Excerpt from Heart's Blood

It’s been a difficult first day home for Isaac McCallister.  While inspecting his property, accompanied by his caretaker Billy Norwich, he stumbles into a picnic on the lawn of Boxwood Cottage, the dower house on his estate.  It brings on a tense reunion with the family of his long-dead step-brother, Dev Hampton, who was bitterly estranged from the McCallister family.  Fanny Hampton, Dev’s widow, is certain the captain’s return will see them ejected from their home.  All of which passes a mile over Isaac’s head the moment he sets eyes on Eleanor Hampton, the elder of Fanny’s two daughters.  He’s startled by his own reaction to her.  It’s been five years since he’s thought of a woman, or anything apart from survival.   

Isaac expected his return to ruffle a number of feathers.  He did not expect Eleanor Hampton to brazenly appear at McCallister House the following morning, while he’s in his study, attempting to slog his way through the debris of five absent years...