Defending the Heart [a Contemporary Christian Romance]

One is a stickler for the rules. The other lives to break them. But to save a forgotten hero, they’ll have to find a common faith.Camille “Cami” Foster is the rising star of the Tarrant County Public Defender’s Office. She’s disciplined, “By-the-Book,” and keeps her life as organized as her color-coded legal briefs. For Cami, the law is a sacred tool of justice—until she’s assigned to co-counsel with the office’s biggest headache.Dustin Rhodes is a “Chaos Agent” with a crooked tie and a silver tongue. He relies on gut instinct, street smarts, and a “neighborhood whisperer” charm that infuriates Cami. Haunted by the loss of his own veteran brother, Dustin cares more about the man than the statute, even if it means coloring outside the legal lines.When they are assigned to defend Benny Witten, a homeless Marine veteran accused of a violent felony he claims he didn’t commit, the clash between Cami’s rigid order and Dustin’s reckless passion reaches a breaking point. Benny is a man broken by the ghosts of Fallujah, and to the Tarrant County legal machine, he’s just another “lost cause” to be processed and imprisoned.As the trial looms, Cami and Dustin must navigate a landscape of grainy security footage, uncooperative witnesses, and their own deep-seated scars. From the quiet banks of the Trinity River to the neon grit of the Fort Worth Stockyards, they discover that defending Benny is about more than just a “Not Guilty” verdict—it’s about the restoration of a human soul.In the heat of the courtroom and the silence of a shared prayer, the professional barriers begin to crumble. Cami and Dustin realize that while the law can provide a verdict, only Grace can provide a future.”Defending the Heart” is a stirring legal drama about the power of being seen, the weight of hidden burdens, and the beautiful, messy ways God uses the most unlikely partnerships to bring His children home.