Title: Bitter Legacy
Author: C.B. Clark
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Book Blurb:
Sharla-Jean Bromley returns to her hometown after a seventeen-year absence with vengeance in her heart. From the very beginning, her plans go awry when she meets devastatingly handsome Josh Morgan, the man to whom her father left half of his multi-million-dollar lumber mill.
Josh, suspicious of Sharla-Jean’s reasons for returning to town after such a long absence, vows to keep control of the company he feels is rightfully his. She is equally determined to prove she can run her father’s mill, even though it means working side-by-side with Josh, a man whose very presence evokes an attraction that is increasingly difficult for her to ignore.
In the process, they must overcome a villain who’s determined to destroy both the lumber mill and their lives. Will Sharla-Jean succeed and heal the anguish that has long filled her soul? Will she and Josh find the passion of a lifetime?
Excerpt:
Sharla-Jean Bromley had wanted only two things in life—a red dress and her father’s death. She’d waited years. Hell, she’d prayed for this moment. Why then, wasn’t this a celebration? Why was a ball of acid churning through her stomach? Taking a deep breath, she climbed out of the taxi and smoothed the skirt of her figure-hugging, red, silk dress over her hips.
The crowd of somber mourners stood in clusters on the sweeping steps outside the old stone church under the late-October, overcast sky. The damp air was ripe with the familiar sweet-sour smell of freshly cut Douglas fir. Over the hill behind the church, steam trailed in white plumes from the two lumber-drying kilns at the mill. A wind gusted, marshaling scattered piles of gold and red leaves into the gutter.
Goose bumps riddled her arms, and she fought back a shiver as she strode forward, knees quaking, jostling through the crowd on the wide sidewalk.
A collective gasp filled the air, and her name swept over the mourners in a rising crescendo. “It’s her! Sharla-Jean. Big Jim’s daughter.”
“I can’t believe she has the nerve to show up after all these years.”
“My God, look what she’s wearing!”
“She always was wild.”
“Big Jim would roll over in his grave.”
With each comment, each insult, each condemnation, the layer of ice encircling her heart thickened. The shock and disapproval didn’t surprise her. There was no love lost between the people of Renton Falls and Sharla-Jean Bromley. Hadn’t been for years. What did surprise her was how much their disapproval bothered her. Like a well-aimed arrow, each snide remark penetrated the armor of her daring red dress.
The lump in her throat thickened, threatening to choke her. She did an about-face and headed back toward the curb, but then she stopped. What was she doing? She’d waited too long for this moment to chicken out now. Turning, keeping her gaze fixed at a point in the distance, she ignored the disparaging stares and shouldered through the throng. Tears burned her eyes, but she blinked them back. She’d come here today to bury the past along with her father. Then maybe, just maybe, she could move on.
“She looks like a whore,” hissed a piercing voice.
Sharla-Jean met the blazing gaze of a short, pudgy, blonde woman. Her heart lurched at the venom in the woman’s stare. She sucked in a breath as a flash of memory washed over her. Betty Ann Jawarski. She’d been Sharla-Jean’s best friend all through grade school, the two of them inseparable.
“Why did you come back, Sharla-Jean?” Betty Ann’s frizzed hair bobbed in a mass of over-bleached curls around her fleshy face. “You killed your father. Do you know that? The poor man died of a broken heart because of you.”
Sharla-Jean stared, immobilized by the woman’s scorn.
Betty Ann’s red, painted lips twisted into a thin, disapproving line. The furrow between her over-plucked brows deepened. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Sharla-Jean opened her mouth to finally tell Betty Ann and everyone else who listened with morbid curiosity, the truth about the nightmare seventeen years ago, but the secret was buried too deep, the years of silence too ingrained.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bitter-legacy-c-b-clark/1126254341?ean=2940157509132
Walmart: https://bit.ly/2FnN4Sx
Also available in Audible:
What’s your favorite part about being a romance author?
I’ve always enjoyed reading romance novels. The trials and tribulations the hero and heroine must overcome to find their happy ending fills me with hope. When I lost my voice for a year due to a botched operation, I started writing my own romantic suspense stories, and I’ve never looked back. I now have six published romantic suspense novels, and another is in the final round of edits and should be released in the next few months.
Here’s my tip to add romance to your love life:
Listen. Always. No matter what else is going on with your life—the kids are acting up, your boss reamed you out, you’ve put on an extra pound or two, whatever— listen to your partner. There’s nothing sexier than someone who truly listens with not just their ears, but their heart and their soul.
Giveaway:
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Open internationally
Runs February 1 – 28, 2021.
Drawing will be held on March 1, 2021.
Author Biography:
Bitter Legacy is award-winning author, C.B. Clark’s sixth novel published by The Wild Rose Press. When she’s not busy traveling around the globe or hiking and camping in the wilderness near her home in northern British Columbia, she can be found in front of her laptop plotting the next story.
Social Media Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cbclarkauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbclarkauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbclarkauthor/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/C.-B.-Clark/e/B01BK61TQG/