Heartstealer (Women of Character3

by Brannigan, Grace

  They slammed into bone-chilling mud. Tye felt her head snap sideways, saw the dull grey sky overhead. Clods of dirt and mud slapped her. She smelled manure, then sweat and heat rolling off the animal, which lay atop her. When she tried, she couldn't move, so she lay still, her legs pinned under the dead weight. If looks could be believed, the bull had dropped dead.

  Excerpt Once and Always

  Memory could be gentle. At other times it left scars.

  Anna Barlow had read those words this morning and somehow they felt like a reflection of her life. She stared out over her ranch’s fields now, trying to shake off the cobwebs of old memories.

  Newly warmed earth and northeast temperatures collided, creating ground vapor as the sun fought its way through heavy clouds. She shivered, brushing at the cool morning mist that settled in her hair. Her mare stood unmoving beneath her, her nostrils blowing gently from their run. Anna patted Spirit’s neck, wishing she could forget she was barely hanging onto the ranch. . . her home.

  Every tree, stick and grain of dirt of the Double B Ranch belonged to her. The barns and dilapidated fences . . . the makeshift corral. She couldn’t walk away from her only real home. Her grandfather Martin Barlow had brought her here at the age of fourteen. Now, everyone she’d ever loved was gone. Martin. Tyler.

  Restlessly, Anna nudged her gray mare toward a well-worn dirt path that led down to the barns and house.

  She’d survived worse. Somehow, she’d get through this too. Anna touched her right cheek and curled her fingers against the scarred flesh, her fingers tracing the faint ridges almost absentmindedly. Her face had once been her biggest asset. Now it brought her only anger and at times self pity. She hated feeling sorry for herself, but God Almighty she was only human.

  Giving in to a reckless edge of emotion, Anna urged her mare into a bone-jarring trot down the hillside. When they reached level ground, the spring wind tore against her as they loped across open pasture. She inhaled the clean air into her lungs, reveling in the familiar thunder of hooves beneath her. Gradually, the sting of failure lessened. Self-absorbed and prideful these last two years, she’d allowed the fire that ruined her face to take over her life.

  She had to live with her mistakes, but somehow she’d find a way out of this mess.

  Echoes From the Past

  A woman, a man and a child with nothing in common but their respective troubled pasts. Three wounded souls determined to survive alone until they realize all they need to heal is each other.

  On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Christie reacts by running away, emotionally and physically. Down to her last twenty dollars, she’s determined to fulfill her dead sister’s last wish -- to locate their sister Judith who left home twenty years before. Her quest brings her into the lives of Garrett, Judith’s husband, and the emotionally fragile Hannah, Judith’s daughter. Christie is devastated to learn Judith died two years before. When Christie insists on getting to know her niece, Garrett agrees on the condition she doesn’t reveal her identity. He hires her to work at his horse farm but what he doesn’t count on is the turmoil and hope Christie brings into their lives.

  Christie’s own emotional journey forces her to come to terms with her family’s alcoholism and her perception of herself.

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  Women of Strength Time Travel

  Once Upon a Remembrance: Book 1. Photographer Isabeau Remington travels to 1894 Virginia and falls in love with a man she must ultimately leave behind when she returns to her own time...but things are not always as they seem.

  Modern day photographer Isabeau is pulled from the present time and thrust back into the year 1894 in Virginia. She must help save Hawk Morgan, a man threatened by a killer, a man endangered by his own erased memories. Hawk must survive in 1894 so his present day ancestor Pierce Morgan, will be alive in Isabeau's future.

  Isabeau begins to fall in love with Hawk Morgan but with both their future's uncertain and a killer on the loose, neither one of them may have a tomorrow to look forward to.

  Soulmates Through Time: Book 2. Thrust from her own time in 1822, Elise has been separated from the man she loves for 24 years. She has adjusted to modern times, raised a daughter, and become successful in her own right. When she stumbles upon the way back, she must make the decision to step back into that time.

  Will Darien still love her and will Elise be able to turn back the clock and regain the love they once shared? Does she want to turn back time?

  Treasure So Rare: Book 3. Erik Remington Captain Erik Remington has been haunted for three years by a black haired sea witch. They spent seven glorious days and nights before she vanished as mysteriously as she appeared.

  In 1850, when his ship is pulled into a strange vortex, he ends up in middle ages England. Forced to assume another's identity, Weinroof of Camdork, he travels to the home of the man's affianced, the Lady Iliana. This world is nothing like the England of history books. Danger lurks everywhere, even the skies. As Camdork, he meets the Lady Iliana and instantly recognizes her as the woman who's haunted him.

  Iliana wants nothing to do with Camdork and will defy her Queen to not marry him. All she sees is the man known as a murderer, whose attack four years before on an innocent maiden haunts her memories.

  Iliana has her own secrets, but her unwavering mission is to find the perfect green gem and restore it to her people. Camdork stands in her way, so she must kill him if she ever wants to see the return of her old life.

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  Romantic Short Stories

  Two Babies, a Cowboy and Sara: Short, sweet romance, 24,000 words. When Sara is appointed co-guardian of her deceased cousin's infant girls, their father Lucas is glad to accept Sara's help in caring for the twins. For Sara it's a labor of love and also a dream come true since she can't have babies of her own.

  For Lucas, having Sara on his ranch is a reminder of how his life could have turned out so very differently, if only he'd met Sara first.

  Deception

  Short, sweet romance with a hint of suspense. Trey's boss is old, sick and his days are numbered; and he wants to see his missing granddaughter Katharine before he dies. Trey will do almost anything for the old man, even if it means having artist Sacha Fortune pretend to be Katharine.

  Sacha is forced to assume the other woman's identity, because if she doesn't comply, Trey will expose her criminal past to the art world which has so recently embraced her art.

  But Sacha has more to lose than Trey could ever guess.

  Thanks for reading!

  Faeries Series Coming soon!

  Visit my author page at http://www.GraceBrannigan.com to read all my contemporary, time travel, faerie stories and short romantic stories.

  Grace Brannigan