Blurb
for Ballad Beauty:
After
ten years apart, Boston schoolmarm Jenny McShanahan receives a letter from her
beloved father that instructs her to join him in Texas. She has no idea that
he’s become Famous Sam McShan, the Robin Hood of the West. She arrives to find
Sam already gone, but he left instructions for Jenny to hire a guide and
rendezvous with him in Nevada.
Texas
Ranger Noah Daniel Webster knows Sam personally because his father, Pistol Pete
Webber, was Sam’s longtime partner in crime. When Pete is killed during their
last big score, Noah requests the assignment to bring Sam to justice. Going
undercover, he volunteers to act as Jenny’s escort across the dangerous
prairie, using her to track her outlaw father’s location.
As
they journey through rough country, love blossoms—but Noah knows the second he
arrests Sam, his betrayal will kill Jenny’s love for him. Should the lawman do
his duty as a Ranger, or should he let love rule? The choice Noah makes will
change their lives forever.
Excerpt:
(1st meeting between H/H)
Noah
watched Jenny McShanahan turn and walk up the street toward him, a determined
look set on her lovely features. He’d been slumped against a hitching post for
an hour, waiting for the two o’clock stage to arrive. He’d been wary, too, sure
that Sam McShan would meet his only daughter when she arrived in Apple Blossom.
Thank
God for his connections at the telegraph company. It had been his most solid
lead up till now. Everything else sure dried up.
Just
then she passed him, still walking down the middle of the street. He wondered
where she was going. He also wondered if she realized she’d left her case.
Noah
tipped his hat and called out to her. “Ma’am?”
She
turned, a puzzled look on her face.
“You
left your valise.” He pointed to the lone satchel sitting in the middle of the
road.
It
surprised him when the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “So I did.” She
looked him up and down, and he almost blushed. “Thank you, sir. Perhaps I’ll
retrieve it . . . and what’s left of my brain, as well.”
She
started back toward the case. He moved quickly and stepped in front of her.
“I’ll get it, ma’am.” He ambled along and picked it up and returned it to her.
“If
you’ll tell me where you’re headed, I’ll make sure you and your bag get there.”
He
watched her think this over, and then she nodded. “Thank you, sir. I’m headed
to the local hotel.”
She
took off in long strides despite her tight skirt. He studied her carefully from
the back as he followed her to her destination. She was tall and thin, with the
tiniest waist he’d ever seen. He was sure his hands could easily span it with
room to spare. Her hat was slightly askew, revealing thick, honey blond hair
twisted up in some womanly way.
But
he longed for a glimpse from the front again. She had the most enticing eyes
he’d ever seen on a woman, a striking moss green, with long, thick lashes
surrounding them. A man could get lost in those eyes. Or her mouth. Her lips
were a soft rose and looked good enough to lick.
Now where had that come
from?
Bio & Social Media Links:
Lauren Linwood became a teacher who wrote on
the side to maintain her sanity in a sea of teenage hormones. Her romances use
history as a backdrop to place her characters in extraordinary circumstances,
where their intense desire and yearning for one another grow into the deep,
tender, treasured gift of love.
Lauren,
a native Texan, lives in a Dallas suburb with her family. An avid reader,
moviegoer, and sports fan, she manages stress by alternating yoga with five
mile walks. She is thinking about starting a support group for Pinterest and
House Hunters addicts.
