Love is blooming in Mollyâs garden...
Molly McNair needs someone tough to work for her. An oil company is pressuring her to sell her farm, and sheâs losing workers to intimidation. When Adam Hollister applies, she knows sheâs found the right man. Solid, fair-minded...and handsome, too. But thereâs something she doesnât know. Adam, a widower whoâs been drifting since he lost his family, is a former wildcatter. And his onetime business partner sent him to obtain soil samples from her farm.
Molly, whose life is dedicated to providing healthy food for hungry families, has to discover if her love for Adam is deep-rooted enough to survive the truth.
âYour heart is beating a hundred miles an hour,â Adam said.
Molly couldnât deny it.
âCome inside,â he offered. âIâll make coffee. Weâre both spooked.â
âI left the dog alone, and my house is wide-open.â Molly didnât think she could go into the small tack room where he was staying. Where the only place to sit would be on Adamâs rumpled bed. âI had coffee with my friend Tess. More caffeine this late would keep me up all night. Iâm fine. Really. I donât think thereâs a cricket stirring tonight.â
âAll the same, let me put on my boots. Iâll walk you back to the house. Itâs dark, and the barn lights and your porch light donât reach into the shadows.â
âOkay.â She rubbed away goose bumps from her upper arms as Adam turned away. âAnd maybe put on a shirt,â she added feebly.
Dear Reader,
Book ideas come from so many different places. This one seeped into my head little by little, from a variety of sources. Iâm a big clipper of newspaper articles. I cut a couple from our Sunday paper about some new farm-to-fork gardens that involved children in the planting process. The idea was that theyâd learn to like vegetables after helping to grow a garden. At the same time that I saw those articles, I watched a documentary on TV about child hunger in the US and how schools are collecting food from area grocers to send home in backpacks so kids and their families have food over a weekend. I learned this is happening in my area schools, and our community food bank is desperate for more help feeding hungry families.
Molly McNair came into my head as someone who loves to garden and wanted to fill a need. Another article mentioned that crop yields around here are plummeting as more land is used to explore for fossil fuels. So I had Mollyâs conflict but needed to find her a suitable hero. Adam Hollister appeared as a contender. He has the background to cause Molly trouble. But nice guy that he is, he recognizes that what sheâs doing to help poor families survive is more important than his former friends drilling for more oil. Oh, and Molly has a dog, a Doberman, that Adam wins over, too. I hope you like the good times Iâve given this couple (and that you enjoy seeing them triumph over the bad ones!).
Sincerely,
Email: [email protected]
ROZ DENNY FOXâs first book was published by Mills & Boon in 1990. She writes for several Mills & Boon lines and for special projects. Her books are published worldwide and in a number of languages. Sheâs also written articles as well as online serials for www.millsandboon.co.uk. Rozâs warm home-and-family-focused love stories have been nominated for various industry awards, including the Romance Writers of Americaâs RITA® Award, the Holt Medallion, the Golden Quill and others. Roz has been a member of the Romance Writers of America since 1987 and is currently a member of Tucsonâs Saguaro Romance Writers, where she has received the Barbara Award for outstanding chapter service. In 2013 Roz received her fifty-book pin from Mills & Boon. Readers can email her through Facebook or at [email protected], or visit her website at korynna.com/RozFox.
To Paula Eykelhof, the dedicated, insightful editor who catches my goofs and makes my books better with her expertise. A mere thank-you will never be enough.
CHAPTER ONE
MOLLY MCNAIR TIGHTENED her grip on Nitroâs leash and charged up the steps. Bursting through the double doors into the sheriffâs station, she stood looking for Deputy Roy Powell.
A uniformed clerk set down the phone, eyeing her big guard dog warily. âMay I help you?â
The woman stepped out from behind her desk and the black-and-rust Doberman growled low in his throat. The clerk immediately retreated.
âI got a message from Deputy Powell. Ramon Flores was in some kind of an accident. He was driving one of our McNair trucks to markets in Laredo.â
The woman turned as Roy Powell, in his khaki uniform, emerged from a back room and signaled with a hand. âPark your dog outside and come with me, Ms. McNair.â