The Promise of Canaan

First place in the inaugural 2012 Swirl Awards for interracial/multicultural romance, historical categoryUnderground Railroad conductor Quin Sutton never anticipated being captured on his last trip. And when he escapes, his decision to plunge straight into the heart of danger again instead of heading north has him questioning his own sanity. But he has a year-old promise to a little boy to honor…find the slave girl Evangeline and conduct her to freedom.But Evangeline is not the teenage girl Quin expected; she's a very beautiful woman, and from all appearances, she is most definitely not the saint she'd been painted. Quin is angered and appalled by the woman Evangeline appears to be, but it will not stop him from fulfilling his promise, despite her protests.Evangeline has dreamt of fleeing the oppression and enslavement of her life every day since she was old enough to know what the word slavery meant. But she has secrets Quin knows nothing about, including a beloved daughter captive by her master as leverage against her.When Quin learns the truth and volunteers to go after Evangeline's daughter, his rescue mission lands him with more slaves than the one little girl he went to fetch, making the journey north even more complicated and dangerous.As the tension-filled months pass, Quin and Evangeline's antagonistic start gradually changes to respect and friendship, and eventually the love of a lifetime. But happy every after is as much a dream as freedom unless they can reach safety in Canada…a hope for the future made even riskier when both would rather die than be returned to a life of slavery.