Table of Contents
Legal Page
Title Page
Book Description
Dedication
Trademarks Acknowledgment
Author’s Note
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Epilogue
New Excerpt
About the Author
Publisher Page
A Subtle Breeze
ISBN # 978-1-78430-768-4
©Copyright Bailey Bradford 2015
Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright September 2015
Edited by Jess Bimberg and Rebecca Scott
Pride Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorized or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2015 by Pride Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN
Pride Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.
Southern Spirits
A SUBTLE BREEZE
Bailey Bradford
Book one in the Southern Spirits series
Ezekiel Matthers and Brendon Shanahan are about to find out that sometimes all it takes is a subtle breeze to shift the winds of fate.
Ezekiel Matthers is a reclusive man, forcing himself into the exile of his ranch after a violent assault left him wounded. While the scars on the outside have faded, the damage inside is much harder to conquer. Zeke resigns himself to a solitary existence, aside from his sister Enessa and, of course, his mama's occasional visits.
Brendon Shanahan has a very meddling cousin, Gloria, who is best buds with Enessa Matthers. When the two women convince Brendon that he should hook-up with the reclusive Zeke, a plan is hatched that sets a series of events into motion - with potentially deadly consequences.
Can Ezekiel conquer his fears and accept what Brendon is offering? Or will Brendon walk away, giving up on the love he has waited for? And will the visits from Zeke's mama - deceased for four years now - help the two men find their way to each other?
Only time will tell, and that may be the one thing the lovers don't have, because someone is out to destroy everything Zeke and Brendon hold dear—and this time, the bad guy just might succeed.
Dedication
For my sister—your wit, wisdom, and warmth are incomparable and irreplaceable.
I love you madly, Sis.
Trademarks Acknowledgment
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmark mentioned in this work of fiction:
Stetson: John B. Stetson Co.
Author’s Note
When I started writing the Southern Spirits series, I didn’t know it was going to be a series. I’d had this vision in my mind of the opening scene to the first book, A Subtle Breeze, and I couldn’t rest until I wrote that part down.
Then once I started, I had to keep going. Much like when I’m reading a book, I tend to write in great clusters, needing to get the story told with minimal disruption. A Subtle Breeze was written over about a week’s time, then I spent a month worrying it wasn’t good enough to submit.
That first story isn’t perfect, but I didn’t change it when I wrote the additional scene. All of the stories are in original form as far as plot goes, though they’ve been re-edited and with an extra scene or chapter added.
But, back to the first book! Submitting A Subtle Breeze was a huge step for me, and the entire series came to mean more to me than any other that I’ve written.
It deals with some things no one likes to think about: death, and losing people you love. There’s the whole subject of what happens after we die, too, and people have many different ideas on that.
Me, I’m a big believer in going with what brings you comfort. There’s no hard proof of what happens once we die, so that’s a puzzle I can’t resist. When I was a kid, we were taught that people who were saved would go to Heaven after they died. At our church, we were also taught that we wouldn’t know our family—everyone would be there for one sole purpose, to serve God and praise Him.
That sounded pretty scary to me. I didn’t want to forget my family, my friends, even my life. Maybe that’s selfish, and maybe the church I went to had it wrong. It’s not like anyone can say for sure.
Even so, I didn’t want to go to Hell, either. Neither option I was presented with sounded good to me. I was a scared, totally confused child, too, because asking and questioning what I was taught was strictly not allowed.
When I first lost someone I loved, I was eight. My best friend choked on a penny. It took me seven years to make even one close friend again. And I always worried about the one who’d passed away. Was she somewhere else, having forgotten about everyone down here on Earth? Or was she still in the ground, waiting to be called for judgment? There wasn’t a single person I knew who I could ask, who could provide a solid explanation.
Then as I grew older, there were more losses. Grandparents, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, celebrities—my Dad. I had to find a way to deal with each loss, and what I did isn’t what’s right for everyone—or possibly anyone—else. I found a way to accept death and it comforted me. Some of that comes out in Southern Spirits. Some of it doesn’t. Some of each book I wrote in the series helped me cope with a loss of someone I loved. Not everyone, but believe me, there was a specific person in mind every time I sat down and worked on it.
That’s
