About the Book
Injured in a debilitating accident at age six, Ethan Searle believes women eye him with a mixture of pity and disdain. He’s tried love before. He won’t again. He meets his match in a precocious two-year old who loves him despite his disability, even while her mother seems bothered by everything about Ethan.Autumn Reader escaped her abusive marriage with her beautiful daughter and a stack of fear. She can’t make the mistake of trusting a man again. Autumn’s daughter becomes enraptured by Ethan. Despite Autumn’s best intentions, she finds herself following her daughter’s example. When her ex-husband reappears, threatening everyone she loves if she won’t submit to his demands, Autumn has to learn to trust or lose her chance at real love.
“Characters to fall in love with, action to keep you turning pages, and the most adorable little girl ever, The Broken Path is a compelling tale of strength and trust, courage and heart. I truly enjoyed this book.” – Maria Hoagland, Author of Family Size
"The Broken Path is sweet romance with heart, suspense, and plenty of story twists that kept me turning pages. Add in a romantic hero with a cane, a struggling single mom, and an adorable little girl and this book has it all!" --Heather Justesen, author of The Switch
Excerpt
Brittan picked a petunia from one of the terra cotta planters. Leaping onto Ethan’s legs, she shoved the flower at him.
“Brittan, please don’t jump on Ethan like that,” Autumn said.
“Why?” Brittan questioned.
“Well...because it’s rude,” Autumn explained.
“Effan don’t care.” Brittan bounced up and down on Ethan, landing hard on his thighs.
He grunted slightly with the impact, his forkful of salad landed on his shirt.
“Brittan, stop!” Autumn cried out.
Brittan shrunk into Ethan’s arms.
Autumn softened her voice. “Please stop jumping, you’re hurting Eth...”Her words died in her throat, slaughtered by the look on Ethan’s face.
“She isn’t hurting me.” He glared at her, his eyes colder than a slab of black granite. “My legs can handle a twenty-five pound toddler, even if they can’t support my weight.”
Autumn turned from his intense, challenging gaze. She felt like a worm. She’d not only raised her voice to her daughter, she’d offended Ethan, again. Maybe she should just listen to him and her mom talk. Not open her big mouth again.
“My mama silly,” Brittan exclaimed. “You toughs.” Brittan grabbed his nicely defined upper arm. “You got big muscleses. I no hurt you.”
Ethan smiled, the tension in the air diffused. Autumn swallowed a gulp of lemonade, the cool drink sliding down her throat wasn’t her only relief at the moment.
“My mama no like Effan,” Brittan confided.
Autumn choked on the now sour lemonade. Ethan’s features stiffened. The tension returned.
“What?” Autumn gasped. She set her glass on the patio table and blotted the lemonade she’d sputtered down her shirt with a napkin. How had her daughter so terribly misconstrued what her mother was feeling and then announced her childlike assumptions to Ethan?
“You say, ‘no say Effan,’” Brittan reminded her. “You say, ‘it makes me crazy and aches my head.’” Brittan copied the face Autumn had made earlier. “You no like him.”
Oh, no. She wrung the napkin between her hands. “Honey, I didn’t say I didn’t like him.”
“What did you say?” Nancy asked. She stared at Autumn, eyes wide. The perfectly cooked steak she’d been cutting forgotten. She appeared as stunned as Autumn felt.
“I only said to stop repeating his name over and over.” Autumn dropped the mutilated napkin on the table and twisted the ring on her index finger, unable to look at him. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “She wouldn’t stop saying it.”
“I’m sorry my name bothers you so much.” His voice was cold, devoid of emotion.
“No, it isn’t that. It’s just...” There was no way to dig herself out of this hole. His eyes bore into hers.
“...when you have children you’ll understand. They get a word in their mind and say it so many times you wish you could bang your head against a wall.”
Ethan simply raised an eyebrow.
Read more or buy The Broken Path on Amazon.
About the Author
A portion of the proceeds from Cami's books will be donated to The Child & Family Support Center. For more information on this worthy cause, please go to www.cachecfsc.org.
Author of The Broken Path, Dead Running, and Dying to Run.
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