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His Ready-Made Family
Mason Chandler is home to meet his mail-order bride—six months too late! Little wonder Emma Jones wants to honor his letter releasing her from their agreement, especially when Mason has returned from his father’s deathbed with two adopted girls in tow. And the dark secret he’s hiding makes the homesteader feel unworthy to woo anyone.
As the new schoolteacher in Pepin, Wisconsin, Emma can support herself without a husband. Yet she’s touched by Mason’s kindness to his half sister and her orphaned companion. Taking the little girls under her wing comes naturally to Emma—and they dearly want her for their mama. Can Mason break free of his past to fight for their surprise family?
A USA TODAY bestselling author of over forty novels, LYN COTE lives in the north woods of Wisconsin with her husband in a lakeside cottage. She knits, loves cats (and dogs), likes to cook (and eat), never misses Wheel of Fortune and enjoys hearing from her readers. Email her at [email protected]. And drop by her website, www.lyncote.com, to learn more about her books that feature “Strong Women, Brave Stories.”
Wilderness Brides
Their Frontier Family
The Baby Bequest
Heartland Courtship
Frontier Want Ad Bride
Suddenly a Frontier Father
The Gabriel Sisters
Her Captain’s Heart
Her Patchwork Family
Her Healing Ways
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk
Suddenly a Frontier Father
Lyn Cote
ISBN: 978-1-474-08042-2
SUDDENLY A FRONTIER FATHER
© 2018 Lyn Cote
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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The day played through Emma’s mind.
Her shock at meeting Mason Chandler on Main Street, seeing his two little girls—the silent and troubled Charlotte, the bright and sweet Birdie—and hearing the unguarded words he’d said when he woke after falling from the roof. You’re so good. You could have been mine.
If only she was young and unmarked by war, she might have reacted differently. But for four years, she had prayed and hoped and kept up her spirits. Trusting that Jonathan, good-natured and honorable, would return whole and they would spend their life together. Instead he’d been buried in Virginia. She stopped her thoughts there.
She did not think of Jonathan often anymore. Mason Chandler returning and the words he’d said to her had brought it all back—all the pain, all the waiting. She would keep her distance from him. But then she remembered Mrs. Ashford’s remark about judgment and little Lily’s unusual reticence. Those girls, Charlotte and Birdie—how could she help them?
Well, my stories of the twin mail-order brides comes to an end, a happy one. Mason discovered that his father’s past sins were not his own and Emma learned that her heart had not died with her first love. And sweet little Birdie and Charlotte have a real family at last.
This is the fifth story set in Pepin, Wisconsin. I’ve enjoyed researching and writing about this town so rich in history, beginning with the birth there of Laura Ingalls Wilder. If you recall, Pepin was the setting for Little House in the Big Woods, the first of the Little House stories.
The romances of Sunny and Noah (Their Frontier Family), Ellen and Kurt (The Baby Bequest), Rachel and Brennan (Heartland Courtship), Judith and Asa (Frontier Want Ad Bride) and finally Emma and Mason (Suddenly a Frontier Father) have been delightful stories to write. I’ve enjoyed each one and hope you have, too.
If you’d like to keep up with my next book or check on older titles, drop by my website: www.lyncote.com. I maintain a printable booklist there. Also you can sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss what I’ll be doing. Hope you’ll keep in touch.
Blessings,
Lyn Cote
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
—Romans 8:28
To my late mother, Catherine Jean Baker.
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