The Marshall Takes A Bride

Renee Ryan
Inspirational Historical Romance
Steeple Hill Books – Feb 2009

Marshall Trey Scott fell in love with Katherine Taylor but she came with some baggage; a whole orphanage filled with, you guessed it, Orphans. In order to keep her orphan mayhem in check, Katherine had become a straight-laced disciplinarian, leading Marshall Scott to wonder which Katherine was he really getting, the lovely sweet Katherine or the straight-laced disciplinarian. Maybe it would be safer wrestling the bad guys than coming home to dinner.

Katherine Taylor’s mother was a prostitute. Katherine was also abused and sexually assaulted. She has a general fear of men and certainly doesn’t trust them. She has made herself as “socially acceptable” as possible. She still fears that others see her past when they look at her. This has caused her to fear marriage. She thinks she loves Marshall Scott but then he’s a man. She doesn’t trust him and now she doesn’t trust herself. Obviously, trust issues take a major role.

Marshall Scott is not without his issues. Scott’s pregnant wife was murdered by Ike Hayes. Ike Hayes is still at large and Trey follows up on every lead to find and capture him. Katherine would like Trey to let it go but, he won’t. He is confined by this hate and doesn’t see how it eats away at him. He knows God teaches forgiveness, but he just can’t get there.

Both Katherine and Trey have fairly common hang-ups. They get in ones way and cause much pain. In my practice as a psychotherapist I’ve found them difficult to eradicate. The main difficulty is giving up those irrational beliefs. They’re extremely hard to see by the person who is experiencing them. Once pointed out, however, they can begin to challenge those irrational beliefs by reexamining them and making a new decision.

This is Renee Ryan’s first book for Steeple Hills Love Inspired Historical. She does an admiral job and we look forward to many more!