MY ENEMY, MY HEART - Laurie Alice Eakes - One Free Book

Bio: �Eakes has a charming way of making her novels come to life without being over the top,� writes Romantic times of  bestselling, award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes. Since she lay in bed as a child telling herself stories, she has fulfilled her dream of becoming a published author, with more than two dozen books in print.

She has recently relocated to a cold climate because she is weird enough to like snow and icy lake water. When she isn�t basking in the glory of being cold, she likes to read, visit museums, and take long walks, preferably with her husband, though the cats make her feel guilty every time she leaves the house.        

I love writing historical fiction, especially eighteenth and early nineteenth century Americaand Great Britain, but I truly enjoyed writing my contemporary novels.

In Appalachia. I love those mountains.

Scotland. I�ve been to Europe three times, but have yet to get to Scotland. I love their history. It is fascinating, sad, and a symbol of courage�or stubbornness. And I have a lot of Scots in my ancestry.

I would love a little cottage on a beach. Just me and my sweetie alone with the sand and waves and wind. Going for long walks along the shore, close enough to a town for dining and entertainment like music or theater�live theater, but no true demands on our time.

I haven�t yet set one in Scotland and would like to�contemporary or historical.

What is family and the importance of family.

Deirdre is an American woman who has known little more than life aboard her father�s merchantman. Then the War of 1812 is declared, her father�s ship is captured, her father dies, and she enters into a marriage of convenience with an Englishman for her protection. But while she is welcomed into his family and begins to love them and her husband, her loyalty is split between them and her crew, what she has always considered family, who are in an English prison. She determines to free them, but in doing so, she betrays her husband and his family. 

From Chapter 1 of My Enemy, My Heart

�Nothing to worry about.� Her observation of the ship on the horizon complete, Deirdre MacKenzie shoved the spyglass into her waistband, swung into the rigging, and slid down a backstay to land on the deck with a barefooted thud. �It�s only a British merchantman, Captain, sir.�

Daniel MacKenzie gave her a faint smile, amused to have her call him Captain instead of Father, as she had done since she could talk. Despite the smile, his face remained pale, grayish due to the ill health that had plagued him since their rough passage around Cape Horn. �If it�s only a merchantman, we�re safe running up the Stars and Stripes.�

�Are you certain about that, sir?� the first mate, Ross Trenerry, asked from where he stood manning the Baltimore clipper�s wheel. �We haven�t been what one would call friends with the British lately.�

�Only their navy, Ross.� Father pressed one hand to his chest, and his breath rasped loudly enough to be heard above the whistle of wind in the rigging.

Deirdre bit her lip. She wanted to wrap her arm around her father�s too-thin frame and lead him below, suggest he lie on his bunk and let Ross or her make contact with the other merchant ship if the British came their way. He wouldn�t welcome the solicitude, though. She knew that all too well.

�British merchantmen aren�t impressing men from American merchants.� Deirdre spoke more to reassure herself than convince Ross or her father.

Ross shook shaggy, dark hair out of his face and snorted. �The British think they can do whatever they want. I think we�re better off hightailing it out of here.�

�You may be right.� Father sounded as though he�d been running a footrace. �I�d like a bit more wind . . . for that. Deirdre, nip up top again and get their heading. We�ll evade . . . them . . .�

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