Lynna Banning - Plum Creek Bride

Cover Page

Excerpt A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth, but his eyes were calm. All at once she felt light-headed. She couldn’t look away from him. Was it possible this stiff, unfriendly man had a glimmer of understanding about how she felt? No, not possible. He planned to send his baby daughter—his own child—thousands of miles across the sea to Scotland. What kind of man would do that? Still, he had kept her secret. And he hadn’t objectedwell, not too strongly, at least—when she’d spoken up about sending his child away. Absentmindedly, Erika pressed new patterns into her mounded potatoes while she tried to think about the man who faced her across the table. Dr. Jonathan Callender held her future in the palm of his smooth, aristocratic hand. She had to try to understand him. More than that, she had to please him.!

Dear Reader Dear Reader, As the weather heats up this month, so do the passion and adventure in our romances! Let’s begin with handsome single father Dr. Jonathan Callender and his darling baby girl, who will undoubtedly warm your heart in Plum Creek Bride, an emotional new Western by Lynna Banning. Critics have described the author’s works as “evocative,” “touching” and “pure fun!” In this marriage-of-convenience tale, German nanny Erika Scharf arrives in Oregon to care for the Callender child, and finds a grieving widower who struggles to heal a town plagued by cholera. But it is Erika who heals Jonathan-by teaching him how to love again. Medieval fans, prepare yourself for an utterly romantic forced-marriage story with Susan Spencer Paul’s latest, The Captive Bride, about a fierce knight who’ll stop at nothing to reclaim his family’s estate-even marriage! Ana Seymour brings us Lord of Lyonsbridge, the daring tale of a sinfully handsome horse master who teaches a spoiled Norman beauty important lessons in compassion and love. Temperatures—and tempers-flare in Heart of the Lawman by Linda Castle, which is set in Arizona Territory. Here, a single mother is released from prison, only to find that the man who mistakenly put her there, Sheriff Flynn O’Bannion, is awfully close to capturing her heart! Whatever your tastes in reading, you’ll be sure to find a romantic journey back to the past between the covers of a Harlequin Historicals® novel. Sincerely, Tracy Farrell Senior Editor Please address questions and book requests to: Harlequin Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Title Page Plum Creek Bride Lynna Banning www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author LYNNA BANNING has combined a lifelong love of history and literature into a satisfying new career as a writer. Born in Oregon, she has lived in Northern California most of her life, graduating from Scripps College and embarking on her career as an editor and technical writer, and later as a high school English teacher. An amateur pianist and harpsichordist, Lynna performs on psaltery and recorders with two Renaissance ensembles and teaches music in her spare time. Currently she is learning to play the harp. She enjoys hearing from her readers. You may write to her directly at P.O. Box 324, Felton, CA 95018.

Dedication For Suzanne Barrett. With grateful thanks, to Yvonne Woolston, Andrew and Shirley Yarnes, Leslie Yarnes Sugai, Lawrence Yarnes and my great-grandmother, Mareia Bruhn Boessen.

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

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Epilogue

Author Note

Copyright

All at once she felt light-headed. She couldn’t look away from him.

Was it possible this stiff, unfriendly man had a glimmer of understanding about how she felt?

No, not possible. He planned to send his baby daughter—his own child—thousands of miles across the sea to Scotland. What kind of man would do that?

Still, he had kept her secret. And he hadn’t objectedwell, not too strongly, at least—when she’d spoken up about sending his child away.

Absentmindedly, Erika pressed new patterns into her mounded potatoes while she tried to think about the man who faced her across the table. Dr. Jonathan Callender held her future in the palm of his smooth, aristocratic hand. She had to try to understand him.

More than that, she had to please him.!

Dear Reader,

As the weather heats up this month, so do the passion and adventure in our romances!

Let’s begin with handsome single father Dr. Jonathan Callender and his darling baby girl, who will undoubtedly warm your heart in Plum Creek Bride, an emotional new Western by Lynna Banning. Critics have described the author’s works as “evocative,” “touching” and “pure fun!” In this marriage-of-convenience tale, German nanny Erika Scharf arrives in Oregon to care for the Callender child, and finds a grieving widower who struggles to heal a town plagued by cholera. But it is Erika who heals Jonathan-by teaching him how to love again.

Medieval fans, prepare yourself for an utterly romantic forced-marriage story with Susan Spencer Paul’s latest, The Captive Bride, about a fierce knight who’ll stop at nothing to reclaim his family’s estate-even marriage! Ana Seymour brings us Lord of Lyonsbridge, the daring tale of a sinfully handsome horse master who teaches a spoiled Norman beauty important lessons in compassion and love.

Temperatures—and tempers-flare in Heart of the Lawman by Linda Castle, which is set in Arizona Territory. Here, a single mother is released from prison, only to find that the man who mistakenly put her there, Sheriff Flynn O’Bannion, is awfully close to capturing her heart!

Whatever your tastes in reading, you’ll be sure to find a romantic journey back to the past between the covers of a Harlequin Historicals® novel.

Sincerely,

Tracy Farrell

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Harlequin Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

www.millsandboon.co.uk

LYNNA BANNING

has combined a lifelong love of history and literature into a satisfying new career as a writer. Born in Oregon, she has lived in Northern California most of her life, graduating from Scripps College and embarking on her career as an editor and technical writer, and later as a high school English teacher.

An amateur pianist and harpsichordist, Lynna performs on psaltery and recorders with two Renaissance ensembles and teaches music in her spare time. Currently she is learning to play the harp.

She enjoys hearing from her readers. You may write to her directly at P.O. Box 324, Felton, CA 95018.

For Suzanne Barrett.

With grateful thanks, to Yvonne Woolston, Andrew and Shirley Yarnes, Leslie Yarnes Sugai, Lawrence Yarnes and my great-grandmother, Mareia Bruhn Boessen.