No Going Back by Petie McCarty

Book Title: No Going Back 

Author: Petie McCarty 

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

Kellen Brand's inheritance turns out to be a whopper -- one dilapidated farm in West Virginia and one guardian angel! Since Kellen is convinced no sane woman would choose to live in Riverside, she vows to sell her farm and quick.

Her handsome and reclusive neighbor Luke Kenyon must block the farm sale or risk exposure of his family's secrets. While Kellen has located one potential buyer, she faces a town full of objectors. Someone is trying to frighten her off, and Luke is forced to step in and rescue her more than once.

Unfortunately, Kellen can't seem to stay out of trouble. She stumbles onto a clandestine hazardous-waste-dumping operation next to her farm, and she prays Luke has one more rescue up his sleeve. It's her only hope of staying alive.

Unless her mother really "did" leave her a guardian angel...

Kellen stood waist deep in boxes she had dragged down from the attic. She slit the packing tape on one box and lifted off the lid. A swatch of faded pink paisley cotton covered the contents inside. Her eyes misted as she lifted one of her mother's old house dresses from the box.

Time reverted back decades in the blink of an eye, and she could see her mother standing at the stove, cooking the ever-present rice, and wearing this very dress. She buried her face in the material and inhaled deeply, almost imagining she caught a whiff of her mother's fragrance. Tears quickly formed. Without thinking, she pulled the dress on over her t-shirt and shorts and hugged her arms around her waist.

"Momma, I miss you so much," she whispered. "What will I ever do without you?"

As she rocked back and forth, she remembered the letter her mother's attorney had read -- I'm leaving you a guardian angel to keep you safe.

"I hope you're right, Momma," she whispered. "I think I need one to find my way, just like you said. I get more confused every day that I'm here."

She glanced down in the box and saw another of her mother's housedresses. Suddenly overcome with emotion, she strode for the back door in desperate need of a breath of fresh air. She sat down in the old rocker and gently smoothed the wrinkles in the worn pink dress. Tears flooded her eyes and tracked down her cheeks. She wanted one last hug from her mother. If only she had known when the end would come. She sniffled and swiped at the escaping tears.

A horse whickered.

"Are you all right?"

Kellen almost leaped out of her skin and twisted around to see Luke Kenyon astride his black stallion at the corner of the house. Overwhelmed with her sorrow, she’d never heard their approach.

She ducked her head to remove the last vestiges of tears. "M-memories," she said.

The single word threatened to bring another onslaught of tears. She glanced up and was surprised by the concern in his eyes.

"Sorry," he said. "It's a pretty dress. Pink becomes you."

The dress was tattered and close to threadbare in several places, but somehow this man knew how important it was to her.

"Thank you -- it was my mother's."

"I figured," he said softly.

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Petie spent a large part of her career working as a biologist at Walt Disney World -- "The Most Magical Place on Earth" -- where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night. She eventually said good-bye to her "day" job in order to write her stories full-time.

Petie is a member of Romance Writers of America, and she shares homes in Tennessee and Florida with her horticulturist husband, a spoiled-rotten English Springer spaniel addicted to pimento-stuffed green olives, and a noisy Nanday conure named Sassy who made a cameo appearance in Angel to the Rescue.

Visit Petie's web site online at http://www.petiemccarty.com or her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/petie.mccarty.

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