RaeAnne Thayne - Brambleberry Shores

Two favorite Brambleberry House stories from New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne

The Daddy Makeover

Eben Spencer learned long ago to keep his eye on the ball and his emotions under wraps. This philosophy has taken him to the pinnacle of success in business. But in his personal life, it led to a shattered marriage. So it’s just him and his little girl…until he meets Sage Benedetto. She’s warm, emotional, open—everything Eben is not. Sage’s bewitching nature soon has this tycoon rethinking his future….

His Second-Chance Family

As a teenager Julia Blair found more than fun in the sun at Cannon Beach. She found a home—in the arms of her first love, Will Garrett. A bright future stretched out in front of Julia…. Though life hadn’t worked out as planned, here she is, back in Cannon Beach, with her two kids in tow. Only to find Will there, too. Julia believes Will can still make her dreams come true, but will he let her into his heart to do the same for him?

Praise for New York Times bestselling authorRaeAnne Thayne

“If you’re going to read only one book this season, make it Blackberry Summer. ” —Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“A warm, wise story with emotionally complex and intriguing characters.”

— RT Book Reviews on The Daddy Makeover (4 ½ stars)

“Well-developed characters, plus plenty of raw emotion—and humor—add up to one of the author’s finest books.”

— RT Book Reviews on His Second-Chance Family (4 ½ stars, Top Pick)

“Thayne is a gifted storyteller, whose realistic characters and absorbing dialogue weave a mesmerizing tale.”

— WordWeaving.com

Brambleberry Shores

RaeAnne Thayne

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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THE DADDY MAKEOVER The Daddy Makeover RaeAnne Thayne

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

HIS SECOND-CHANCE FAMILY

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

RaeAnne Thayne

On a scale of one to ten, Sage Benedetto would probably rate the concept of jogging before sunrise every day somewhere around a negative twenty.

While she highly doubted she would ever evolve enough that she could wholly enjoy these runs, after a month, she had at least grown to tolerate the activity. Her gut didn’t automatically cramp at just the idea of throwing on her running shoes and her muscles no longer started to spasm after the first few steps.

She supposed that was a good thing.

This would probably never be her favorite thing to do, but she had promised, she reminded herself. And while she had many faults—all of which somehow seemed more glaringly obvious in the pale light of early morning—breaking her word was not among them.

Despite the random muscle aches and her inherent dislike of just about any activity that involved sending her heart rate into heavy exertion mode, she had even come to discover an ethereal beauty in these quiet early-morning runs.

The towering sea stacks offshore glowed pink in the first, hesitant rays of the sun; this wide, gorgeous stretch of Oregon beach was empty, at least for a little while longer.

Soon the beach would be crowded with treasure hunters looking for shells or colored glass or any other gift the sea surrendered during the night. But for now it was hers.

Hers and Conan’s, anyway.

A huge red beast emerged from behind a cluster of rocks and shuffled to her, scaring up a seagull.

She sighed. This was the reason she was here before sunrise, her thigh muscles burning and her breath sawing raggedly. This rangy, melancholy creature was her responsibility, her curse, her unexpected legacy.

“There you are. You can’t keep slipping off your leash or we won’t do this anymore.”

Abigail’s big mutt, rescued from the pound right around the time Abigail rescued Sage, cocked his head and gazed at Sage out of doleful eyes the murky dark green of the sea in a November storm.

Some days these jogs along the shore seemed to lift his spirits—the only reason she carried on with them when she would much rather be home in bed for another hour.

This apparently wouldn’t be one of those days.

“I know,” she murmured, rubbing his chin as she slipped the leash back on. “She loved these kind of mornings, didn’t she? With the air clear and cool and sweet and the day just waiting to explode with possibilities. Anything-can-happen days, that’s what she called them.”

Conan whined a little and lowered himself to the sand, his head sagging to his forepaws as if he were entirely too exhausted to move.

“You’ve got to snap out of it, bud. We both do.”

She tried to swallow down the lump of grief that had taken up permanent residence in her throat during the past month. Her eyes burned and she wondered when these raw moments of sorrow would stop taking her by surprise.

She blinked away the tears. “Come on, dude. I’ll race you home.”

He gave her a long, considering look, then heaved to his feet and shuffled off in the direction of Brambleberry House, still a mile down the beach. Even at his most ponderous pace, Conan could outrun her. A pretty sad state of affairs, she decided, and tried to pick up her speed.

Focusing on the sand in front of her, she had only made it a few hundred yards down the beach, when she heard a sharp bark. She turned in the direction of the sound; Conan was at the end of his long retractable leash, sitting with a small figure above the high-tide mark in the sand.

The figure was a young girl, one she wasn’t even sure was old enough to be considered a tween. A young girl who was wearing only a pale green nightgown and what looked to be seashell-pink flip-flops on her feet.

To Sage’s deep surprise, Conan’s tail wagged and he nudged at the girl’s hand in a blatant invitation to pet him. She hadn’t seen Conan greet anyone with this kind of friendly enthusiasm for the better part of a month.

Sage scanned the beach looking in vain for the girl’s companion. She checked her watch and saw it was barely 6:00 a.m. What on earth was a young girl doing out here alone on an empty stretch of beach at such an hour, and in nightclothes at that?

“Morning,” she called out.

The girl waved. “Is this your dog?” she called to Sage with a big smile. “She’s so pretty!”