“I assure you, sir, I have the means to pay whatever you require. No sweat trickled down her temples, despite heat strong enough to twist metal. Fire from the forge cast shadows over her emerald velvet riding habit. Her spine appeared fashioned from the same tempered iron he worked. Jeffrey set down his hammer upon the anvil and gave her a cool stare. His guard rose faster than the coal fire’s temperature. “I beg your pardon, sir, may I have a moment of your time?” The woman finally entered the shop and approached him. Since Caroline had betrayed him, Jeffrey amended. He hadn’t seen a woman this lethally attractive since he’d left Boston.

A red, heart-shaped mouth silently promised to kindle a man’s passion into an inferno. Huge violet eyes reflected sparks leaping from the coal fire.

Ribbons of sunlight streaked her auburn hair.

And now one had appeared as if summoned from his mind. He’d been daydreaming about reading The Odyssey, feeling kindred pity for men turned into addle-minded fools by a beautiful woman. Jeffrey Clayton paused in hammering the iron and stared in wary shock at the newcomer. Helen of Troy had come to Williamsburg to loosen his compressed lips and coax him to spill secrets. Her face could launch ten thousand slips of a man’s careless tongue. Sensing sudden movement in the smoke-filled air, he glanced up.Ī red-headed angel stood in the doorway of the blacksmith shop, hesitating to draw closer to the forges’ hellish fires. Finally, the malleable metal began to surrender, its contours changing from the enormous force he exerted upon it. Aye, he would not stop until he’d shaped it to his will. The iron was stubborn as Odysseus’ great bow, but he would make it soften and bend. Muscles in his body tensed and uncoiled with every downward strike as furious heat coaxed sweat from his brow. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.Īll characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.įIERY SPARKS SCATTERED from each ringing blow of his hammer against the glowing metal set upon the anvil. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

The Patriot's Conquest by Bonnie Vanak