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Finally A Bride
Renee Andrews
‘Just friends’ is just perfect…until love finds her at Willow’s HavenHer dreams of love haven’t worked out, but veterinarian Haley Calhoun intends to grant an orphaned boy’s wish. She’ll heal Eli’s injured puppy—while resisting his charming counselor at the children’s home, Gavin Thomason. Still mourning the loss of his wife and baby, Gavin believes he can’t commit again. But in losing their hearts to Eli, will Haley and Gavin discover they’ve found the family they need?
“Just friends” is just perfect
...until love finds her at Willow’s Haven
Her dreams of love haven’t worked out, but veterinarian Haley Calhoun intends to grant an orphaned boy’s wish. She’ll heal Eli’s injured puppy—while resisting his charming counselor, Gavin Thomason, at the children’s home. Still mourning the loss of his wife and baby, Gavin believes he can’t commit again. But in losing their hearts to Eli, will Haley and Gavin discover they’ve found the family they need?
RENEE ANDREWS spends a lot of time in the gym. No, she isn’t working out. Her husband, a former All-American gymnast, owns a gym and coaches gymnastics. Renee is a kidney donor and actively supports organ donation. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys traveling with her husband and bragging about their sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren. For more info on her books or on living donors, visit her website at reneeandrews.com (http://www.reneeandrews.com).
Also By Renee Andrews (#u51fd3d63-d875-5c85-b65b-75e5d634af57)
Love Inspired
Willow’s Haven
Family Wanted
Second Chance Father
Child Wanted
Finally a Bride
Healing Autumn’s Heart
Picture Perfect Family
Love Reunited
Heart of a Rancher
Bride Wanted
Yuletide Twins
Mommy Wanted
Small-Town Billionaire
Daddy Wanted
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Finally a Bride
Renee Andrews
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08243-3
FINALLY A BRIDE
© 2018 Renee Andrews
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 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.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Delight thyself also in the Lord:
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
—Psalms 37:4
“I need to get back.”
She knew better. He didn’t need to get back; he needed to get away.
But she wasn’t giving up that easily.
“Today, you were an entirely different person when we drove to the farm, like someone I’d actually like to have as a friend. But then you were downright rude, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.”
If possible, his jaw clenched tighter. Then he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat.
Haley had no idea if he was praying...or counting to ten.
Either way, he’d made her angry.
“Gavin, I’m volunteering my time for this program, and it’s going to be a lot of time, from what I can tell. Maybe I should ask if they can get someone else to work with me. If you don’t want to...”
“No, I want to do this. And what happened at the barn had nothing to do with you,” he growled, his tone filled with heated emotion.
How could she work with this bear of a man?
Dear Reader (#u51fd3d63-d875-5c85-b65b-75e5d634af57),
I’ve wanted to write Haley’s story for quite some time, from the moment she was introduced in Bride Wanted and again in Yuletide Twins. She was the classic “always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” I hope you enjoyed seeing her dream finally come true.
My goal for this story was to portray how much we need God in all of life’s circumstances, not only when people exceed our expectations, but also when they let us down. Haley had been hurt in the past. Gavin, too, losing everything he cared about in the span of a few hours. But life often disappoints. God never does.
As always, I welcome prayer requests from my readers. Write to me at Renee Andrews, P.O. Box 8, Gadsden, AL, 35902 or through my email at renee@reneeandrews.com and I will gladly lift your requests to our Heavenly Father in prayer.
If you would like to keep up with me, my family, my books and my devotions online, please sign up for my newsletter and join my Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/AuthorReneeAndrews (http://www.Facebook.com/AuthorReneeAndrews).
Blessings in Christ,
Renee
This book is dedicated to
our youngest son, Kaleb Zeringue, and
his beautiful wife, Kaiyla Zeringue. May God
bless each and every day of your life together.
Contents
Cover (#ue124f18e-f5f7-537f-b1ff-fafdef7b23dd)
Back Cover Text (#u99d5257e-8274-509e-8866-e57808e61ad7)
About the Author (#u06a6c9f0-74df-5c69-945c-698586492927)
Booklist (#u72c7210f-b981-5be0-a7c6-c1c0b239173b)
Title Page (#u889f3d86-7270-5c62-affa-77fd1137ddaf)
Copyright (#u3fe172e7-c32a-51e7-81b1-cb9c0feb84de)
Bible Verse (#u9c1910ca-8440-5deb-8e3b-338d6c127955)
Introduction (#u02f6a13d-daad-5e30-b315-69ad4f11263f)
Dear Reader (#u9c1afb0b-4044-5419-a098-e069f021e9fc)
Dedication (#ud251c1ff-43fc-5896-b246-ff808fa79dc3)
Chapter One (#ud6eb8da0-aa11-538b-9e44-296ecdf97d04)
Chapter Two (#u0863f4c0-fdd9-53fd-aad0-c8d1dce72ff5)
Chapter Three (#ub53cf223-8218-529f-8112-66fe57ba9f6d)
Chapter Four (#uecee47d5-fbe7-5dd1-a39b-3c5fcda82669)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u51fd3d63-d875-5c85-b65b-75e5d634af57)
“Is he going to die?”
The little boy’s wailing question echoed down the hallway of Claremont Veterinary Services.
Her first day flying solo as Claremont, Alabama’s resident vet, and Haley Calhoun feared she was about to witness a little boy losing his best friend.
Why hadn’t Doc Sheridan waited one more day to retire?
She’d pray to God for guidance, but they weren’t exactly on speaking terms so she held that thought in check.
“Oh, dear, that doesn’t sound good, does it?” Mae Martin petted Snowflake, her finicky Turkish Angora, who was curled up on the exam table. The huge cat’s green eyes grew wide, as if she were extremely annoyed by the little boy’s cries.
“No, it doesn’t.” Haley hoped her sole employee, Aaliyah Smith, could assess and handle the situation long enough for her to complete Snowflake’s annual checkup. “Mrs. Martin, Snowflake is doing fine, other than the dry-skin issue. Aaliyah has the omega fatty acid supplement I recommended up front if you want to purchase that when you check out.” She delivered the statement as quickly as possible, since the cries from the lobby had turned into pitiful, sucking whimpers.
Mae nodded before Haley completed the sentence. “Yes, dear, that’s fine.” Her silver charm bracelet and heavy bangle jingled as she waved a hand toward the door of the exam room. “You go tend to that baby out front. I’ll talk to Aaliyah about those supplements.” She reached for Snowflake’s pink floral carrier and prepared to coax her contrary pet inside.
