I love horseback riding, though I’m not very skilled. After even a short ride, my bottom and thighs complain, but there’s something about being out in nature on the back of a horse that I love. I especially like long trail rides. My favorite trail ride was an overnight trek to the stunning Stikine River canyon in Northern British Columbia I went on a few years ago.
The ride was challenging, as I had to guide my horse along a narrow, winding trail three hundred meters (984 feet) above the steep-walled gorge. Below us rushed the wild and un-navigable Stikine River. I hung on to the saddle for dear life. Good thing the horse was sure-footed and knew what it was doing.
We rode all day and in the evening, made a rough camp along the bank of a creek. As we sat around the fire boasting of our riding skills and marveling at the beauty of the canyon, the vivid greens and pinks of the northern lights danced and crackled in the night sky, and a lone wolf howled in the distance. Exhausted and sore, I crawled into my tent, grateful for the opportunity to participate in this trip of a lifetime.
Blurb:
Reeling from loss and heartbreak, Stella King is desperate to escape painful memories. The position of nanny on an isolated ranch in British Columbia’s rugged Chilcotin Plateau seems the answer to her prayers.
Cattle rancher, Dawson Wheeler, has worked hard to overcome grief and build a predictable world for his young daughter. The last thing he needs is the all-too-attractive Stella disrupting the smooth running of his ranch, especially now that disturbing incidents are happening on his property.
Defending his land against those who want to gut it will be a challenge, but the biggest threat of all may be to his heart.
Excerpt:
The back of his neck itched. “You’re Stella King?” Of course she was. Who else would be waiting here at this time of night? Once again he glanced at the photograph clenched in his hand—gray curls, thick glasses, sixty years old. This was the Stella King he’d hired. The itching amped up to a full-out assault.
She stood and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Dawson.”
He stumbled back a step, his worst fears confirmed. This gorgeous woman was the nanny he’d hired to look after Deirdre.
Her light blue wool sweater did nothing to hide the rounded mounds of her breasts. Her legs looked a mile long in the white denim, skin tight, designer jeans tucked into a pair of knee-high, high-heeled, black leather boots. Her perfume wafted on the evening breeze, a heady mix of spring flowers and something subtle but decidedly feminine.
He struggled to swallow, but his throat was parched, his tongue as dry as old leather against the roof of his mouth.
Silence stretched between them. An owl hooted from a nearby tree, crickets chirped in the tall grass lining the ditch, and still he didn’t move as the ramifications of what he’d agreed to engulfed him.
Buy links:
Nook (Barnes & Noble): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/healing-hearts-c-b-clark/1136377247?ean=2940163089826
iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/healing-hearts/id1497767650
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/search?query=healing+hearts+cb+clark
Also available at Walmart.com.
Author Bio:
Award-winning author, C.B. Clark, has written six romantic suspense novels published by The Wild Rose Press. She has worked as an archaeologist and an educator, and enjoys hiking, canoeing, and snowshoeing with her husband and dog near her home in the wilderness of central British Columbia.
Social Media Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cbclarkauthor/
Blog: https://cbclarkauthor.wordpress.com
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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15029617.C_B_Clark
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/C.-B.-Clark/e/B01BK61TQG/