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Authors: Kathy Steffen

Jasper Mountain (48 page)

BOOK: Jasper Mountain
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“You’ll be a wondrous mayor, Miss St. Claire.” Gentleman Bill swept off his hat. She granted a smile to him and him alone. The man was sweet, no argument there, and quite besotted, as well. Like a love-blinded pet. The perfect place for a man to be, in her opinion. The most important part: she knew she could trust him. Quite the important point to her, after everything she’d seen. And a surprise. Trustworthy men did exist. Not many, but even one was more than she would have ever believed.

“I do thank you, Gentleman Bill. By the by, I need a campaign manager.”

“At your service, ma’am. Although, I’m not really the persuadin’ type. You might as well want Jack.”

“Trust me, I have my hands full for the next few decades,” Jack answered cryptically with none of the usual, boring Jack-earnestness. How very interesting.

“You’ll be rotting in jail, Junior.”

“Really? For what, exactly?”

Dead silence blanketed the group. Cain finally broke it. “All them work orders and such were destroyed in the explosion. It wasn’t no accident. The safe had to be packed with powder for it to blow to pieces like it did. You were behind it, and everybody knows it.”

“Prove it,” Jack said.

“Oh, I will. Somewhere, somehow, you slipped up, Junior.”

“Gentlemen, a vote for me is a vote for Jasper’s future,” Isabella said quickly. “People are pouring in; the Jasper Mining Company has made a commitment to rebuild; we are becoming, quite honestly, the premier town of the territory. I will lead us into prosperity tempered with plenty of old-fashioned humility.”

“You will,” Bill said, as if on cue, “and this town will have an angel for a mayor.”

Even the now-ever-serious Jack Buchanan groaned at Bill’s words and chuckled, and Isabella was glad to see a bit of the old Jack come out.

Jack climbed the last part of the town walk and headed up Gooseneck Road. He’d talked Taryn into performing his and Milena’s wedding ceremony in the heart of the mountain. Now he just needed to convince Milena to marry him. And before he took that step, he had to ask for her hand.

He laughed. He needed a wagon-load of courage now more than ever. Courage like, well, like Isabella St. Claire’s. He had no doubt she would be the next mayor of Jasper. And he would be more than a handful for the New York investors.

Skeletal remains of mining buildings still smoldered. He wondered what the mine might see in the next year. Rebuilding, a new set of officers, men from New York coming to the frontier for the first time, yes. But what else? He smiled to himself, thinking he’d have to ask his seer.

Pete, Gentleman Bill, and the other miners had decided to call their group “Diggers Labor” in memory of their fallen friend. Jack wasn’t sure exactly what was starting, but it was important. Bigger than the people beginning it. Jack saw every emotion at their first organized meeting, from hope and pride to anger and fear. Frustration and dreams. He knew enough to prepare for anything, no matter what his seer might reveal to him.

A chill brushed across his face, and he wondered who else might be watching. Behind him lay the town, the cemetery, the mine. Ahead of him rose Jasper Mountain, unforgiving and unchanging.

More than rock and trees and brush and gold, Jasper Mountain was an ancient force, one that lived, breathed. Watched. He had seen firsthand what swirled beneath the surface: the horrors and wonders, magic and realities, fears and hopes, promises and dreams, and not just of the ordinary. Dreams fragile and strong. Crystal dreams.

Jack knew the heart of Jasper Mountain. Just as he finally knew his own.

A family conceals a cruel secret.

Emma Perkins’ life appears idyllic. Her husband, Jared, is a hardworking farmer and a dependable neighbor. But Emma knows intimately the brutality prowling beneath her husband’s façade. When he sends their children away, Emma’s life unravels.

A woman seeks her spirit.

Deep in despair, Emma seeks refuge aboard her uncle’s riverboat, the Spirit of the River. She travels through a new world filled with colorful characters: captains, mates, the rich, the working class, moonshiners, prostitutes, and Gage-the Spirit’s reclusive engineer. Scarred for life from a riverboat explosion, Gage’s insight into heartache draws him to Emma, and as they heal together, they form a deep and unbreakable bond. Emma learns to trust that anything is possible, including reclaiming her children and facing her husband.

A man seeks revenge.

Jared Perkins makes a journey of his own. Determined to bring his wife home and teach her the lesson of her life, Jared secretly follows the Spirit. His rage burns cold as he plans his revenge for everyone on board.

Against the immense power of the river, the journey of the Spirit will change the course of their lives forever.

ISBN# 9781932815931
Trade Paperback
US $14.95/CDN $18.95
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www.kathysteffen.com

I killed my husband, a town hero, and then called the police and turned myself in. “He’s dead as a doornail,” I said to the officer and then spit on Harland Jeffers’ bloody, dead body.

With my head held high, I allowed myself to be escorted to a squad car outside my house. A house which had been more of a prison than the cell I was headed for.

Cameras flashed.

“Why did you kill Harland?”

Because he needed killing. And I, Montana Ines Parsons-Jeffers did just that.

So begins the rest of what’s left of Montana’s life. Not that she ever really had one.

Now she’s headed for prison. There’s no escaping it. It was the ultimate destination in her Flight to Freedom.

But one man might be able to help …

ISBN# 9781933836379
Trade Paperback
US $15.95/CDN $17.95
Available Now
www.doloresjwilson.com

IT’S 1828, AND LIFE IS GOOD FOR THE
PIRATES OF MADAGASCAR …

T
heir Captain is the Hungarian Count Tomaj Balashazy, a refugee from the United States Navy. Count Balashazy rules the coast from his tropical plantation, a fortress built against enemies he’s made cruising the Indian Ocean. Tomaj feels guilt at the loss of his family in New Orleans, and he wallows in clouds of opium, soothed by courtesans. When the American naturalist Dagny Ravenhurst, seeking the dreaded and mystical aye-aye lemur, falls into Tomaj’s lagoon, it’s the beginning of the end of arcadian bliss on the island.

In the central highlands, the French industrialist Paul Boneaux commands his empire of factories. As the special pet of psychotic Malagasy Queen Ranavalona, Boneaux enjoys a monopoly over all manufacturing, commerce, and his mistress. Beholden to Boneaux, Dagny and her two brothers need his patronage to survive. Dagny’s joyless scientific heart melts for the Count’s poetic nature, pitting the two adversaries against each other. Boneaux yearns for progress and industry, Tomaj for liberty and peace.

When the King dies—or is he murdered?—the Queen gives free reign to her merciless anti-European impulses. The island boils with blood, and only one world can emerge triumphant. In Madagascar’s utopian paradise, all is …
STRANGELY WONDERFUL

ISBN# 9781933836027
Trade Paperback/Historical Fiction
US $15.95/CDN $19.95
www.karenmercury.com

Judith James

Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, Gabriel St. Croix has never known tenderness, friendship, or affection. Although fluent in sex, he knows nothing of love. Lost and alone inside a nightmare world, all he’s ever wanted was companionship and a place to belong. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy façade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy’s family has found him, and they are coming to take him home.

Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother’s disappearance. When he’s located, safe and unharmed despite where he has been living, Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own.

Becoming a mercenary, pirate and a professional gambler, Gabriel travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again and all he knows of love. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey, and the greatest gamble of all, is within the darkest reaches of his own heart.

ISBN# 9781933836447
US $7.95/CDN $8.95
Mass Market Paperback/Historical Romance
www.judithjamesauthor.com

BOOK: Jasper Mountain
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