The Line That Binds
Copyright © 2013
J. M. Miller
Stained with heartache and cursed with vengeance, a stone well lies on a nineteenth-century estate, waiting for the Stockton line to wish again.
When seventeen-year-old Lila Wayde's father loses his high-paying job in Las Vegas, the family relocates to a Pennsylvania estate bequeathed by an estranged aunt. Lila begins a new life there, one not corrupted by wealth and fake friends. She soon meets Ben, the groundskeeper's gritty grandson, and experiences the kind of happiness her life's been missing. But as she settles into the ancient house, she learns information about her ancestors and the old stone well that may make her wish she'd never come.
Ben Shadows has lost enough in life. So when Stockton Estate's owner, Janine, wills the land to her great-niece Lila, Ben fears for the fate of the property. He decides to find out Lila's intentions as the new owner, but his grandfather wants him to protect her from Stockton Estate's alleged curse. As Ben helps Lila dig through the estate's history, they grow closer than he ever intended. Now, along with concerns about the property and the reality of the curse, he struggles with feelings he can't ignore.
Will the secrets of Stockton Estate bring them together or will knowing the truth rip them apart?
Zoe
Never wait for the magic.
Make your own.
No light shines the same.
No shadow conceals the ache.
Once was passion, now is pain.
The touch of skin, the smell of rain.
Eyes like fire have burnt to ash.
Vacant.
Gone.
Cold and frail.
The secrets, the whispers,
a broken trust.
Forever it will stay,
crippling until I break.
Prologue
Cursed
September, 1864
Chilly night air breezed through the bedroom window. Dahlia slid the patched quilt she'd stitched together years ago from her body, welcoming the cool draft. A wooden lantern hung beside the door, its flame weak and dim. But the moon's hazy glow compensated for the dull flame nicely, brightening the otherwise darkened room. The soft light pressed into a crack in the window's pane, projecting sparkles along the wall like hundreds of brilliant diamonds. She watched them for a while, wishing she was staring at a real one upon her finger.
