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A Family For Andi
Eileen Berger
FROM MILLIONAIRE HEIRESS…TO SMALL-TOWN BRIDE?Heiress Andi Barker came to Sylvan Falls on a well-intentioned but secret mission: to investigate her long-lost relations and the rift that had separated her family for generations.Andi easily concealed her identity, but couldn't hide her beauty and gentle spirit from the wonderful McHenrys–especially their adopted son, Keith. Strong, handsome and kind, Keith quickly won her heart…and Andi dreamed of staying in his picture-perfect small townn–and his warm embrace–forever.But soon Andi's love and faith were put to the test. She prayed for the courage to reveal the truth#151;and the strength to face the consequences….
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u1d80f08f-3c30-5e16-977f-6a7ecd58a0be)
Excerpt (#u1eb377fd-d8a2-58c9-bb8f-1f709c0b163e)
About the Author (#ud7cf84b9-274d-589d-a5cc-ce6d523b8ccc)
Title Page (#u355c91a0-8f94-51bc-bd33-31416903ea0f)
Epigraph (#u363f9431-9970-57ec-8331-07bdb82035ba)
Dedication (#u727079d6-0741-5283-819c-ab83bd628fd3)
Chapter One (#u054da3ba-75f9-516b-8c8b-c46b542a6bab)
Chapter Two (#u5017402b-075b-5bf3-bfa8-03b1ab0396e5)
Chapter Three (#u97894ef8-d535-512f-b274-1672f3ec7f50)
Chapter Four (#u9ef14343-91c4-5dfc-b638-cef99fcbc392)
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)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Dear Reader (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
She raised her hand to ring the bell, but the door opened and he was there.…
Andi walked insideand into his arms. No words were spoken, none needed. Her face was buried against his shoulder and neck, his cheek against her hair.
So this is what it’s like to come home to Keith.
She had no idea how long they remained like that. It was she who finally forced herself to draw away as his hands moved slowly down her arms, taking her hands in his.
How could I have let this happen? What have I done?
“I’m sorry…” She didn’t want to look into his beautiful brown eyes, which could show such tenderness.
He lifted her chin with one finger. “Look at me, sweetheart. Please…It’s all right. Don’t be afraid.”
It’s not you I don’t trust. I had no idea that in one short week I could fall in love! With a man whom there’s no chance of my marrying!
And I’ve been so completely dishonest with you!
EILEEN BERGER
has been writing for many years, mostly children’s stories and poetry when her daughter and two sons were small, before having hundreds of other manuscripts published. She had been happy growing up on a farm, then living for a time in two major American cities, but feels blessed to continue living in the same north-central Pennsylvania town, Hughesville, where she and her husband, Bob, raised their now-grown children.
She is active in writing circles as speaker, teacher, board member, panelist, conference director and contest coordinator, but is especially grateful for the West Branch Christian Writers, the wonderful critique/support group without which she says she might never have got even the first of her six novels published.
A Family for Andi
Eileen Berger
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Ask and it will be given you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be
opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks
the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:7-8
To Bob,
the man I love more than life itself.
No wonder I like writing romances!
Chapter One (#ulink_cf03732f-cf94-5812-a931-5488e3a5e244)
Andrea Barker lowered the hood of her secondhand car, hoping she’d followed the mechanic’s instructions correctly. She knew little about motors, and her intention was not to fix this one but to make it break down.
She was limping more than usual, but should have expected that; she’d not tried driving long distances since the accident.
The trip from Chicago had been taxing, even though she stayed overnight in Ohio and stopped every few hours to walk a while. Now, getting back in the car, she massaged her right knee and leg before pulling the door shut, fastening the seat belt, and turning the ignition key.
The engine started, and Andi smiled. She was here in Pennsylvania. She took a moment to check her appearance in the rearview mirror before pulling out onto the highwayand resisted the urge to run a comb through her below-shoulder-length auburn hair or to apply color to her fairly full lips. The blue eyes looking back at her sparkled with anticipation.
There was a strange grinding sound, but the car handled fine, as the man who cared for their vehicles had promised.
Hurdle number one taken care of!
If only the rest would go this smoothly! Dad, though apparently understanding her concerns, had argued against her “harebrained scheme,” but she’d been adamant. “I really want to meet my cousinsget to know them. I realize there’s been an estrangement ever since your mother left when still in her teens, but…”
“They treated her very badly, Andi.”
“But that was a previous generation. Hopefully this one’s better.”
“I don’t want you hurt like your grandmother was.”
“Well, someone’s got to find out about themat least how they handle what money they have now and what they’d likely do with a windfall, that sort of thing.”
“You think they won’t be on their best behavior with you there?” His heavy brows came almost together in that way that used to make her fidget before she learned to recognize the difference between frowns of concentration and those of disapproval.
“They’ll have no reason to be suspicious.”
He sat there shaking his head. “You’ve always liked fantasies, romances, and other not-for-real stuff. I’m afraid, my dear, that what you’re proposing falls into one of those categories. You expect to invade the town of Sylvan Falls, observe our relatives, win their confidence, and determine within a few days if giving them a large sum of money is a sound idea?”
