Heart of Stone

by Faye Hall, 4th Avenue Press, Pamela Tyner

Genres: Victorian Romance; Romantic Suspense; Romance; Erotic & Steamy Romance; Historical Romance; Small-town Romance; Romantic Suspense; historical romance; small town romance; steamy romance; Victorian historical romance; australian romance; Slavery; rich guy charm

Synopsis

Slavery, corruption, and murder threaten to separate them.

Isabella Miley is trapped. Her brother and protector is dead—murdered on a slave trader’s ship—and now Samuel Buchanan, the man she fears most, has papers placing her in servitude to him. When he threatens to make her his wife and offer her out as payment to all the men he owes money to, she runs for her life, and straight into the arms of Ruben Stoneheart. But before she can ask for his help she finds herself dragged back to Samuel and into bondage.

Ruben wanted a life far away from the blackbirding slave trade he was once involved in. He watched too many people die on those ships. That wasn’t the life he wanted. He wants peace, a wife, family.

When the Irish beauty Isabella ran into his arms, she stirred feelings in him unlike anything he’d ever experienced. Never could he have imagined her to be the wife of his once business partner, Samuel Buchanan.

Curious how such a wondrous woman could have ended up entangled with a brute like Samuel, Ruben delves into her past, eager to know more about this woman he’s quickly losing his heart to. What he finds is a slave contract with her name on it. Hurt that she would hide such a thing from him, he confronts her with an ultimatum—Samuel or him.

Isabella’s fear demands that she stays with Samuel until she can gain back her freedom, along with her family’s ruby necklace—a necklace Samuel is determine to have in his possession. But her heart is willing to risk it all on Ruben…a man rumoured to have a heart of stone.

Content Warning: contains sex, strong language, and some violence.

 

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Release date: December 19, 2022

Publisher: 4th Avenue Press

Print pages: 495

Content advisory: contains sex, strong language, and some violence

Sample

“Why did you leave me to wake up alone?”

He knew he owed her some form of explanation. Fear in him told him that the only one he had to give her would make her run a mile. Gathering his courage, he let out a heavy sigh.

 “Leaving you that morning was the hardest thing I have ever had to do,” he rasped out. “I wanted nothing more than to stay with you. To talk with you. Anything.”

“So what changed your mind?” she demanded.

“Damn it, Bella! Have you any idea how hard this is for me?” He took a deep breath, knowing he had to control his emotions. “I have a reputation in this town for being a cold-hearted bastard. I never get emotionally involved. I certainly never allow myself to be distracted by a woman. Then you ran into me that day down at the docks, and you’ve haunted my every moment since. I have been barely able to concentrate, let alone run my father’s business.”

“I’m not that naïve,” she rebutted. “I know you have laid with other women before. I gave you my purity and you couldn’t cover me up quick enough.”

“You know that’s not true. I know that’s what it must have seemed like, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I wanted to stay with you that afternoon at the waterhole, but I knew your friend would come looking for you soon. I couldn’t take the risk of her finding you in a compromising position with a man with my reputation. You would have been ruined.”

She just stared at him, and he knew she thought he was making up excuses.

“I’m not accustomed to being haunted by the memory—smell—of a woman. But you did something to me that very first day we met, and I haven’t been able to think of any other but you. When Samuel offered you to me I jumped at the chance to be with you again. I thought if you came to my bed again, allowed me inside you again, I would finally be able to be free of you.”

She fidgeted nervously with her fingers. “And did you get your much sought after freedom? Is that why I woke up alone in your bed?” Her words pained him. “You have to ask me?” he challenged her. When she remained silent he knew she would accept nothing but his full confession. “No, Bella. I didn’t get my freedom—not from you.”