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Therefore&  He straightened and waved at her chair. His eyes narrowed
and Kate forced her slow, reluctant feet to take her back across the deep
carpet  & I have to protect my reputation. His bitter voice turned her
insides.  How much?
Kate sank into the soft cushions. Weary, she pushed down her pride.
He had to know the truth.  I m in debt, Mack, she said, her voice
breaking.  Serious stuff. Up to my neck. In a few days, I won t have a flat.
With that gone, I ll have nothing.
Her eyes closed against his cursing.  All right. You want my money?
Then it s an exchange.
 Exchange?
 I support you during your pregnancy. After that, the baby s mine.
Just because it s convenient doesn t mean it s easy
The Way Home
© 2006 N.J. Walters
 So will you marry me? Although not a particularly romantic
proposal, Rebecca Gentry seriously considers accepting because it comes
from Jake Tanner, the man who she s secretly loved for years.
Rebecca has been alone most of her life, but she s made a life she s
content with. She has her own sewing business, a lovely apartment, and
a few good friends. But it s her special friendship with Jake that has
always been most important to her. Now, he is proposing a marriage of
convenience as he finds himself in a need of a wife to help him raise his
orphaned niece.
Convince that she can teach him to share a real marriage rather than
one of convenience, she agrees to his offer. But, becoming a family is not
an easy journey for any of them. Both she and Jake have their own
insecurities and challenges to overcome if their marriage is to have a
chance to survive. But unforeseen problems test their new relationship
and threaten to destroy what they ve just begun to build.
Enjoy the following excerpt for The Way Home
Surprisingly enough, she was actually looking forward to her new life.
It would be wonderful to be part of a family, to have something else to
expend her energies on other than her work. Not that she didn t love her
work, because she did, but she knew she needed more balance in her
life. She had dreamed of having her own family for years and had almost
given up believing it would ever really happen.
The afternoon flew by as she made her plans, and by the time she
had finished supper, her anger towards Jake started to fade and her
common sense attitude reasserted itself. She knew full well that Jake
had married her to give his niece a home. It therefore didn t make any
sense to leave Casey where she was any longer than necessary. The poor
child was probably confused and afraid. The more she thought about it
the gladder she was that Jake had left immediately for upstate New York.
The frightened little girl needed her uncle now, and Rebecca knew that
Jake took his responsibilities seriously.
She would use this time alone to settle into Jake s house. By the time
he and Casey arrived, she would feel right at home. There would be
plenty of time for her and Jake when they both had less on their minds.
Time for the two of them to explore their new roles as husband and wife.
She had dreamed about him for such a long time that a few more days of
waiting wouldn t make much difference. After all, she was his wife now,
and they had a lifetime to spend together.
Rebecca swung into action as soon as she finished washing her few
supper dishes. A quick trip down the stairs to Greer s Grocery netted her
the boxes she needed to start packing up her apartment. She was no
stranger to hard work, or to going it alone, so by the time she went to bed
at eleven o clock that night all her materials and her machines were
packed and sitting next to the cutting table, the only big item she owned.
Her business was ready to be transported.
She lay awake in bed trying to estimate the number of boxes it would
take to pack her personal belongings. Not as many as it had taken to
pack up her small business. Her dishes were at a minimum, enough to
cook and feed two. She owned few books, preferring to borrow from the
library when she could. She owned a few compact discs and a small
player, but not much else besides her clothes. Her linens and quilts
would pack into her pine trunk. She saw no reason why she couldn t be
ready to move by tomorrow afternoon.
It would be no problem to get a ride out to Jake s house with her
stuff. Most of the people she knew owned trucks and Jake s farm was
less than ten miles from town. Not that far at all. She was still making
plans when she finally drifted off to sleep. Her last thoughts were to
wonder where Jake was sleeping and if he would call her anytime soon.
Jake, sprawled out on the bed in his motel room, was wishing he had
gotten there early enough to call Rebecca. The room was dark, except for
a small ray of light shining in from a street lamp. It was just as well, he
thought, as it was nothing to look at. Drab and dull, generic hotel. Cheap [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]