Opening scene from My Heart Knew
Chapter One
Wind whistled past Maisie’s ears as she leaned lower over the galloping mare’s neck. Moving with the animal’s rhythm gave Maisie a sense of freedom and abandonment. Out on the open Texas prairie, she could let loose and pretend she had all sorts of choices. That her father’s death last summer hadn’t left the family devastated. That she didn’t perform boring housekeeping duties at the family’s boarding house. That she wasn’t stuck in a small town like Dorado where nothing much ever happened. With a tug of her gloved hand toward the left, she headed for the tall cottonwood at the edge of a nearby creek. Its branches spread like a domed spider web against the pale wintry sky.
After reaching the faint shadows cast by the bare limbs, she dismounted and tucked the reins into the back pocket of her denim overalls. If Mother could see her now—clad in her brother Penn’s castoff clothes—she’d shudder and wag her head at her tomboyish middle daughter. Maisie was careful about using the tack room of Penn’s livery stable to change and always rode out from the back gate in the corral. Probably she hadn’t fooled her mother one bit about her morning rides. But if Ellen Treadwell didn’t actually witness the hoyden acts, she wouldn’t feel compelled to lecture.
Tugging the knitted scarf tighter around her neck, she wandered toward the creek and heard the crunch of frost-laden grass under her scuffed boots. At the edge of the bank, she stooped to gather a handful of pebbles. An idle toss resulted in a satisfying splash and plunk.
A plaintive mewl came from a few feet away.
Maisie jerked and glanced around, looking for wildlife close by among the flattened grasses and yarrow. Penn warned her about riding when bobcats and coyotes were still rambling on their morning hunts.
The cry came again, rising in pitch.
Buttercup shied and tossed her head.
That was a cry of pain. Although the piercing tone raised goose flesh on her arms, Maisie laid a hand on the mare’s neck, uttering soothing nonsense words. After tying the reins to a nearby rock, she knelt and looked over the edge of the creek bank, scanning the moist dirt and rocks below. The last snow had been several weeks ago at Christmas time, and only a few patches remained in the shady spots. A quick survey revealed no animal in plain sight.
Pebbles rolled from the cut in the bank a couple of feet below her and plopped into the creek. Whimpers and snuffling sounded.
In an instant, animal lover Maisie scrambled down the muddy bank, searching for the injured critter whose cries tore at her heart.
Tucked into a small cutout was a baby bobcat, its speckled face turned outward. Wide greenish-yellow eyes stared, unblinking.
“All alone?” Maisie tossed a glance around, not wanting to tussle with an angry mother bobcat. Then she watched as the kitten licked at its right foreleg and emitted pitying cries. She edged closer. “Oh, you poor thing. You’re hurt and your mama’s abandoned you.” Using slow moves, she unwrapped the woolen scarf from around her neck and reached for the kitten. “Don’t be scared. I just want to help.”
The feisty kitten snarled and shrank back against the dirt enclosure.
Maisie wasn’t deterred. She tossed the scarf over the kitten’s head and wrapped one end over its back legs then cradled it close to her body. “Oh, you’re so small. My brother has a warm and cozy stable and we’ll make up a nice bed for you. I’ll tend your leg and you’ll be good as new in no time.” Getting up the bank carrying the bundle was a struggle but within minutes, Maisie was halfway back to town. She kept Buttercup at a gentle lope to avoid scaring the animal any more than it already was. All the while, she sang lullabies from her childhood, figuring the kit needed to get used to human voices.
Once she’d reached the back corral, she leaned over to pull off the rope loop, eased open the gate enough to allow Buttercup to walk inside and then steered her around to refasten the loop. Penn had already let out the horses into the corral, and she guided Buttercup through the milling bodies. Near the livery, she slid off the horse and wrapped the reins around the saddle horn. Buttercup could wait ten minutes to be unsaddled. All Maisie’s attention was on the bobcat kitten and what needed to be done. She dashed inside. “Penn, look what I found. Hey—” Then she ran into a solid body in the middle of the livery’s aisle and staggered backward, barely staying upright. “Oof.”
A black stallion snorted and jumped sideways, dumping the tall rider who had been dismounting to the dirt floor.
“What the hell?” A deep voice bellowed.
Maisie flinched at the unfamiliar tone, her heart beating double time at what she’d done. “Pardon me, sir.”
Penn rushed forward and caught hold of the dangling reins, smoothing a hand over the stallion’s neck. “Sorry, Mr. MacInnes. I’ve got the horse. Such a fine specimen.”
Low mutterings erupted from the lean body sprawled on the hard-packed floor, a left foot upright and tangled with the stirrup. His hat had rolled several feet away, exposing straight black hair. He braced his body upright. “My ankle’s throbbing, and it’s all that lad’s fault.” His head jerked around and he flashed her with a green-eyed stare.
Lad? Oh, the clothes. Maisie flitted her gaze between the stranger who would need to be pacified and the bundle in her arms. Both were in need of medical attention. And what would Mother say? She sidled up behind Penn, keeping his body between her and the irritated stranger. “I need a box or a crate.”
