Beaufort Stories
I’m working on Book 3 of my Beaufort series right now.
If you want to learn more about any of these (or any other of my stories), please contact my agent, Terry Burns of Hartline Literary Agency.
BECALMED, Winner: The 2011 Catherine for Women’s Fiction, Toronto RWA
When a southern woman with a broken heart finds herself falling for a widower with a broken boat, it’s anything but smooth sailing ahead.
With her days chock full – designing jewelry for the shop she co-owns with her best friend, sailing her sharpie, and hanging out with girlfriends – Tadie Longworth barely notices she’s morphing into the town’s maiden aunt. When Will, a widower with a perky daughter named Jilly, limps into town in a sailboat badly in need of engine repairs, Tadie welcomes the chance to help. Her shop becomes Jilly’s haven while Will hunts boat parts, and Tadie even takes the two of them sailing. It’s the kind of thing she lives for, and it’s a welcome distraction from the fact that her ex-boyfriend Alex, aka The Jerk of Jerks, is back in town. With his northern bride. Oh, and he’s hitting on Tadie, too.
Those entanglements are more than enough, thank you very much, so it’s almost a relief when a hurricane blows into town: at least the weather can match Tadie’s mood. When Will and Jilly take shelter in her home, though, Tadie finds herself battling her attraction to Will. Even worse, the feeling is mutual, tempting them all with what-ifs that petrify Will, who has sworn never to fall in love again. Mired in misunderstanding, he takes advantage of the clear skies and hauls Jilly out of there and back to his broken boat so fast, Tadie’s head spins.
With the man she might have loved gone, and the man she wishes gone showing up on her doorstep, Tadie finds herself like a sailboat with no wind; becalmed, she has to fight her way back against the currents to the shores of the life, and the man, she wants to have.
HEAVY WEATHER, winner, The 2011 Marlene for women’s fiction, Washington, DC, RWA
When a batterer leaves his estranged wife for dead to go after the two children, a lonely police lieutenant and a childless rescuer must recruit an entire town to save them.
Annie Mac didn’t stop her estranged husband when she could have, and now he’s on a rampage, tearing her house apart and demanding she give up his baby girl. But even as he lashes out at her with fists and boots, she vows she’d rather die than let him get his hands on Katie again.
Lieutenant Clay Dougherty loves his job as detective with the Beaufort, NC, Police Department, especially when he’s about to crack a drug case. He also loves his single life, but from the moment he answers that morning’s distress call, his focus shifts, and a nearly dead Annie Mac along with her two big-eyed children become more than just victims who need protecting. There’s something about Katie and her big brother – oh, and Annie Mac, too – that draws Clay out of his self-imposed isolation.
The town rallies behind – and sometimes in front of – Clay in his efforts to hide both the children and a recovering Annie Mac, while her husband, furious that he can’t find Katie, escalates to murder. The pot’s ready to boil over when Clay, on the lookout for the killer, mixes duty with a whole lot more.
