Author: elizabethbell

Since girlhood, Clare Stratford has dreamt of marrying David Lazare—until she meets the brother he left for dead on the Oregon Trail. Charleston, South Carolina, 1859. After earning his medical degree in Paris, David returns home to discover that the impish girl he remembers has blossomed into a beautiful young woman. A young woman who proposes marriage. David longs to have Clare by his side and … have Clare by his side and in his bed—but if he lets her that close, she’ll discover his secrets. Then David’s greatest secret returns from the dead. Thoroughly Cheyenne in spite of his…

From the walled gardens of Charleston to the vast prairies of the American West, the saga of the Lazare family continues.Charleston, South Carolina, 1840s. Unable to marry, Catholic priest Joseph Lazare and his soulmate Tessa Stratford risk a dangerous love affair, betting their lives on the ignorance of her husband and betting their souls on the forgiveness of God.Young David Lazare, Joseph’s … orphaned nephew and Tessa’s ward, struggles to make a life in Charleston. But David is haunted by secrets he’s determined to keep, above all a terrible choice he made as a ten-year-old boy on the Oregon Trail.None…

In antebellum Charleston, a Catholic priest grapples with doubt, his family’s secret African ancestry, and his love for a slave owner’s wife.Joseph Lazare and his two sisters grow up believing their black hair and olive skin come from a Spanish grandmother—until the summer they learn she was an African slave. While his sisters make very different choices, Joseph struggles to transcend the flesh … transcend the flesh by becoming a celibate priest.Then young Father Joseph meets Tessa Conley, a devout Irish immigrant who shares his passions for music and botany. Joseph must conceal his true feelings as Tessa marries another…