When Two Souls Become One (Preview)

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Chapter One

“Do you have to leave?” Tara asked sheepishly, and Tim laughed at his daughter. She wasn’t usually the type to complain or whine, and this gentle request was the closest he’d ever seen her come to it.

“You know I do, there are people depending on me. Every city and town wishes they had what we have here in Carson City, and I want to help them achieve that. We can’t be greedy now, can we? We must share our wisdom and success with the world!” Tim chuckled, patting Tara on the shoulder.

The tall girl’s shoulders were slouched as she looked up at her father with watery blue eyes, her arms wrapped around her own small frame, disappointed to be abandoned by her father yet again. He was a city councilman, close to retirement age but stubbornly dedicated to the art of city planning. Carson City boasted a bustling economy, and many neighboring municipalities sought advice on their own improvement, which took Tim out of town fairly often.

Tara hadn’t always been so covetous of her father’s attentions, but since her mother had passed away two years earlier, everything had changed. Her world had shattered, and everything she had known in her eighteen years on this Earth was put into question. At first, she’d thought they’d be all right, just the two of them. As long as they had each other, they could face their new reality with strength. Normally an optimistic man, Tim hadn’t felt the same way. It was more than a loving wife he had lost, but also a partner who understood how to keep and run a house—things that neither he nor his daughter, a mere girl at the time, understood. He knew he’d have to remarry, find a new wife to manage the homestead who could provide a motherly, feminine influence for his young Tara.

Despite her protests, and convincing arguments that she would be able to learn everything that needed to be done around the house herself, Tim had ignored his daughter’s protests and married a local widow, Elaine. Elaine had two children of her own, Eleanor and Eddie, close in age to Tara but terribly far away in temperament. Tara had to agree that from the outside theirs seemed like the ideal family, albeit the second for all involved. They were fairly well off and highly regarded in the city, and everyone trusted Tim Thompson’s taste, even if some found Elaine to have a grating personality at times. Everyone wished Tim and Tara nothing but the best after losing such a wonderful wife and mother, that they held their tongues about his less-than-gentle choice in a second bride.

Tara, too, had tried to give Elaine and her children the benefit of the doubt. Elaine had been living as the sole head of her family for a number of years, and Tara admired her fierce independence. She’d noticed in her short life that the kinds of women who got things done were often labelled as harsh and strident, which was usually an unfair assessment. In Elaine’s case, however, Tara quickly realized that harsh and strident were just about the only nice things she could say about her new stepmother.

“Take me with you, then, I beg of you,” Tara said, holding onto her father’s arm. There was nothing worse than being left alone with her new family members, but nothing she ever said could convince her father she wasn’t simply being dramatic. The first time Tim had gone out of town on a business trip since Elaine and her family had moved into their home, Tara had been so mistreated she’d hardly even believed that it was happening. When she’d tried to explain the cruelty she had endured at the hands of her stepmother and siblings in his absence, Tim had patted her on the head and told her not to be so theatrical.

“I know you miss her, dear, but we must simply move on with our lives now. Not everyone can be your mother, and it’s unfair to hold Elaine to the same standards. Please, try to get along with them, for me,” Tim had asked so gently that Tara couldn’t refuse him. Perhaps she was seeing sneers and hearing snide comments where there weren’t any. The situation, however, went from bad to worse the next time her father left town, and it became clear to Tara that their new life was untenable. Her most prized possessions started disappearing, and she knew that no matter how it appeared to her father, these things were not simply accidents to be blamed on forgetfulness. She was on her own now, and would need to develop her defenses until she was old enough to start her own life. No matter how resigned she had become to her new and hopefully short-lived reality, Tara was still struck with a sense of panic whenever she was left alone without her father. The hidden malice of her stepmother came out in the open as soon as Tim left, and Tara was bracing herself for the worst.

“As much as I wish you could come with me, it’s simply not possible. The open road is no place for a woman,” Tim said, placing his trunk into the buggy.

“You’re taking the train, not the open road,” Tara parried back, but her father was having none of it.

“Elaine needs you. And I need you to take care of her. Be strong for me, dear girl,” Tim said, taking his daughter’s hands in his. “I love you, and will see you the blink of an eye, I promise.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek before calling into the house for Elaine. Tara took a deep breath, resigning herself to another long stretch of time without her father.

Elaine came prancing out of the house and down the stairs, dressed as if she was going to a ball despite the fact that they had no engagements that day.

