Shannon here: Contemporary romance author, Lynette Sowell shares how her characters meet in her latest release, Tempest’s Course. Comment on any post dated Dec 2 – 4 to enter the drawing for a copy. Deadline: Dec 14th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Lynette:
The meetup – Tom and Kelly
Tom and Kelly meet when they have the same employer, but it’s not the typical first meeting “at work.” Tom is the groundskeeper for Gray House, a vacant large home that once belonged to a whaling captain in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He’s never met the owner. Six months before the story begins, he landed a job at Gray House, clearing snow, trimming trees, caring for the yard, and now working on bringing back the overgrown gardens.
Kelly arrives at Gray House, where she’s about to examine a mariner’s compass quilt from the mid 1800s. She’s a textiles conservator and plans to submit a bid for the project. What she doesn’t know at the time is she’ll be required to live at Gray House to complete the project. But she’s almost down to her last dime and has no choice, especially if she weants to rebuild her career after a personal scandal.
Neither are expecting to encounter the other at this first meeting.
Excerpt from Tempest’s Course by Lynette Sowell:
A shadow passed by one of the windows. Kelly jumped. No one could enter the yard except through the iron gate, or unless they hopped the wall-like fence of bricks, almost five feet tall that surrounded the property. Or could they indeed hop the fence? She set down her pen.
Then a man’s face appeared in the next window. Dark eyes with furrowed dark brows, topped by unruly hair. Kelly bit back a scream. The face disappeared. Another one entered her mind’s eye.
Kelly Frost, you good-for-nothing piece of trash. Get your hind end out of the house and into the garage.
She clutched at her throat as she struggled to breathe. She hated being jumpy. Her former staff of workers knew better than to sneak up behind her as she worked. No one ever dared to hide behind doors or jumped out and said “boo.” That resulted in spilled coffee.
Kelly snatched up her phone. Should she dial 911? Or was that too drastic? Mrs. Acres? She would know if someone had access to the grounds. The front door banged open. The phone slipped from Kelly’s fingers and hit the woven rug with a thump.
##
Tom Pereira winced as the front door struck the chair rail in the entryway. He hadn’t intended the large bang that followed. Well, maybe he had. If there was some punk in this house, squatting, Tom could deal with them. Unless they were armed. He hadn’t thought about that before charging into Gray House. His responsibility was the grounds and exterior, not the interior.
The place smelled like old people and dust, and Tom tried not to cough.
“Whatever you’re doing in here, I can have the boys of New Bedford on the doorstep this side of three minutes,” he called out. Okay, so that was probably an overstatement on his part. “So get out here and tell me what’s going on.”
One of the pocket doors to the front parlor was open. The sound of rustling fabric came from beyond. “Did you hear me? In case you didn’t know, I push one button and the cops are here.”
He strode across a fancy, ancient rug and through another set of pocket doors, and stopped in the doorway separating the parlor from the dining room.
A figure with hair the color of pale sunlight with golden undertones stood beside the immense dining room table.
“Same here, whoever you are.” She held a cell phone in one hand, her thumb at the ready. Her glare could freeze the harbor water.
About Lynette: Lynette Sowell is the award-winning author of over 15 titles for Barbour Publishing, Harlequin, and Abingdon Press. Lynette was born in Western Massachusetts in the shadow of the Berkshire Mountains, raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but makes her home on the doorstep of the Texas hill country. She loves reading, cooking, watching movies, and is always up for a Texas road trip. Connect with Lynette: https://www.facebook.com/lynettesowellauthor
About the book – Tempest’s Course: Kelly Frost, a textiles conservator, is invited to the Massachusetts coastal town of New Bedford to restore a 150-year-old Mariner’s Compass quilt, with one stipulation: she must live and work in Gray House where the quilt is stored. Tom Pereira, whose heart seems as hard as the rocky coastline, is the caretaker employed by the mysterious absent owner of Gray House.
Over the long-lit months as Kelly works to restore the quilt, she is drawn out of her self-imposed shell and embraces the family God has given her after her own family failed her. As Kelly reads stories in a journal penned by Mary Gray, she learns there is no transgression beyond God’s forgiveness, but the real obstacle is forgiving herself. During her and Tom’s journey to grace and love, an unknown force works to keep both of them from discovering a long-buried truth that will change their lives forever.
Purchase Links:
Come back Dec 6th for Tina Pinson!
Thank you for sharing this excerpt. It certainly left me wanting to read more! I look forward to reading Tom and Kelly’s story!
From this little snippet, I sure want to read more.
Can’t wait to read! I remember this author always writing a short story as a little girl…she always loved reading and writing. “You’ve come a looong way Baby!”
I have just recently learned about the Quilts of Love series. This sounds like such a good book and a good series.
I love the Quilts of Love series. Tempest’s Course sounds like a fantastic book. Thank you for a chance to enter this giveaway and please enter my name.
We have the “Quilts of Love ” series in the church library. I would love to win this book to add to our shelves.
Thanks!
love to win
I really, really want to read more. The book sounds really great. Would love a chance to win a copy. Thank you for the chance.
kmgervais(at)nycap(dot)rr(dot)com
Thanks for stopping by, everyone! I’m glad you enjoyed the excerpt
I have a winner! Britney Adams won the drawing. I appreciate Lynette for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.