Rain Shadow (Dutch Country Brides)
Page 27
“I love you,” she sighed as he tossed the towel on the floor.
He smiled. “I want to hear you say that every day for as long as I live.”
“You will.”
The End
Heaven Can Wait
an excerpt from the prequel to Rain Shadow
That night Jakob came to bed in the darkness. "I haven't courted you properly," he said in that deep, mellow voice for her ears alone.
"Nein?"
"No."
"How does one court 'properly'?"
"Well—" he paused, as if considering "—a couple does a lot of hand holding and moonin'—"
"What is moonin'?"
"Staring into each other's eyes and sighin'."
That brought a giggle.
"And then they move on to kissin' and huggin'—"
"That we've done."
"Are you going to let me finish a sentence?"
Lydia giggled again.
"Are you being coy?"
"I think not."
He laughed. "I think not, either—too. Which is it?" On top of the down tick, he found her hand, and threaded their fingers together. "By the time they get married, the couple knows each other. As well as they can without actually... being married. They get a chance to share likes and dreams."
"Jakob?"
"Hmm?"
"Did you not share dreams with me tonight?"
They lay side by side, hands clasped, talking into the darkness. "I guess I did. What about you? What've you dreamed about?"
Lydia took a relaxing breath. A Harmonist was not encouraged to dream. Thoughts other than the educational or vocational were unnecessary. Her father did the thinking and planning for the colony.
"Come on, didn't you ever want a handsome prince on his trusty steed to carry you off?" he teased. "Or did you imagine finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?"
"That is ludicrous. A rainbow has no beginning or end. It is not physical, but a reflection."
Silence.
"Jakob?"
"You've got me there."
"Where?" His laughter was a deep baritone rumble that brought a smile to her lips. "What is so funny?"
"You." His hand tightened on hers, and the mattress dipped dangerously, rolling her toward him. He wrapped her shoulder in his arm and pulled her against his softly matted chest.
Lydia inhaled his clean male scent. Did her lack of common knowledge actually amuse him? Living in Accord, she sensed she had missed out on something other women inherently knew.
"A dream is something you've always, always wanted. Isn't there something?" His deep whisper rasped behind her ear.
She closed her eyes, and a shiver rippled up her spine. Of course there was something she had always, always wanted—one of the reasons she had chosen to marry him and leave her family. "Ja. There is something."
"What?"
"A baby."
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Land of Dreams
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In this tale of hope and love, too-tall spinster Thea Coulson wants to be a mother to a child who arrives in Nebraska on an orphan train. When Booker Hayes shows up to take his niece, a marriage of convenience suits them both. Thea’s nights are filled with dreams of the tall, dark army major, but she guards her heart. Booker’s first taste of home and hearth has him longing for more, but first he must win the trust of his niece..and the heart of the sun-kissed farmer's daughter.
Saint or Sinner
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In this heartwarming tale of hope and redemption, Joshua McBride returns from the war a changed man, ready to put down roots and plant his feet in the community. Prim and uptight Miss Adelaide Stapleton, leader of the Dorcas Society, doesn’t believe he’s changed—people are never what they seem. But she has plenty of secrets of her own—among them the inescapable fact that Joshua sets her heart to pounding and makes her long for his disturbing kisses. How long can she keep her own past hidden—and resist temptation?
available in all of your favorite ebook formats
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Meet the Author
Cheryl has always loved the exciting and diverse worlds available between the covers of books. As a child Cheryl wrote stories and drew covers, then stapled them into little books. She cut all the tiny book images from the book club advertisements in the Sunday newspaper and glued them to bits of cardboard so Barbie® had a full library.
She was a voracious reader and admits her early passion was for horror and true crime. One fateful day while browsing the book section, she took a chance on a different genre and bought Hummingbird by LaVyrle Spencer, then promptly drove back to the store for The Rainbow Season by Lisa Gregory. She was hooked for life.
And so, when she got serious and decided to write a book, it was, of course, a romance—a very badly written and poorly plotted romance. But eventually she joined Romance Writers of America and her local chapter, Romance Authors of the Heartland, and was fortunate to have the late Diane Wicker Davis as her first mentor.
Fifty books later, Cheryl believes in paying it forward, and some of her most rewarding experiences have been sharing in the successes of writers she has coached over the years.
Cheryl loves hearing from readers.
Send Mail to: SaintJohn@aol.com
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From Writers Digest Books
Writing With Emotion, Tension, and Conflict: Techniques for Crafting an Expressive and Compelling Novel
Today's highly competitive fiction market requires writers to imbue their novels with that special something - an element that captures readers' hearts and minds. In Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict, writers will learn vital techniques for writing emotion into their characters, plots and dialogue in order to instill that special something into every page.
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