Heidelberg Effect (35 page)

Ella twisted around in his arms until she
was facing him.

“You…you were arranging for us to be
married?”

“Well, doing some research anyway,” he said
sleepily. “Don’t worry, I haven’t booked anything. I figure since
we’re no longer married, you’ll fly home as Ella Stevens, but I
went ahead and made the appointment for a new passport as Ella
Pierce so we can take a trip at Christmas if you want.” He kissed
her and tightened his embrace. “Unless you want to keep your maiden
name?”

She shook her head, fighting to keep the
tears back.

“Yeah,
Ella Pierce
has a nice ring to it.
And speaking of that, I also emailed a buddy of mine who knows
someone who knows someone. But we can pick that out
together.”

“What about the whole bad seed thing? Would
you ever want to have kids with me?”

“Are you kidding? I’m counting on it.
Between the two of us, I figure we have some pretty kick-ass
DNA.”

Ella wrapped her arms around Rowan’s neck
and kissed him hard. She pulled back to look at him, almost as if
to convince herself that he was real.

“Rowan?” she said. “Before we leave
tomorrow, I want to introduce you to someone very special.”

“You mean Aunt Erica? I can’t think of
anyone I’d look forward to meeting more,” he said.

Ella turned away again, snuggling with her
back to him as he wrapped her in his arms. “Oh, Rowan,” she
whispered, feeling like her heart would explode with happiness. “I
wasn’t sure you still wanted to be married.”

“God, Ella, do you know me
at all? You’re my
wife
. You were then, you are now, you will be back in the States.
Forever and ever.”

The tears escaped down her cheeks and Ella
knew for the first time in her life what total security wrapped in
love felt like.

“Amen,” she said.

The Heidelberg
Effect

Copyright 2012

San Marco Press

ABOUT THE
AUTHOR

Susan Kiernan-Lewis lives in
Nocatee, Florida and writes about horses, Europe, mysteries and
romance. Like many authors, Susan depends on the reviews and word
of mouth referrals of her readers. If you enjoyed
The Heidelberg Effect
, please
consider leaving a review saying so on Amazon.com or
Goodreads.com.

Check out Susan’s website at
susankiernanlewis.com and feel free to contact her at
[email protected].

AUTHOR ‘S NOTE

I need to mention that, when writing a piece
of fiction about history and real places, it’s often tricky
sticking strictly to the facts. For the purposes of this story, I
altered many facts about Heidelberg’s history, including the names
of rulers and the timing of when certain famous structures were
built. I think the rule of thumb for any reader wondering about the
accuracy of my facts and dates, whether in 1945 or 1620, should be:
if it doesn’t look right to you, I probably made it up.

Two favorite themes of
mine, World War II and living in a foreign land, are explored
in
The Heidelberg
Effect
. I hope the reader will be able to
see my deep love and fascination with Germany--and particularly the
city of Heidelberg, the image of which is forever etched in my
memory and in my heart. I lived in Germany as a young girl and the
experience was not merely indelible but one that continues to shape
and steer the direction of much of my writing even forty years
later.

If you liked
The Heidelberg Effect,
you’ll LOVE
The Cairo Effect,
the second book in
THE
TEMPEST FUGITIVES TIME TRAVEL SERIES
—
again featuring Ella and Rowan.
The Cairo
Effect
is a fast-moving story of romance
and adventure that will have you gasping with surprise and delight.
(
Guaranteed
or
your money back!)

Ella Stevens is a woman on the eve of her
wedding when a frantic phone call from an old college pal sets her
on a course that takes her away from the altar and away from any
semblance of life as she knows it.

Unfortunately, rescuing her friend means
losing herself when she stumbles onto a time portal in Old Cairo
that sends her back in time at the moment just before the greatest
archaeological discovery of the age. Trying desperately to get back
to her own time and her fiancé, a sexy US Marshal who—contrary to
popular belief doesn’t have all the patience in the world—Ella
discovers that evil isn’t limited to any one timeline.

With the startling discovery of the most
precious treasure she will ever have, Ella risks her life to
protect it while fighting to find her way back to her man.

Available in paperback or ebook.

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