When put like that, it did sound like an ambitious undertaking. “I don’t expect to accomplish it in a couple of days.” That had been months after the death of JonJonathan William Bascomb IIIand she was still on crutches, emotionally as well as physically. They’d grown up together and had been in the same grade from preschool through ninthuntil his grandparents had enrolled him at Madison Academy to prepare for an Ivy League education.
Andi stayed in public schools, but they remained good friends. Even while he was at Yale and she at Michigan State, they had long conversations on the phone and were often together during holiday and summer breaks.
But then, on his twenty-first birthday, he came into that inheritance from his paternal grandmotherand things were never the same. “Jon would be alive today if it weren’t for all that money!” Andi had cried out as she sat with Dad in his den. “He had no conception of what to do with itwhat he should do with it.”
“You must admit that most of his folks’ decisions have been good ones, Andi. The academy. Yale…”
“But he’d never handled moneymuch money. Whatever he wanted, he boughtthe sailboat, the sports car, everything. And he was so generous and loving, always doing for others…”
Tears filled her eyes, remembering the plane he’d chartered to take twenty-seven friends to Paris last fall, to help celebrate his twenty-seventh birthday. And the diamond necklace he had insisted that she accept last Christmas. “And that led to disaster when his new ‘friends’ proved only too eager to help spend his wealth.”
Her father leaned back, raising the footrest of his cordovan leather recliner. His glance circled the big room, with its thousands of books, and all those snapshots of Andi, showing her eyes, fair coloring and regular features to be much like his own, though more feminine. “You’re convinced twenty-one’s too young for that much responsibility?”
“If a person hasn’t had experience with money, any age may be ‘too young.’ I appreciate your insisting that I learn about finance and investingbut Jon’s inability to handle it makes me concerned about our Pennsylvania cousins. I don’t want others destroyed by receiving large amounts.”
She leaned forward to look into his clear dark blue eyes. “I know we’ve discussed giving a sizable amount up front, with the rest in trust funds, but if they should be mean-spirited people whose love of money hurts them or others, even that’s no favor.”
She knew her father was a soft touch, and some found it easy to take advantage of his generosity. She almost reminded him about Mother’s only cousin, Lynne. They’d helped her out of two major jamsif they hadn’t, she’d have been in jail for years. But they made it clear that second time that there’d be no more money from them, ever.
Jon’s being killed was almost too painful to think about. Andi had known the inevitability of Mother’s death from cancer while she was a junior in collegebut not Jon!
Dad had not been thrilled at the possibility of having Jon as a son-in-law, but he grieved withor forher. She noticed he’d made changes in his own life since thenlosing that extra twenty pounds, cutting out smoking, watching what he ate, and exercising regularly.
She understood his urgency when speaking of updating his will, of making all those changes. “I’m glad you’re setting up the Barker Foundation, Dad,” she assured him, “and I’m all for the endowments to our alma maters and gifts to other schools and charities. But I’m concerned about your leaving so much to The Cousins.” She’d never thought of them as individuals, with personalities. “What effect might sudden wealth have on them?”
He pursed his lips. “Would you feel better if I hired a private detective? There’s a good one I’ve used.”
“I hope you didn’t have him checking on my friends.” It was a statement, not a question, and he neither denied nor confirmed it. Actually, she’d prefer not knowing if he’d investigated Jon. Or others. “Perhaps he could get basic information, since all we know is names.”
“I do know more than that, though nothing about what makes them tick, or how they handle finances.” He rubbed his square jaw with his palm. “We don’t have many to check, since my family wasn’t very prolific. Including us.”
She reached from her high-backed chair to place a hand on his forearm. “At least you had me.”
“Impossible to forget we were blessed with the best.” Smiling, he covered her hand with his. “As you know, I’m Katherine’s only child, and MaryJean is the only cousin in my generationthough she’s about fifteen years older.
“Her father, Michael, and my mother were brother and sister, but had no real relationshipnot even letters back and forth, or phone calls. I never met him nor his daughter, but did learn that Mary Jean’s husband, Philip McHenry, died some years ago, leaving his wife and three grown children, who’d be your second cousins.
“They all live in or near Sylvan Falls…”
As they were finishing dinner a week later, Dad handed her a thick folder. Pushing aside her half-eaten strawberry sherbet, she riffled through the annotated sheets containing information on the McHenrys. “You’ve read all this?”
“Just skimmed. It arrived just before this morning’s staff meeting, and I had appointments all day.”
Until recently she’d been unaware of how demanding his schedule was, and how thoroughly he knew the workings of each department in the electronics company he’d founded. Now that she was here, learning the business, she had a new appreciation of both his leadership ability and acumen.
She’d agreed that she must become familiar with the work and staff of each section, but the experience was challenging. As “the boss’s kid,” she’d found herself pampered, ignored or fawned overall of which she detested.
“Dad, I want to leave for a while.…”
“That’s not a good idea, Andi. Neither for the de-partment’s sake nor for yours.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
The right corner of his mouth quirked upward. “You could find you enjoy freedom more than on-the-job training.”
“I do enjoy what I’m doing, and know how necessary it is if I’m to become your assistant.” And I think you’re at least partly teasing, she thought. “You certainly guessed this wouldn’t satisfy my curiosity. Actually, it whets my desire for personal contact.” She tapped one sheet with a forefinger. “It says here that Mary Jean runs a bed-and-breakfast. If I’m lucky, perhaps I can stay there.”
