I hope you visited LynneRose and met her hero, Walter Sherman from her book, Frannie Buckets. (http://littleloosecannon.blogspot.ca/2015/02/the-character-interview-blog-hop-heroes.html) Check it out. I think you’ll enjoy this amusing hero. The story sounds like a lot of fun.

In case you don’t know me, I am Linda Ford, author of over 40 inspirational romances. I love writing about the healing power of love in my heroes and heroines. Perhaps it gives me an imaginary chance to fix the bad things in both my own life and the lives of those I love.

Blue Lyons is a lonely cowboy who needed healing and he found it in the love of a good woman and her two little girls. Blue is from the Eden Valley Ranch in SW Alberta when people were just beginning to settle the west. But wait, I’ve asked Blue to tell his own story Here he comes now. He swings off his horse, dusts his hat against his pants and meets me on the verandah of the hotel. I waved my fan against the summer heat and wait until the dust on the street settles before I turn to him.

Linda: Blue why don’t you tell us about yourself?

Blue: Howdy. Ain’t much to tell. I do my work. Keep to myself. Kind of like summer best because I can live in one of the isolated line cabins and keep to myself. Harder to keep to myself in the winter. There’s cowboys hanging about the bunkhouse. And all the women who seem to have found their way to the ranch. Way too much talking.

Linda: Why don’t you care for talking? Seems you might enjoy swapping yarns with the others. Or are you hiding something?

Blue: Only thing I want to hide is my past.

Linda: Why is that? You haven’t been a bad man have you?

Blue: You sure are nosy.

Linda: Yeah, well it’s what I do best—ask questions until I get to the heart of the matter.

Blue: Good luck. You’re going to need it.

Linda: So if not a bad guy, then have you hurt someone? Or maybe someone has hurt you? Is that why you prefer to stick to your own company?

Blue: You’re looking for obvious answers. It’s not that simple.

Linda pauses hoping Blue will feel compelled to fill in the silence.

Blue looks into the distance:  Talk triggers memories. Memories I would just as soon forget but I haven’t been able to.

Linda: Sounds to me like you’ve suffered a loss. Is that it?

Blue sighs deeply: I lost my wife and two children in a fire. Saw the fire but couldn’t get back in time to save them. (He gives Linda a hard look full of warning and pain). And if you tell anyone this…

Linda: Your secret and your fear is safe with me.

Blue: I never said anything about fear.

Linda: You didn’t have to. I understand how your experience would make you fear loving again.

Blue: I will never allow myself to love again. (He shrugs) Forget I said anything. Is that all you want to talk about? ‘Cause if so, I’ve got things to do.

Linda: Tell me, is there any person who could change your mind about not loving again?

Blue: Nope.

Linda smiles because she knows of a woman who can and will change his mind: What makes you laugh out loud?

Blue, chuckling: The innocent comments of little children. They see things so literally and sometimes they see straight to the heart of a matter. Yup, children make me smile. (He sobers). Another reason to avoid the ranch. Too many kids. Makes me mourn mine all over again.

Linda: It sounds like a child might be able to get past the barriers of your heart.

Blue shakes his head and walks away: Lady, I ain’t going down that path again.

I hope you’ll read Blue’s story in A DADDY FOR CHRISTMAS to be released Oct. 2015, the first of a Christmas trilogy in the miniseries CHRISTMAS IN EDEN VALLEY. I think you’ll enjoy seeing Blue fall in love.

Be sure and check out Lillian Marek’s hero next week. You can find him here: http://lilmarek.indiemade.com/blog Lillian Marek spent too many years in journalism. She got tired of listening to lies and decided to turn to fiction, where the good guys win and the bad guys get punished. http://lilmarek.indiemade.com/