Margins
Gold Diggers book cover 1
Gold Diggers book cover 2
Gold Diggers book cover 3
Gold Diggers
Series · 3 books · 2019

Books in series

No Greater Treasure book cover
#1

No Greater Treasure

2019

After five years in the California mountains, Birdie Banks longs to return to civilization. Her father is gone and mining camps are no place for a lady alone. With the help of her Asian manservant, Lin Sing, Birdie hires Jedidiah Evans to escort them down the mountain. Jed is a big man, strong and capable and Birdie knows that God sent him to help get them back to Sacramento and to her fiancé Nelson O’Neil. Nelson is a highly successful California merchant. He’s a bit older than Birdie, but they have been corresponding through letters for the last five years. Now the time as come for them to be together and Birdie can hardly wait. The treacherous trip down the mountain will be more than worth every danger they will face. Making sure a tiny woman and Chinese man get down the mountains safely will be too easy. Jed is almost embarrassed to take her money, but when they are set upon by would-be thieves the truth comes out: Birdie and Lin Sing are transporting a fortune in gold. They need Jed to protect it—and Birdie—as she makes her way back to town. Jed hates everything about gold. He lost his brother on the mountain and the precious time he spent looking for a way to save the family ranch in Texas. Birdie agrees. She lost her father and her health. She may have found a fortune, but she has learned the hard way that wealth can be a curse as well as a blessing. That’s why she’s giving it all to the church as soon as she gets back to town. Once in Sacramento, Birdie gives Jed the money he needs to save his family’s land, though he refuses to take it. How can he take the money from her when he’s fallen in love with her? Yet with a fiancé as perfect as Nelson O’Neil why would she ever fall for a common man like him? Birdie is confused by her feelings, conflicted over the time she spent loving Nelson from afar to the days and nights she spent with Jed, riding, walking, talking, just being. He’s a good man, a godly man. Still how could she fall in love with someone in a matter of days? She couldn’t. Not when she has loved Nelson for the last five years. But like gold, love is strange and treasure is in the eye of the beholder. And she’ll have to choose between the treasure she has always known and the one God sent especially for her.
The Trouble with Nancy book cover
#2

The Trouble with Nancy

2019

. Her reputation precedes her, whether the bad guys realize it or not. Nancy Harrison has finally stepped out of her prissy box and tried to do something helpful—but did she go overboard in her first self-less act? She can’t ride, she hates horses, and she’s terrified of being alone. What’s a girl to do? Join the Pony Express, of course. When Nancy Harrison’s family receives a tax bill they can’t pay, there’s only one option open to them. Her brother, Lewis, will have to join the Pony Express and earn the money that way. It would have worked, too, if ruffians hadn’t attacked him and broken his leg. She doesn’t want to do it, of course, but what choice is there? Lose everything or ride a stupid, smelly horse for a few weeks? Nancy decides that she’ll chop off her hair, take to the dusty overland trail, and prove that she isn’t a “flighty little thing.” But things go from bad to worse as she discovers that riding astride is worse than sidesaddle—especially when you’re not used to it. Can’t she just go back home to balls, teas, and the hope of a suitor before her twentieth birthday? Sans her hair, of course, because that’ll entice the fellows. Sigh.
Jessie and James book cover
#3

Jessie and James

2019

Jessie Madsen has her hands full helping her parents run their small farm and boarding house while every fortune-seeker in the country seems to be flocking to her small town in search of gold. It’s bad enough that claim jumpers won’t quit trespassing on her property, but geologist James Kelsey, mildly intriguing and surprisingly handsome for an Easterner, seems more interested in her than the mining business. Jessie is certain she doesn’t have the time or the need for a man, and after getting her heart broken, she has resolved never to fall for an outsider again. Add stolen cash, a fast-talking con man, and a pair of bandits, and Jessie is indeed up to her eyeballs in trouble. Will she soften her rock-hard exterior and let the geologist discover the hidden treasure in her heart?

Authors

Chautona Havig
Chautona Havig
Author · 167 books

**fingers skittle across the keyboard. Stop. Eyelids blink over the top** Oh, was this bio day? Oops! I forgot. I was lost in my latest manuscript. Umm... bio. Yeah. Hi! I’m Chautona Havig. (for those who care, that’s Shuh-TONE-uh HAVE-ig). Yeah. Just work with me here. I should have used a pseudonym, but when you grow up with a name like Chautona, it kind of sticks. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. ~ Hebrews 10: 23–25 Those aren’t just words on a page for me–they’re why I write. I write to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ. The stories I create are to make people laugh, cry, question, consider. They’re for you. When the world screams for hope, I try to point you to the true Source of hope–Jesus. Sometimes life in the church no longer seems a refuge from the pain of a self-serving world around us, but through my stories, I try to point you to the only Refuge that can truly help–the Father’s Everlasting Arms. And sometimes we just need an escape from the monotony, the emptiness we see around us. We need joy, laughter–what I like to call “just the write escape.” Christian fiction without apology or pretense–lived, not preached. What does that even mean? It means I care–about you. About your walk with Jesus. I care about the words you put before your eyes, the mental pictures those words conjure. It’s difficult to express just how much I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s difficult to share just how much I love you. But I do. And I write for you. I sit in my little house in California’s Mojave Desert and I write to show you why one sister believes one thing, why a brother believes another. I write to show you how some Christians handle trials or triumphs–for you. So when you’re faced with something–good or bad, it doesn’t matter–maybe it’ll spark a memory. Maybe that memory will smolder until you pull out your Bible and see what the Lord said about it–about His great love for you. For YOU! And maybe, just maybe, you’ll share that love with another hurting, confused, or blessed-with-more-than-she-knows-what-to-do-with soul. I just happen to think that’s the most blessed giving anyone could hope to receive.

Amy Lillard
Amy Lillard
Author · 47 books

I'm a wife, mother, and bona fide Southern belle. Published author, expert corn bread maker, and Squirrel Princess. I live in Tulsa, though I was born in Mississippi. I moved to the Sooner State when I was seventeen and met my soul mate and best friend not long after. I've retained a little of my Mississippi accent though most people think I'm from Texas. (?) Rob and I have been married for over twenty years and have a son—a mom proclaimed prodigy, of course! I love homemade tacos, nail polish, and romance novels—not necessarily in that order. I'm a big fan of country music, a staunch proponent of saving the Oxford comma, and I'm shamefully obsessed with all things Harry Potter. I believe that God is love. I guess that's why I adore romances. I have always been intrigued with the Amish culture, their gentle ways and slower-paced lifestyle. (And I love, love, love the fact that they stay married for their lifetime.) But until recently I never thought to blend this interest with my penchant for romance. Okay, okay, I'm a bit old-fashioned and even enjoy the gender roles that are present in this culture. I love to cook and take care of my family. Yes, that's me June Cleaver with a laptop. I dislike people trying to convince me to read the Twlight series (I'll get to it or I won't, either way I'm good with it), gratuitous violence, and strawberry ice cream. (I know I'm alone on this last one, and again, I'm good with it.) Favorite movies—(besides HP) French Kiss, Maid of Honor, A Lot Like Love, Just Married, and Sweet Home Alabama. Oh, and Miss Congeniality, Sabrina (both versions) and a 1940's movie called Dear Ruth. If you haven't seen it, you should! A-dorable. Anything with Doris Day and most all of Marilyn's and Audrey's.

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