#Spotlight on Left at the Altar by Margaret Brownley + #Giveaway

Left at the Altar
(A Match Made in Texas #1)
by Margaret Brownley
Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages
Expected publication: November 1st 2016 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN 1492608130

"A great story by a wonderful author."-#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

Welcome to Two-Time Texas: 
Where tempers burn hot
Love runs deep
And a single marriage can unite a feuding town
...or tear it apart for good
In the wild and untamed West, time is set by the local jeweler...but Two-Time Texas has two: two feuding jewelers and two wildly conflicting time zones. Meg Lockwood's marriage was supposed to unite the families and finally bring peace. But when she's left at the altar by her no-good fiance, Meg's dreams of dragging her quarrelsome neighbors into a ceasefire are dashed.
No wedding bells? No one-time town.
Hired to defend the groom against a breach of promise lawsuit, Grant Garrison quickly realizes that the only thing worse than small-town trouble is falling for the jilted bride. But there's something about Meg's sweet smile and determined grit that draws him in...even as the whole crazy town seems set on keeping them apart.
Who knew being Left at the Altar could be such sweet, clean, madcap fun?

AMAZON | B&N

Excerpt :

Grant stared at the vision in front of him and felt a squeezing pain in his chest. Had his heart been caught in a vise, it couldn’t have hurt more.

Meg looked even more beautiful than she had the day he’d first set eyes on her all those weeks ago. She wore the same wedding dress— the dress that cost an astounding two hundred and fifty-nine dollars and was worth every penny.

She had been angry when first they’d met. Today he saw…what? Not happiness. Not joy. Not like when she had danced in the street. Or on the night he’d taken her in his arms and kissed her. Instead he saw hurt, confusion, maybe even panic, and his heart jolted with alarm.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She blinked as if holding back tears. “I’m fine,” she said with a wave of dismissal. Her gaze dropped to his carpetbag, and he heard her intake of breath. “You’re leaving?”

He nodded. “On the next train.”

Her eyes sought his, and he detected accusatory lights in their depths. “B- But why? Is it because you miss Boston?”

 It’s because I had the misfortune of falling in love with you. But he couldn’t say that. Not while she stood in her wedding gown ready to marry another man. “I don’t think this is the place for a big-city lawyer like me.”

Meg moistened her lips, and he recalled the taste and feel of those lips on his. “I guess you never did find out what your sister saw in the town,” she said.

“Nope, never did.” For a moment they stared at each other without speaking. Grant’s mind traveled back to New Year’s Eve. Did he really hold her in his arms? Devour those pretty, soft lips? Did she really kiss him back?

The memory felt so real and yet…it also seemed like a dream. “I wish you and Tommy much happiness.”

 She looked at him through misty eyes. The words trembling on her lips remained unspoken until at last they fell away, never to be revealed.

Organ music drifted through the open door of the church. Buggies, carriages, and wagons were parked on the street in front. No doubt the church was packed with wedding guests.

A distant train whistle reminded Grant of the time. “I better go. I have a train to catch.” And if I don’t leave, I’m likely to do something completely off limits… Something that both of us will end up regretting.

Her sister Josie beckoned from the steps of the church. “Hurry, Meg. It’s almost time.”

“I’ll be right there.” Meg turned back to him. “I guess this is good- bye.” Her voice was cool, distant, so unlike the warmth he remembered from other occasions. From New Year’s Eve…

“Guess so,” he said, unable to say anything so final. He watched her walk away, and it felt as if she had taken a piece of his heart with her. “Meg!”

She stopped and turned. She stood a short distance away in a cloud of satin with the sun at her back, in her hair. The vision would forever be engraved on his heart. Whether that would be a curse or a blessing, only time would tell.

Grant took an unsteady breath. The three little words he wanted to say stuck in his throat. “Be happy,” he managed at length. There was nothing left to say; nothing else he dared say.

 Part of his past was dead to him, and at that moment it seemed like the future was too. He started along the path leading away from the church, the longest walk of his life.

“Grant!” He whirled around, and his heart thudded.

“I almost came back,” she called softly. “On New Year’s Eve. I almost came back to celebrate a second time.”

He stared at her. Why was she telling him this now? To punish him for kissing her? To torture him? To make him feel worse than he already did?

“I’m glad I didn’t,” she said, the words like arrows to his heart.

Her gaze locked with his just as the church bells pealed from the tower. And just like that she was gone—gone to become another man’s bride.

About the Author:

MARGARET BROWNLEY penned her first novel at age eleven and has been writing ever since. She’s now a New York Times and CBA bestselling author and has written thirty-five novels and one nonfiction book. Margaret and her husband have three grown children and make their home in Southern California.  

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