Ruth Logan - A Hopeful Harvest

You can’t always pick who you fall for…

Her orchard. His heart.

Can they successfully heal both?

When her family’s apple orchard is damaged by a storm, single mom Libby Creighton knows the harvest she’s depending on is in jeopardy. Though he prefers a solitary life, Jax McClaren has the skills to revive Libby’s orchard—and her guarded heart. But he’ll have to overcome the secrets of his past if he and Libby are going to have a fruitful future together.

Golden Grove

USA TODAY Bestselling Author Ruth Logan Herne

Multipublished bestselling author RUTH LOGAN HERNEloves God, her country, her family, dogs, chocolate and coffee! Married to a very patient man, she lives in an old farmhouse in Upstate New York and thinks possums should leave the cat food alone and snakes should always live outside. There are no exceptions to either rule! Visit Ruth at ruthloganherne.com.

Also By Ruth Logan Herne

Golden Grove

A Hopeful Harvest

Shepherd’s Crossing

Her Cowboy Reunion

A Cowboy in Shepherd’s Crossing

Healing the Cowboy’s Heart

Grace Haven

An Unexpected Groom

Her Unexpected Family

Their Surprise Daddy

The Lawman’s Yuletide Baby

Her Secret Daughter

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

A Hopeful Harvest

Ruth Logan Herne

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90072-4

A HOPEFUL HARVEST

© 2019 Ruth M. Blodgett

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 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.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

Change of font size and line height

Change of background and font colours

Change of font

Change justification

Text to speech

Jax didn’t want to help.

This place, this farm, this family had too many needs. He could handle any one of them and maintain his distance, but to face all three?

That would call to the protector in him, a side he’d buried when he’d lost four good men to an accident that should never have happened.

He needed to walk away. They’d get by, one way or another. Folks always did.

But when Libby drew the little girl in, laughing about the wind, and shrugging off the blown-down barn as if it was no big deal, he realized he had no choice.

He tugged his faded army cap into place. “I’m going to let this wind ride itself out, then I’ll be back.”

Libby frowned. “What? Why?”

“To help.” He brushed one finger to the brim of his hat. “I’ll be here first thing in the morning.” He turned, not waiting for permission that might not come.

Dear Reader,

I enjoyed writing this story because we all have so much to thank the Lord for, even in hard times.

I love blending faith and romance, and I love adding children into stories because they are the hope for the future. But Cleve was a big part of my love for this story.

The road of Alzheimer’s and dementia is not easy. It is nothing to be undertaken lightly. The scourge of Alzheimer’s runs in my husband’s family. His father, his grandfather, his uncles and all of his great-uncles had it. That makes this a personal experience for us as a new generation tiptoes into that age group.

I hope you loved Libby and Jax’s story. It was inspired when I read about this new treatment for PTSD developed by Frank Bourke to help post-9/11 victims. His work has been refined to help returning soldiers. When I read the positive results of the clinical trials, I saw my hero, Jackson Ingerson. The brain’s a funny thing. When one moment replays in our heads incessantly, it can mess with our emotional stability until we learn how to hit that mental off button without guilt.

Libby’s story hits close to home for me and so many people who come from dysfunctional families. It’s hard to live your life categorized by others’ actions, isn’t it? But she learns and rises above, and I just love her.

Thank you so much for reading this story. I love hearing from readers. You can email me at loganherne@gmail.com or through my website, ruthloganherne.com, and I love it when folks follow my friends page or author page on Facebook!

God bless you all, and I hope you love all of the Golden Grove, Washington, books.

With love,

Ruthy

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

—James 3:17–18

To our fledgling prayer group: I love you all, and what a joy it’s been knowing you and praying with you. Aren’t we blessed with the fruitful harvest of faith and healthy children? God is good… And He certainly blessed me when He put you all into my life.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher