Running Home (Heart's Haven, #1)

Can love empower and free a scared, abused woman?Natalie Walker's life is in tatters. An abused wife and devoted mother, she runs from her rich husband, intending to start a new life in hiding. When her car breaks down outside of a small town, she must accept the help of the local garage owner. Unable to access her money, she works for Clint Dawson to pay off her debt for car repairs and to feed her son. Despite her best efforts, she finds herself succumbing to Clint's kindness.Already falling for her, Clint is more than willing to help provide protection for Natalie and her son, especially after her abusive husband turns up dead. There is no doubt that in his mind that Natalie did not kill her husband and is not hiding anything. However, Clint has a past and a secret of his own.Will the revelation of Clint's deceit destroy the fragile trust he has built with Natalie? Or will their love be strong enough to survive?

Katie O'Connor lives part time in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She married her high school sweetheart and is living her happily ever after. She is the mother of two grown daughters and is extremely proud of her five grandchildren. She has two wonderful sons-in-law and a large support network of friends, family and fellow authors.
Katie's career path has been long and twisted, with most of her life devoted to her family. She's been a waitress, chambermaid, cashier, store manager, as well as a lab and x-ray technician. Katie trained in martial arts for a while and tried distance running. She likes to shoot and for a few years performed in numerous staged gun battles with a theatrical group, Guns of the Golden West, at various venues including the Calgary Stampede. Katie played box lacrosse for a while and even coached for a year. The team she coached won the gold medal in Canada's first ever Junior B Girl's Box Lacrosse Championship. She is an avid quilter and for a number of years owned and operated a home-based quilting business and designed quilt patterns.
Early in her writing career she wrote seven novels while raising twin girls. With family life taking up much her time, she put writing on hold until life calmed down. Now she spends her time reading and writing while splitting her time between Calgary and her bush retreat called Sanctuary. She reads many different genres and has started numerous books, many of which are ongoing, back burner projects. Her favorite writing spot is on her land where she can listen the wind in the trees and be inspired by the deer that often wander by.
She believes in all things magical including dragons, fairies, UFOs, ghosts, and house pixies. But most of all she believes in love, romance and hope.
Katie likes to make it up as she goes along and dreams of publishing a mixed genre novel. It is going to be an erotic, shape shifter, vampire, steampunk, sci-fi, murder mystery, adventure, romantic, western, historical, thriller. It will be her biography.