Detour
to Paradise
by
River Ames
Genre:
Sweet Contemporary Romance
Lucas
Rockworth—a hard-driving force of nature has been ordered by his
doctor to take some time off and get his blood pressure under
control. You would think buying a cabin in the natural splendor known
as Gray Horse Lake, Idaho, would do the trick. All that mountain
greenery, crystal blue lakes and rivers, and nature-run-amok had to
be exactly what the doctor had ordered.
Enter
Sarah Burke… The innocently enticing young entrepreneur who’s
opening an equestrian camp for children with handicaps.
Her
initial impression of him is clearly wrong. For some reason, known to
the reader but unknown to him, Sarah mistakenly believes that Lucas
Rockworth is a shy, sensitive man. After having to deal a lifetime
with a dominating older brother and controlling father, she finds
these traits very appealing.
Her
recent breakup with someone who could best be described as a bully
has Sarah longing for a kinder, gentler man in her life.
Lucas
tells himself that, since he makes his living as a general
contractor, he has the hands-on experience to make himself into
anything Miss Sarah Burke is looking for.
It
shouldn’t be that great a stretch to become a modern, sensitive
kind of guy, should it? She wants Mr. Rogers… Well, darn, he can
manage that for the short time he’s in Idaho.
How
hard can it be to tame his darker, more cynical side?
As
for Sarah Burke? She thinks she’s met a real life version of Mr.
Rogers. But, the reader knows its Rambo who’s come
a’courting.
Would
the real Lucas Rockworth care to step forward?
Sarah backed
slowly away from the doorway. If she hadn’t heard Lucas with her own ears, she
would not have believed him capable of such brutal toughness. She had heard him, and she still couldn’t
come to terms with the fact that her tender, gentle lover-to-be was... Why he
was Rambo, after all!
She turned from
the cabin and followed the path back to the motorhome. Over and over she
replayed the fierce confrontation she’d heard. It didn’t make sense. How could
she have thought Lucas was a gentle, caring man—a man incapable of the bullying
tactics she’d come to associate with her brother?
Sarah could feel
the burning pressure of tears fill her eyes. She’d only just realized she was
in love. She brushed at the falling tears with the back of her hand and looked
around.
Dusk had come.
Dusk had come,
and she’d discovered the man she was in love with didn’t exist.
Sweet, gentle
Lucas Rockworth simply was not. She had given her heart and planned on giving
her body to a phantom, a creature of her own imagination.
Creature was an
excellent word, she thought, her tears drying. There was no way she could have
been so mistaken about Lucas Rockworth without him deliberately misleading her.
She remembered one of their first conversations. He’d asked her straight out:
Who appealed to her more? Rambo or Mr. Rogers?
She’s picked Mr.
Rogers and voila! He had appeared. Shy. Sweet. Sensitive.
The dirty rat!
He’d done it on
purpose, played the role of a modern, tender man. Good grief, if she’d picked
Rambo, he probably would have greased up his body, looped ammo belts around his
neck and stuck a butcher knife between his teeth.
She’d had him
writing poetry!
“Sarah, where are
you going? What happened?”
Deborah’s worried
voice penetrated Sarah’s dazed thoughts. She’d almost passed her friend on the
path to the motorhome.
Sarah turned
around. “You were right.”
“About what?
Sarah, what’s wrong? You look like you’re in shock.”
“I probably am.”
“My Lord, did they
actually get into a brawl? What happened?”
“There was no
fight. You were right. Lucas was perfectly capable of handling Ryan.”
“But—”
“Don’t worry about
it. Ryan’s fine. Lucas is fine. Actually, I think they have the makings of a
solid friendship.”
“What?”
“They have so much
in common, you know—my welfare.”
“That doesn’t
surprise me,” Deborah said.
“And then, there’s
the fact that they’re two liked-minded bullies. When you get right down to it,
you could almost call them blood- brothers. They both look at the world in the
same way—as predators.” Sarah started walking again.
“Where are you
going?”
“To change my
clothes.”
River
Ames spent the first eighteen years of her life in Southern
California. Here is a partial list of some of the cities in which she
lived: Pasadena, South Pasadena, Duarte, El Monte, Arcadia La Puente,
Lomita, West Covina, Pacifica, Santa Monica, Palmdale, and Hacienda
Heights. In some of those cities, she lived at six different
addresses. In the city of La Puente, River's family lived in four
different houses on the same street. The non-glamorous reason for all
the moves was habitual eviction necessitated for non-payment of rent.
It was an interesting way to grow up.
River
attended twenty-six different elementary schools, two different
junior high schools and four different high schools. In one
elementary school, she was a student for only three days.
Perhaps,
because she was so frequently identified as the "new girl,"
the pattern of River being an observer instead of a participant in
the interactions going on around her seemed a logical fit for her
personality.
When
she was thirteen, River read "Gone with the Wind." She
skipped three days of school in order to finish the book in one
sitting. Disappointed in Rhett for "not giving a damn,"
River wrote her own sequel--in long hand, on three-hole punch,
notebook paper. The opening line? "Tomorrow dawned bright and
fair." In less than fifty pages, Scarlett had been transformed
into Jane Eyre and Rhett had fallen in love with her all over again.
After
Southern California, River has spent the next part of her life living
in the semi-rural town of Idaho Falls, Idaho. She is a graduate of
Idaho State University, majoring in Health Education Sciences and
Addiction Counseling. She's worked the past ten years at a Behavioral
Health Center where she assisted children, teenagers, and adults
committed in a 24/7 secured facility because of mental health
challenges they are experiencing.
River's
books celebrate the good-natured humor that lays at the heart of most
of our human predicaments. The conflicts are significant, yet it is
her characters and their quirky (yet somehow universally relatable)
thoughts, words, and choices that reflect a light-hearted peek into a
world we wish was real. The amazing thing is that these worlds are
real to readers for the time they visit there.
Readers
have said: "In a River Ames book, one minute I'm laughing out
loud, and the next I have a lump in my throat."
River
is currently readying a historical novel, "Gideon's Justice."
This three-part novel is Book I in a three volume western series set
in the Colorado Territory.
Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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