Laurie Kingery - Hill Country Courtship

A Baby of Her Own

Maude Harkey is resigned to a loveless life until a baby is born—and orphaned—at her boardinghouse home. She’ll never be a wife…but she can still be a mother. Yet a boardinghouse is no place for a newborn. Enter Jonas MacLaren—a handsome, exasperating rancher with an offer too good to refuse.

Jonas can handle running a ranch—but handling his cantankerous mother is another matter. Maude matches his mother’s stubbornness so she’ll be a perfect live-in companion. But she’s there for his mother, not for him. He’ll just have to keep his wounded heart closed to her beauty, her humor, her warmth and strength—and her irresistibly adorable baby.

Brides of Simpson Creek: Small-town Texas spinsters find love with mail-order grooms!

This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

—Psalms 118:23

“Mr. MacLaren—” Maude began.

“Do you think you might call me Jonas?” he dared to ask. “At least when ’tis just us?”

Her eyes bore a guarded glint now. “I’ll call you Jonas if you wish,” she said, in that delicious Texas drawl that made everything she said land pleasantly on his ears—even what she said afterward. “But, Jonas, what do I know about you, really? You’re a man of secrets—you keep more than you give up. How am I to trust you?”

He saw it as she must see it—he was asking her to trust him without any basis in truth, without any transparency on his part.

“Trust doesn’t come easily for a MacLaren,” he said. “Not after what we’ve been through.”

“Without trust there can be no honest caring,” she told him then. “If you don’t trust me enough to show me your true self, how can I know who I’m caring for in return?”

The idea that some part of her, at least, wanted to care in return gladdened his heart, if only for a moment. But how could he bare his soul to her, knowing that if she knew everything, she’d whirl away from him in horror and disgust?

LAURIE KINGERY is a Texas-transplant-to-Ohio who writes romance set in post–Civil War Texas. She was nominated for a Carol Award for her second Love Inspired Historical novel, The Outlaw’s Lady, and is currently writing a series about mail-order grooms in a small town in the Texas Hill Country.

Hill Country Courtship

Laurie Kingery

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To Danielle, my daughter, who as a doula is dedicated to helping women achieve a good birth, and as always, to Tom, my real-life hero

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text A Baby of Her Own Maude Harkey is resigned to a loveless life until a baby is born—and orphaned—at her boardinghouse home. She’ll never be a wife…but she can still be a mother. Yet a boardinghouse is no place for a newborn. Enter Jonas MacLaren—a handsome, exasperating rancher with an offer too good to refuse. Jonas can handle running a ranch—but handling his cantankerous mother is another matter. Maude matches his mother’s stubbornness so she’ll be a perfect live-in companion. But she’s there for his mother, not for him. He’ll just have to keep his wounded heart closed to her beauty, her humor, her warmth and strength—and her irresistibly adorable baby. Brides of Simpson Creek: Small-town Texas spinsters find love with mail-order grooms!

Introduction “Mr. MacLaren—” Maude began. “Do you think you might call me Jonas?” he dared to ask. “At least when ’tis just us?” Her eyes bore a guarded glint now. “I’ll call you Jonas if you wish,” she said, in that delicious Texas drawl that made everything she said land pleasantly on his ears—even what she said afterward. “But, Jonas, what do I know about you, really? You’re a man of secrets—you keep more than you give up. How am I to trust you?” He saw it as she must see it—he was asking her to trust him without any basis in truth, without any transparency on his part. “Trust doesn’t come easily for a MacLaren,” he said. “Not after what we’ve been through.” “Without trust there can be no honest caring,” she told him then. “If you don’t trust me enough to show me your true self, how can I know who I’m caring for in return?” The idea that some part of her, at least, wanted to care in return gladdened his heart, if only for a moment. But how could he bare his soul to her, knowing that if she knew everything, she’d whirl away from him in horror and disgust?

About the Author LAURIE KINGERY is a Texas-transplant-to-Ohio who writes romance set in post–Civil War Texas. She was nominated for a Carol Award for her second Love Inspired Historical novel, The Outlaw’s Lady, and is currently writing a series about mail-order grooms in a small town in the Texas Hill Country.

Title Page Hill Country Courtship Laurie Kingery www.millsandboon.co.uk

Praise This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. —Psalms 118:23

Dedication To Danielle, my daughter, who as a doula is dedicated to helping women achieve a good birth, and as always, to Tom, my real-life hero

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

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Simpson Creek, Texas, November 1869 Gilmore House

At the ripe old age of twenty-five, Maude Harkey had begun to resign herself to being an old maid. So it didn’t bother her, that November afternoon at the Spinsters’ Club Fall Barbecue and Social, that none of the male guests particularly singled her out for attention.

As president of the Spinsters’ Club, all that mattered to her was that plenty of eligible bachelors had come from the ranches outside Simpson Creek and from nearby counties to meet the others in the club. No one was misbehaving—either from having stopped at the town saloon before arriving at the party or becoming overfamiliar with any of her ladies. Everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves.

Her friend Ella Justiss, who was due to be married next Saturday, was having a particularly good time, radiant with the joy of new love. Nate Bohannan, the devoted groom-to-be, couldn’t have been more attentive, fetching her punch and barbecued chicken, seemingly unwilling to be anywhere but by her side. By the time one of them decided it was time to have a party again, Ella would be happily serving refreshments at the party, as the Spinster “graduates” usually did, and possibly already expecting their first child.

Maude was happy for them. It wouldn’t have occurred to her to be jealous of her friend’s good fortune. And, indeed, with all the challenges that Ella had faced in her life, she richly deserved the happiness she was blessed with now. Though Maude had to wonder from time to time why she, the daughter of the late town doctor, was still unwed while so many others in the club had found their matches. And she did wonder how she was going to be able to stand continuing to live at Mrs. Meyer’s boardinghouse without her good friend Ella.