READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 1 Issue 5 November 2013 | Page 49

Blurb
The War Between the States not only
destroyed all Michael Cantrell loved, it
left the young, former Confederate
cavalry officer without faith or hope, a
solitary, haunted man trying to escape his
demons in the vast western frontier.
Then, one spring day along the Wind
River, he finds himself suddenly in the
thick of another life-and-death struggle –
Annie Devlin’s war. Desperate to hang on
to her ranch and her life, waylaid by

Excerpt:
The wounded man's grip was like
iron. Annie couldn't imagine where
his strength was coming from. She
could feel his whole body trembling
against her, and the bandages
wrapped around his shoulder and
chest were soaked with sweat and
fresh blood.
"No!" he cried, glaring at her with
wide, wild eyes, feral and ferocious in
the candlelight. "You can't ... have
him! I ... let him ... before ... No!
Gavin!"
"Captain Cantrell! Michael!" Unable
to wrench his hands from their grip
on her small brother, Annie shifted
and took Michael's face in her hands,
her fingers spread along both sides
of his hard, sweat-slick jaw. Turning
his head, she forced him to look into

gunmen hired by a powerful rancher who
covets her land, Annie and her young
brother, Robbie, fight a furious, rapidly
losing battle for their lives.
When all seems lost, into the fray steps a
cold-eyed, steel-nerved stranger –
Michael Cantrell – who saves Annie and
Robbie, but is himself grievously
wounded. With Annie’s care, Michael
recovers not only his strength but a
portion of his embittered soul as well.
Fighting his powerful feelings for her,
convinced he has nothing to give, Michael

her eyes.
"Michael!" she commanded. "Listen!
You must let go! He's not Gavin!"
A flicker of confused uncertainty
came into the man's eyes, and the
huge, black, dilated pupils seemed to
constrict slightly, giving Annie a
glimpse of deep blue irises.
"Yes, that's right, that's right. Good.
Now listen to me, listen to me." Her
words, and the gentle stroking of her
fingers, became fluid, hypnotic.
And finally, Michael listened. He
could feel the warmth of her breath
on his cheek, and for a single, brief
moment all pain disappeared,
replaced abruptly by a great hitch in
his chest. He was dead certain his
heart had stopped.
"Are you an angel?" he whispered. *
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