Ana Seymour - A Family For Carter Jones

Cover Page

Praise 10 TH ANNIVERSARY Special thanks to our well-wishers, who have contributed their congratulations and support. “The best historicals, the best romances. Simply the best!” —Dallas Schulze “Bronwyn Williams was born and raised at Harlequin Historicals. We couldn’t have asked for a better home or a more supportive family.” —Dixie Browning and Mary Williams, w/a Bronwyn Williams “I can’t believe it’s been ten years since Private Treaty, my first historical novel, helped launch the Harlequin Historicals line. What a thrill that was! And the beat goes on…with timeless stories about men and women in love.” —Kathleen Eagle “Nothing satisfies me as much as writing or reading a Harlequin Historical novel. For me, Harlequin Historicals are the ultimate escape from the problems of everyday life.” —Ruth Ryan Langan “As a writer and reader, I’ve always felt that Harlequin Historicals celebrate a perfect blend of history and romance, adventure and passion, humor and sheer magic.” —Theresa Michaels “Thank you, Harlequin Historicals, for opening up a ‘window into the past’ for so many happy readers.” —Suzanne Barclay “As a one-time ‘slush pile’ foundling at Harlequin. Historicals, I’ll be forever grateful for having been rescued and published as one of the first ‘March Madness’ authors. Harlequin Historicals has always been the place for special stories, ones that blend the magic of the past with the rare miracle of love for books that readers never forget.” —Miranda Jarrett “A rainy evening. A cup of hot chocolate. A stack of Harlequin Historicals. Absolute bliss! Happy 10th Anniversary and continued success.” —Cheryl Reavis “Happy birthday, Harlequin Historicals! I’m proud to have been a part of your ten years of exciting historical romance.” —Elaine Barbieri “Harlequin Historical novels are charming or disarming with dashes and clashes. These past times are fast times, the gems of romances!” —Karen Harper

Title Page A Family For Carter Jones Ana Seymour www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dedication For my daughters Kathryn and Cristina with admiration, pride and love

Excerpt “Perhaps it’s just the brandy,” Jennie said aloud. Carter looked down at her in surprise. “Perhaps what is just the brandy?” She made a little twist with her mouth. “Nothing.” “Oh.” In a minute they would be at their rooms. He would open her door and say good-night like the gentleman he promised to be. Suddenly she blurted out, “I was wondering if it was the brandy that was making me remember the night you kissed me.” She could feel him stiffen beside her. It was a relief to have let it out. Now he’d probably laugh and tell her that she was perhaps a little tipsy, and then they could part and get some sleep. Instead he said in a voice that had grown slightly hoarse, “I haven’t needed brandy to remember it, Jennie…”

Prologue

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

About the Author

Copyright

“The best historicals, the best romances. Simply the best!”

—Dallas Schulze

“Bronwyn Williams was born and raised at Harlequin Historicals. We couldn’t have asked for a better home or a more supportive family.”

—Dixie Browning and Mary Williams, w/a Bronwyn Williams

“I can’t believe it’s been ten years since Private Treaty, my first historical novel, helped launch the Harlequin Historicals line. What a thrill that was! And the beat goes on…with timeless stories about men and women in love.”

—Kathleen Eagle

“Nothing satisfies me as much as writing or reading a Harlequin Historical novel. For me, Harlequin Historicals are the ultimate escape from the problems of everyday life.”

—Ruth Ryan Langan

“As a writer and reader, I’ve always felt that Harlequin Historicals celebrate a perfect blend of history and romance, adventure and passion, humor and sheer magic.”

—Theresa Michaels

“Thank you, Harlequin Historicals, for opening up a ‘window into the past’ for so many happy readers.”

—Suzanne Barclay

“As a one-time ‘slush pile’ foundling at Harlequin. Historicals, I’ll be forever grateful for having been rescued and published as one of the first ‘March Madness’ authors. Harlequin Historicals has always been the place for special stories, ones that blend the magic of the past with the rare miracle of love for books that readers never forget.”

—Miranda Jarrett

“A rainy evening. A cup of hot chocolate. A stack of Harlequin Historicals. Absolute bliss! Happy 10th Anniversary and continued success.”

—Cheryl Reavis

“Happy birthday, Harlequin Historicals! I’m proud to have been a part of your ten years of exciting historical romance.”

—Elaine Barbieri

“Harlequin Historical novels are charming or disarming with dashes and clashes. These past times are fast times, the gems of romances!”

—Karen Harper

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For my daughters Kathryn and Cristina with admiration, pride and love

Carter looked down at her in surprise. “Perhaps what is just the brandy?”

She made a little twist with her mouth. “Nothing.”

“Oh.”

In a minute they would be at their rooms. He would open her door and say good-night like the gentleman he promised to be. Suddenly she blurted out, “I was wondering if it was the brandy that was making me remember the night you kissed me.”

She could feel him stiffen beside her. It was a relief to have let it out. Now he’d probably laugh and tell her that she was perhaps a little tipsy, and then they could part and get some sleep.

Instead he said in a voice that had grown slightly hoarse, “I haven’t needed brandy to remember it, Jennie…”

Vermillion, Nevada

May 1881

Unlike most girls who blossomed into womanhood at the same sedate pace they used to walk across the room at their first adult social, Jennie Sheridan reckoned that she’d pretty well completed the process at a gallop within the space of six weeks.

Sitting on the porch swing with a lump in her throat the size of a rolled-up pair of socks, she looked away from her sister and counted backward. Six weeks. The first snowdrops had already started appearing on the hills outside of town the week they’d lost first their mother, then their father two days later. Her entire world had turned itself inside out within six short weeks. And now this.

“When?” she asked Kate, forcing the word out and avoiding her sister’s eyes.

Kate’s voice was almost inaudible. “Well, it’s nine months, right? That would make it sometime around Christmas.”

“Some Christmas present, huh?” Jennie tried a smile, but her lips threatened to quiver, so she tightened her mouth again.