Read an Exclusive Excerpt from DO NOT FORSAKE ME by Rosanne Bittner

About DO NOT FORSAKE ME

Fate brought them together. His past may tear them apart.

Miranda Hayes’ life was changed the day she faced down infamous gunslinger Jake Harkner…and walked away with his heart. Their fates have been intertwined ever since. Hunted by the law, fleeing across a savage land, their desperate love flourished despite countless sorrows. Now, twenty-six years later, their family has finally found some measure of peace…balanced on the knife’s edge of danger.

Jake has spent his years as a U.S. Marshal atoning for sins, bringing law to the land he once terrorized. But no matter how hard he fights the demons of his brutal past, the old darkness still threatens to consume him. Only Miranda keeps the shadows at bay. But when outlaws looking for revenge strike a fatal blow, Jake risks losing the one woman who saw past his hard exterior and to the man inside.

He always knew there’d be the devil to pay. He just never realized he might not be the one to bear the ultimate price.

USA Today bestseller and award-winning novelist Rosanne Bittner is known as the “Queen of Western Historical Romance” for her thrilling love stories and historical authenticity. Her epic romances span the West—and are often based on Rosanne’s personal visits to each setting. She lives in Coloma, Michigan, with her husband and two sons.

Read and Exclusive Excerpt

“I’ve been a target most of my life, Trubridge,” Jake added. He seemed to be weighing his words then. “I’ll tell you something about revenge. I’ve enacted revenge of my own, and I’ve been the brunt of it. Either way usually ends bad, and revenge doesn’t take away the hurt, or the ugly memories. Sometimes it creates even more ugly memories. But a man can’t help going after it anyway.”

Jeff wanted to ask specifics but decided it was way too soon to press the man for more details.

“Tell me what keeps you and your wife together,” he dared to ask instead, hoping to lighten the mood. “Twenty years or more, I’m told.”

“Twenty-six.”

“From what I’ve observed, the two of you couldn’t be more…well…different.”

Jake finally grinned again. “Different is an understatement,” he told Jeff. He thought a moment and Jeff waited, deciding he’d get farther by keeping his mouth shut than by opening it at the wrong time. One wrong question and the man would probably throw him off the church steps.

“I actually tried once or twice to get rid of her—for her own good, not because I didn’t love her. I expect maybe I love her too much. The damn woman won’t leave me. She’s stuck by me through things that would make most women scream and run away, but not Randy. She’s everything a man hopes to find in a wife, and why in hell she picked me, I’ll never understand…never.”

Jeff scribbled some notes. “Maybe she saw the good in you.”

Jake didn’t answer right away. He took one last draw on his cigarette, then stepped it out while inside the preacher carried on about sin and salvation. “Some people see things through a rosy glow, I guess,” Jake finally answered.

“And some see very clearly, Marshal.” I see you, Jake Harkner. There’s a part of you that wants to go into that church. Jake glanced sidelong at him, and Jeff knew it was a warning. He decided to move on to something else.

“Tell me something, Marshal. How in heck do you know when to draw on somebody…or I guess I should ask when you know they’re going to draw on you. Do you watch their gun hand?”

Jake shook his head. “Never.” He looked straight at Jeff then with an unnerving glare. “You watch his eyes. Only his eyes, Mr. Trubridge. His eyes will give him away every time. And I’ve never drawn first on a man in my life. I don’t need to.”

“How do you think you’ve managed to stay alive this long?”

Jake watched another wagon rattle closer into town. “Haven’t you ever heard the term too mean to die?”

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About Rosanne Bittner

The award-winning author of over fifty books, Michigan resident Rosanne Bittner is a member of the service organization of the Lioness Club, which supports needy families and other worthy causes. She and her husband of thirty years have two sons.

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