Heart Of Gold
by Jessica Bird
Carter Wessex is an archaeologist on a mission. She wants to find a fortune in missing gold but she needs permission to dig on Farrell Mountain first. The trouble is, sexy Nick Farrell is renowned for keeping people off his property. When Carter approaches him anyway, sparks fly at their first meeting. The ruthless corporate raider doesn't want his vacation home disturbed by yet another trespasser, even if she's a beautiful one. Things change when he realizes Carter, who is the estranged daughter of another financial tycoon, could be useful to him.
When Nick invites her to come to the mountain and dig, she's suspicious of his change of mind and well aware of his ruthless reputation. But, as she gets to know him, their initial attraction becomes an undeniable passion. As skeletons are unearthed, and the details of the gold's disappearance are gradually unveiled, they embark on a love affair which touches Nick's heart in a special way. He realizes he's falling in love with her but tragically, it's too late. His plotting is revealed before he can stop the events he put in motion and Carter suffers a betrayal so deep, she fears she will not recover.
Can Carter forgive the man she's given her heart to and learn to trust him again? Will the mystery of the gold be solved? As Carter comes to the end of the dig, she finds more than she ever bargained for up on Farrell Mountain.
Jessica Bird's Bio
The phrase "heartless lawyer" is as much a part of the English lexicon as "two-faced politician". Attorneys are not known for their soft side and finding one who wants to leave the field to write contemporary women's literature seems highly unlikely.
But I guess you could say, my heart's never been in the law.
I was eight years old when I wrote my first story, ten when I finished my first book and thirteen when I fell in love with stories about people falling in love. I can remember the first romance novel I ever read and am able to picture exactly where I sat while turning the pages. It was in a walled garden surrounded by blooming pastel roses on a perfect summer day. I have to say the bucolic scene was a poetic compliment to the genre but it was totally unnecessary. I was hooked and have been ever since.
What fascinates me about love stories is the drama that surrounds people when they lose their hearts to someone else. I've never seen a romance in real life that ran smoothly in the beginning because with great love comes great vulnerability. The question always in my mind is, when two people get rattled like that, how do the pieces come back together? How are they united in spite of the forces, internal and external, which threaten to tear them apart?
I could continue to ply my hours in lawyerly pursuits but I'd rather reach out to people who likewise have a passion for romance. The pastel roses were a great backdrop on that summer day long ago but I didn't need them. What I needed was an author who could spin a tale out of the ether and let me live a little in the divine drama of two people falling in love.
So maybe I am a heartless lawyer. When I'm in my black suit and up to my elbows in corporate work, my heart's not in it. Give me a key board and a ream of blank paper, though, and I'll show you a woman of passion!
Jessica Bird currently lives in The South with her husband. A graduate of Smith College, she majored in Art History and History and then realized she needed to support herself. After graduating from law school, she began working in healthcare in Boston and spent many years as Chief of Staff of one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation. She's now adjusting to the writer's lifestyle—and loves going to work in her slippers!