When Lonely Hearts Meet, book 2: Sugar & Spice Bakery

By Linda Carroll-Bradd

Clover Damone travels to Dorado, Texas to handle a family member's estate. The farmhouse is a visual testament to her aunt & uncle's enduring love. If only she could find a love like that…

Rancher Wade Pallaton rescues an attractive woman in distress…in the paint aisle of a home improvement store. Divorce made them gun shy about relationships but can Lasso-A-Heart online dating emails entice them to reveal the secrets of their lonely hearts?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inked Figments
• Release date: May 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781940546049

Linda Carroll-Bradd

As a young girl, Linda was often found lying on her bed reading about fascinating characters having exciting adventures in places far away and in other time periods. In later years, she read and then started writing romances and achieved her first publication--a confession story. Married with four adult children and two granddaughters, Linda now writes heartwarming contemporary and historical stories with a touch of humor from her home in the southern California mountains Please visit Linda Carroll-Bradd on her Website. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Visit and follow her Amazon Author Page and BookBub page. Please sign up for her Newsletter to stay informed of upcoming releases and special offers.

Book preview

When Lonely Hearts Meet

Book #2 of the Sugar & Spice Bakery series

By Linda Carroll-Bradd

This is a work of fiction . Names, place, characters and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright ©Linda Carroll-Bradd, 2014  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute or transmit in any form or by any means without express permission from author or publisher.

Published by Inked Figments

Cover artist: Tamra Westberry

Edited by: Shenoa, Lustre Editing www.lustreediting.com

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN:  978-1-940546-04-9

First printing February 2014

This book is copyrighted intellectual property. Purchasing this e-book gives you the right to one copy for your reading enjoyment. The purchase does not grant resale rights, sharing rights (either individual file sharing or sharing through peer-to-peer programs) auction or contest prize rights, or rights of any kind to sell or give away a copy of this book.

Doing so is considered piracy and criminal copyright infringement—an illegal act in violation of U.S. Copyright Law and can be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is punishable by a maximum of five years in federal prison in addition to a $250,000 fine.

Please respect Linda Carroll-Bradd’s right to earn a living from her creative endeavors. If you have knowledge of misuse of this e-book, do not hesitate to contact Inked Figments at [e-mail].

Welcome to Dorado, Texas...

Asmall town located in the rolling hills about an hour or so north of San Antonio. Of course, getting there depends on how fast you drive, and if you travel the freeway or the back roads.

Here you’ll find the friendliest folks who care about the community, the businesses and, most of all, the residents. And some aren’t too shy to ask about you and yours—no matter if you’re just passing through or staying a spell.

Dorado was first just a stop on a stagecoach line that ran a twice-weekly loop in the interior of Texas during the 1850s. Then settlers arrived, claiming ranch lands and raising cattle. Population grew when the great cattle drives of the 1870s and 1880s passed only a few miles outside of town. A few families (namely, the Pallatons, the Matsons, and the Fremonts) track their heritage back to those early years.

Many residents will claim that the heart of Dorado is a bakery in the center of town. The Sugar & Spice Bakery has been a family-run business since 1890 when teenaged Magda Volker sold baked goods from her father’s dry goods store. Most folks’ memories only stretch as far as remembering the owners as three generations of Hammond women—Sonja, Raina, and Tora.

Grab a cup of coffee and maybe your favorite bakery treat. The kickoff title, Gingerbread Wishes, contains the story of Tora Hammond and Jordan Dawson and is available free at retailers.

In When Lonely Hearts Meet, enjoy seeing a member of a founding family greet a visitor and her daughter from out of town.

The third title in the series is Anything But Flowers. Single mother Farah Mayhew thinks her life is precariously balanced until she meets ex-racecar driver, Gil Fremont.

~Chapter One~

"Really, Mom? Please tell me we are not staying here. Can’t we go back to a motel in Fredericksburg?"

Clover Damone turned off the car’s engine. She leaned against the steering wheel and peered through the bug-spattered windshield at the weathered century-plus farmhouse just outside of Dorado, Texas. Peeling yellow paint clung to the wood siding, looking more like an accent than a solid coat. The porch railing sagged, and clumps of dried grass dotted the dirt of the front yard. Seeing the disintegration of the beloved house where she’d spent happy visits hurt her heart.

Relax, Hayley. She turned toward her on a break from college to figure out what I’m doing with my life twenty-one-year old daughter. I’m sure great-aunt Ginny focused more on the inside than the outside. Remember, she was ninety-three years old when she died. Not many women of that age keep up with house painting.

I don’t think the motel’s even an hour’s drive away. Right where we turned off the interstate, I saw one with a pool and free wi-fi. Hayley ducked her head to glance at the roof and grimaced. I figured there wouldn’t be a satellite dish, but I hoped at the very least for an antenna.

Hayley figured right. Ginny was raised in another century—when personal contact was the way to do things. Clover had contacted the clients of her boutique PR firm and warned them her email responses might be slower than usual. Thankfully, I brought along my hot spot so I’m not totally incommunicado. She grabbed the door handle and opened the car door. A blast of warm air whooshed in. Even in mid-February, central Texas days registered in the high 70s.

We’ve driven almost five hundred miles and I’m not going any farther. She stepped onto the gravel driveway and pressed both hands to the base of her spine, arching backward. "At least, not until I work out the kinks. Besides, we’re here to clean out your