“My dear husband, how much I will miss you while you’re gone,” she said, fussing over his necktie.

“I’ll miss you, too. Do take special care of Tara while I’m away, won’t you? She seems more sensitive than usual today,” Tim said quietly, but Tara was standing close enough to hear everything they were saying to each other.

“I always do. I always cherish Tara while you’re away, Tim, it’s like she’s a little piece of you,” Elaine said, dripping with sweetness, and Tara rolled her eyes.

Here we go again, Tara thought, subtly wiping away a tear she hoped no one noticed. You’ve coped before, you will cope again, she reminded herself over and over in her head. It was true, she would survive, though that was little comfort when she was knee-deep in the mind games her new siblings and stepmother insisted on playing. It wasn’t the flashy kind of torture they wrote about in books, but instead a more insidious, subtle torture of the spirit.

She and Elaine watched and waved as Tim rode off toward the train station. Just as his buggy disappeared into the distance, Elaine hooked her arm in Tara’s, and they turned back to the house.

“I do miss your father so when he’s gone for these long stretches. We’ll have to make the most of it,” Elaine said, squeezing Tara’s hand affectionately. Confused by her stepmother’s uncharacteristically warm tone, Tara allowed herself a moment of optimism. Perhaps this time would be different? Maybe Elaine would never be the maternal figure Tara longed for, but perhaps she could hope for some civility and tolerance until her father returned.

“It will be a difficult time without him,” Tara answered, unsure of how to respond to the kindness from her stepmother.

“It will be even more difficult if you insist on misbehaving like you did last time. Tantrum Tara, we ought to call you, since you seem inclined to have fits of tears over nothing at all. Tell me you’ll control your outbursts this time, my nerves can hardly take the strain otherwise,” Elaine said, sharply taking her hand off of Tara’s arm. Tara sighed silently, knowing that this was the stepmother she recognized, and she had been foolish to temporarily believe that anything would be different this time.

“Yes, stepmother, I will behave myself,” Tara said sullenly.

“Don’t give me that tone, young lady! This is what happens every time your father leaves. It seems that without his commanding authority present, you lose all sense of decorum.”

They approached the front steps and Elaine rushed up angrily to greet her children waiting just inside. Tara knew that she was in fact always a model stepdaughter, and she never misbehaved even in the slightest, but Elaine had a way of twisting her words and manipulating her behavior beyond all recognition.

Standing in the doorway, Eddie and Eleanor had been waiting until Tim was out of sight before going on their own way, as if they had purposely wanted to avoid a tiresome farewell.

“Is he gone yet?” Eleanor asked, wearing the silliest hat Tara had ever seen. There were so many ribbons and bows dripping off of it, her head looked a bit like a poorly wrapped gift. Eleanor had always been an over-the-top kind of girl, abundance of all things being her primary goal. Carson City suited her well in that regard, as there was just enough opportunity for showing off her relative affluence, but a small enough population that she truly stood out from her peers as the fanciest lady in town—as well as the one who tried the hardest to appear so.

Eddie, on the other hand, was like Eleanor’s little lap dog, who had never had an original thought in his whole life. He didn’t seem to Tara to be a naturally mean sort of boy, but Eleanor’s influence on him had done its damage. As he was not smart enough to be as truly cruel as his sister and mother, Tara was sometimes able to share what she thought was a sympathetic glance with Eddie. His obedience and dedication to pleasing Eleanor and Elaine, however, was not to be underestimated.

Both Eleanor and Eddie were older than Tara, but the age gap was small enough that they had all spent a few years together at school. Eleanor had always teased Tara when they were younger, about her unruly hair and freckles. As an only child, Tara had grown up with the wild outdoors as her best friend, and her mother had always nurtured this love. The two of them would spend long afternoons running through the woods and playing in streams, unperturbed by the sight of leaves in their hair, or a bit of mud on their skirts. Tim would make fun of them when they came home, calling them his little woodland fairies, telling stories about how he’d found his wife in the middle of a mushroom circle. It was silly, but he’d kept up the tale when she had died, even though at 16, Tara was too old to believe in something as fantastical as fairies.

“They called her back to the fairy realm,” Tim had said when he told Tara the bad news. In reality, smallpox had gotten the better of her, and Tara wanted to slap her father for still treating her like a little girl.

