Saturday Sample: Rest Thy Head

Welcome to Saturday Sample. My excerpt today is from my new release Rest Thy Head. In this excerpt my hero Jake thinks about his past.

Jake took his breakfast and went into the office to eat. Peyton
O’Malley was exactly the kind of woman he didn’t need at Rest
Thy Head. She made him think about things that could never
happen again. Running a hand across his face, he reflected that
he’d give a year of his life to look the way he did before he got
burned. Before he went to Afghanistan, both he and Patrick had
had their share of female admirers, and Patrick still did, but no
woman wanted a man with a face like his.

Since no one was around to see and feel sorry for him, he
removed a photograph from the bottom desk drawer. Patrick had
taken the picture of him in his uniform right before he left for Iraq.
He remembered how cocky he had felt. Oh, sure he’d known he
might run into danger, but he had been sure he could handle
anything the insurgents could throw at him.

He hadn’t planned on them throwing gasoline on him and
lighting him up, though. If his buddy Martin Fletcher hadn’t
tackled him and helped him put out the fire he might have died
that day.

A scowl marred his face as he looked at the picture again.
The guy in the picture looked awfully naïve. That guy still had to
learn that life wasn’t good and that cruel, evil men did exist. He
also hadn’t learned that disfigured people did not get a happy
ending like they sometimes did in the movies. His fists clenched
when he thought of the look on Peyton’s face when she saw his
scars. The scars had repulsed her, just as they did everyone he met.

With a sigh, he put the photo back in the drawer. It didn’t do
any good to whine and complain. He should feel grateful to even
be alive. Rest Thy Head and the beauty all around it was still his to
enjoy, and he could still help Patrick make a success out of the inn.

If only his body would forget about things that could never
happen again! No woman wanted a freak, which was exactly what
he had become. Why did Peyton O’Malley, who had the face of an
angel, have to show up at Rest Thy Head and disturb his hard won
serenity? With a snort of disgust, he shoved his plate aside. He had
lost his appetite.