Emerald

THE SMOKY BLUES

Mountains, music, love.

FINDING FOREVER

Asher Ellison and Trish McClellan are united in the fight against drug abuse, and Asher, an ex-con turned minister, thinks he’s found the successful businesswoman of his dreams. But Trish’s businesses are intimate shops and a strip club—and she herself occasionally takes to the pole.

Fury is his first reaction upon finding out who she really is. Then desire, always desire. Asher’s surprise is no match for his attraction to this brash beauty, and then his devotion. And hers to him. Not the consternation of his congregation or the church’s board of deacons, not the threat to take away his ministry, not even the unknown and murderous enemy who’s about to zero in on Trish. His scarred, powerful arms will draw her close and keep her safe. As those who seek shall find, true love is eternal and divine.

EMERALD

A Smoky Blues Romance

Emily Mims

www.BOROUGHSPUBLISHINGGROUP.com

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Boroughs Publishing Group does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites, blogs or critiques or their content.

EMERALD

Copyright © 2017 Emily Wright Mims

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. Unless specifically noted, no part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Boroughs Publishing Group. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any other means without the permission of Boroughs Publishing Group is illegal and punishable by law. Participation in the piracy of copyrighted materials violates the author’s rights.

ISBN 978-1-944262-90-7

E-book formatting by Maureen Cutajar

www.gopublished.com

To all the men and women who have overcome addiction.

I stand in awe of your strength and courage.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As always, thanks to my beta reader Nancy Sartor and the Boroughs editors for making my work look so good. I also have special thanks on this book to my husband Charles. He is and always has been supportive of my work through two writing careers, cooking dinners, giving baths and doing endless loads of wash while I word-process away. He is also my technical support for all things computer related, a role I must admit I take for granted. Normally things go smoothly…but not while writing this book. He had to do two computer replacements with all that entailed (the first replacement computer had more problems than the computer it replaced) and then fifty-eight thousand words into the manuscript I got hit with the virus attack from hell. He managed to get the computer debugged and me back at work with no loss of work in an hour and a half. Charles, you are my hero! I love you.

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

About the Author

Also by Emily Mims

EMERALD

Prologue

North Carolina State Penitentiary, fifteen years ago

Asher Ellison stuffed the last of his meager belongings into the state-supplied duffel bag and stared down at the sparse contents. There wasn’t much to show for the last five years. Just a few prison-issued articles of clothing, a couple of college texts and a well-worn Bible. Symbols of the intellectual and spiritual journey he’d taken, courtesy of the State of North Carolina and the DEA. But it could have been worse. A lot worse. Even if it all had gone to hell that horrible night five years ago, the prosecutors honored the deal his attorney had struck in exchange for his cooperation in busting the drug ring with which he’d become involved. He’d only served five years for his involvement with the drug dealers who murdered his entire family—except for his younger brother, the brother he’d neither seen nor heard from since the night their parents’ house burned with their bodies inside.

Asher zipped the bag shut and sat down on his bunk then waited none too patiently until a stone-faced guard arrived. They made their way down dingy corridors, through two locked doors, past the visitation area that Asher had seen little of during his stay here, and into an area that was totally unfamiliar. He followed, mystified, as the guard ushered him into a suite of utilitarian offices that presumably housed the prison administration. Asher’s heart pounded in his throat. Had something happened to delay his release? No. They wouldn’t have given him the duffel to pack if they intended to keep him. His heart continued to throb as he and the guard approached a closed door labeled Warden with the requisite middle-aged secretary seated at her desk, guarding the inner sanctum with a scowl on her face.

The guard disappeared. The secretary motioned to a sagging sofa. Asher sat, his hands worrying the duffel strap as the minutes ticked by. Finally the secretary’s phone buzzed and she motioned to Asher. Door’s unlocked. Go on in.

Unlocked doors had not been a part of Asher’s life for so long, it added to the tension. He wiped his sweaty hand on the prison-issue jeans and cursed the trembling in his legs as he stepped inside. Warden Mooney looked at Asher with the warmth of a cobra eyeing a mouse. Have a seat, Ellison.

Yes, sir. Asher swallowed the dust in his throat and sat in the lumpy chair across the desk. He didn’t think the warden talked with all exiting prisoners. What was this about?

The warden looked over a sheaf of papers that Asher suspected were his prison records. When he looked up, his smile was sardonic. Jailhouse conversion, huh?

Yes, sir.

Warden Mooney looked at him thoughtfully. Normally, those supposed changes of heart aren’t worth shit and everybody knows it, but Chaplain Jimenez thinks yours may have been for real. Was it?

Yes, it was. Asher leaned forward. It’s made all the difference in my life.

Didn’t stop you from getting into the occasional dustup. The warden looked pointedly at an angry scar on Asher’s face, made by a shiv during a cafeteria fight. The scar ran from Asher’s left eyebrow all the way to his chin.

Asher shrugged. There were those who took exception to my conversion. Especially when they realized I meant it.

So it would seem. Warden Mooney looked down at the records. You managed to finish your degree online. Good going. Apparently, the time spent here with us wasn’t a total waste after all.

I hope not. Asher shifted restlessly in the lumpy chair. Where was the warden going with this?

Good. Mooney leaned forward, his gaze intense. Ellison, you should have never landed here in the first place. You had too much going for you. Now, have you learned anything from the last five years?

Asher swallowed. I’ll never go within a mile of drugs again, if that’s what you’re asking. Especially after what it cost me and my family. He felt the old bitter regret well up, and quickly stuffed it down. Look ahead, Chaplain Jimenez had counseled him over and over. Don’t dwell on the past. Look to the future.

I hope you mean it. Despite all that’s happened and a prison record you’ll never shed, you have enormous potential. You’re only twenty-eight, plenty young to start over. You can make a hell of a good life for yourself, if you just will. I don’t say that to very many of our alumni.

Thank you. I’ll remember that.

Good luck out there.