Eleanor had made sure all the girls avoided Tara around town, giving her an embarrassingly wide berth in the streets, as if Tara, too, might have smallpox. When her father had started courting Elaine, it was like adding insult to injury. Eleanor had always been so inexplicably cruel to her, how could her own father invite them into their household? Tara would always be a strange little, dirty forest child to Eleanor, and Eddie and Elaine by extension.

“It took forever for Tim to get on his way,” Eddie said, looking toward Eleanor anxiously, hoping he’d said the right thing.

“It certainly did. Those twins are hardly going to be babies anymore by the time we get to see them. You’ll understand, Mother, that there was no time to take the laundry in, since Tim took so long leaving and we had no choice but to wait here. Tara will have to do it,” Eleanor said, without even looking in Tara’s direction. Tara fought back the urge to argue with Eleanor’s deeply flawed logic, as waiting for her father to leave would hardly have detained them from taking in the laundry from the line. Nor would Tim’s departure have prevented them from going about their calls and errands, especially as they didn’t seem to care for bidding him farewell. The truth was they simply wanted to avoid the nuisance of a goodbye, pretending to need hours of preparation time before calling on the neighbors.

The Warrens, the young couple that lived next door to them, had recently given birth to twins and Eleanor was anxious to see the anomaly of matching babies. Normally, Eleanor was incredibly dismissive of the Warrens, as they were beneath the Thompsons in both income and education. The advent of twins had changed all that for Eleanor, however, and ever since the babies had been born, she had flitted about town bragging about what close friends she was with Jane Warren.

“Of course, my dear, do give Jane and John my best, and bless their beautiful children for me. How lucky, to have a boy and a girl all at once! Tara will sort out all your chores, won’t you, dear girl?” she asked Tara, as if it was open for discussion. Tara knew better than to respond. “And once the laundry is in, I should like to take a bath. A hot one, not like that lukewarm nonsense you poured for me last time.”

When Tim had first told his daughter that he was going to marry Elaine, Tara had thrown a fit, and refused to speak to him for days. The way she saw it, her mother was barely cold in her grave, and Elaine was exactly the kind of woman her mother would have hated.

“You’ll grow to love her my dear, and it’s important for a girl like you to have a feminine presence in your life. A maternal one. You know I loved your mother, but we can’t continue on like this. She would have wanted you to open your heart to another. I can’t offer you all that you need, and in time, you’ll find commonalities with Elaine. You know how your mother never wanted to let you borrow her jewelry? I’d venture to say Elaine might,” Tim had said, trying to calm Tara’s fears.

But Elaine had never let Tara try on any of her finery, instead dangling them in front of her like prizes she would never win, and taking all Tara’s mother’s belongings for herself. Tara instead had developed a hatred for all things shiny, thinking to herself that such frivolity was foolish. Such thoughts helped ease the pain of knowing that she would never have anything of the kind for herself. There was one pearl pendant that had belonged to her mother that Tara had hidden away, sure that Elaine or Eleanor would snatch it from her if they knew of its existence. Sometimes she would pull it out, rubbing the smooth pearl between her fingers, and remember how beautiful it had looked around her mother’s neck.

But there would be no time for that tonight. Empress Elaine was demanding a bath, and Tara had no choice but to comply. Elaine swept by her up the stairs, as Eleanor and Eddie marched out the door to see the neighbours, leaving Tara by herself in the hallway. All she wanted to do was cry, but there was no time. If she was going to get a bath ready for Elaine, she ought to have started about an hour ago. It took ages, hauling the water up from the well, then warming it over the fire, pot by pot until the brass tub was filled. It was highly suspect that Elaine only ever requested to have a bath when Tim was out of town, and she only ever spent a few minutes in it at a time, leading Tara to believe it was more about forcing her into an arduous task than it was that Elaine enjoyed being submerged in hot water.

Tears threatening to spill over and down her cheeks, Tara bit them back, marching out toward the well with a bucket. It was going to be a long night, and an even longer week.

Chapter Two

Wiping the sweat from his brow and about to bring a drink of water to his lips, Nelson dropped his flask, watching his mother coming over the hill toward where he was working. Building a ranch house from scratch was no easy task, but with help from his father and good friend Michael, the days passed by productively and enjoyably. Michael had brought with him two workers from town, whom he knew and had previously employed when building his own house, and the help was much appreciated. Nelson would have preferred that his father stay at home and let the younger men take care of things, but his father had insisted that they would need his aid. It didn’t matter that Michael had built his own ranch where he now lived with his wife and two children. Michael had tried to tell Nelson’s father Richard that they would be fine working on their own, given his breadth of experience, and the help of the hired hands from town. Richard wasn’t having any of it, though, enjoying his time with the younger men, maintaining that there were some building techniques he could only describe to them in person.

