Clear As A Bell

She came West hoping to become a bride. Instead, Audrey Cliff built a life that no husband seemed interested in sharing. For more than two years, Audrey has watched other women in Sawyerville find love while she has devoted herself to a different dream—opening the frontier town's first school. She has nearly convinced herself that a classroom full of children will be enough. Then quiet, dependable logger Ed Warren begins leaving wildflowers on her desk. Ed isn't young or polished, and he certainly isn't the romantic hero Audrey once imagined. But he is kind. Steady. Strong. And when other men mock her appearance, Ed makes it unmistakably clear that the woman beside him deserves respect. Before long, friendship becomes courtship—and Ed offers Audrey the one thing she once thought she would never receive: a proposal of marriage. But Audrey hesitates. Ed's failing eyesight worries her, and a troubling misunderstanding leaves her wondering whether he truly sees the woman he wants to marry—or whether he simply needs someone to take care of him. Then a violent storm sweeps over Sawyerville. With eleven children trapped inside the new schoolhouse and fire racing toward them, Audrey and Ed will discover that love is sometimes revealed not in pretty words, but in courage, sacrifice, and the person who runs toward danger when everyone else runs away. Can Audrey stop judging herself through other people's eyes long enough to recognize the man who has seen her worth all along? A tender, clean historical Western romance about courage, self-worth, unexpected love, and discovering that sometimes the heart sees more clearly than the eyes. Clear as a Bell is Book 33 in the Sawyerville Mail Order Brides series by Debra Samms. It can be enjoyed as a heartwarming standalone romance.