By Donna
Schlachter
A Month of Heroes continues with Jim Williams, from "Detours of the Heart" by Donna Schlachter in the MISSAdventure Bride Romance Collection.
If you were to
watch Peter Duncan at work, you’d know there was something different about him.
Sure, his freckles stand out, as do his impeccable manners and good looks. And
the ladies are drawn to him to flies to honey.
Perhaps your first impression
would be of a boy whose mama raised him right. Good manners. Well-read. Even
tempered. You’d likely think he’d attended a good school, eaten three square
meals a day, known no troubles.
But you’d be far from right.
As the oldest son of itinerant
field hands, Peter has never known a real home. His family has followed the
crops, south to north, east to west, his entire life. What he knows he taught
himself after spending every daylight hour bent over a cotton crop in
Mississippi or stretching for a peach in a grove in California. His mother
tried to teach him proper manners, but truth is, he didn’t have much call to
practice amongst other hardscrabble families like his own.
Peter longs to have a steady job
where he comes home to the same house--and the same woman and children--every
night. No more eating the bruised fruit just to live. No more making friends in
one town then moving on when the work runs out. No more hanging his head in
shame when other kids call him names.
He wants to be a preacher,
eventually, but for now, he’s satisfied to drive a bus for the Harvey House
Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He appreciates the opportunity he’s been
given, knowing that The Alvarado is the Queen of the Southwest, and he takes
his job seriously.
So when the tour guide comes down
with mumps, and customers start complaining because he doesn’t have her entire
speech memorized, he’s not happy. He wants things back to the way they were
when he just had to drive, collect his wages and his tips, and dream of
preaching in his own church someday.
Enter our heroine, Millie
Watkins. Beautiful. Spunky. Obviously accustomed to hard work and not
much
else. She’d make the perfect pastor’s wife.
Or would she? Does she know God?
Because if not, he’d best remind his heart that his wife must love the Lord
even more than she adores him. Which doesn’t seem to be the case, since she’s
intent on heading west to Hollywood and stardom.
Over the coming days, however,
Peter finds himself drawn to this slip of a girl as she works alongside him on
the tour bus. They have several opportunities to talk about the love of his
life--God--and he answers her questions, recognizing her deep-set hurt over her
mother’s death.
When she starts wearing a
beautiful Acoma bracelet, he wonders where she got it--perhaps a secret
admirer? Jealousy keeps him from asking, and he decides she’s not the woman for
him after all. Besides, there are plenty of fish in his little pond--other
girls who find him irresistible, including the lovely Carlita. But despite his
determination to keep Millie at arm’s length, he finds himself comparing the
others to her, and they fall woefully short.
When Millie enlists his help to look
into the possible counterfeit jewelry operation taking place under their very
noses, he jumps at the chance to spend more time with her. And when she finds herself in danger, he’s glad to rescue her. Except she thinks he engineered
this prank to endear her to him.
But after spending the night in
the desert in a broken-down bus and awakening to find their vehicle surrounded
by local Acoma warriors, he’s happy that she knows her job so well. And he’s
thankful they were able to talk about healing and God’s good plans for His
children. After resolving the counterfeiting issue, Peter is willing to follow
Millie wherever she goes--if she’ll have him.
Finally, Peter has found a woman
who will offer him the stability he longs for, as well as a deeper relationship
with God who is directing his steps. No more detours for him--his path ahead is
straight and sure.
About Detours of the Heart: (Albuquerque, NM,
1925)
A tour guide who
wants to move on, a playboy who’s never had a place to call home—can they
overcome their own plans and allow God to make their path straight, or will
they take yet another detour?
I will give away five print
copies (US only, please) of the book by dropping the names of all who leave a
comment on my missAdventure blog
posts on my own blog or on this blog post between today and December 16th into
a basket and pulling out five winners. One entry per blog post, please, and one
prize per person. If you leave a comment every day on the 15 different blog
posts, you could have 15 entries to win. Drawing closes midnight December 16th
MDT.
In addition, if you don’t already
subscribe to my newsletter, and you choose to subscribe at www.HiStoryThroughTheAges.com ,
I’ll pop in another entry for you. So you could have up to 16 chances to win!
About Donna:
Donna lives in Denver with
husband Patrick. She writes historical suspense under her own name, and
contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts. She is a member of
American Christian Fiction Writers and Sisters In Crime; facilitates a critique
group, and teaches writing classes. Donna ghostwrites, edits, and judges in writing
contests. She loves history and research, and travels extensively for both. Donna is represented by
Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.
When his boss hands him the task of getting Maddy Williams’s
llamas for the zoo, he figures it’s an easy job. After all, a woman doing a
man’s job has to be an old spinster, but he knows he has enough charm to
wheedle an old woman into doing what he wants. But he is in for the surprise of
his life . . . in more ways than one.