He looked over his shoulder, brows drawn into a frown, and then down at the animal who now mewled from the depths of the scarf. “What have you got there?”
“It’s hurt.” She eased back the scarf and watched her brother’s eyes widen. Sure, she’d have to endure another lecture about bringing home feral animals. But Penn’s empathy for animals ran just as deep as hers did. She stroked the
“Let me see to the customer first.” He turned forward. “I have experience with animal injuries and can tend to your ankle, if you like.”
Mr. MacInnes settled his hat on his head and held out a hand. “The blasted thing is throbbing like a son of a gun. Help me up.”
Maisie averted her face, scurried across the aisle to the farthest empty stall, and grabbed an armful of hay. Her attention was focused on the conversation between the men. Although the man wasn’t truly handsome, there was something about his face that intrigued her. Could be the deep set eyes under a broad forehead or his nose with a small bump on the bridge or his strong jaw shadowed with whiskers. Like a warrior from olden times she’d seen in a fairy tale book.
Titles Coming Soon in Dorado, Texas series:
My Heart Knew
Mail-Order Haven
Other historical stories with fall settings are:
Libbie: Bride of Arizona is forty-eighth in the unprecedented 50-book American Mail-Order Brides series. Forty-five authors created a mail-order bride story connected to each American state.
1890—Alone for the first time, tomboyish Libbie Van Eycken accepts a mail-order proposal and travels across country to find a place to call her own. Arizona rancher Dell Stirling needs a wife but didn’t count on the eccentric creature that brings chaos in her wake.
Wandering Home, Book 1 in Dorado, Texas series
Widow Vevina Bernhard sees mysterious lights at night and believes her Texas ranch Shady Oaks is haunted. She needs protection for herself and her 4-year old son but the town’s sheriff offers no help. On hiatus from his Texas Ranger duties, Kell Hawksen hires on as a farrier at the ranch while keeping an eye out for clues to a stagecoach robber in hopes of collecting the bounty. On Samhain, fire erupts and Vevina and Kell battle both the danger and the depth of their feelings.
A sweet western historical, The Ring That Binds released by Prism Book Group, is set in the small mining town of Aspen, Colorado. This title spent seven weeks on the Top 100 western historical list.
1886—Widow Celina Innes struggles to run her dress shop and pay her late husband’s debts for the sake of her four-ye
ar old daughter, Keena. Following his dream for silver was a mistake and Celina has sworn her independence. Co-owner of Toussaint’s General Store, Mikel, wishes to make this proud woman’s life easier. He slips treats to the child hoping to please Celina. When illness strikes Keena, Celina turns to Mikel for help and they work together all night, deepening their friendship. But when the crisis ends, Mikel disappears and Celina learns he wishes to increase his stores. How could she have been so wrong about him? Can a woman sworn to put down roots and a man seeking more riches find happiness?
Wishes On A Star is included in Sweetwater Springs Christmas, an anthology of short stories by eleven authors set in the 1895 world created in Debra Holland’s poplar western historical Montana Sky series
Free-spirit Richelle Quaid is outspoken, confident and a little bit spoiled. She sets tongues wagging with her bloomers and bicycle but also catches the eye of visiting rancher Landon Howard. An incident with her bicycle causes his prize colt to bolt into the cold Montana night. As Richelle and Landon track the animal together, they can’t fight their growing attraction. Will a wish made on a star foretell their future?
Bewitching Gypsy is included in a Halloween-themed anthology titled Spooktacular Seductions published by Roane Publishing.
Fiona Mikolas is an outcast—branded by her fiery red hair and a purple birth mark—forced to live a solitary life, traveling a circuit of southern states in America and selling healing potions. Until the night of All Hallow’s Eve, when her lonely life is changed by the arrival of two strangers in her camp.
Beaten and robbed, rancher Hagan Fletcher tracks his stolen stallion and stumbles toward a campfire in south Texas. He awakens, suffering from amnesia and is intrigued by the mysterious beauty to look beneath the surface to who she really is.
For a complete listing of Linda’s contemporary and historical titles, go to her website www.lindacarroll-bradd.com
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Author Biography
Linda grew up in northern California as part of a five-member family but loads of people in the neighborhood thought her parents had only two daughters. Why? Because she loved to read and was usually lying on her bed instead of playing outside with the other neighborhood kids. The summer she was twelve, she read Gone With The Wind and was hooked on romantic stories. She delved into the Phyllis A. Whitney and Dorothy Eden books of her mother’s and then discovered Harlequin. As a mother with young children, she would lose herself in stories of glamorous people in exotic places—so different than the day-to-day diapers and crumbly teething biscuits.
After years of working in secretarial positions, she decided to use the creative side of her brain and learn how to write one of the romances she loved reading. Easier said than done. Twelve long years and many contest finals later, and with the help of various critique groups, she received her first call and had a confession story published. She was hooked. In addition to working as a freelance editor, she writes contemporary and historical stories that are heartwarming with a touch of humor, many with a tie to her previous home of Texas.
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Storybook Hero (Dorado, Texas 2) Page 5