Glynna Kaye - A Canyon Springs Courtship

A Love Reunited

Councilman Jake Talford is determined to protect his small Arizona town. Even if that means keeping a close eye on former sweetheart Macy Colston. Macy has come to Canyon Springs to get the scoop for her popular blog Hometowns with Heart. The rest of the town council hopes it will bring in the tourists. But Jake’s worried she’ll turn local gossip into public scandal. He and Macy once shared dreams of a future together. Now it’s up to Jake to make her see what’s most important in life—love, faith and truth.

“Remember these are real people with real lives. They aren’t striving to catch the world’s eye.”

“But isn’t that why the town competed to have me come here?” Her lips twitched in an amusement that belied the tightness in her throat. “My blog puts forgotten little places in the limelight.”

“All I’m asking is that you not exploit anyone. I think you owe me that.”

Her breath caught. “I did the right thing.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Macy.”

She strengthened her grip on the purse in her lap. “I’m a journalist. What we’re called to share with the public doesn’t always make us feel great.”

His firm jaw clenched. “I see.”

But he didn’t. He never had. If she could go back in time, maybe she’d handle the situation differently. Or maybe she wouldn’t. A man who couldn’t support her career choice wasn’t the man for her.

“You’re not to tell anyone we knew each other previously,” he continued. “Understand?”

Not a request, a demand. She could only nod her response, also preferring no one knew she shared a past with this hard-hearted, mulish man.

GLYNNA KAYE

treasures memories of growing up in small Midwestern towns—in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois—and vacations spent in another rural community with the Texan side of the family. She traces her love of storytelling to the many times a houseful of great-aunts and great-uncles gathered with her grandma to share hours of what they called “windjammers”—candid, heartwarming, poignant and often humorous tales of their youth and young adulthood.

Glynna now lives in Arizona, and when she isn’t writing she’s gardening and enjoying photography and the great outdoors.

A Canyon Springs Courtship

Glynna Kaye

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.

—Philippians 2:3–4

If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

—John 8:36

To Helen Blackburn, my longtime “kindred spirit” and prayer warrior, whose faithfulness to God and to our friendship continues to inspire me.

Thank you.

Contents

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

Chapter Twenty-One

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

Now he’d done it. He’d unthinkingly stuck his nose smack into Macy Colston’s business. The last thing he had any intention of doing.

Standing next to the high-backed booth at Kit’s Lodge and Restaurant, Jake Talford stared down at Macy’s upturned face, barely noticing the teenage girl seated across from her who slipped from the booth and headed to the door, no doubt cowed by his stern expression.

In spite of himself, he hungrily searched Macy’s delicate, winsome features. The flawless skin he knew to be satiny smooth under his fingertips. The subtle blush caressing high cheekbones. Expressive green eyes. But what was he searching for? Evidence that the still-appealing countenance no longer masked the relentless ambition he’d come to know too well?

“Macy,” he said with a nod of acknowledgment, keeping his voice low. His heart hitched as he hurtled back in time six years to when he’d last seen the aspiring journalist. Back to the pain that had all but cracked open his heart—just like the ring box he’d flung across the room that day.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t miss the fleeting alarm that shot through them. She wasn’t any happier to see him than he was to see her.

“What are you doing in Canyon Springs, Jake?” Her soft, well-remembered voice held an edge, almost as if she suspected he’d stalked her to this small Arizona mountain community.

“I live here.” He raised a brow at her blank look. “Surprised? Slacking on research isn’t your customary style.”

Her long-lashed eyes not leaving his, she licked her lower lip in an almost nervous gesture. His grip tightened on the Windbreaker jacket fisted in his hand. Macy? Nervous? Since when?

“I thought you were from Phoenix.”

“Born there. Didn’t stay there.” But he didn’t intend to rehash his history now. He motioned to the empty seat across from her. “Your friend is gone. Does that mean you’re finished here?”

“I—”

“Good.” Even though the Saturday lunchtime crowd was relatively sparse this time of year, he didn’t care to have an audience for the conversation they needed to have. He dropped a twenty next to her coffee mug. “Then let’s take this elsewhere, shall we?”

For a moment she hesitated, as if she feared leaving the rustic restaurant’s dining room might not be a wise move. Then with a toss of her long, honey-blond hair she cast him a self-assured smile and gracefully rose. With a swirl of her floral sundress, she preceded him to the lobby. He moved to hold open the door and together they stepped onto the wooden-planked front porch. A bitter wind and a flurry of snowflakes greeted them.

April in the high country.

He took a step toward the parking lot. “My SUV’s this way.”

She didn’t budge. “Where are we going?”

“Where the whole town won’t hear what I have to say.”

An amused half smile surfaced, reminding him of the many times he’d deliberately said and done things to provoke it, an excuse to kiss it from her lips. What a fool he’d been.

“In case you haven’t noticed, Jake, I’m not wearing boots.”

He glanced down at sandaled feet peeping from beneath the flowing cotton sundress, then shook his head.

“When I left Phoenix this morning,” she enlightened him, “it was to be an eighty degree day. While your chamber of commerce sang the praises of a four season, higher-than-Denver elevation, nobody breathed a word about packing a parka and mukluks in April.”

He thrust his Windbreaker into her hands. “Put this on. Then wait here. I’ll get the truck.”

Aware of her sharp gaze focused on his back, he strode across the graveled parking lot, two inches of snow crunching under his Western boots. He thrust his hand into his trouser pocket, searching for the miniature cross that had once been his grandfather’s. He’d taken to carrying it as Granddad had, finding that the sensation of the smooth, seashell surface sliding between his fingers somehow grounded him. It reminded him not only that God was in control, but that he needed to measure up to the example his grandfather had set for him. And that meant not letting his temper get the better of him.