Welcome, Shirley Martin

 Today's guest is a fellow author and friend from Books We Love Publishing.  She's sharing with us an excerpt of one of her many books.  Without further delay, I introduce you to a sample from Shirley Martin:


BLURB:

Married to a man she doesn't love, Lisa lives a lie to saved her widowed mother from poverty. When she meets Owen, a steelworker from the wrong side of the tracks, heat sizzles between them, a passion that grows stronger with each stolen moment together. Lisa finds herself torn between her darkest desires and her family obligations.

Owen wants to better himself and escape the grinding brutality of the mill. But labor troubles--and love--intervene. After he meets Lisa, all he can think about is this woman whose image haunts him night and day. A woman whose husband will not release her from a loveless marriage.

"Historical romance at its finest." Julie Bonello at eCataRomance

"Nothing short of a masterpiece." 5 Angels, Fallen Angel Reviews

Excerpt from Forbidden Love:

 Lisa hurried along the sidewalk on her way to the literary club, looking forward to the meeting, as she did every week.  Of course, she enjoyed reading, but it would take more than that simple pleasure to explain her excitement when the hour for the meeting arrived....

 While Mrs. Rowe read Andrew Marvell's, To A Coy Mistress, Lisa glanced up to see Owen again, her gaze locking with his.  She could scarcely concentrate on the words of the poem, her every thought on him.

 While Mrs. Rowe read Andrew Marvell's, To A Coy Mistress, Lisa glanced up to see Owen again, her gaze locking with his.  She could scarcely concentrate on the words of the poem, her every thought on him.

 She saw herself in its lyrics, but the recitation disappointed her.  Such a beautiful poem, but Mrs. Rowe read it like a shopping list. 

      Had we but world enough and time . . .
   
 She caught Owen's gaze on her again before he quickly turned away.  Did she see a deep longing on his face, as if he wanted her as much as she wanted him?  Aware she'd gain nothing by daydreaming, she tried to dismiss her fantasies.  Tried, and failed   Did Owen care for her?  The very idea made her catch her breath, her heart beat faster.  But wait, what made her think he cared for her, just because he looked her way a couple of times?  Now she was letting her imagination run away with her.  

She wrenched her attention back to the poem.  World enough and time!  Would there ever be time for her happiness?  And with a steelworker from a mill town?

      But at my back I always hear
      Time's winged chariot hurrying near . . .

 She must forget Owen, dismiss these foolish dreams.  What did she accomplish by dwelling on someone unobtainable?  Even if he felt the same as she, she saw no hope for them.  She had a husband . . . William, hers to love--love!--honor, and obey for the rest of their lives. . . .

With a pretense of listening, Owen stared at the flames in the fireplace while he pondered the indefinable expression on Lisa's face.  What did that look imply?  Sadness?  No, a newly-married lady as lovely as she would never be unhappy, for surely her husband loved her very much.  For reasons he wished he could deny, he wanted to rush over to Lisa, comfort her, make everything right for her.

A knife twisted inside him, and he knew with sudden clarity the truth he'd tried to reject for so long.  He loved her, as simple as that.  No use questioning the why or wherefore.

His heart recognized the feeling, and this was no mere lust as he'd known for other women.  No, this was something sweeter, something deeper, something . . . futile.  Lisa was an upper class lady, married to a wealthy man, a man who had the right to hold her close and kiss her, take her to bed, make fervent love to her. . . . a man who could give her everything her heart desired.  Dear God, how it hurt.

More than anything in this world, he wished he could take her in his arms and hold her next to his heart, press his hungry lips to hers, absorb the warmth of her body.  If dreams alone could send this rush of heat through his body, what would actual lovemaking do?  

 The knife twisted deeper as he questioned life's ironies.  With all the women in the world he could love, why should he choose another man's wife, and a lady so far out of his class?  What she must think of him--a rough steelworker from Homestead!  Still, he knew this desire, this love, was no passing thing.  This yearning would stay with him for the rest of his life.  
 
 Emerging from his painful reflections, he tried to focus on the reading . . . tried and failed.

www.shirleymartinauthor.com
http://bookswelove.net

And, find your copy of Forbidden Love for sale on Amazon.