Nelson chuckled a little, seeing his mother scurrying across the clearing toward them, his parent’s house behind her in the distance. He had bought the large plot of land next to theirs, wanting to be close to them, but Nelson was also anxious to make his own mark in Carson City. Michael, his closest and longtime friend, seemed so far ahead of him in all aspects of life: he had his own ranch, already successful, and a beautiful wife and children. Michael and his wife had started courting at the age of sixteen, and Michael had always known exactly what he wanted his life to look like. Having come from a ranching family, it made sense for him to carry on in the family business, expanding and improving upon what his parents had started.

Nelson’s life had not gone exactly according to plan, although the lack of a plan in the first place was probably to blame for that. He had originally wanted to start his own bookkeeping business, and even went all the way to California to study economics. Even though he was raised on his parent’s small ranch, something had made him yearn to differentiate himself from his father’s chosen career. Nelson’s time on the coast had changed him, however, and he’d longed to be back at home working the land. He’d write letters back to his parents and kept in constant touch with his old friend Michael, eventually becoming inspired by his friend’s way of life. Michael had grown up around livestock, and the transition into ranch life made sense for him. Growing up, Nelson hadn’t been as invested in the family ranch as his friend Michael had been, but in his rediscovery of the joys of farm life, Nelson had done his research, and was eager to expand upon what his parents had built. He wasn’t meant for an indoor life. When he returned from California, he went straight to work with the cattle, and his parents were thrilled to have him back. It was becoming more and more difficult for his father to take care of the place without him, although they’d been surprisingly supportive of his momentary passion for business. In general, one might even say his parents were too supportive. Nelson was grateful for their belief in him, as he was sure he wouldn’t have gotten as far as he had without their guidance—or found his way back. The pieces were coming together, and soon enough he’d have his own fully functioning ranch.

“Nelson! Richard! Michael! Boys!” Linda called out breathlessly as she approached the men, basket in hand.

“Yes, Mother, we’re right here,” Nelson said, rushing forward to help her.

“My oh my, what a long way it is from the house,” Linda said, still catching her breath.

“It’s not terribly far, although you certainly didn’t have to run. Here, sit,” Nelson said, offering her a stump to sit on.

“Thank you, Nelson, you always were my favorite son,” she said, and Nelson laughed. He was her only son. “If your father can work out here, waving around an axe and hammer, I can certainly run a short distance to bring my boys a good lunch. We’re pretending to be younger than we are.” Linda was anxious about Richard putting in so many hours working on the ranch house, and Nelson understood. His father’s knees were getting weaker and weaker by the day, and the last thing they needed was to have him unable to walk for months. It was his aging parents that had made Nelson want to settle so close to them, close enough to take care of them, but just far enough to make his own way in the world.

“I’ve been doing my best to convince him we don’t need the help, but it’s doing no good. I’m hoping that once we move the lumber over to my land, the distance will deter him. Maybe, if he still insists, we can set up a chair for him over by where we’ve cleared, and he can sit and watch. Occasionally shouting instructions to us may scratch the working itch that seems to irk him so,” Nelson suggested, and half of him really thought that idea may work.

“He would like that, wouldn’t he? Pipe in hand, I can see it all now. Well, whatever the case, you all need to eat. I’ve brought sandwiches for everyone, if you don’t mind gathering the boys. Who knew it would be so difficult to get a bunch of men to put down their hammers,” Linda said, finally catching her breath, and waving toward the work site in front of them.

The sweaty men amassed themselves gratefully around Linda’s basket of sandwiches, while she sat and looked on as if she was holding court, pleased with her subjects.

“Michael, how is that darling wife of yours? Your girls must be taking up much of her time these days.”

Michael approached Linda and pulled up a stump to sit next to her so they could talk. Linda had been a sort of second mother to him, as he’d lost his own when he was quite young. In certain ways, Linda treated his two young daughters like the grandchildren she was not-so-patiently waiting for her own son to have.

“Charlotte and Joy send their best to you, and thank you for the fine shawls you knit them. Sometimes they play princess with them, draping the shawls over their heads like veils, with flowers for crowns,” Michael said, and Linda smiled from ear to ear.

