скачать книгу бесплатно
A Baby For The Minister
Laurel Blount
A minister with a heart of gold…and a pregnant bride with no groom!Jilted at the altar, Natalie Davis has no one she can turn to—until Jacob Stone steps in. The single minister’s drawn to the beautiful mommy-to-be and wants to help…even if it goes against his congregation’s wishes and could cost him his job.But when she refuses to accept charity, can he convince her she’s more than a ministry project?
A minister with a heart of gold…
and a pregnant bride with no groom!
Jilted at the altar, Natalie Davis has no one she can turn to—until Jacob Stone steps in. The single minister’s drawn to the beautiful mommy-to-be and wants to help…even if it goes against his congregation’s wishes and could cost him his job. But when she refuses to accept charity, can he convince her she’s more than a ministry project?
LAUREL BLOUNT lives on a small farm in Middle Georgia with her husband, David, their four children, a milk cow, dairy goats, assorted chickens, an enormous dog, three spoiled cats and one extremely bossy goose with boundary issues. She divides her time between farm chores, homeschooling and writing, and she’s happiest with a cup of steaming tea at her elbow and a good book in her hand.
Also By Laurel Blount (#ulink_92d2399d-9e6d-585e-8e62-86aa70e42fed)
Love Inspired
A Family for the Farmer
A Baby for the Minister
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
A Baby for the Minister
Laurel Blount
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08594-6
A BABY FOR THE MINISTER
© 2018 Laurel Blount
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)
Her little son was absolutely perfect…
“He’s zonked. Our Ethan’s a great little sleeper.”
Our Ethan. A fresh wave of confused longing rose up in Natalie, painful feelings she had no idea what to do with.
“You’ve been sleeping pretty well yourself.” Jacob smiled at her. “I’m glad. You earned it.”
“You must be pretty exhausted, too.”
Dark circles shadowed his eyes, but when their glances met, he offered her another easy smile.
“Don’t worry about me. Not the first night I’ve spent at the hospital. Besides, I had the easy job.” His tired smile widened. “You were the superhero.”
“Not me.” Natalie shook her head. “I was scared to death.”
“That’s what makes it amazing. You pushed through the fear and pain with everything you had. It was one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen. Nope,” he said as Natalie started to speak. “No arguing. I was there. I saw it. Give yourself some credit, Natalie. You’re way stronger than you seem to think.”
Dear Reader (#u8dfe819c-cc38-5fb5-8381-d2f5a16ea15e),
Hello! I’m so glad you found your way to Pine Valley, Georgia. If you read my first book, A Family for the Farmer, then we’re old friends! If not, I’m so pleased you let me share A Baby for the Minister with you. Come sit down at the kitchen table, let me pour you a cup of tea and we’ll get ourselves acquainted!
I’m a Georgia girl, so I feel right at home in this small town! It was wonderful to revisit some of the characters from my first story, and I enjoyed helping bachelor Jacob Stone find his very own happy ending. And I don’t think the good pastor has anything to complain about, do you? After all, he didn’t just end up with a beautiful bride, but he got an adorable baby son to boot!
Getting to know Natalie was a delight, too. She’s a brand new Christian, still sorting through the mistakes of her past—and she’s had some unfortunate church-related experiences that make her leery of Jacob’s kindness. But with the help of the Good Lord (along with a bossy church secretary and a rambunctious billy goat), she and Jacob overcome all the obstacles to their happily-ever-after.
This story was such fun to write that I hope these old Georgia back roads lead me to Pine Valley for another visit or two. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you! Drop me a line at laurelblountwrites@gmail.com or come look me up on Facebook. I’m always ready for a chat!
Laurel
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over
and gone; The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come, and the
voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
—Song of Solomon 2:11–12
For my beloved parents-in-law, Lamont and Annette Blount, whose kindness, integrity and strength bless all who know them, and whose real-life love story is more inspiring than any I could ever write.
