Guarding the Mountain Man's Secret

About the Book

Book: Guarding the Mountain Man's Secret

Series: Brothers of Sapphire Ranch, Book 7
Author: Misty M. Beller

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: January 28, 2025

In the wild mountains of the Montana Territory, the Coulter ranch is a place of family, second chances…and a hidden fortune.

Miles is the youngest of six brothers, and he’s spent most of his life helping guard the family’s secret: a sapphire mine hidden deep within the Montana mountains. With threats from a past enemy looming, a survey team’s arrival stirs suspicion—until he meets Clara Pendleton, whose presence captivates him.

Clara Pendleton joins her uncle on a survey team tasked with mapping the coming railroad’s path, only to find herself entangled with the enigmatic Coulter family. When her uncle’s accident leads them to find refuge in the Coulter home, Clara is irresistibly drawn to Miles Coulter and his quiet strength. This feels like the haven she craves…until a series of mysterious attacks endanger everyone on the ranch.

As Christmas approaches, a sleigh ride through a snowy wonderland fans the growing spark between Clara and Miles into a flame, but a broken runner leads Clara to discover the family’s secret. Now she’s faced with an impossible choice: betray the man she’s coming to love or risk the lives of his entire family—and her own uncle.

From a USA Today bestselling author comes a mountain saga filled with high-stakes adventure, forced proximity, a Christmas surprise, and love that heals wounded hearts.

About the Author

Misty M. Beller is a USA Today bestselling author with over 1 million books old. She writes romantic mountain stories, set on the 1800s frontier and woven with the truth of God’s love.

Raised on a farm and surrounded by family, Misty developed her love for horses, history, and adventure. These days, her husband and children provide fresh adventure every day, keeping her both grounded and crazy.

Misty’s passion is to create inspiring Christian fiction infused with the grandeur of the mountains, writing historical romance that displays God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of her characters.

Sharing her stories with readers is a dream come true for Misty. She writes from her country home in South Carolina and escapes to the mountains any chance she gets.

More from Misty

Surveying the Wild West: How Surveyors Mapped the Frontier in the 1870s

One of the things I love about writing historical romance is the detail I get to research for each book. So much of my research doesn’t make it into the story, but I still love to learn it!

In Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret, our heroine and her uncle are working with a group of surveyors to map out potential routes for the coming railroad.

Surveying back then was no walk in the park. These brave folks had to trek through some seriously rough terrain, lugging around heavy equipment like compasses, levels, and surveyor’s chains. The chains were a whopping 66 feet long, with 100 links! Surveyors would stretch them out to measure distances, and let me tell you, it was no easy feat.

One of the surveyor’s secret weapons was triangulation. By measuring angles between distant points and doing some fancy math, they could figure out exactly where landmarks were and create a grid of reference points across the land. This technique was a game-changer, allowing for more accurate maps that covered bigger areas.

In my story, the surveying was done for the railroad. But history tells us that later in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey stepped onto the scene with a larger mission: to create detailed maps of the entire country, including the wild, wild West. Surveyors working for this agency had their work cut out for them. They battled through dense forests, climbed steep mountains, and crossed dangerous rivers, all to gather the data needed for these maps.

So the next time you look at a map of the American West, give a nod to those early surveyors. These hardworking folks played a huge role in shaping the frontier, giving settlers the information they needed to build new lives and communities. Without their dedication and skill, the West might have remained a mystery forever!

I pray you enjoy Miles and Clara’s story in Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret!

Blessings!

Misty

Devoted to Hope's Review of Guarding the Mountain Man's Secret

Some men guard land. Some guard secrets. And some? They guard hearts. Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret delivers all three, wrapped in a story that had me completely hooked.

Miles Coulter knows the weight of responsibility—protecting what’s precious, standing firm when danger looms, and making the kind of choices that carve a man’s character into stone. Guarding is about defense and it’s about wisdom—knowing when to trust, when to fight, and when to risk everything for something greater.

Clara Pendleton is trained to map the land, to see what others overlook. But out here in the Montana wilds, she’s charting more than rugged terrain. She’s navigating the unspoken, the undeniable pull of the Coulter family’s world, and a truth that refuses to stay buried.

Misty M. Beller nailed this one. The pacing? Spot on. The setting? Stunning. The faith thread? Deep and real. When Clara finds herself backed into a corner, when the stakes skyrocket, when there’s nowhere left to turn—she does the only thing she can: "Lord, I’m sorry for not turning to You first. We need You. More than I’ve ever needed You before.”

That hit me hard. Because isn’t that the heart of faith? Realizing we were never meant to figure it all out alone? That God never fails to share His peace when we ask?

This book gave me everything I love—danger that kept me on edge, a romance that felt earned, a family I wanted to be a part of, and Christian faith that linger deep in my soul.

Guarding the Mountain Man’s Secret reminds us we don’t walk this life alone. And that sometimes, the greatest thing we can do isn’t to hold on tighter—it’s to trust the One who holds it all.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Celebrate Lit Publicity Group. I am not required to write a positive review nor paid to do so. This is my honest and unbiased review. My thoughts and opinions expressed in this book review are my own. My review focuses on writing and story’s content, ensuring transparency and reliability.