Samhain Publishing

No Greater Loss
by Diane Craver
www.dianecraver.com
www.dianecraver.com/blog

NO GREATER LOSS & A FIERY SECRET both release in print on Feb. 20th so I’m very excited!

While writing Jennifer’s story, I thought of a wonderful quote that fits her character so well. It is from Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” and I’d like to share it with you now.

“The world breaks everyone, then some become strong at the broken places.”

BLURB:
Dr. Jennifer Hunter is so stunned by her past that she’s unable to move on with her life. After losing her young husband and baby son fifteen years ago, she’s determined never to marry again. Losing loved ones is just too painful.

A friend introduces Jennifer to Luke Brunsman and suggests she hire him to renovate her antique farmhouse. Instantly attracted to Luke, she refuses the widowed contractor’s help. But after she gets injured working on a fireplace, she gives in.

Luke clearly wants more than a business relationship, and Jennifer guards her heart. His kisses make her yearn for a future once denied her. Luke falls in love with her but finds tearing down the walls in Jennifer’s house is easier than breaking through her protective shell.

When Dr. Hunter’s radio talk show catches the attention of a vengeful arsonist, Luke and Jennifer must overcome the shadows of the past and find the courage to love again.

The following excerpt takes place shortly after Jennifer meets Luke. I’ve never posted this one before so I hope you enjoy reading it.

EXCERPT:

Luke yawned and rubbed his eyes. He’d had a restless night. He couldn’t forget about Jennifer Hunter delivering that baby boy. Many things could have gone wrong, but she’d been one calm lady taking charge. Dr. Hunter had been warm and kind with the parents, but he remembered her coolness to him. She’d become uptight when he’d asked her to go eat dinner with him. After that, she definitely wasn’t impressed with his construction company.

Maybe she didn’t like men. Now that was stupid. Harry said she’d been married once. Or she didn’t like real men. Assertive men who weren’t afraid to ask a woman out after she delivered a baby.
It hadn’t been much fun eating dinner alone at home. After seven months of grieving for his wife, he’d a right to feel lonely. Cassie hadn’t been the perfect wife, but he had loved her.

Luke glanced at her portrait on the mantel. Though small, it seemed to fill the living room with her presence. Cassie had been an incredibly beautiful woman, and her vanity had taken her life. Wanting to do a photo shoot in Greece, she ignored the early warning signs of her breast cancer for months. When cancer ravaged her perfect body, she insisted the public not learn the truth. To have the media get wind of her illness would have been more than she could’ve handled. Her whole life as a supermodel depended on her perfect body, and she didn’t want her glamorous image changed by the knowledge that she no longer had two firm breasts to be photographed.

For the sake of her career, she’d even refused to have his baby. When he’d brought home a stack of parenting books, Cassie had ignored them. His stomach knotted just as it had the day she’d told him she’d had an abortion. He stayed with her until the end, but he never forgave her for killing their child.

Luke turned away from Cassie’s portrait. He couldn’t do this to himself, start thinking about the past. He shrugged and walked away from the illusion of beauty. Real beauty was a woman like Kari Osborne, giving birth joyfully.

He needed to stop daydreaming about the past and get his laundry finished. As he threw his work jeans in the dryer, he noticed the mousetraps had fallen from the shelf.

That’s right. Dr. Hunter never bought any traps. He closed the dryer door and pushed the start button before picking up the traps. He could take them to her and have an excuse to look at her house. Should he call first? No, she’d given him the brush-off about dinner while her stomach growled. He didn’t want to give her a chance to say how busy she was.

Luke walked into the kitchen and picked up the cordless phone. He’d call Harry to find out where she lived.

Several minutes later, with Harry’s directions in his mind, he put on his heavy jacket. He whistled as he started his blue Toyota Land Cruiser. He would just make a neighborly visit. He chuckled as he backed out of the garage, thinking how the good doctor might not be eager to see him. But he always liked a challenge.

***

Jennifer decided to skip the wallpapering and tackle the fireplace in the living room. The previous owner had boarded it up and installed an oil furnace in the room, the only source of heat for the big house.

