***Premiering as Sweetest Heart on the Hallmark Channel March 17th 9 PM ET***
Title: Heart’s Desire by Catherine Lanigan
Shores of Indian Lake Series Book Two
Publisher: Harlequin Heartwarming
Genre: Contemporary, Romanace
Length: 191 pages
Summary:
His homecoming is bittersweet…for both of them
Café owner Maddie Strong is finally ready to take her burgeoning cupcake business to the next level. With the help of handsome businessman Alex Perkins, her future’s all mapped out. Until her first love comes home.
At seventeen, Maddie adored Nate Barzonni with her whole heart and soul. But when he asked her to elope, she’d said no—she couldn’t let him throw away his dream of becoming a doctor. Then he vanished from her life for eleven years. Now the cardiac surgeon has returned to Indian Lake asking for a second chance, and Maddie has to choose between her new life…and the man she never stopped loving.
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Excerpt #5
“I’m too busy for men.”
“So you say, but I wasn’t the one seeing an apparition of my former sweetheart out that window,” Mrs. Beabots concluded with the kind of sharp clip to the end of her comment that warned others that the Oracle had spoken.
Sarah’s eyes tracked from Mrs. Beabots back to Maddie, who was clearly confused and still a bit shaken by the vision or ghost or whatever it was she saw. “Maybe it was just all the excitement of these gorgeous gowns and dressing up. Maybe…”
“No, Sarah. My corset is not too tight and the dress is not so elegant that my brain went off track. I saw Nate out there. In the flesh. He’s come back. I’d know him anywhere. What I don’t know is what he’s doing here and why he would choose the very moment I’m standing in the window of Bride’s Corner in a wedding gown to stare at me?”
Mrs. Beabots nodded. “Stalking. That’s it.”
Sarah sighed deeply. “Nate is not stalking Maddie.”
“How do you know?” Mrs. Beabots asked. “I watch CSI Miami and Law and Order and even Elementary and The Mentalist. Every single one of those detective shows has a murder a month committed by a stalker. It’s quite common.” She looked from Sarah to Maddie, but neither woman appeared to be following her line of reasoning.
“Nate’s been gone for eleven years. Why would he stalk Maddie now?” Sarah asked. “Why not just come into the shop and talk to her?”
“Good point,” Mrs. Beabots answered.
Maddie looked at Sarah. “You think I was seeing things?”
“Uh-huh. I do. But don’t take my word for it. Just call his mother and ask if he’s in town.”
“What?” Maddie jumped up and put her hands on her hips. “You know she’s never liked me. Always thought I was after the Barzonni millions and that I didn’t really love her son. I wouldn’t call her if I was facing the devil himself!”
Sarah stood and put her hand on Maddie’s arm. “I know, sweetie. I know.”
Tears filled Maddie’s eyes in an instant. She crumpled into Sarah’s arms and let her friend hug her. “I don’t understand what’s the matter with me.”
“You had a shock. That’s all. The only reason you would have had such a hallucination would be if you’d been obsessing about Nate lately, and we all know that’s not true. It was probably just some look-alike.”
Maddie sniffed and straightened to look Sarah in the eyes. “Right. I haven’t been thinking about Nate. Well, not so much. I always said that if I saw him on the street I’d ignore him like he was nothing. Just like he’s done to me all these years. He told me every day in high school that he loved me. He wanted to run away to Kentucky and get married, but I was the stable one. I was the one who said we should put our careers first. He proposed right there on my doorstep on the Fourth of July. And the next day, he was gone, without a word to anyone! Anyone, Sarah!” Maddie nearly spit she was so angry. “He left me. He was able to forget me. It didn’t cause him any pain or heartache. He just took off. He wanted to see the world, he said. Guess he did. All of it! What a jerk.”
“I’m glad you remembered that aspect of his character, dearie,” Mrs. Beabots said. “He treated you shabbily and you deserve the very best, just like my sweet Sarah.”
“I agree,” Sarah said. “You know what, this just isn’t the right day to find my dress. Let’s go over to my house for a glass of wine to celebrate Valentine’s Day.”
“I thought you and Luke were going out tonight,” Mrs. Beabots said.
“Not a chance. I’m making dinner for all of us at home. I decorated the house with valentines and red lights. I have homemade heart-shaped sugar cookies for Annie and Timmy. But they won’t be over until six-thirty. We have time for a girl toast beforehand.”
“Done!” Maddie said, and started walking toward the dressing room. “I’ll be out in a jiffy,” she promised.
Sarah swished into the dressing room next to Maddie’s.
Mrs. Beabots smiled at both women, and then turned around to gaze out the front window. The sun had gone down and the street lamps were coming on. Moving closer to the pane, she craned her neck to see a tall man dressed in a double-breasted black wool coat pass under the lamp and then vanish into the dark of nightfall.
Mrs. Beabots sat back on the settee. She knew a ghost when she saw one. She’d been seeing her husband’s spirit for years. Ghosts didn’t fool her one bit, even though people often did. No, what she saw tonight was a real man.
It was Nate Barzonni.
Author Bio
Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of over forty-five published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into over twenty-four languages. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid foundation to pen a collection of compelling and informative true stories of teen addicts. Ms. Lanigan’s SHORES OF INDIAN LAKE series for HARLEQUIN HEARTWARMING includes LOVE SHADOWS, HEART’S DESIRE , A FINE YEAR FOR LOVE, KATIA’S PROMISE, FEAR OF FALLING, SOPHIE’S PATH, PROTECTING THE SINGLE MOM, FAMILY OF HIS OWN, HIS BABY DILEMMA, TOO CLOSE TO THE FIRE (2018) and MY RACING HEART (2019).
The Hallmark Channel will air HEART’S DESIRE on March 17, 2018.
Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books. She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs. She writes a monthly blog for Heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.
Author Links: Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads * LinkedIn * Pinterest
Giveaway
What a lovely cover! Congrats on the book release!
Love the cover & the book looks great. I will definitely be watching this movie on the Hallmark Channel, Thanks for your generosity.
How exciting! Congratulations on the book and movie releases!
What a wonderful book! I am looking forward to the movie. Great excerpt. Thanks for sharing.
Cute cover!