A BRIDE FOR GRIFFIN (Songbird Junction, book 3)
Can a sister who’s lost her voice find harmony with the right man?
Singing with her sisters was Wren’s refuge until they tried to flee their sadistic troupe manager, who retaliated by choking her until he crushed her voice. She only survived because a huge Welshman, with a personality as fiery as his red hair, taught her how to fight. She’s dreamed of sharing a future with him—if she can alter his misconceptions about both of them. Can she convince him they belong together, or is she destined to a silent life alone?
Working with his two brothers to raise their younger sister was Griffin Llewellyn’s purpose until all three of his siblings got married in the space of a month, leaving him alone to safeguard the woman he’s dreamed of marrying. But he can’t because she’s lived a life of oppression, only asked for his help, and he’s vowed to protect her from every threat, including himself. Can he save her from his temper and the violence that first fractured his family, or will he be her ultimate downfall?
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STEAM LEVEL: Sweet
STORY LENGTH: A novel (314 pages)
STORY CONNECTIONS: Includes characters (such as reader-favorite Grandpa Gus Peregrine) featured in my Noelle, Colorado, Christmas stories: The Calling Birds (set in 1876) and Robyn: A Christmas Bride (set in 1877).
EXCERPT
April 1878
Songbird Junction
On the train line between Denver and Noelle, Colorado
In the pre-dawn gloom shrouding Wren’s caboose, recently hauled from the tracks and transformed into her home, a ghostly figure crouched by her bed.
A man’s silhouette. Broad-shouldered. Big. But not big enough.
Her excitement turned to alarm. The man wasn’t Griffin.
She bolted upright and aimed for his nose. Too late or too slow. Her punch fell short. Or swung wide. All impossible to tell with a target dodging so fast, but utterly predictable after being denied her sparring partner for two years.
Strength was earned, not given. Or so life had taught her. And kept teaching her.
Strong hands snared her wrists and held her captive. Her nightmare come true, with one difference. She wasn’t in her ex-troupe manager Ulysses T. Stone’s grasp.
“You’ve got grit, I know,” the stranger muttered in a voice so low she struggled to decipher his words. “But you must leave this place. With me. Now. If you resist, he’ll hear. And we both know what’ll happen then. He’ll defend you till his death.”
A landslide of dread walloped her. The he could only be one person. Since January, she’d been blessed with a dozen defenders, but currently only one was in Songbird Junction.
Griffin Llewellyn.
A flood of work had taken his brothers and her sisters to Noelle or one of the other mountain settlements, leaving Griffin alone to tend the junction and her. A mute dependent who’d yet to help anyone in any real way. A disheartening fact that their combined families objected to mightily as a complete falsehood. Nonetheless, she was hellbent on changing, even if it meant she went to hell.
“Nod,” her captor said, “if you want him to remain unharmed.”
She nodded, then froze. He knew she couldn’t speak. That’s why he hadn’t bothered to clamp his hand over her mouth. What else did he know about her?
When he spoke again, his tone lost all gruffness but remained hushed. “Be calm. Be still. And we’ll evade his temper.”
Her own temper flared. She hated when anyone labeled Griffin by his most fleeting of moods. He was a tireless guardian, a steadfast friend, and… Well, to her, he was so much more.
Two years ago, he’d been a patient tutor who’d shown her how to throw her first punch. Three months ago, his lessons had helped her escape Ulysses when that vile con-artist had been consumed by his own rage. But not before he’d choked her until he crushed her voice, the one talent that made her valuable to Ulysses or anyone else.
Griffin’s teachings were the reason she was alive. He was also her biggest reason for not hiding in her caboose for the rest of her life. She wanted to see Griffin, to talk to him, to be near him always. But now she must leave him to protect him.
She nodded again. She could do this. She would do this. For Griffin.
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THE SONGBIRD JUNCTION SERIES
Welcome to Songbird Junction, where Welsh meets West in Colorado, 1878. The journey to find a forever home and more starts here.
Brynmor, Heddwyn, and Griffin Llewellyn are three Welsh brothers bound by blood and a passion for hauling freight—in Denver, where hard work pays. Lark, Oriole, and Wren are three Irish-Cree Métis sisters-of-the-heart bound by choice and a talent for singing—in any place that pays.
Book 1 – A Bride for Brynmor
Book 2 – A Bride for Heddwyn
Book 3 – A Bride for Griffin