She removed the boards with no trouble and began cleaning the mortar. Something sharp sticking out of the cement sliced across her hand and, at that very moment, a knock sounded at her front door. No one came all day, but now blood gushed, someone had to show up at her house. Wrapping a clean rag around her palm, she went to answer it.

She opened the door to Luke. Jennifer hid her surprise behind a smile. “Hi. Come in. I have to get the door shut here quickly with this house being hard to heat.”

Luke stepped inside. “I brought you mousetraps since your shopping got interrupted last night…” He stopped when he saw Jennifer’s bandaged hand. “What happened?”

“I cut it.”

“Here, let me look at it.”

Luke held her hand gently while he studied the gash. “This looks nasty, it might need stitches. What did you cut it on?”

Maybe she should resent him showing up without calling, but she appreciated Luke stopping by with mousetraps. Okay, she wasn’t being completely honest. She liked talking to him. “I’m not sure. I was cleaning the fireplace mortar.” She pointed towards the fireplace and Luke walked over to it.

He examined the old bricks, finding a rusty nail. “Have you had a tetanus shot lately?”

She nodded. “I guess I’d better go to the county hospital and see if I need stitches.”

“I’ll drive you.”

“That’s okay, you don’t have to.”

“I want to, and you shouldn’t drive with that hand.”

When Jennifer returned with a first aid kit, Luke was looking at the high ceiling. “Lowering the ceiling would help heat this room.”

She took gauze and tape out of the box. “But in the summer the high ceiling keeps the room cooler.”

“Let me be the doctor here.” He carefully wrapped her hand.

His fingers were soothing, but she was uncomfortable standing so close to him. Her heartbeat quickened and she remained quiet. Once he finished taping, she felt relieved and quickly left to get her jacket.

Luke took the jacket from her and helped ease the sleeve over her injured hand. Her eyes met his, and she said, “Thanks.”

“You don’t look like the same woman today.” He stared at her long curls dangling on her shoulders. “I like your hair down.”

Why did he have to notice her hair? She didn’t want him to get personal with how she looked.

They arrived at Mercy Hospital Clermont around eleven. Jennifer gave the emergency room secretary her insurance information and out of the corner of her eye noticed Luke restlessly pacing around the waiting room.

Jennifer followed the nurse to a treatment room. From the hallway, Luke glanced at her and pointed to his Styrofoam cup of coffee, then to the vending machine next to him. She shook her head at his question about the coffee and noticed he had a nice smile. Hurting her hand wasn’t a big deal, but she liked having Luke with her.

What a surprise that Cassie Peters, the supermodel, had been Luke’s wife! He’d told her during the drive how they’d been married for ten years before Cassie died from breast cancer. He was bitter when he talked about her career. Was it because Cassie was famous and he got tired of living in her shadow? Or was it more than that?

He was certainly easy to talk to. She’d surprised herself when she’d told him about Brad and Christopher’s deaths. She never talked to people about the tragedy in her life. At least she hadn’t blurted out to Luke how her mother-in-law blamed her for Brad’s death. After all these years, Claudia’s hateful words were still vivid. Jennifer had overheard her at Brad’s funeral, talking to his best friend, Dave.

“It’s Jennifer’s fault that Brad’s dead. She had to have a baby while they were in college. He was stressed out having one like Christopher.” Claudia paused and continued, “That’s why he got drunk, forgot his helmet and crossed the line into the path of a car.”

She’d walked into the room in hopes of stopping this tirade, but Claudia had looked her directly in the eye and said in a hateful voice, “You killed my son.”

The doctor interrupted her thoughts as he stepped into the room to look at her hand. While he stitched up the gash, she changed her mind about wanting to work on her house by herself. The more she thought about it, the more overwhelming it seemed for her to tackle all the problems of an old house built in 1876. She couldn’t even open the fireplace to burn wood without getting hurt. Maybe she’d been letting thoughts of Claudia and Dave influence her against Luke’s offer to help. He seemed like a pleasant guy who just wanted the job, not a man out to marry her. If Luke wanted to help with remodeling her house, she should hire him.

~~~~~~~~
Read another excerpt and buy the book:

http://samhainpublishing.com/books/no-greater-loss

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