Title: Keeper of My Dreams
Author: Susan Leigh Furlong
Genre: Historical Romance
Book Blurb:
Reid Haliburton, a skilled gunsmith, wants to control who uses his revolutionary handgun until a vicious pirate decides the gun will be his. The price of refusing is Reid’s life and those of his three young sons. Reid’s only chance to save his sons is to send them away and face the pirate’s wrath alone.
Leena Cullane Adair is stunned to find three lads hiding in her cart, and, although she only met their father a week ago, he holds her heart and her dreams, and she will do whatever it takes to keep him and his sons alive.
Excerpt:
He picked up the barrel of his new gun and began to polish it when a hard knock on his door shook him out of his reverie.
A man planted his feet and stood akimbo in the doorway, a man who obviously knew the intimidating impression his stature presented to others by his rugged good looks, his burnt mahogany colored hair and eyes. He announced in a firm voice with an English accent, “My name is Jonas McDever, and I am the captain of the Scarlet Lion. I have come to see the new weapon you are working on.”
Reid looked up from his worktable as an uneasiness settled over him. He recognized the captain’s name and his ship, the Scarlet Lion, as one reputed to attack and destroy any other ship unfortunate enough to get within spyglass range. This McDever was a pirate of the worst sort, and he didn’t care who knew it.
“I dinna ken what ye’re talking about. I have no new weapon to show ye.”
McDever took a step forward and pressed his fists into his hips, using his height and stance to assert his power and control, but Reid Haliburton looked more bored than threatened.
“I’m not here to argue with you. I am looking for a gun that needs no spanner wrench to wind the wheel lock, only a trigger to cock it, and has a smaller flintlock. It also has a flash pan that only needs refilling every 30 shots. That is the weapon I am looking for.”
“I dinna think such a weapon exists,” said Reid as he walked around the table away from McDever.
“On that, my good man, I am certain you are wrong.”
“I dinna ken where ye get yer information.”
“Where do you think?”
McDever could have heard about his gun only one way. The Wardens of the Guild.
The Stirling Wardens of the Guild required every member to report original developments to them in order to monitor quality, to prevent the sale of below standard work, and to maintain the prices a gunsmith earned. Earlier in the month when Reid had presented his new handgomne to the Wardens, and knowing its impact on the world of weaponry, they had agreed to total secrecy until he finished it, and it was ready for sale. Clearly word had leaked out. Most likely it came from a warden in his cups, bragging at some tavern, and now this pirate had shown up at Reid’s door.
“Do you know anything about rifling the barrel for greater accuracy?” asked McDever.
Reid’s most creative advancement came from rifling the barrel for improved accuracy. Other people had tried to rifle long guns, muskets, and such, but so far no one had been successful with a smaller piece, no one until Reid. Previously each groove had to be carved in the barrel one at a time, a tedious and lengthy process with questionable accuracy, but he’d designed and built a tool that carved all the rifling grooves in the barrel at once.
Hesitating for only a moment, Reid said, “I ken of the process. Many men have hopes to perfect it in large weapons sometime in the future, but I havena attempted it myself.” Reid was glad the boring tool he had made to do rifling in smaller weapons was not out on the table.
With a haughty sniff, McDever said, “I am tired of this game. Reid Haliburton has made such a handheld weapon. Are you Reid Haliburton?”
“I am, but I have no weapons like ye describe to show ye. I have other work to do. Good day.”
McDever, pushing his tri-corner hat off his forehead, gazed out the open door of the shop. “Perhaps I can offer you this. I have been watching your sons for the last few days when you take them to school. Handsome lads. I captain my own ship, the Scarlet Lion, and a fine ship it is. I have need of another cabin boy. Would one or two of them like to become cabin boys on my ship?”
Reid whipped around. “Is that idle curiosity…or a threat?”
Turning his back on Reid, McDever said, “I will return on Thursday evening, and I will either leave with a weapon that pleases me, or I will have a new cabin boy. Good day, Reid Haliburton. I look forward to meeting your sons.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Universal link: https://books2read.com/lu/3LnoPM
What’s your favorite thing about autumn:
In this cooler season after summer, I can curl up in my favorite soft sweater to read or write. No more sweating or wishing to find a cooler spot. I’m there.
What inspired you to write this story:
Research for an earlier book led me to the development of weapons, and how the English took advantage of new innovations while the Scottish preferred old methods of combat. I wondered how a new, faster loading gun might have changed warfare, and who might have taken advantage of this. That led me to numerous stories about pirates who ruled the seas during this same era. I combined the two in Keeper of My Dreams.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon US or Canada gift card
Open internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Amazon CA account to win.
Runs September 1 – 30
Drawing will be held on October 3.
Author Biography:
Susan Leigh Furlong knew she had a special connection with words since she was a child. When she was 9 years old, she wrote and directed her first play for the neighborhood children.
Susan’s love for history fuels her resilience against the sneezes and coughs that old books give her as she delves into research for unique historical events to inspire her historical fiction romance novels. Susan captures her readers’ imagination with a highly enthralling style, chronological events, and smoothly flowing narratives that keep one’s eyes glued on her novels from the first page to the last.
Susan has written two non-fiction books about her hometown and three novels set in sixteenth century Scotland as well as several short stories published in national magazines. Her most recent release is Desperate Hope, a novel set during the American Revolution.
When Susan is not combing through history piecing together her next novel, she writes, directs, and performs with a music and drama group.
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