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A Home for Her Heart
Janet Lee Barton
LOVE ON ASSIGNMENTMagazine writer Elizabeth Anderson has sparred with newspaper reporter John Talbot for years. Though they cover similar stories, John thinks Elizabeth's writing is trivial, and she finds him too boastful. So when they must work together to investigate New York City's worst tenement houses, they're surprised by the great team they make. Despite their professional rivalry, John and Elizabeth begin to trust each other as they grow from competitors, to friends, to something more. But then John makes a startling discovery that would break the story-and Elizabeth's heart-wide-open. John's always been driven by his career-can he give up one dream for another? Boardinghouse Betrothals: Hearts taking shelter-and forging new beginnings
Love on Assignment
Magazine writer Elizabeth Anderson has sparred with newspaper reporter John Talbot for years. Though they cover similar stories, John thinks Elizabeth’s writing is trivial, and she finds him too boastful. So when they must work together to investigate New York City’s worst tenement houses, they’re surprised by the great team they make.
Boardinghouse Betrothals: Hearts taking shelter—and forging new beginnings
“I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone about how lonely I was.”
John reached out and gently touched Elizabeth’s cheek. Their eyes met, and the realization of how much she liked him scared Elizabeth into jumping up from the park bench.
“Elizabeth. I didn’t mean to upset you. I—”
“You didn’t. But—” She couldn’t let him say he was sorry for the tender moment. She didn’t want to hear that. “It’s just getting late, and we should get back.”
He stood from the bench, and she slipped her hand through his arm before they began their walk back.
“Thank you for listening, John.”
“Anytime. I mean that, Elizabeth. I’ve opened up to you in ways I never have with anyone else.”
His words warmed Elizabeth’s heart. This man whom she’d sparred with for over a year had suddenly become the person she shared all her deepest hurts and fears with. He was truly her best friend. But now she wanted for more.
JANET LEE BARTON
was born in New Mexico and has lived all over the South, in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. She loves researching and writing heartwarming stories about faith, family, friends and love. Janet loves being able to share her faith and love of the Lord through her writing. She’s very happy that the kind of romances the Lord has called her to write can be read and shared with women of all ages.
Janet and her husband now live in Oklahoma and are part of what they laughingly call their “Generational Living Experiment” with their daughter and her husband, two wonderful granddaughters and a shih tzu called Bella. The experiment has turned into quite an adventure, and so far, they think it’s working out just fine. When Janet isn’t writing or reading, she loves to travel, cook, work in the garden and sew.
You can visit Janet at www.janetleebarton.com (http://www.janetleebarton.com).
A Home for Her Heart
Janet Lee Barton
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself; and discover not a secret to another.
— Proverbs 25:9
To Dan for encouraging me every step of the way,
To Tina James for seeing the possibilities for this series,
To Giselle Regus for helping to make this story better,
To Tamela Hancock Murray for being such a great agent,
& always to my Lord and Savior for showing me the way.
Contents
Cover (#u9932d2d0-1313-597d-a515-2d6c92d5a268)
Back Cover Text (#ud3e19414-c6f9-51e0-b541-501284e35f72)
Introduction (#udfa291ee-3247-5a68-92c4-595d88b6c470)
About the Author (#ud3491164-b952-5759-931e-3484980d934d)
Title Page (#u36de3d4f-24ce-5a68-9317-7df96b934f24)
Bible Verse (#u76cb3f58-fc19-58e9-be39-41e2a91286ef)
Dedication (#uf6010acc-f9fa-5a29-b41f-f81ef1894a17)
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
Epilogue
Dear Reader
Questions for Discussion
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u53f1329d-e6ee-5d01-a51b-97de804d65b0)
New York City
June 1896
John Talbot had barely reached the top step leading to Heaton House before Elizabeth Anderson rushed out the door and slammed into his chest. He reached out to steady her.
“Whoa there! Are you all right, Elizabeth?”
