Summertime
Christina Cole
Author Bio
Christina Cole writes old-fashioned love stories about imperfect men and women who fall in love despite the odds and who come to realize that love is a powerful force for good. She believes love strengthens us, heals us, and makes us better people. Through her writing, she hopes to bring more love into the lives of her readers.
She fell in love with words at a very young age. She’ll always be grateful to her grandfather and his patience as he taught her the joys of reading. Throughout her childhood she loved telling tales. Her grandfather also taught her to type on his old Underwood, and she spent many days contentedly pounding those keys and seeing her stories come to life.
Things have changed now. Her grandfather is gone, and so is the old typewriter, but Christina’s love for story-telling has remained strong. She now does her typing on a computer in a cozy little writing room filled with books, treasures, and a much-cherished photograph of her grandfather.
She is married to the love of her life, lives in the midwest with her husband and a noisy parrot, loves history, hates winter, and is happily at work on her next historical romance.
Description
Linn Sparks wanted all life had to offer. Fame, fortune, glamour and excitement. She found it as a star of the stage at the Crown Theater in San Francisco.
For Ed Ferguson, life was far less complicated. All he wanted was Linnie Mae, but she’d left him standing alone at the altar seven years before when she’d run off to pursue her dreams.
Now, it’s 1914. War is breaking out in Europe, and Linn Sparks has come home to Brookfield, Kansas. She plans to stay only a few days – just long enough to help negotiate the sale of her parents’ farm.
At first, it seems that nothing has changed in the quiet little country town, but Linn soon learns otherwise. She’s surprised to find that Ed is now spending a lot of time with Polly Washburn. An even greater surprise comes when she meets six-year-old Thaddeus, Ed’s son. But perhaps the greatest surprise is that the town of Brookfield is now building a theater to honor Miss Tabitha Ann Collier, the spinster music teacher who helped Linn make her dreams come true.
Now that she’s come back, surely she’ll be offered the lead in the theater’s first production — a musical penned by Tabitha Ann herself. But staying in Brookfield means facing a lot of unpleasant realities. Between her strained relationship with a father who never wanted her, a mother whose grasp on sanity is slipping away, and the feelings she still has for Ed, Linn is overwhelmed by emotions.
She must also find a way to deal with Polly, the woman who was once her closest friend but who now has her eyes on Ed. And how can she handle Quentin Loonsfoot, the obnoxious son of the man her father crippled in a hunting accident years before? Quentin is determined to make her feel guilty — and to make her pay for her father’s mistake. Most painful of all, she must accept the truth about Ed and his relationship with Rachel Johnson, the woman who gave him a son.
Ed has a lot to deal with as well. He still loves Linnie Mae, but he knows she won’t stay. How can he spend the summer being near her and not get his heart broken again? And how will he ever go on when Rachel shows up and wants her son back?
It’s a hot summer in Brookfield…a summer of hopes and dreams, a summer of passion. Could it also be a summer of forgiveness?
Book excerpt
“Whoa, boy, not too fast,” she warned when the wagon picked up speed. She tightened her hold on the reins once more, then jerked back—hard—when she caught sight of a man approaching, headed, no doubt, for Ledbetter’s Corner Cafe.
Hat in hand, he moved with slow, easy strides, his pace gentle, yet purposeful. The movements marked him as a man very much in control of himself—and the world around him.
Her heartbeat quickened. Whenever she made a list of reasons why she didn’t want to come back to Brookfield, Ed Ferguson was always number one.
She should drive on, she knew, but Ed Ferguson was the sort of man who made women stop and take notice. It was a natural reaction, as instinctive as petting a hound dog when it wagged its tail, or stroking a kitten’s ears when it curled up in your lap and purred.
Her heart pounded. Sometimes when she stepped on stage, she felt flutters, but this was a thousand times more powerful…and a thousand times more dangerous.
She could lose herself too easily to this man.
Fighting to regain her composure, Linn drew in a long, deep breath, just as she’d learned to do early in her career. She let the breath out slowly and dared to look.
He’d been handsome at eighteen. Now the boy she’d once loved had become a man, and Linn’s gaze raked shamelessly over his lean, hard body. Her next breath caught in her throat. Her hands yearned to reach out, to touch the strong, square jaw, and to run her fingers through his thick, dark hair as she’d done so many times before.
From where she sat high atop the driver’s bench, Linn could not see Ed’s eyes clearly, but she knew their pure, gray color. His eyes had always soothed her, had somehow possessed power enough to make her believe that everything in her world would be all right, so long as she could be with him, so long as he loved her.
She lowered her gaze, suddenly ashamed of the reckless, unabashed way she stared at him.
“Hello, Ed,” she said, when he drew near enough to hear. Thank goodness for her years of vocal training! Nothing in her tone belied her nervousness. But her hands trembled as she pushed a stray auburn curl away from her cheek.
Ed stopped mid-stride. He looked up, and his slate-colored eyes grew wide. “Well, I’ll be go to hell,” he said in a quiet voice.
Linn winced at the quaint midwestern colloquialism. Her ears had grown accustomed to more refined speech.
For a moment, Ed said nothing more. He just stood staring at her as though trying to grasp the reality of her presence there on the dust-covered streets of Brookfield. At last, he grinned. The morning sunlight glinted on his neat, even, white teeth. The grin broadened. “It sure is good to see you, Linnie Mae.”
She bristled and started to tell him she was no longer Linnie Mae, but his powerful gray-eyed gaze lingered upon her, making it impossible for her to speak.
Heat rushed to her cheeks. Her face must be as red as her hair. And, good Lord! Why hadn’t she worn a hat? She must look a mess, and with that hot sun beating down, she’d sprout a whole new crop of freckles on her nose.
“I should probably go now,” she said. Looping the reins around her hands, she turned away.
“No, not yet.” Ed stepped up to the wagon. “Give me a minute to look at you, Linnie. It’s been a while.”
This time, she must speak up. She would not allow him to upset her.
Before looking at him, she tightened her grip on the reins, then lifted her chin to face the man. “Please, Ed, don’t call me by that childish name. I’m not Linnie Mae any longer. I’ve grown up now.”
“I’ll say you have.” He rubbed the back of his neck, and grinned again. But then, his grin turned stiff, almost cold. His eyes narrowed, their color darkening to gunmetal gray. Ed stepped back. “What am I supposed to call you?” he asked, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Who are you now?” His unyielding gaze swept her from head to toe.
“Linn. Just Linn.”
She turned her head away. Usually, she enjoyed being the center of attention—especially masculine attention—but she felt oddly uncomfortable with the way Ed now scrutinized her.
Like she was a stranger.
Like he knew nothing about her.
Like he no longer cared.
Of course, who could blame him if he hated her? She deserved it.
Author Website
http://christinacoleromance.com
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Summertime