“My dear Michael, it brings such joy to my heart to hear you say that. Richard, did you hear that? The girls loved my shawls,” she said, calling out to her husband.

“I did indeed hear that, and I’m so glad,” Richard answered diplomatically. He was the kind of oblivious husband who did his best to keep the peace, but sometimes missed important cues from his wife. Truth be told, he had no idea what she was talking about, but he was always genuinely pleased to see Linda so happy.

“I wish my Nelson would settle down the way you have, Michael. The older he gets, though, the more I fear he gets stuck in his ways. Do you think he will ever open his heart to a woman?” Linda asked Michael, despite the fact that everyone could hear them.

“I’m right here, Mother,” Nelson said laughingly, accustomed to his mother’s embarrassing tendencies.

“Well, then, perhaps you can answer me. Are there any young ladies you are courting at the moment? Anyone catching your eye about town?” She leaned across Michael, tapping Nelson’s knee as she spoke. The rest of the men chuckled, but Nelson wasn’t ashamed.

“To be honest, no, Mother, there isn’t anyone. But lately I’ve been thinking that I might be ready to settle down, once the house is finished, of course. It’s a challenge, though, meeting women, what with all the work ahead of me and the distance into town. I simply have no opportunity to encounter ladies, but I’d like to. What’s the use of a brand-new ranch without someone to share it with?” he asked, pleased to see the joy his comments brought to his mother’s eyes. She practically clapped her hands together, tears starting to spring up before she laughed them away.

“Oh, Nelson, really? Well, I’m sorry to hear that there are no special ladies catching your eye, but I’m sure we can remedy that, can’t we Michael?”

“I’m not sure exactly what you have in mind, Mrs. Cook, but believe me, nothing would make me happier than to see my old friend settled and happy in love. Why, perhaps you could come over to the house sometime, Nelson, sometime when Lucy has her friends over, and she can introduce you. What do you say to that?”

Nelson had been in California when Lucy and Michael had gotten married, and to this day he was disappointed to have missed their wedding. They both had forgiven him heartily, understanding that the distance was too great to return for such a short time. In truth, Nelson was jealous of what they had, and had hoped to come back from his college days with a bride of his own to show off, but that was just another thing that hadn’t quite gone according to plan. He hadn’t been ready for it then, not like he was now.

“No, no, no, we must organize something far more formal. I won’t have my son meeting his future bride simply by happenstance, sneaking about at a lady’s tea. You must have a party, with dancing, once the house is finished. We can invite all the ladies from town, and their parents, too, so everyone can see what a fine man you’ve become. Why, I’m sure they consider you a man of mystery about town, and it’s time to lift the curtain and present yourself as the finest eligible bachelor Carson City has to offer. Am I not right, boys?”

“Right you are, ma’am,” said Matthew, one of the men Michael had brought around for the day’s work. “My sister tells me all the young ladies want to know more about him. What’s behind those deep brown eyes, they wonder.” He was teasing, and the rest of the group laughed along with him, but Nelson and his mother both smiled, pleased to know that he was being spoken of, though he rarely made an appearance in town. “Would you like to meet my sister, Nelson? She’d likely faint for happiness if you said yes. I can’t speak highly of her baking ability, but she’s got a green thumb to rival anyone in town, and, what can I say, she comes from good stock,” Matthew said, referring to himself. Everyone laughed at his cockiness.

“We’ll be sure to invite your sister, Matthew, but as much as you seem like a fine young man, my son deserves options. A wide variety of options! Well, then, it’s settled. Nelson, you’ll have a party once the house is finished, and find a bride to share all of life’s joys with. I expect a year or two from now, the place will be filled with the sound of children pitter-pattering about!”

“I wouldn’t mind a chance to step out with a young lady myself,” Matthew added, and his friend Gilbert nodded in agreement beside him. Matthew was a famous flirt about town, with a great ability to make the ladies laugh, but he had yet to settle down.

“One step at a time, Mother, one step at a time,” Nelson said, urging Linda to stay calm. She had a tendency to lose her breath when she got too excited about an idea. He liked the notion of throwing a party as well, but the hosting responsibilities were a bit much to consider when there was still a house to be built.

“All in good time, yes, yes. Well, Richard? What do you think? Do you approve of my matchmaking plan for our boy?” Linda asked from her perch on the stump.

“You always know best, my dear, you always know best. Sounds like a capital plan to me,” Richard said, finishing his sandwich. Nelson knew full well that his father hadn’t been listening at all, and he smiled at the confusion that would doubtlessly follow in a few days.

