Christina Miller - An Inconvenient Marriage

Last-Minute Bride

Widowed reverend Samuel Montgomery is excited to start over with his daughter in Natchez, Mississippi—until he learns he’ll lose his job if he doesn’t marry. His solution: a marriage in name only to heiress Clarissa Adams, who needs a husband to win her inheritance. Though the beautiful music teacher will make a good wife, Samuel doubts he can ever truly capture her heart.

Marriage satisfies only the first provision of Clarissa’s grandfather’s will, which pits her against her cousin. And fulfilling the remaining stipulations won’t be easy between caring for Samuel’s rebellious daughter and managing an orphanage. But Samuel seems determined to stand by her side...and maybe even prove their marriage could be more than just convenient.

CHRISTINA MILLER has always lived in the past. Her passion for history began with her grandmother’s stories of 1920s rural southern Indiana. When Christina began to write fiction, she believed God was calling her to write what she knew: history. A Bethany College of Missions graduate, pastor’s wife and worship leader, Christina lives on the family’s farm with her husband of twenty-nine years and Sugar, their talking dog.

Also By Christina Miller

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An Inconvenient Marriage

Christina Miller

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08045-3

AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE

© 2018 Christina Miller

Published in Great Britain 2018

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.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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“What’s so funny?” Samuel couldn’t keep a smile from his face, enjoying the sound of her laughter.

“You are.” She smiled. “With your formality. Although Grandfather used to tell me stories of Grandmother calling him Reverend, even when they were alone.”

“And what did he call her?”

“Ducky dearest.”

He could just imagine the dowager’s response. He grinned at Clarissa. “Hmm...it has possibilities.”

The warmth in Samuel’s heart shot a grim warning, reminding him that romantic love was not for him. Sure, the dark-haired beauty before him was his wife, but only because she needed to hold on to this home, and he needed to keep his pastorate. He couldn’t treat her as if they had a real marriage, a real relationship.

She laughed again. “Let’s leave Grandfather’s terms of endearment in the past. At home, you may call me Clarissa.”

“And please call me Samuel.”

Clarissa smiled, settling this issue, if nothing else. Although the arrangement seemed too casual,

too intimate, for a wife who would never truly be

his wife.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading my second Natchez story! Since my first visit there many years ago, Natchez has been an inspiration to me. The wealthiest city in the country before the War, Natchez has since struggled to survive. But its citizens decided to give it a second chance, working hard to restore the grand old homes there. Their Garden Club Spring Pilgrimage—the inspiration for Camellia Pointe’s Spring Festival—draws droves of history lovers each year as the town opens their antebellum mansions for tours.

God offers us all a second chance—for eternal life, for love, for peace—as we place our trust in Jesus. My prayer is for you to discover that second chance as Samuel and Clarissa did, and to rest in God’s love, knowing you are restored to Him.

I’d love to hear from you! Please contact me through Love Inspired, at www.Facebook.com/christinalinstrotmilleror at @CLMauthor.

Christina Miller

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

—Lamentations 3:22–23

To my grandmothers:

Sweet grandma Ruby Linstrot, whose stories of long ago made me love the past.

Spunky grandma Violet Kahle, my fun and sassy inspiration for Grandmother Euphemia.

With thanks to...

The staff at Monmouth, the setting I chose for Camellia Pointe. Special thanks to Roosevelt, who served us his refreshing nonalcoholic mint juleps during our stay.

Steve Laube, my fabulous agent, for his wise counsel and ever-available listening ear.

Dina Davis, my smart, sweet, talented, hardworking editor and dear friend.

Jan, my preacher husband, who cheerfully does life with this writer girl.

Jesus, giver of gifts and fulfiller of dreams.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

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

Extract

Chapter One

Natchez, Mississippi

February, 1866

The cry piercing the damp winter air chilled the Reverend Samuel Montgomery’s bones even more than the wind blowing up from the Mississippi. He hadn’t heard a sound like that since Chickamauga—a cross between a rebel yell and the shriek of an anguished soul.