Sequel to Forged by Love (Book 2 of the Lobster Cove Series)
By
Laura Strickland
Genre: Historical Romance
Dorothea
Sinclair has left her small home town in Maine and come to Boston to begin a
career as a newspaper reporter. But so far her job on the Guardian has proved
disappointing. More skivvy than reporter, she’s even been subjected to a
humiliating proposition from the chief editor’s son. She needs a break but
never expects it might come from a chance meeting with an Irish ruffian.
There’s
a great deal of injustice in Boston, and O’Hare, embroiled in his fight for
equality on behalf of Boston’s Irish, is well aware of it. When he rescues
Dorothea’s hat on the waterfront, he’s surprised to learn she’s a reporter. And
when she offers him the opportunity to state his case in the Guardian, what can
he do but accept? It’s the perfect chance to put his dreams into his own
words—and the only sure way to see her again.
He
sported a long, leather coat, well-scuffed and worn open to show a pair of
rough trousers and a workman’s shirt, unbuttoned at the throat.
Nothing
wrong in that. Dorothea’s own father was a worker, if a skilled one—the
blacksmith back home. This man had no blacksmith’s build. Instead he looked
light on his feet, square-shouldered and graceful as quicksilver. Brash
confidence rolled off him in waves.
As she
stood staring across the road in consternation, he held up her hat and grinned
before casting a look both ways and jogging over to her side.
He
brought a presence with him that backed Dorothea up a step or two. She might
credit it to the set of those fine shoulders or the grin that still occupied
his face or the swagger he displayed that made the most of his height which,
surely, didn’t top six feet.
He
reached her, spent an instant examining her closely and presented her hat with
a sweeping bow worthy of a practiced thespian.
“Lovely
miss, I’m thinking this belongs to you.”
“Yes.
Yes it does, thank you.”
Dorothea
reached for the hat but, like the rascal he undoubtedly was, he kept it from
her grasp, pretending to examine it closely. He brushed off a bit of grit from
the brim and fingered the now-tattered veil.
“A mite
worse for its adventure, but no doubt you can mend it, women having a certain
magical talent for such things.”
Again,
Dorothea reached for her hat; again he kept it from her only to take a step
closer and set it on her head.
“There
you go, beautiful lady. You will be sure and hold on to it more closely next
time.”
Dorothea,
assaulted by the full force of his masculinity, said nothing though she reached
up one hand and clamped the hat to her head. She looked into his face and all
the breath fled her lungs.
He wore
no hat and had a head full of copper curls well-tossed by the wind. His face
screamed Ireland with a broad forehead and slightly-squared jaw all sprinkled
with freckles visible even beneath his worker’s tan. His eyes—but no. Dorothea
met them once before her gaze skittered away much as the hat had, only to
return again on a rush of fascination.
Tawny
gold as those of a tom cat, his eyes held a world of emotions: amusement first
of all, that flaming confidence, an uncanny wisdom and a hint of daring.
Dorothea responded to the last first—seldom did she fail to accept a dare.
When the trawler White Gull was lost in a storm off the coast of Lobster Cove, Lisbeth O'Shea's husband, Declan, was lost along with it. At least that’s what Lisbeth believes until, a year later, she hears Declan’s voice in the night and sees him haunting the shore near their tiny cottage. Then she wonders… Has grief affected her mind? Or is someone playing a cruel trick?
Town blacksmith Rab Sinclair has loved Lisbeth ever since he arrived in Lobster Cove. Lisbeth has never had eyes for anyone other than the charming, feckless Declan O’Shea, but Rab knows Declan was not faithful to Lisbeth. How can he convince the grieving widow she’s pinned her heart on the wrong man? And when dangerous secrets come to light, how can Rab protect the woman who means more to him than his own life?
Newly returned home to Lobster Cove from the War Between the States, blacksmith Douglas Grier can’t forget the horrors he’s witnessed or the beautiful young woman he helped break free from her shackles one dark night after her master’s plantation burned. He wishes he had at least asked her name, even though she and her family disappeared into the darkness and Douglas has no expectation of seeing her again.
Josie Freeman can’t remember the last time she felt safe. Even though she and her family are freed, they’re being pursued by slave hunters hired by their former owner. When their ship is damaged on the way to Nova Scotia, Josie is thrown into contact with the one man she never expected…the very man she had wanted to see. But will her past catch up with her before Douglas can free her heart?
Award-winning
author Laura Strickland, born and raised in Western New York, has pursued
lifelong interests in lore, legend, magic and music, all reflected in her
writing. She has made pilgrimages to both Newfoundland and Scotland in the
company of her daughter, but is usually happiest at home not far from Lake
Ontario, with her husband and her "fur" child, a rescue dog. Author
of Scottish romances Devil
Black, His Wicked Highland Ways, Honor Bound: A Highland Adventure and The
Hiring Fair as well as The Guardians of Sherwood Trilogy consisting of Daughter of Sherwood, Champion of
Sherwood and Lord of Sherwood, she has also
published three Steampunk romances, Dead
Handsome: a Buffalo Steampunk Adventure, Off Kilter: a Buffalo Steampunk
Adventure and Sheer Madness: a Buffalo Steampunk
Adventure as well as two
Christmas novellas: The Tenth
Suitor and Mrs. Claus and the Viking Ship,
and a Valentine’s novella: Ask
me. Her Lobster Cove Historical Romances include The White Gull and the novella, Forged By Love, which won first
place in the International Digital Awards. Her latest release, Words and Dreams, is the sequel
to Forged By Love.
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