Lottie Graham approached the entrance to Barclay’s Mercantile and two women gossiping in its shadow flattened themselves against the weathered board and batten, whisking their skirts tightly against their legs as though fearful of contamination from the slightest contact with Crazy Lottie.

Turning a hard stare upon them she charged, unseeing, through the open door of the Mercantile and jostled hard against someone entering from the other side.

"I beg your ..." She looked up, the apology dying on her lips, as she gazed into eyes as blue as the Irish sea. Eyes that could fill with passion and darken to the deepest hue of midnight. Eyes she had dreamed of for ten long years. The room began to whirl about her, the floor tilting up at a bizarre angle, the shelves seeming to buckle and heave before her eyes.

"Ma’am?" The Irish lilt was right but the voice was too deep.

She stared at the stranger. He was the right height, about six feet, but he had broader shoulders than the man she remembered. The blue eyes looked out from a more rugged face and there was no smile to curve the wide mouth. She had been mistaken. The room took on its proper form and her heart died within her .... again.

An Excerpt from Love & Lilacs

"No need to get on your high horse," he teased her.  "I'll admit I was at fault for startling you."  He held out his hand.  "Nick Cooper, at your service."

   

Maggie froze.  This was Nick Cooper.  This strong, self-assured male radiating energy and power was Nick Cooper.  This was the man who threatened to take The Lilacs away from her.  This was Nick Cooper, whom she loathed without ever having met.  This was the man who had wormed his way into Great-aunt Margaret's life and tricked her into signing an agreement of sale.  She'd been prepared to deal with a small-town shyster who preyed on old ladies but would turn tail and run when confronted with a fighter.  She had imagined him as small and oily and shifty-eyed -- no real menace at all.  She had never imagined this vital, open, smiling man.  This Nick Cooper scared her very much.