a room. Given the area they
lived in, seeing police was a matter of course. The sheer number of officers
present, though, was anything but routine.
At the time she’d married him,
Minnie had expected to have a grand life with her husband. She was but the
daughter of a small-town mayor, but William, why he was a gifted and recognized
journalist. Her dreams of that happy life of travel, investigation, and
collaboration had evaporated within their first month of marriage. The
wonderful man who had courted her, caressed her with silver-tongued words, and
danced into her heart had disappeared.
He'd left in his place a man
who was bitter and angry because she, while the daughter of a politician, had
no wealth to her name, no grand dowry to finance the illicit habits he had kept
from her during their brief courtship. She'd had to adjust to a life far
removed from her dreams, a life where the only thing more common than police at
their building was the stench of squalor in the air.
Minnie hurried through the
gathering of policemen and rushed up the stairs, hoping that William would
still be asleep and wouldn't realize she'd been out. As she approached their
room, she saw an officer standing in the hallway by the already-open door to
the small space she shared with her husband. "Pardon me, ma'am," the
officer said, "are you Mrs. Drake?"
Nodding, she craned her neck to
see around the officer. He tried to block her view, but she caught a peek
inside. A strangled gasp escaped her lips. With strength out of place in her
small frame, she shoved past the policeman and dashed into their quarters. Her
husband of not quite three years, William Drake, lay in a pool of blood, almost
unrecognizable. His corpse lay there beaten – nay, bludgeoned – to death. His
lifeless eyes stared off into the distance. "W-what happened?" she
asked, her voice hoarse.
"Mrs. Drake." The man
speaking wore his somber expression as comfortably as he wore his suit – both
were threadbare from too much use. "I need to ask where you've been these
past two hours."
Trying desperately to pull her
eyes away from her husband's corpse, she fought to speak. "An
errand." The words felt as if they were being pulled from her throat.
"I had an errand to run."
"Where, Mrs. Drake?"
About a year into their
marriage, William had stopped pursuing his journalism career. He was always
either deep in his cups or giving up their every possession at the gaming tables.
Going to work had become necessary, but she wasn't sure how she felt about
exposing that part of her life to the man in the suit, a virtual stranger. It
had been easy enough to step into Will's shoes and take over his position at
the newspaper. She did her writing in secret, and everything was published
under the name Will Drake, the byline
her husband had used.
Minnie didn't know how to
explain her job to these men without feeling the shame and embarrassment of
having to admit both facts – that her husband was a sluggard who'd forced his
wife to support him and that most of San Francisco believed her to be a man. Little
encouragement was to be found in the stern faces of the officers, and she began
to question whether either claim would be believable.
Looking into the eyes of the
suited man, she saw something dreadful. Minnie lifted her hand to her throat in
foreboding. "You suspect me, then, in my husband's death." It wasn't
a question. She could see the truth of it on the detective's face.
"Answer the question, Mrs.
Drake. Where have you been?"
"Everywhere but where I
should have been, it would seem," she said softly.
Author Bio:
Heather
Gray is the author of the Ladies of Larkspur inspirational western romance
series, including Mail Order Man, Just Dessert, and Redemption. Other titles
include Ten Million Reasons, His Saving Grace, and Nowhere for Christmas – everything from
Regency England to modern-day America.
Aside from a long-standing love affair with coffee, Heather’s greatest
joys are her relationships with her Savior and family. She decided years ago that she'd rather laugh
than yell. This theme is prevalent in
her writing where, through the highs and lows of life, her characters find a
way to love God, embrace each day, and laugh out loud right along with her.
Buy Links:
Where to Find Me:
Can't wait to read this book!
ReplyDelete