A Promise Beneath the Maples

At forty-six, Abigail Mercer knows how to keep an inn running through a war. Learning to want something for herself is harder.Widowhood has freed her from a husband whose private cruelty her neighbors never saw. Now she has a business to protect, a grown daughter who fears for their future, and a brother who believes his credit entitles him to an opinion about every choice she makes.Then twenty-seven-year-old Continental sergeant Nathaniel Reed brings an injured friend to the Three Maples. He returns for the account, the borrowed basket-and, eventually, for Abigail. With him, an afternoon walk becomes an invitation she has almost forgotten how to accept.Their growing affection draws scrutiny from her family and promises neither financial security nor an end to the war. Nathaniel can offer his love, but not a date when he will come home. Abigail must decide whether the life she has fought to keep can also hold the man she wants.A Promise Beneath the Maples is a standalone Revolutionary War historical romance featuring an older widow, a younger soldier, a nineteen-year age gap, explicit intimacy, and a happily-ever-after ending.