Brenda Novak - No One But You

New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak welcomes you to Silver Springs, a picturesque small town in Southern California where even the hardest hearts can learn to love again...

Struggling to make ends meet after a messy divorce, Sadie Harris is at the end of her tether. Her waitressing gig isn’t enough to pay the bills let alone secure primary custody of her son, Jayden, a battle she refuses to lose. Desperate, she accepts a position assisting Dawson Reed—the same Dawson Reed who recently stood trial for the murder of his adoptive parents. Joining him at his isolated farm seems risky, but Sadie is out of options.

Dawson has given small town Silver Springs plenty of reasons to be wary, but he’s innocent of the charges against him. He wants to leave his painful past behind and fix up the family farm so he can finally bring his dependent sister home where she belongs.

As Sadie and Dawson’s professional relationship grows into something undeniably personal, Sadie realizes there’s more to Dawson than the bad boy everyone else sees—he has a good heart, one that might even be worth fighting for.

Praise for the novels of New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak

“Brenda Novak is always a joy to read.”

—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Brenda Novak doesn’t just write fabulous stories, she writes keepers.”

—Susan Mallery, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“The author deftly integrates topics such as coming to terms with one’s past and the importance of forgiveness into another beautifully crafted, exceptionally poignant love story.”

—Library Journal on Discovering You

“This Heart of Mine had such beautiful details that it captured my full attention—and had me sniffling and smiling while waiting to board my plane.”

—First for Women

“Another engrossing addition to Novak’s addictive series.”

—Library Journal on This Heart of Mine (starred review)

“With great sensitivity and an exquisite flair for characterization, Novak explores the ideas of redemption, forgiveness, and the healing power of love. This Heart of Mine is a potently emotional, powerfully life-affirming contemporary romance.”

—Booklist (starred review)

Booklist voted This Heart of Mine one of their Top 10 Romances in 2015.

Also by Brenda Novak

FINDING OUR FOREVER

THE SECRETS SHE KEPT

A WINTER WEDDING

THE SECRET SISTER

THIS HEART OF MINE

THE HEART OF CHRISTMAS

COME HOME TO ME

TAKE ME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

HOME TO WHISKEY CREEK

WHEN SUMMER COMES

WHEN SNOW FALLS

WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES

IN CLOSE

IN SECONDS

INSIDE

KILLER HEAT

BODY HEAT

WHITE HEAT

THE PERFECT MURDER

THE PERFECT LIAR

THE PERFECT COUPLE

WATCH ME

STOP ME

TRUST ME

DEAD RIGHT

DEAD GIVEAWAY

DEAD SILENCE

COLD FEET

TAKING THE HEAT

EVERY WAKING MOMENT

And look for Brenda Novak’s next Silver Springs novel

UNTIL YOU LOVED ME

available soon from MIRA Books.

No One but You

Brenda Novak

www.mirabooks.co.uk

Dear Reader,

I am so excited to introduce you to my brand-new series! Silver Springs is a fictional town of five thousand people modeled a little after the real town of Ojai, California, population 7,500. Like Ojai, it boasts some lovely Spanish colonial revival architecture and is nestled in a picturesque valley about ninety minutes northwest of Los Angeles. In order to keep the town unique, chain stores aren’t allowed. Instead, local business development is encouraged, and the whole area has an artsy, almost spiritualistic vibe. At the edge of Silver Springs, you’ll find a boys ranch called New Horizons, where a caring woman named Aiyana Turner takes in troubled boys and turns them into admirable men.

The idea for this book struck me after watching a true-crime show where the son of an older couple came home one night to the farmhouse where he lived with his parents to find them murdered—and wound up getting blamed for their deaths. Several years later, the police were able to prove he hadn’t killed them, but I could only imagine how having something like that happen would change someone’s life. And since I was planning to write about men who’d once attended the same boarding school—some due to difficult backgrounds where they were orphaned or abandoned—I thought this idea would be really intriguing to explore, especially because the police would likely be even more suspicious of an adopted son with a reputation for causing trouble. Once the idea was born, my hero, Dawson Reed, stepped out of my imagination and onto the page, and, as you will soon see, he is not the kind of person most people think he is. I love to write stories like this one, where the characters overcome incredible odds and wind up proving—to themselves and everyone else—that they are far more than anyone expected. Here’s hoping you enjoy your visit to Silver Springs.

I love to hear from my readers. Feel free to interact with me on Facebook at Facebook.com/BrendaNovakAuthor, or sign up for my monthly newsletter at brendanovak.com/newsletter-sign-up. I’d love to be able to stay in touch with you.

Happy reading!

Brenda Novak

To Brenda Novak’s Online Book Group, because they constantly remind me of the value and power of story.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Praise

Booklist

Title Page

Dear Reader

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

1

The century-old farmhouse looked haunted...

Sadie Harris wasn’t particularly superstitious, but knowing two people had been murdered in an upstairs bedroom of this isolated white clapboard home didn’t make her eager to work here. She parked outside the gate and sat in her car, engine off, angling her head to see through the passenger window.

Dawson Reed, who’d placed the newspaper ad she’d responded to, was out of jail, all right. A pickup truck that didn’t appear to be in much better shape than the rattletrap Chevy El Camino her mother’s brother left her when he died three months ago sat in the drive. Not only that, the 2x4s that’d blocked the doors and windows of the house for the past twelve months had been pried away, some of the weeds had been trimmed in front and the mailbox had been straightened and reinforced. But Dawson hadn’t been home long enough to get around to everything that needed tending to. What with the vandalism that’d occurred in his absence and the deferred maintenance that went along with having a house sit empty for so long, he had his work cut out for him.

She wondered what he had to be thinking, now that he’d returned to Silver Springs. After a year spent fighting for his freedom, he’d narrowly escaped a verdict that would’ve landed him on death row. But he couldn’t be too excited to rejoin this small community. Regardless of what the jury said, he was guilty in the minds of all those who lived around here.