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125 pages

English

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A Cowboy at Heart, an engaging Amish-meets-Wild West adventure from bestselling authors Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith, weaves a clever and romantic tale of new starts and second chances.1886-Jesse Montgomery is beginning to feel restless. Though he's grateful to his friends Colin and Emma for helping him get on his feet again after a few bad choices and some hard living, surely the Lord doesn't want him to stay in Apple Grove forever. Doesn't the Almighty have plans for this reformed rowdy cowboy to build a life of his own?When an unscrupulous cattle baron tries to steal Amish land, Jesse intervenes and is wounded. Lovely Katie Miller, the young healer in the district, attends to him while trying to guard her heart. This sweet Amish widow cannot risk falling in love with an Englisch cowboy, charming though he may be. And yet-she believes God has a life for her too that is more than what she can presently see. Could there be a future with Jesse only He could bring about?

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Romance

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Publié par	Harvest House Publishers
Date de parution	01 avril 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736953429
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0480€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Scripture verses are taken from the
Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
King James Version of the Bible
Die Bibel, Die heilige Schrift, nach der bersetzung Martin Luthers, in der revidierten Fassung von 1912 (The Bible: The Holy Scriptures, as translated by Martin Luther in the revised edition of 1912)
Cover by Left Coast Design, Portland, Oregon
Cover photos Chris Garborg; Shutterstock / Eduard Kyllynskyy, Iakov Kalinin, dwcreations
Published in association with the Books Such Literary Agency, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409-5370, www.booksandsuch.biz .
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
A COWBOY AT HEART
Copyright 2013 by Copeland, Inc. and Virginia Smith
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Copeland, Lori.
A cowboy at heart / Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7369-5341-2 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-5342-9 (eBook)
1. Amish-Fiction. I. Smith, Virginia. II. Title.
PS3553.O6336C69 2013
813 .54-dc23
2012036282
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me .
P SALM 51:9-10
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

A huge thank-you to Ronda Wells, MD, for advising us on the treatment of gunshot wounds in the 1880s, and to Cayenne DaBell for proofreading our German phrases. We also truly appreciate the support and professional expertise of our agent, Wendy Lawton; our editor, Kim Moore; and the entire team at Harvest House who worked so hard to get this story from our heads into your hands.
Contents
Acknowledgments
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
Epilogue
Authors Note
BONUS! Short Story
About the Publisher
ONE

Apple Grove, Kansas
May 1886
T he first fingers of sunlight danced across the tips of tender wheat plants that had poked through the rich Kansas soil only two weeks before. Jonas Switzer stood on the western border of the field, his face to the rising sun, and marveled once again at this evidence of the Almighty s provision. Last fall he had sown this wheat into ground prepared to accept it, and throughout the long winter months it laid dormant with no visible sign of the planting. But now it rose from its earthy bed to bask in the warmth of the sun.
Jonas knelt to inspect a single plant barely taller than his finger. Though he was not normally given to poetic comparisons, something about the crisp morning air and the smell of the soil turned his thoughts toward symbolic expression. His life was much like the single grain of wheat from which this plant had sprung. How many times had he felt dried and shriveled, a tiny kernel buried in a barren field? When his beloved wife passed eighteen years ago, something died inside him. If not for the blessing of his daughters he would have sunk into the earth and disappeared forever, his life smothered by a grief he thought he might never throw off. But as they grew, the joy they gave him showered his parched world. He learned to trust that somewhere above the trench in which he was buried, sunshine warmed the earth and rains fell to nourish it.
Then they left the Amish. Jonas closed his eyes against a wave of sorrow. First his Emma and then his Rebecca had chosen to build their lives outside the faith in which they were raised.
It is their right. Their choice .
That he knew, but still his heart grieved that the children he loved had not found the same contentment in the Plain ways he clung to. That his grandchildren were being raised in a lifestyle foreign to his.
Pride it is that makes you think yours is the only way. At least they are Christian . Gott sei Dank !
His mother s voice rang in his head, and a smile tugged at his lips. Her attitude toward the Plain way of life had been forever skewed by the few years she had spent with her Englisch husband. And yet he did thank Gott that his children and their husbands professed a Christian faith, though Bishop Miller would argue that their way was not enough because they did not separate themselves completely from a sinful world.
Jonas stood with a sigh. All he knew was that his daughters were happy and they lived their Englisch lives in service to the Almighty and to their families. They had showered his life once again with blessings, with fine, strong sons-in-law and happy, smiling grandchildren. With a full heart he formed a silent prayer of gratitude for Emma and Luke s two, Lucas and Rachel, and for the baby Rebecca and Colin were expecting, who would be born before summer s end.
His gaze swept the sun-bathed field. A breeze rustled the fledgling plants, creating waves that swept from one end of the field to another. He was but one small plant, but at least he had broken free of the soil and could feel the warmth of sunlight once again.
A movement in the distance caught his attention. Beyond the wheatfield he spied a pair of horses standing on the slight rise that separated this field from the wide creek that watered his small herd of cattle and goats. Wild horses, perhaps? Squinting, he stretched his gaze. Were those saddle pommels on their backs? Not wild, then. But where were their riders? With a glance toward the house in the opposite direction, where Mader no doubt waited for him with a hearty breakfast, he headed toward the horses.
When he was halfway around the wheatfield, something else came into focus. What was that post sticking up from the ground? Yesterday there had been no post. He scanned the area around his farm, alarm tickling his stomach when he realized there were many posts, strung out as far as he could see. And was that a wire strung between them? His eyes were not so good today. Sound drifted to him from the location of the horses. Men s deep voices.
Slapping a hand on the top of his straw hat to keep it on his head, Jonas hurried toward the horses at a trot.
As he neared the rise, men came into view Englisch men, four of them in their buttoned shirts and snug trousers held up by leather belts cinched around their waists. They worked at some activity. It took Jonas only a moment to identify what they were doing. Two of them were digging while the other two wrestled a large roll of barbed wire off a wagon. The wagon s bed was filled with sturdy wooden posts.
He could hardly believe his eyes. These men were building a fence. On his property!
Jonas stood on the top of the rise, watching them work with his hands hanging uselessly at his sides. Someone had made a grave mistake, one that must be corrected.
One of the men with the wire caught sight of him and straightened. Woodard, we got company.
Woodard stopped digging and looked up. He planted his shovel in the soil and hooked a palm across the handle, staring at Jonas with a measuring look. Howdy.
The man managed to turn the word into a threat. Jonas kept his face impassive, but an alarm rang inside his ears. The four Englischers wore menacing scowls, and their rough appearance hinted at a familiarity with violence. An ugly scar ran down Woodard s unshaven face from cheekbone to chin.
Pardon me. Jonas spoke in the same soft manner he would use to greet any stranger. There has been a mistake. This fence is misplaced.
Woodard held Jonas s gaze while he turned his head to spit. No mistake. This here fence belongs to Mr. Andrew Littlefield. Heard of him?
The name meant nothing to Jonas. He shook his head.
Whew, doggie, said his digging partner. Them Amish really are backward, ain t they?
The others chuckled. Jonas gave no outward sign that the insult had affected him, though inside his nerves stretched taut. A man who would insult another would be quick to injure as well.
A smirk twisted Woodard s features. Mr. Littlefield s a powerful man in these parts. He s your neighbor to the north. Moved up here from Texas to start him a ranch a while back. Gonna bring a herd of Texas Longhorns up from Amarillo.
We will make him welcome.
Welcome him, will you? Woodard barked a harsh laugh, and the other men joined in. Well, I ll tell you right now that the best welcome you can offer him is to get your livestock off of his land.
Jonas looked in the direction in which the man jerked his head. A little to the east, beyond the thorny hedge he d planted to border the wheatfield, a few of his cattle were making their way toward the creek for a drink.
Pardon, please, but it is my farm the cows are on.
Now, that s where you re wrong. Woodard pushed his oblong Englisch hat back on his head with a finger. See this fence? He pointed out the length of wire that stretched to the west as far as Jonas could see. This here s Mr. Littlefield s property. He s filed a homestead claim to this land. The boys and me been working all night to get this fence in place.
But this is my farm, my home. Jonas waved both hands to encompass the land that surrounded them.
Yeah? I don t see no sign. He glanced at his companions