The Hero and the Patriot (Heart of the Revolution, #2)

Quillan Morris isn't supposed to feel anything but brotherly love for the blue-eyed cousin of his loyalist friend. His father gives him the family betrothal brooch but he won't be needing it anytime soon. Not before this irrational fancy for a bonny patriot passes. Meanwhile, the burgesses ask him to carry their messages to the royal governor, who has fled to a warship in the York River. The errands allow him to walk the split-rail fence between the loyalists and the patriots, keeping the respect of both. That respect will shatter if his friend discovers Quill is fighting a losing battle of the heart.
In a world where every good thing comes from God, a man shouldn't have to choose between friendship and love. But when the war becomes personal, the time for sitting on fences is past.
Emmeline Gardiner uses the written word to escape the dreariness of her never-ending chores. When a political pamphlet reaches her hands it inspires her to the patriot cause. What the colonies need is a hero to defend their freedoms, like the great men of ancient Greece and Rome. Her idealistic thoughts are listened to with respect by her cousin's friend, Quillan Morris. He doesn't look or act anything like the heroes of her imagination. But maybe that isn't what she--or the colonies--need.

The Hero and the Patriot is the second book in the Heart of the Revolution, a series which follows the fictional romances and real conflicts of Virginians from 1774 (just before the war) through 1781 (Battle of Yorktown).