Susan A. Moore

Tender Arms of Love Susan A. Moore

DESCRIPTION Madge Evelyn McLellan was at the county fair looking on at the judging of the animals. One large sow refused to get up when her time came to be judge. All the poking and pushing could not get her to move. A giant of a man scaled the enclosure and with rippling muscles and corded arms grabbed the sow. She came to her feet. Madge was entranced with the man's physique. When he stood up, steel gray eyes met hers for a moment. Her breath caught in her throat. She recognized him as Patrick Musselman of Little York, the little town where she also lived. She could not get him out of her mind after that. He never gave her an opportunity to say anything more than a greeting to his curt "Good morning" when they happened to cross paths on a Sunday in Parson Bunyon's church. Patrick tipped his hat but never broke his stride. Patrick was a loner in Little York. His father was considered shiftless and after that business with his sister and Tom Busby, the whole family was left alone, although they provided much talk for the gossips in the town. Under the tutelage of Miss Kozinski, his teacher, Patrick did very well in school and won a scholarship to an eastern university. He returned to Little York versed in husbandry and agriculture and proceeded to turn the rundown farm into one of the most prosperous around. Shiftless he was not. It was at this time that Madge encountered him. Madge's father, George McLellan, did experience an unrequited love with Patrick's sister, Ruth, for Ruth was in love with another, Tom Busby. Things did not work out for Ruth and Tom, but later she and George hatched a plot that brought the smitten Madge and the unaware Patrick together. Their love was electric. To Madge, it seemed that Patrick brought her to the banqueting house, his banner over her was love and his fruit was sweet to her taste. To Patrick, Madge ravished his heart, his soul, his body and her love was better than wine. Their union would prove to be a love that covered all thi