Lisa Bingham - Accidental Sweetheart

Her Reluctant Lawman Match

Suffragist Lydia Tomlinson won’t stand for the rule banning women from the Batchwell Bottoms mining camp...even if protesting it means “kidnapping” miners to use as leverage. And with Pinkerton detective Gideon Gault guarding the mail-order brides, the women have chosen her to distract him. Now Lydia just has to pretend interest long enough to reach their goal...

Gideon promised to uphold the camp’s code of conduct, but he’s met his match in feisty Lydia. When a gang of outlaws threatens the town, he and Lydia must put their differences aside. And as they join forces to stop the thieves, he can’t help but wish her protest will succeed...so she can stay by his side forever.

LISA BINGHAM is the bestselling author of more than thirty historical and contemporary romantic fiction novels. She’s been a teacher for more than thirty years, and has served as a costume designer for theatrical and historical reenactment enthusiasts. Currently she lives in rural northern Utah near her husband’s fourth-generation family farm with her sweetheart and three beautiful children. She loves to hear from her fans at lisabinghamauthor.comor Facebook.com/lisabinghamauthor.

Also By Lisa Bingham

Love Inspired Historical

The Bachelors of Aspen Valley

Accidental Courtship

Accidental Family

Accidental Sweetheart

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Accidental Sweetheart

Lisa Bingham

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08441-3

ACCIDENTAL SWEETHEART

© 2018 Lisa Bingham

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

“Will you be relieved to see us gone?”

When Lydia met his gaze, Gideon looked as if she’d handed him a time bomb set to explode.

Laughing, she said, “I suppose there’s no diplomatic way of answering that.”

His eyes creased in amusement. “I grew up with sisters. I’ve learned to recognize a loaded question.”

“Then let me rephrase. I know your duties will be simplified. But I wonder if you’ll miss us in some small way.”

He studied her for a moment, then nodded. “I dare say this valley will miss all of you. You’ve brought a measure of joy to what would have been a dreary winter.”

Lydia supposed she shouldn’t put too much import into his words, but she couldn’t ignore the warmth that settled in her heart.

“I’m glad we weren’t a complete chore.”

He shook his head. “Not a complete chore.”

When she would have glared at him, he laughed. “You mustn’t take yourself too seriously. After all, our time together is limited.”

Yes. But did it have to be?

The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.

—Genesis 49:26

Dear Reader,

I hope that you enjoyed Lydia’s and Gideon’s story, Accidental Sweetheart . This is the third and final book in the Bachelors of Aspen Valley series, and I wanted to make sure that I finished everything with a bang! To my delight, much like the characters themselves, as soon as I started writing, Lydia and Gideon hijacked the plot and decided to have a rollicking good time. In addition, characters from the first two books, Accidental Courtship and Accidental Family , decided to help out. I had so much fun bringing everyone together for one last happy ending.

I love to hear from my readers, so if you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me at my website, www.lisabinghamauthor.com, or through my social media sites, www.Facebook.com/lisabinghamauthor, and Twitter @lbinghamauthor.

All my best to you,

Lisa

Dedicated to Joyce, my mother.

Thank you for always believing in me.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Bible Verse

Dear Reader

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

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

February 21, 1874 Utah Territory

Gideon Gault sensed trouble. Something strange was happening in Aspen Valley, something...unsettling. A thread of agitation ran through the community surrounding the Batchwell Bottoms Silver Mine. It bubbled beneath the surface, filling him with anxiety—even though, for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why.

Pausing at the entrance to the mine, he planted his hands on his hips and squinted against the sun. For the hundredth time that day, he allowed his gaze to sweep over the street beyond.

“Problems?”

Glancing over his shoulder, Gideon acknowledged Charles Wanlass, the mine’s blasting foreman, and recent newlywed.

“I don’t know. Do things feel...odd...to you?”

Charles smiled. “Odd? In what way?”

“I don’t know. I just...”

Charles’s grin grew even broader, and Gideon grimaced. The man grinned a whole lot these days. Ever since Charles had married and adopted twin babes, Gideon’s friend existed in a perpetual bubble of happiness that was beginning to grate on Gideon’s nerves. Especially since Gideon seemed to be surrounded by miners who were afflicted with the same brand of besottedness.

“There’s something going on,” Gideon groused, trying again to explain the fact that, each day, he grew a little more skittish, a little more suspicious. He woke up with the sensation that something was off-kilter with Aspen Valley and went to bed sure that he’d missed something important.