“If you concede that I always know best, dear, then you’ll agree you ought to come back inside and stop working yourself to the bone with all these boys. They’re much younger than you, you know, and you’ll hurt yourself trying to compete,” Linda said, scolding her husband, who didn’t take it kindly.

“Well, that’s just not so, my dear—these young’uns have a thing or two to learn from me, don’t you, boys?” Richard asked, and the rest of them grunted noncommittedly, not wanting to get involved.

“Sounds like you’re indispensable, then,” Linda said, and Richard just nodded, missing the sarcasm in her tone.

“That’s enough of a break for now, I think, boys. Back to work!” Richard said, puffing up his chest. He walked over to Linda and gave her a peck on the cheek, thanking his wife for the fine lunch.

“You make the best chicken sandwiches, and that’s what I tell anyone who will listen.”

“You’re very welcome, my dear. Be careful, won’t you, and come back the minute you start to feel it ache in your knees.”

“Please, Linda, not in front of the boys!” Richard protested before leaning in and whispering so only his wife could hear, “I promise I’ll come back the minute they start to twinge.”

Nelson chuckled to himself, enjoying the sight of his parents’ odd kind of love. He wanted nothing more than to find someone for himself, to share his life with the way his parents did theirs. Someone to laugh and cry with through the hard times, someone to hold close on cool nights. He wasn’t sure if a big party in his own name was the best way to find someone to love, but once his mother got something in her head, there was no holding her back. Not that he was particularly anti-social; he enjoyed gatherings like that almost as much as his mother did.

Being raised by such an outgoing woman had had a significant effect on him, making him an easy man to talk to, a rare thing for an aspiring rancher. In his opinion, however, deeper conversations would be the best way to connect with a woman, the kind that didn’t include the distraction of dances and the eagle eyes of watching parents. A party could be a start, though, the kind of start he needed.

Truth be told, he wasn’t quite sure of how to go about meeting ladies if not for a party or some kind of dance, short of his mother taking him around door to door, which he was sure she wouldn’t object to if he asked. It continually vexed her to see him spending no time in town since his return from California, instead choosing to concentrate on his plans for the ranch. The way he saw it, there was no use courting a woman if his life wasn’t one that was ready to share yet. He’d wait until everything was perfect, then find the perfect woman to spend his days with.

“Love isn’t convenient or perfect, my dear boy. It doesn’t simply appear when you are ready. Your heart must be open, because it could strike at any time, and you have to take the opportunity as soon as it’s presented,” Linda had scolded her son some months ago.

“Yes, Mother,” Nelson had answered calmly, having had more experience with love and regret than his mother knew. She was right, these things couldn’t be planned, but this wasn’t the time to split his focus.

“What’s the use of a big ranch house without someone to share it with?” she’d pressed him, and he’d had nothing to say in response.

“When Two Souls Become One” is an Amazon Best-Selling novel, check it out here!

Since her mother passed away and her father remarried, Tara Thompson has become a servant in her own house. Constantly ordered about by her stepmother and stepsister, Tara wonders whether or not she’ll ever be free of her new family’s cruelty, especially as her father has no idea of the pain his daughter is subjected to in his absence. Weakened and drained, she is unsure that her life will ever improve. But fortune smiles on her when she bumps into a tall, dark and handsome rancher. At a glance, everything changes and her heart is filled with hope once more, but chaos always has its way to come back… Will Tara be able to escape the clutches of her stepmother and step-sister, and find the love she deserves?

The only thing Nelson Cook has ever been interested in is successfully running the family’s ranch in the small, but bustling town of Nevada. The minute he feels ready to take the next step, he finds himself in front of Tara, who seems to be the woman of his dreams: funny, generous, beautiful, and unbothered by the judgment of others. Nelson knows Tara is his soulmate, but will his nerves over confessing his feelings be the only thing keeping the two apart? How will he manage to get away from all the other debutantes that seem to be doing everything to keep them apart? Will he find a way to save Tara from her misery?

The two connect instantly, sharing their deepest thoughts as they struggle to find time to meet. How could this love bloom when Nelson and Tara are surrounded by people who desire to see it fail? Could they escape the evil plans that are being hatched against them?

“When Two Souls Become One” is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Get your copy from Amazon!

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OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 2 FREEBIES FOR YOU!

Grab my new series, " Faith and Love on the Frontier", and get 2 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!

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