“Julie—” His breath escaped on a sigh.
She came into his arms, and he knew he held his world, right here. When had it happened? He suspected she’d stolen his heart the minute he’d opened the front door and blown in, the blizzardy wind as cold as his heart had become.
But Julie had been a joyful surprise that he never could have predicted. She’d brought light and laughter and love back into the dark cave his life had become over the past several years.
A weight had been lifted from him. He was a new man—really alive, and living again! Instead of putting one foot in front of the other, going through nothing more than a joyless existence of responsibility, he’d been given the gift of a new beginning. With Julie.
A few days ago, the outlook had been bleak for him. Now, he had a new wife and daughter, his own precious son, and had welcomed his brother back into his life—along with a new sister-in-law.
The house he’d built so long ago for a future family was finally fulfilling the dream he’d had so long ago. Julie lifted her head from his shoulder. Her eyes held a question, and he said the words aloud he’d never thought to say to anyone again.
“I love you, too, Julie. With all my heart.” He touched the heart-shaped locket at her neck, meaningfully. Then, he pulled her close, bending to kiss her.
“Ugh,” Lauralee muttered.
Jamie wrinkled his nose as he stacked his blocks. “Ewww.”
But “Debbil” only smiled at Miss Julia Jackson. Mr. and Mrs. Devlin Campbell were ready to face anything, now. Together.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cheryl was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, and grew up in Seminole, Oklahoma. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma.
She has nine published novels, including five western historical romances: Fire Eyes, The Half-Breed's Woman, Gabriel's Law, Time Plains Drifter, and The Devil and Miss Julia Jackson. Her contemporary romantic suspense novels include Sweet Danger and Capture the Night, and Beyond the Fire. Ride the Wild Range is her YA coming-of-age western tale. All are available at Amazon.
Three of Cheryl’s stories have been nominated in the Best Western Short Fiction category of the Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Awards. "The Keepers of Camelot" was nominated in 2013. In 2014, "It Takes a Man," was a finalist. “Hidden Trails” made the list of finalists in 2016.
Cheryl has also served as the President of the Western Fictioneers, a professional organization for western authors.
In 2013, she and long-time friend Livia Reasoner opened Prairie Rose Publications which has since expanded with five other imprints.
Cheryl and her husband have lived in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the past 33 years. Their rescue dog, Embry, is the last child at home.
You can e-mail Cheryl at: [email protected]
For more information:
PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS WEBSITE: http://www.prairierosepublications.com
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.pierson.92
CHERYL’S AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: https://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Pierson/e/B002JV8GUE
A HERO FOR
CHRISTMAS
A Night for Miracles
Widow Angela Bentley takes in three children and a wounded gunman one snowy Christmas Eve. Angela determines to keep her distance—until the children drag in a scraggly Christmas tree. Will she find love on this, A NIGHT FOR MIRACLES?
Homecoming
A holiday skirmish sends Union officer, Jack Durham, on an unlikely mission for a dying Confederate enemy. Will a miracle be able to heal his heart and reunite him with his beloved?
Meant to Be
Robin Mallory is shocked when she is tackled by a man in a Confederate uniform. A flat tire and a coming snowstorm have interrupted her holiday visit with relatives and stranded her in the middle of a re-enactment – or is it?
The Gunfighter's Girl
Persuaded by a vendor, Miguel Rivera ~ El Diablo ~ makes a foolish Christmas purchase—scarlet ribbons. Will they, and a mysterious meeting, set him on a new path? Can he find his way back to the love he left years before? Isn’t Christmas a time to believe in miracles?
WINTER MAGIC
The Diamond brothers are cast out into the world by a crooked business deal at a young age. They’ve lost everything—including their father. Although they are forced to make their own way, brotherly bonds remain unbreakable: It’s all for one and one for all.
GABRIEL’S LAW
When Brandon Gabriel is hired by the citizens of Spring Branch to hunt down the notorious Clayton Gang, he doesn't suspect a double-cross. When Allison Taylor rides into town for supplies, she doesn't expect to be sickened by the sight of a man being beaten to death by a mob. When Spring Branch's upstanding citizens gather round to see a murder, nobody expects to hear the click of a gun in the hands of an angel bent on justice. Life is full of surprises.
HIDDEN TRAILS
2016 WESTERN FICTIONEERS PEACEMAKER AWARD FINALIST.
Levi Connor has never run from anything in his life, and he doesn’t intend to start now. After killing the two bandits who’d followed him into Indian Territory, he finds himself wounded and riding through a blinding February snowstorm. With no purpose ahead of him, and no past to guide him, he discovers a reason to exist—the beautiful mixed-blood girl who takes him in and heals him.
Valentine Reneau lives in fear that her father will find her someday in the heart of Indian Territory and force her to return to Mississippi to take her mother’s place—in every way. She knows her time has run out when a stranger shows up on her land with two hired guns—and the devil in his plans.
With some unlikely help, Valentine must try to escape the slave’s fate that her mother left behind so many years before. Will Levi kill for a woman he barely knows? The chips are down, the guns blaze, and everything finally comes clear along these HIDDEN TRAILS…but who’ll be left alive?
Novels
FIRE EYES—(2014)
SWEET DANGER—(2014)
TIME PLAINS DRIFTER—(2014)
GABRIEL’S LAW—(2014)
THE HALF-BREED’S WOMAN—(2013)
RIDE THE WILD RANGE—(2014)
CAPTURE THE NIGHT—(2015)
BEYOND THE FIRE—(2017) previously published as TEMPTATION’S TOUCH with The Wild Rose Press in 2012
THE DEVIL AND MISS JULIA JACKSON—(2017)
Single Author Anthologies
A HERO FOR CHRISTMAS—(2014)
DARK TRAIL RISING—(2015)
WINTER MAGIC—(2015)
WESTERN HISTORICAL ROMANCE ANTHOLOGIES
WISHING FOR A COWBOY—(2013)
HEARTS AND SPURS—(2014)
LASSOING A MAIL ORDER BRIDE— (2014)
COWBOY CRAVINGS—(2014)
COWBOYS, CREATURES AND CALICO II—(2014)
WILD TEXAS CHRISTMAS—(2014)
A MAIL-ORDER CHRISTMAS BRIDE—(2015)
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