Blog Tour Tuesday: HER GENTLE HEART

Today's Blog Tour Tuesday features

Her Gentle Heart

by: Reina Torres

About Her Gentle Heart:

A snowed in train brought her into his life. His stubborn ways put walls between them. When the snows let up, will they go their separate ways or will he warm to Her Gentle Heart?

Hampton Wells has been working hard at one train station after another, biding his time until there’s a job for him to be the one in charge. Trouble is, he’s been hiding an important secret from his friends and his boss. And now, temporarily situated at Sweetwater Springs during a snow storm, his secret is about to be revealed and threaten his job. Or, he could let down his walls and ask for help. But that’s not really the kind of man that he’s been. 

Rosina Valero was a young woman in search of her place in life. She lost her teaching position when the school closed for the winter and boards the train to travel to other towns looking for work. Heavy snowfall holds her up in Sweetwater Springs, but snow's not the only thing that needs to melt when she unwittingly discovers Hampton’s secret. Will he accept her help, before it's too late?

When two people who are falling in love are destined to go in two different directions, can anything bring them back together?

Spend time with Hampton and Rosina, by CLICKING HERE.

Excerpt: 

The door to the station opened and the engineer stepped in and directly moved to the stove, holding his gloved hands to the rolling heat. “Goodness! It’s cold ‘nough out there to freeze the-”

“Careful, Charlie.” Hampton’s warning was just in time. “We’ve a fine lady in the room.”

At the compliment, the older woman drew herself up to her full height, and was still dwarfed by the men in the room. He could see that in her eyes she towered above them.

“Why yes,” Charlie’s tone held more than a hint of wry humor, “I must’ve been blinded by the snow!” Reaching up, he swept his hat from his head, shedding snow all around him. The flakes seemed to disappear before they could reach the floor, but the flakes in his hair, dusting the red curls at the ends with something that looked like sugar, seemed to cling to him. “I should have removed my hat when I entered,” he looked down and gave her a toothy grin, “but I’m afraid my brain must have been as frozen as my hat, to my head.”

“Well,” she sighed, apparently satisfied at his address, “you apologized and that’s all that needs to be said about the matter.” She looked out the window and saw the drifts around the train, especially the pile of snow that looked to be several feet high in front of the engine’s grate. “How long do you suppose the train will remain here in Sweetwater Springs?”

It was plain to both men that the wheels in her head were indeed turning.

“Hmmm,” Charlie made a great show of pursing his lips and stroking the imaginary whiskers on his chin, “now that is a good question.”

Hampton saw the spark in the other man’s eyes and worried that Charlie’s dry sense of humor would undo the change they managed to affect.

“I’d say at least until morning. My crew needs to clear the snow and go a ways down the track and make sure it’s clear.”

“Fascinating.” She stepped up to Charlie, raising her chin so she could look all the way up into his eyes. “I’d like to speak to your passengers,” she began, “they will want to know we have a store here. They can come in for supplies, blankets, we even have some books that some folks might want for the journey.”

“Books?”

Hampton looked up and found a woman standing in the doorway. She was struggling to close the door against the heavy hand of the winter wind. Pulled toward her like a magnet, Hampton moved to skirt his way around the counter, but Charlie stepped up beside her and added his weight, leaving no room for Hampton to fit at her side. Together they shut the door.

“Oh, thank you.” Her warm voice had gone breathless and Hampton found himself wishing that she was looking at him, instead of Charlie’s snapping green eyes and rogue-like smile. “I thought it was going to blow me clear across the room.”

“Yes, we have books.” The stout woman was still standing in the center of the room, now covered in a light dusting of snow that sagged the tips of her feathered bonnet. “And he,” she poked a finger at Charlie, “just said you’ll be here until morning.” Puffing out her rounded bosom she lifted an arm to point out through the back window of the building. “You’ll find us in the brick building across the way. My husband is manning the store at the moment. I’ll be there straightaway after I speak with the other passengers.” She looked from one person to another in the room, and when she was sure that all three of them were focused on her, she moved toward the door and left the room.

“Goodness!” Charlie shook his head and let out a booming laugh. “She moves like a masted ship cutting through the water. I dare say, we should keep clear of her for fear of being plowed under the waves!”

The young woman standing beside the engineer flushed. Her skin was nearly the color of cinnamon, but the flush of her cheeks looked like roses. Hampton came up short at the thought. His hands gripped the counter as if he needed it to stay on his feet.

“So, is it true?” Her voice, again, was a warm touch of sound in his ears. Her eyes were on Charlie’s face and Hampton felt the odd twist of emotion in his middle. “Are we to stay in Sweetwater for the night?”

“It looks like we will, Miss…”

“Valero,” she answered back.

“Miss Valero,” Charlie offered her his hand and when she took it, he looked to the side, his smile deepening as he met Hampton’s dark eyes before returning back to the young woman. “I’m Charlie Conway, the engineer on the train. And as we’re likely staying, I should ask all the passengers, but I’ll start with you, Miss Valero. Will you need anything from your baggage?”

Hampton saw the slight widening of her eyes and knew the question had given her pause.

“Oh,” she turned slightly, her eyes looking down to the floor as she thought through her answer, “no,” she shook her head. “I don’t think I have anything that I would need to retrieve.”

“Won’t you need a blanket to keep warm?”

The words were out of Hampton’s mouth before he could stop himself.

The woman turned toward him and felt as if the stiff winter wind had slipped in somehow, rocking him back on his heels.

She tilted her head slightly to the side and he saw the fine curve of her brows above her eyes, and the soft bow of her lips, flushed with color from the change in temperature. She seemed to look him over as well, but he couldn’t worry about what she saw. He’d look at himself in the foxed piece of metal that served as a mirror in Jack’s back room. Yet even before that, he’d seen his reflection in any number of surfaces. He was under no misconceptions that he was a good looking man. Enough women, especially those of good breeding, had passed him over time and time again. But at the moment, he was looking his fill. As it was likely to be the first and last time he’d ever see Miss Valero. 

About Reina Torres: 

Love - Romance - Books
Aren't they all the same thing?
Oh, I sure hope so! 
I've been reading romance books for what seems like forever. When I was a teen, the days that I wasn't in dance class after school I'd go to the mall to wait for my mom to finish work for the day and my haunt of choice... Waldenbooks. (I think I just showed my age there.)
Whether it was Scottish Lairds, Medieval Knights, Regency Gents, Rough and Tumble Cowboys, or handsome modern Heroes, I loved them all! There was always another hero and heroine to follow through page after page of breathless love!
I really hope that my readers will enjoy some of the same thrills as discover characters to love between the pages of my books.

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