Title – Logan – Bachelors and Babies – Book 2
Author – Margaret Tanner
Genre – Historical Western Romance
Book Blurb -
A baby is discarded in the wilderness of South Dakota.
Rancher, Logan McGregor, finds an abandoned baby and decides to keep her. He names her Alice after his dead wife. This child will fill the void in his lonely heart.
Missie, a woman with no memory, is incarcerated in a local jail. She is crazy according to the Marshall, but she can provide the one thing Logan desperately needs – milk for baby Alice. Against his better judgement, he takes Missie to his ranch.
When Missie’s memory finally returns, will her explosive recollections bring them all together or tear them apart?
Excerpt -
Missie sat with her back resting against a tree as she fed Alice. Logan hastily turned his head away on seeing a flash of bare breast.
The flames in the camp fire quickly burned down so he rested his trusty old coffee pot on the coals. They would stay here for an hour or so to give the horses a rest. No need to hurry now with the baby having a steady supply of milk. It would give him more time to assess Missie before he let her into his home.
She wasn’t coarse or vulgar, quite ladylike in fact. Her hands were slightly work roughened. A farm gal if he was any judge. She wore no rings, yet there was a white mark on her left ring finger. Could she have once worn a wedding band?
Ignorant and all as he was about such things, even he could see she was familiar with handling a baby. Her child must have died. What a terrible thing to happen to any woman, any wonder she was deranged.
She changed the baby after she finished feeding, arranging the drawers much more neatly than he had.
“I’ll get the cradle out and put Alice in it while you have your coffee. We’ll eat some of the bread, too.”
After the baby was tucked up in the cradle she lay gazing around, her little rosebud mouth slightly pursed. He sat next to her, waving away any insect who dared fly near her. He should have bought netting to cover her. Why hadn’t he thought of that? The pesky varmints would feast on her soft white skin.
“We’ll have to drink the coffee black, I don’t want to use the milk in….”
“In case I run off?”
His cheeks heated up. “I didn’t say that.”
“It’s what you meant, Logan. I’m not crazy, I’ve just lost my memory. You can’t know how terrible that is.” A tear slid down her cheek. “Not knowing who you are. Where you come from. Maybe the shock of losing my baby brought on the amnesia.”
“It could have done. You’ve taken a beating by the looks of it.”
“You brought two cups.”
“Yeah. I used one for the baby, I had to feed her the milk with a spoon.”
Missie came back carrying two coffees and a chunk of bread. She handed him his coffee and placed hers on the ground while she broke the bread into equal portions.
They ate in silence until Missie said. “Why don’t you have a sleep?”
“Why would I do that?” He jumped to his feet.
“Surely you don’t think I’d run off with her?”
“I don’t know, do I? From what the Marshall said, you’re capable of anything.”
Shock registered in her one good eye, her lips trembled. “You’d believe what that oaf told you?”
“I didn’t say I believed him exactly, but I can’t take any risks when it comes to Alice’s welfare.”
She pushed a swathe of hair behind one ear. “What will it take to make you trust me?”
“I don’t know. Be quiet. Do you hear anything?”
“No, only the leaves rustling through the trees.”
“Horses. Quick, get into the wagon.” He picked up the cradle and dashed over to the wagon, put the baby in and pushed Missie up. “Stay there. I had a feeling we were being followed. Here, take this.” He handed over his colt. “Use it if you have to.”
Three riders charged toward them. A bullet whistled over his shoulder as he reached for his Winchester, which lay under his seat. Who in tarnation would want him dead?
The men wore kerchiefs over their faces, hats pulled down so only their eyes were visible.
“Hands up, Mister,” one of them yelled.
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Author Biography -
Margaret Tanner is an award winning, multi-published Australian author, who writes Contemporary Romance, Historical Romance, and Western Romance.
She loves delving into the pages of history as she carries out research for her historical novels. No book is too old or tattered for her to trawl through, no museum too dusty, or website too hard to navigate. Many of her novels have been inspired by true events, with one being written around the hardships and triumphs of her pioneering ancestors in frontier Australia. She once spent a couple of hours in an old jail cell so she could feel the chilling cold and fear.
With the encouragement of friend and Western Romance author, Susan Horsnell, she has now fallen in love with writing Western Historical novellas, and found it an easy transition. Frontier Australia and frontier America, have many similarities - isolated communities living in a harsh, unforgiving environment, a large single male population, and a lack of marriageable women.
Her stories are drama laden. Her heroes hide behind a rough exterior. They are tough men who are prepared to face danger and overwhelming odds for the women they love. Her heroines are brave, resourceful women willing to endure hardship and danger in an untamed land, if it means they can win the heart of the men they love.
Margaret is married and has three grown up sons, and two gorgeous little granddaughters.
Outside of her family and friends, writing is her passion.
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