Excerpt from In the Garden of Stone by Susan Tekulve, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

She pulled her foot away too quickly. He looked up, his blue eyes worried. "Am I hurting you?"

She looked down at her own blood on his handkerchief, embarrassed.

"It was so clean."

He laughed, put her feet back into his lap, nearly lifting her off the ground. He pulled another white handkerchief from his pocket and went to work on her other foot. This time, she leaned into his hands, knowing that wherever this man took her would be worth the stain of leaving.

Excerpted from In the Garden of Stone by Susan Tekulve. Copyright © 2013 by Susan Tekulve. Excerpted by permission of Hub City Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.