Contents
Cover (#u84ea3e5c-5753-5dc6-b225-3aa55f28e571)
Back Cover Text (#u62f0cc4e-8a8f-587a-8713-00d862205006)
About the Author (#uedb7b57d-b738-5826-a8a7-2760a202a13e)
Booklist (#ulink_4b23fa2d-3461-5777-8e43-b4e1fb4d5af7)
Title Page (#u0ca16a4b-d2e2-5eca-b319-21078f91f9cf)
Copyright (#ucce5fb0c-033e-5b79-b3f3-171b1ee1972c)
Introduction (#ud696e177-3b7a-5e76-b2ee-ebcf0753e8da)
Dear Reader (#u02593cab-648d-5ef7-b7e3-60098be44783)
Bible Verse (#u57df86fc-d98e-5060-a160-d0302cbad96d)
Dedication (#ud4a52656-8845-517a-a34c-ccd50684ca5c)
Chapter One (#ua2bd185a-a5c5-5dcf-95c2-8acf91b7cf5c)
Chapter Two (#u4626cefd-0d2f-5fa5-95f4-c942b62192ab)
Chapter Three (#u7c772f6b-8332-5e5d-a1fb-853169bb75d2)
Chapter Four (#ua3191750-2563-580a-a594-65acfc76400e)
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)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u8dfe819c-cc38-5fb5-8381-d2f5a16ea15e)
Pastor Jacob Stone strode down the carpeted halls of the unfamiliar church, hoping he was headed in the right direction. He’d told the nervous bridegroom he’d be back in five minutes, and he was way past that deadline now. “My notes for the budget meeting are in the blue folder, Arlene. Keep looking.”
“Good gracious, Jacob, this desk is like a landfill.” He could hear rustling through his cell phone as his elderly secretary rummaged through stacks of paper. “No wonder you can’t keep track of anything. Okay, I’ve found the folder. What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Make copies and take them to the conference room.” Jacob checked his watch. “Then just sit in for me until I get there. I shouldn’t be more than twenty minutes late. Twenty-five, tops.”
“Five minutes late would be too much.” Arlene made a tsking sound. “You’re already on thin ice with Digby Markham because you skipped out on his businessmen’s luncheon last week. I really don’t see why you agreed to do this wedding. It’s not even at our church.”
“I told you—it was a last-minute thing. Pastor Michaelson came down with the flu.” Jacob halted in front of the third door on the left. He was almost sure this was where he’d left the groom.
“Yes, but I don’t see why Good Shepherd’s emergency is our problem, especially when you already had Digby’s meeting on the calendar. You need to start saying no.”
“We’re talking about somebody’s wedding, Arlene. I couldn’t say no.”
Well, he could have. He just hadn’t wanted to.
From the moment Digby had taken over as the chairman of Pine Valley Community Church’s board, the banker had been clogging Jacob’s schedule with endless meetings, all of which circled back to the same old topic: whether or not their little church should construct a fancy new fellowship hall.
Jacob already knew his answer to that question, and he was tired of arguing the same points over and over. A last-minute wedding made a welcome change.
Arlene sighed. “You really need to watch your step right now, Jacob. The whole church is up in arms, and people are choosing sides. Digby might be a frustrating old fusspot, but plenty of folks are backing him up on this.”
“We don’t need a new fellowship hall. There are way too many genuine needs in our community for us to waste money on a new building when the space we already have is perfectly—”
“Adequate.” Arlene finished the sentence with him. “So you’ve said. But it may surprise you to know that there are a good many people in our church who don’t agree with your ideas of what’s adequate.”
No, that didn’t surprise him. But it worried him. His church was pretty much the only family he had. He didn’t like being on the outs with them. Still, it was his job to make the right decisions, not the popular ones.
“I don’t think it sends the right message for us to fundraise right now. Since the textile plant shut down, half our town is out of work. We can talk about a new fellowship hall later, when our neighbors aren’t worried about losing their homes.”
“I’m already on your side, so you can save your breath. But I’ll tell you this—a lot of people with some serious social clout want this fellowship hall to go forward. If you don’t let them have it, you stand a good chance of losing your pulpit.”
His cranky secretary actually sounded worried. “Aw. Would you miss me, Arlene?”
She snorted. “Don’t you flatter yourself. I’m just too old to train up another new preacher. Now, enough of this jibber-jabber. You’d best get that couple married and get back here where you belong.”
Jacob sighed as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. Arlene was right. He needed to get back to Pine Valley Community as soon as he could.
First, though, he had a wedding to perform and a spooked groom to deal with.
He needed to focus. Jacob closed his eyes and murmured a prayer.
Then he sucked in a deep breath, fixed a smile on his face and pushed open the door to the choir room.
“All right! Let’s get this show on the...”
He froze, the rest of his cheery speech forgotten as he took in the scene in front of him.
Long gray curtains rippled as a chilly April breeze blew through the open window, filling the room with the smell of pine trees and wet asphalt. A crushed white boutonniere lay discarded on the carpet. The groom... What was his name again?
Adam Larkey.
