He’s willing to risk it all...is she?
Stella Jane Scout has never met a cowboy as handsome as Joiner Temple. Or as aggravating. His Thoroughbred Argentinian stallion and professional polo player pedigree don’t impress her one bit. At heart, he’s still a footloose cowboy from Kilgore, and a reckless one at that. But her father hired him as a ranch hand for her riding school, so she’ll have to rein in Joiner’s wild streak and teach him to put safety first. At the same time, Joiner seems determined to bring out Stella’s long-buried free spirit. If she can give him a place to call home, maybe he can teach her how to live.
“Thank you for sharing your stars with me, Stella.”
“My stars?”
“Yours.” His voice was low and tender. “Your stars, your special place, your memories.”
Stella felt as if her heart had morphed into a supernova.
Their lips met and Stella felt a shock wave flow through her body with the energy of two suns. When they pulled away, she could barely make out his profile in the dim light, but it was there—the strong jaw, Roman nose and high forehead framed by curls as black as the sky. She traced it with her fingers like a blind woman, memorizing every feature.
She didn’t understand it herself, but there was an urgency in what she felt when she was with Joiner. Like she had to act on every impulse, grab each moment before it got away.
The feeling both scared and thrilled her.
The Deep in the Heart series was the brainchild of my friend and writer extraordinaire Mae Nunn. I was blessed to have the opportunity to collaborate with her on the third and fourth books in the series and to give life to the two oldest Temple brothers, Joiner and Mac.
Lone Star Refuge is Joiner’s story. Sprinkled throughout it you will find many references to stars, beginning with the heroine, who is named after my youngest daughter, Stella. I had fun with this imagery, building on Texas as the Lone Star State, but as I dug deeper into the story a couple of themes very close to my heart emerged—faith and family—and I realized that just as these are the two things that guide my life, they would also become the stars by which my characters would learn to navigate theirs.
Stella and Joiner both suffered losses in their formative years that make it challenging to trust, to commit to love with all of its joys and complications. Theirs, I hope, is a story of real people growing together to find a place of safety with each other, even as they work to create a refuge for others.
Thanks for joining me on this journey! I’d love to hear from you by email at [email protected], or on Facebook, Gwendolann Adell Ford Faulkenberry.
Blessings,
Gwen
Lone Star Refuge
Mae & Gwen Nunn & Ford Faulkenberry
MAE NUNN grew up in Houston and graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in communications. When she fell for a transplanted Englishman living in Atlanta, she moved to Georgia and made an effort to behave like a Southern belle. But when she found that her husband was quite agreeable to life as a born-again Texan, Mae happily returned to her cowgirl roots and cowboy boots! In 2008 Mae retired from thirty years of corporate life to focus on her career as a full-time author.
GWEN FORD FAULKENBERRY lives and writes in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. She and her husband, Stone, have four children: Grace, Harper, Adelaide and Stella. Gwen is the author of three Christian romances, a book of prayers for couples and three devotional books. A professor of English at her local college, she holds a master’s degree in liberal arts.
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Contents
Dear Reader
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER