Guest Post: KING OF HEARTS by M. Jean Pike

My guest today is M. Jean Pike. Some of her favorite things are changing seasons, unexpected blessings, and Love that lasts forever. With a writing career that has spanned two decades, Jean combines an insatiable curiosity about humans and why they do what they do with a keen interest in the quirky and offbeat things in life to bring readers unforgettable tales of life, love, and the inner workings of the human heart. Her short works have been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Lutheran Digest, Whispers From Heaven and others.

Her new release is KING OF HEARTS. This is what it's about:

After keeping a secret promise to a friend, Harper Blessings' s life is spiraling out of control. Her food truck barely pays the bills, she' s raising her rebellious brother and caring for her forgetful aunt...and she' s four months pregnant.

When Aunt Clara wanders off at a carnival and hires the carousel operator who rescues her to do odd jobs, Harper' s house-of-cards life begins to topple. The last thing she needs is a handsome drifter complicating her already problematic life. Or so she thinks.

Drifter Dalton Kingston has a few secrets of his own. Growing up as a child of privilege, he wanted for nothing...except love. Then an unspeakable tragedy causes him to walk away from it all, pushing love as far away as possible. Until love pushes back in the form of a beautiful woman who desperately needs his help, and the God he' s not sure he can forgive.

Do you want a taste of this wonderful story?

Here it is!

“Aunt Clara?” Her voice was gentle, musical. “Sweetheart, what are you doing here?”

The old woman smiled. “I’ve come to meet you for lunch.”

The girl’s glance took in her aunt’s slippers, her uncombed hair. “Where’s Nicky?”

“He was sleeping like an angel. I couldn’t bear to wake him, so I came on my own.”

“Oh dear. Here, let’s get you out of the sun.” She steered her aunt to one of the tables and seated her beneath a pink –and- white- striped table umbrella. 

“This is my great niece, Harper,” Clara told Dalton. “My home girl.”

Despite her obvious agitation, Harper smiled. “Now where did you hear that?”

“Nicholas taught it to me.” 

“Aunt Clara,” she said gently, “I thought we agreed you were going to wait for Nicky to come with you to the festival today.”

“But he’s sleeping. And I had this nice young man to help me.” She beamed at Dalton. “He operates the carousel. I don’t know his name.”

“Dalton King.”  His gaze dropped from her eyes to the bulge beneath her apron. She saw him notice it and her face flushed a pretty pink. 

“Harper Blessings. Thank you for helping my aunt. She gets a little mixed up sometimes.”

“I’m not mixed up, dear.” 

“I know, sweetheart.” She patted her aunt’s hand. “I can’t take a lunch break right now but let me bring you a cold drink.” 

“Don’t trouble yourself, dear.”

“It’s no trouble. Wait right here, OK?”

Pulling her cell phone from her apron pocket, she disappeared around the side of the food truck. Several moments later she returned with two bottles of water. She handed one to her aunt, and the other to Dalton. “Nicky’s on his way to walk you home. Can you wait right here until he arrives?”

“I can walk home alone, dear. It’s only a few blocks, and it’s such a pretty day out.”

“Aunt Clara, we have talked about this.”  

 Dalton ran a hand through his hair, letting it linger on the back of his neck. His work was clearly done here. This was a family matter. And though Harper Blessings was clearly in a quandary, the world’s wrongs were not his to right anymore. Even so, he heard himself say, “I’ll wait with her.”

“Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do--”

“Harper?” the girl at the counter called. “We’re almost out of onions.” 

She shot a glance at the growing line of customers, clearly torn, unable to leave the grill unattended, and unwilling to leave her elderly aunt in the hands of a stranger. She must have decided he was the lesser of two evils, because she finally said, “Thank you. My brother will be here in just a few minutes.” 

He shrugged. “It’s no problem.”  

But it was. The way her gaze turned him inside out, like the subtle turn of a key in a door he’d thought locked up tight. The sudden vertigo he felt when his eyes met hers that made him feel as though the ground was tilting beneath his feet. These were definite problems for Dalton Kingston.

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/King-Hearts-M-Jean-Pike-ebook/dp/B0D48XZH16/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title

PBG: https://pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_46&products_id=1679

My Blog:

https://mjeanpike.wordpress.com/

FB:

https://www.facebook.com/JeanPikeBooks