Her hazel eyes appeared a little dazed as she looked up at him and she seemed to be trying to catch the breath he was certain had been knocked out of her. He was nearly a foot taller than her and she was a trim woman. She had to be shaken by the collision. He felt a little breathless himself, looking down at her.
“Elizabeth, are you all right?” he repeated, keeping a firm grip on her slender arms.
She gave a short nod and took several deep breaths before finally finding her voice. “I’m fine. I think.”
She looked fine—better than fine actually. He’d never been quite this close to her, near enough to notice how thick and long her eyelashes were or how much green shot through her hazel eyes. “Are you sure?”
She gave a little nod.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to come flying out the door that way.”
“I know. It’s not your fault.”
“Where are you off to in such a rush?”
“I just received a call from my aunt letting me know my father is in town and insisting I come to dinner. I’m in a hurry.”
“Would you like me to accompany you?” Mrs. Heaton had a hard-and-fast rule that none of the women boarders were to be out alone after dark and that if necessary, one of the male boarders would accompany them.
She shook her head. “No, thank you. It’s still light out and I’ll be fine.”
She still looked a little bemused and he felt responsible. “Do you need me to come get you later?”
Elizabeth pulled away from his grasp. “No. I’ll be staying the night with her.”
Obviously she didn’t want his help. He nodded and took a step back. “Have a good evening.”
“Thank you. You have a good evening, too.” Elizabeth hurried down the steps and headed toward the trolley stop.
John watched until she boarded the trolley that pulled up just as she arrived at the corner, trying to figure out if there was a way to follow her and find out once and for all where this aunt of hers lived.
All he knew was that the trolley she took would take her to Fifth Avenue where some of the luxury apartment buildings were. And that opened up more questions than it gave answers to. Elizabeth lived at Heaton House and was employed at a women’s magazine called the Delineator, but why would she need to work if she had relatives who could afford to live in that kind of luxury? If her aunt did live on Fifth Avenue, why wasn’t Elizabeth living with her? And this was the first time he’d ever heard her mention her father. Why didn’t she live at home?
A sudden clap on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts and he turned to find Benjamin Roth, another of Mrs. Heaton’s boarders, grinning at him. “What are you standing here woolgathering about, my friend?”
John gave a small shake of his head and shrugged. “This and that.”
“Hmm. Woman problems?”
“Now why would you say that? There’s no woman in my life to be a problem and that’s the way I want it. I’ve been down that road before and I have no intention of putting myself in that position again.” After the debacle that’d cost him his job, John had decided his instincts where women were concerned were pretty much nonexistent and he’d never trust one with his heart again.
“I see. That was Elizabeth I saw hurrying away, wasn’t it? Didn’t make her mad, did you? You always seem to be trying to get a rise out of her.”
“No, Ben. I didn’t make her mad. She’s going to see that aunt of hers again.”
“Ahh, I see,” Ben said.
“No, you don’t.”
Ben threw back his head and laughed. “Whatever you say, John. But I think you protest too much. You care about that woman. It’s plain as the nose on your face.”
“Of course I care about her. Just like I do everyone at Heaton House. But you have to admit, she keeps part of her life separate.”
“We all have lives outside of Heaton House, John.”
“I suppose.” Others did, he knew that. But John’s life seemed to revolve around his work and living at Heaton House. His mother had passed away when he was only five and his father had died when John was around seventeen. He’d been on his own since then.
“However, I will concede that I’ve wondered about where Elizabeth’s aunt lives, too,” Ben said. “Michael probably knows, but I’ve never asked him. He’d think I was being nosy or that I was interested in Elizabeth in a more than friendly way, and I’m not.”
“I know. That’s why I haven’t asked, either. He’d probably say it was none of my business or tell me to ask her myself and I can just picture how that would go over.”
“Yes, but you—”
“No buts, Ben.” He slapped his friend on the back. “We seem to have come to a dead end with this conversation. Let’s go see what’s for dinner.”
* * *
