Elisabeth Barrett | Help! I Need Somebody

"Help."

This used to be one of the hardest words for me to say. It wasn't so much that I thought I was superwoman (I'm pretty much the farthest thing from it), but more that I didn't want people to feel obligated to help me. I always thought it'd be an imposition to ask a friend to pick me up at the airport. Or drag an old chair down my rickety staircase so I could donate it.  Or accompany me on a particularly difficult hospital trip.

And then I had three kids in three-and-a-half years, and man, did I need help. I didn't need to swallow my pride to ask, because at that point, I didn't have any left. So I opened my mouth...and friends came out of the woodwork to help me. Even just having someone keep an eye on one kid for a few minutes while I bathed the others allowed my blood pressure to drop significantly (and hopefully back to normal levels).

In my new novel, BLAZE OF WINTER, the heroine Avery Newbridge, is a social worker who absolutely, positively does not want to ask for help. In fact, she's downright stubborn about it, hiding her problems from everyone, including her close friends and family. In one of the book's earliest scenes, Avery's Aunt Kate presses Avery to talk:

Kate's mouth formed a straight line. "Avery Eleanor Newbridge, you can't fool me. I might be recovering from cancer but I'm not blind. Why are you so unhappy, darling?" She set her box down on the chair next to where Avery was standing. "Please tell me."

Avery shook her head. "It's nothing."

"When your dear mother, may she rest in peace, asked me to look after you and Emma, I told her I would guard you girls with my life. Don't make me feel like I'm failing."

Avery reached out a hand. "You're not failing. Mom would have been so proud of you, beating the cancer and taking care of both of us."

Kate merely stared at her, tacitly encouraging her to continue. Avery sighed. She wasn't going to get out of this, but she didn't want to burden her aunt.... As far as Kate was concerned, Avery was just taking a much-needed break from her work. And that was all her aunt was going to know.

Avery cleared her throat. "I just don't know what I'm doing with my life anymore."

"Don't you?" Kate looked at her appraisingly. "I'd say you're taking the time you need. Isn't that what most people do when they're trying to figure things out? Regroup? Reassess? Find a way around the roadblock?"

"Yes, but—"

"And isn't Star Harbor the perfect place to do that?" Kate took a soft cloth and wiped down the reservation desk, making the wood gleam. "So peaceful, in wintertime. Few tourists. Locals hunkering down for the season. Snow covering the Green and the houses, blanketing the woods in solitude. Beautiful, isn't it?"

"It is." That she couldn't deny.

When sexy author Theo Grayson returns to Star Harbor, he's more than intrigued by the guarded social worker who seems to be hiding out at the Inn. He makes it his mission to get her to admit that she needs help—and to fall for him—but he struggles to get past her defenses until they have a breakthrough:

"But you're not giving it a chance."

"I don't go for players. Or for guys who hide what they do," she weakly protested.

"I'm not a player, and I didn't hide what I do." At least, not deliberately. "Anyway, it's not like you should talk. You've been hiding from me all week."

"I had things to deal with," she said, setting her mouth into a straight line.

"Let me help you with your stuff."

She shook her head. "I have to do it alone."

"Then let me help you with this." He ran a thumb over her soft lips.

"I d-don't want you," she said, but her lower lip trembled.

His eyes warmed. "Oh, you do." He bent his head until his mouth was nearly touching hers, but he didn't span that small distance. It took all his considerable willpower not to seal his mouth to hers, to show her exactly how hot she made him. But this time she needed to be the one to come to him. "Tell me to go away. Tell me you don't want me again," he whispered. "Just say it and I'll leave you alone for good."

Her gaze wavered and she closed her eyes. "I can't," she whispered back.

"Then kiss me like you know you want to."

The words hung between them, like a thick cloud of steam hovering over a grate. Then, tentatively, fractionally, she tipped her head up.

Though they sometimes get impatient, the people who love Avery wait until she's able to ask for help. And when she's ready, they are there, prepared to give her the unreserved support she's needed all along.

For me, asking for help is a matter of trust—trusting that my friends and family love me the way I love them. They're not offering to help because of obligation or duty. They're doing it because they want to, and because it's what I'd do for them.

About BLAZE OF WINTER:

Winter heats up in this hot new Star Harbor romance, as another sexy Grayson brother, a wickedly handsome writer, plots his happily ever after with a sweet stranger.

Frustrated with her job in Boston, social worker Avery Newbridge welcomes the opportunity to reassess her life when family asks her to help manage the Star Harbor Inn. Trying to figure out her future is overwhelming enough, but she doesn't count on distraction in the form of one Theo Grayson, the gorgeous, green-eyed author who she knows is trouble from the moment he saunters into the inn.

Not only does he have a talent for writing swashbuckling adventures, but Theo also has a soft spot for big-hearted damsels in distress, especially a woman who's great at helping everyone—except herself. Avery's demons challenge him, but for desire this hot, he isn't backing down. With every kiss and heated whisper Theo promises her his heart . . . if only Avery is willing to open up and accept it.

View an excerpt of BLAZE OF WINTER on Scribd.

Order BLAZE OF WINTER: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the iBookstore (Apple)!

About Elisabeth:

Raised in a sleepy little Connecticut town, Elisabeth draws on her upbringing to write small-town romances. Her summers spent living and working on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard were the inspiration for the Star Harbor series, which kicked off with DEEP AUTUMN HEAT and continues with BLAZE OF WINTER. Currently, Elisabeth lives in Northern California with her husband and three children. She is not afraid to ask for help. Find her online: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

One commenter will be randomly selected to win a NetGalley preview of BLAZE OF WINTER. You'll need a NetGalley account, and to answer the question below:

Has there ever been a time in your life when you've needed to ask for help? How did it make you feel?