Lisa Jackson - Confessions - He's The Rich Boy / He's My Soldier Boy

LOVE AND TRUST DON’T ALWAYS GO HAND IN HAND...

HE’S THE RICH BOY

Young love—that was what Nadine and Hayden had. The kind of love that captures the soul and never dies. That is, until Hayden’s father swindled Nadine’s family, and they didn’t see each other for thirteen years.

When his father suddenly dies, Hayden returns home to the family’s lakeside mansion—and to his first love. But Nadine and her two young sons aren’t quite ready to trust again. Soon Hayden is left trying to work through mistrust and misinformation to gain the love of the girl no amount of money could make him forget....

HE’S MY SOLDIER BOY

Dark, sexy and dangerous, young Ben Powell could steal kisses as deep and stormy as Whitefire Lake. But when he cruelly accused Carlie Surrett of unthinkable sins, he left her in the dust of her shattered dreams.

Now, steelier than ever after his stint in the army, Ben is back—making Carlie curse the love that all but destroyed her...and the volcanic passion that still sears her soul.

Dear Reader,

I’m thrilled to be telling you about Confessions. This book contains two novels in the continuing story of Gold Creek and the Legend of Whitefire Lake. You met some of the characters in Secrets and Lies, my earlier novel that included the stories of Jackson Moore and Rachelle Tremont in He’s a Bad Boy, and Heather Tremont Leonetti and Turner Brooks in He’s Just a Cowboy. Now, the saga continues!

In Confessions, another 2-in-1 volume, you’ll meet Nadine Warne, a struggling single mother, and Hayden Garreth Monroe the IV, the richest boy in town, in the first story, He’s the Rich Boy. Then Carlie Surrett and Ben Powell take center stage in the final book, He’s My Soldier Boy. Their tales are both heartwarming and intriguing. I think you’ll like them.

I remember writing these novels when my children were adolescents. Recently one of my grown sons picked up He’s the Rich Boy and noted that one of the scenes in the book, the part where Nadine’s two not-so-perfect sons arrive home from school, was very reminiscent of his own life. He read the scene aloud and asked me if I’d used events from my life (as well as his and his brother’s) for this particular book.

“Uh, not all of them,” I told him. But the truth of the matter is, yes, those two rambunctious fighting boys, they do “remind” me of my own. Hmmm. I wonder why?

Anyway, enjoy Confessions! I’ve had so much fun going back to Whitefire Lake and being reunited with these characters. I hope you do, too!

If you want to catch up with me and my other books, please visit www.lisajackson.com or “friend” me on Facebook and join the conversation. It can get interesting!

Keep reading,

Lisa Jackson

Confessions

Lisa Jackson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

He’s the Rich Boy

Contents

Prologue

BOOK ONE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

BOOK TWO

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Prologue

Whitefire Lake, California

The Present

NADINE WARNE RUBBED the kinks from the back of her neck and considered taking a bubble bath to soothe her stiff joints. How long had it been since she’d allowed herself the luxury of an hour soaking in a tub of hot water?

Years.

She simply didn’t have the time. With the tiring job of cleaning other people’s houses, a smaller business on the side that she was trying to get off the ground while single-parenting two rambunctious preteen boys, there didn’t seem to be a minute she could call her own.

“Such is life,” she told herself pragmatically.

She carried her mops and pails and boxes of wax and cleansers into the house and stashed them inside the cupboard near the back door of her small cabin. The house wasn’t much, but it was paid for and the land it rested on, on the south side of the lake, would be valuable someday. She was counting on it. This small plot of land was her investment for the future—her boys’ education, and nothing, not heaven or hell, would take it from her. She’d been robbed of the education promised to her, and ever since then she’d vowed to herself that her children wouldn’t have to make that particular sacrifice.

And she wouldn’t be as foolish as her father and believe in a rich man’s dream. She scowled and refused to think about the wealthy bastard who had swindled her father.

She’d put all her hopes and dreams into this little piece of real estate. Even though the prime properties were located on the north shore of Whitefire Lake, soon enough there would be no more land for wealthy people to build dream homes and they would have to search elsewhere; most likely on the south side.

Nadine was convinced that there would come a time when water-frontage upon Whitefire Lake would all be worth a pretty penny. At least she hoped so. That was why, when she and her ex-husband, Sam, had divorced, she’d fought like a terrier to keep this old cottage.

She smiled as she reheated a pot of coffee and glanced at the kitchen. Large enough for a table pushed against one wall, the cozy room boasted a few pine cabinets, a small expanse of wooden counter and one window surrounded by red gingham curtains that matched the three place mats stacked beneath the napkin holder and salt and pepper shakers on the table. Not much, but all she could afford.

In addition to the kitchen there was a living room, single bath, one bedroom, a large pantry converted into her sewing room and “office” and a loft with bunk beds for the boys. Not exactly the Ritz, but comfortable enough, and what John and Bobby lacked in creature comforts was surpassed by the fact that they lived practically in the wilderness, with the lake a bare twenty yards from the front porch. Frogs, deer, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons and birds were in abundance. Her children, whether they knew it or not, were far from deprived.

They should be returning soon, she thought, and glanced toward the road. Each day after school they rode their bikes to a neighbor’s house where they stayed until Nadine arrived home. John was old enough to protest being “babysat,” but both boys were too young to fend for themselves even for a few hours.

Pouring coffee into a mug, she wondered how things would have worked out if, as she’d hoped, Turner Brooks, a rancher she worked for, had shown her the least bit of interest. She’d been attracted to him for years, even fantasized that he would someday open his eyes and fall in love with her, but it hadn’t happened. He’d found his own true love with Heather Leonetti, a beautiful girl from his past, and Nadine had surprised herself in letting go of her dream so easily. Maybe she hadn’t really loved him after all. Maybe, after the pain of her divorce, Turner had seemed a safe haven—a no-nonsense cowboy who talked straight and didn’t promise her the moon.

Unlike the other men in her life.

Sam, her husband, had been a dreamer who’d spent too many hours drinking to actually make any of his plans come together, and the other man—the one to whom she’d given her heart so many years ago—was a forbidden and bitter thought.

Hayden Garreth Monroe IV. Even his name sounded as if it had been hammered in silver. At one time Hayden had been the richest boy in town, with only the Fitzpatrick boys, his cousins, for rivals to the title. And she’d been silly enough, for a brief period, to think that he cared for her.

Stupid, stupid girl. Well, that was all a long time ago, thank God.

She heard gravel crunching on the drive and knew the boys and their bicycles had arrived. Hershel, the mutt they’d inherited when someone had dumped him as a half-grown pup, yipped excitedly at the back door. With the pounding of quick feet and a few insults hurled at each other, the boys scrambled into the house, Hershel jumping at their heels.