скачать книгу бесплатно
Her Second-Chance Family
Holly Jacobs
Good can come out of bad If it wasn't for the tragic accident ten years earlier, Audrey Smith might never have taken in the three foster kids she loves so dearly. And if it wasn't for the new addition to her home–a troubled teenage thief–she wouldn't be fantasizing about Sawyer Williams.Make no mistake–Sawyer's the victim here. He's the one who was robbed by Audrey's daughter. But teaching the teen a lesson rather than punishing her makes Sawyer a superhero in Audrey's eyes. Someone who can forgive and forget… That is until another break-in rocks their community, threatening Audrey's family and her future with Sawyer.
Good can come out of bad
If it wasn’t for the tragic accident ten years earlier, Audrey Smith might never have taken in the three foster kids she loves so dearly. And if it wasn’t for the new addition to her home—a troubled teenage thief—she wouldn’t be fantasizing about Sawyer Williams.
Make no mistake—Sawyer’s the victim here. He’s the one who was robbed by Audrey’s daughter. But teaching the teen a lesson rather than punishing her makes Sawyer a superhero in Audrey’s eyes. Someone who can forgive and forget... That is until another break-in rocks their community, threatening Audrey’s family and her future with Sawyer.
“You intrigue me. You’re all I can think about.”
Audrey shook her head. “That might be why you want to kiss me, but why would I want to kiss you, Sawyer?”
“Because I’m totally endearing and charming. Because I make you laugh. But mainly because you can’t resist me and my multitude of charms.”
She laughed, which had been Sawyer’s intent. “Maybe I should say no to the kiss just to prove I can resist you.”
“Come on, Audrey. You know you want to,” he teased.
She smiled, stood on tiptoe and kissed him. Just a peck on his cheek.
“Really, you call that a kiss?”
“I call it the perfect kiss after a coffee date.”
“What kind of kiss is appropriate after a lunch date?” he asked.
“We’ll have to see how good the lunch is.”
“Challenge accepted.”
Dear Reader (#ulink_a0662ebd-a02e-570a-b6bc-020c1db80e71),
In March of 2000, a young editor at Mills & Boon’s Toronto office called me and said the magic words I’d been dreaming of, “We’d like to buy I Waxed My Legs for This?” It was such an odd title. And to be honest, someone might make the case that a romance that opens with the hero removing hair from the heroine’s legs might not be romantic (my grandmother was aghast), but I maintain, fifteen years later, that a real hero would definitely do just that!
That first sale led to more. I sold straight-up romantic comedies, sweet romances and later, emotional family dramas. But in every one of the thirty books I’ve written for Mills & Boon since, there has been one abiding theme...love. Romantic love and love of a family. I’ll confess, many of my books ask the question: What is a family? In Her Second-Chance Family I answer that question quite clearly. A person is family when you know they have your back. When they love you, warts and all. And when you mess up, family will forgive you and give you a second chance, and a third, and...
That’s what Audrey and Sawyer discover. A family is by its very definition—well, at least by my definition—always willing to give you another chance. And both of them have to decide if they can take the biggest chance of all...a chance on love. I hope you enjoy their story.
Holly
Her Second-Chance Family
Holly Jacobs
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
In 2000, HOLLY JACOBS sold her first book to Mills & Boon Books. She’s since sold more than twenty-five novels to the publisher. Her romances have won numerous awards and made the Waldenbooks bestseller list. In 2005, Holly won a prestigious Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews. In her nonwriting life, Holly is married to a police captain, and together they have four children. Visit Holly at hollyjacobs.com (http://www.hollyjacobs.com), or you can snail-mail her at PO Box 11102, Erie, PA 16514-1102.
For everyone at Mills & Boon.
I’ve been so fortunate to work
with all of you.
And most especially for
Kathryn Lye...for everything.
Contents
Cover (#u005683ed-4cf4-5eda-9f84-ec0ea2c5ab4b)
Back Cover Text (#ue057c93d-0981-599a-a2d2-a96a79e22784)
Introduction (#u8e3b43e7-278f-5cf4-b146-89278f9942c7)
Dear Reader (#uba55094b-6ae6-5290-a2b1-2a14a60a3037)
Title Page (#u01f1ca81-3f7c-5425-9dc3-cec344dac5f4)
About the Author (#ue027dcfd-b332-5bcc-b95e-927ea9e2f1a7)
Dedication (#u8d752f51-504d-5761-b007-3a8e304ac729)
PROLOGUE (#u1a5d6db4-eab2-5f49-b6ed-7618160cc9f9)
CHAPTER ONE (#uf9bc759e-49f9-5cf8-9222-115b654a3282)
CHAPTER TWO (#u44659077-9af2-5a4f-8c01-31cf270cf543)
CHAPTER THREE (#u1f71108d-c4a7-58f2-bb2a-36047d9ed344)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u0179d92d-4d95-574f-93ad-7f3480716928)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u36f9c023-e6b9-5119-9ab3-097f9c837e12)
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)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#ulink_032ba1c7-983e-5425-b54c-eda3e8684f05)
MAY IN WESTERN Pennsylvania could be a roller-coaster month. The weather fluctuated constantly. Hot. Cold. Dry. Wet.
Audrey watched as the raindrops formed ever-changing patterns on the car’s window. Tonight it was obvious that April’s showers weren’t ready to give way to May’s flowers.
As she had the thought, she realized that the showers had given way to a full-on thunderstorm.
Merrill’s boyfriend, Jude, had shown a rare streak of gallantry. He’d not only offered to give them all a ride home, but pulled the car up to the school’s front door so they didn’t get wet.
He had got soaked when he’d run to get the car, though. But that didn’t seem to bother Merrill. She kept reaching across the front seat and running her fingers through his long, wet hair.
Audrey found their touchy-feely moments embarrassing. She generally tried to keep her distance when they got like that, but right now she was sitting behind Jude in the car, so there was nowhere to escape. Even watching the rain splattering against the window didn’t help, so she turned toward Ava instead.
Ava Parker and Merrill Cooper were her best friends. Audrey couldn’t imagine her life without them.
“Graduation. I can’t believe we’re done tomorrow,” Ava repeated for about the twentieth time in the past five minutes. She let out a long, loud squeal and her poker-straight black hair swung wildly. “I can’t believe we’re adults! I almost cried when we practiced moving our tassels over.”
“That graduation rehearsal was one of the dumbest wastes of time ever,” Audrey said loudly. “I am perfectly capable of walking in a line to the stage, accepting a piece of paper and shaking a few hands.”
“Don’t forget moving the tassel,” Ava teased.
“Yeah, I definitely didn’t almost cry. Seriously, they made us practice that? I’m pretty sure that’s why I got accepted at Penn State. My impressive tassel-moving abilities.”
As if she couldn’t stand having even twelve inches between her and Jude, Merrill unbuckled her seat belt and slid to the middle of the bench seat. She snuggled close to the completely soaked Jude.
“Buckle up,” Ava commanded.
Merrill turned around and shook her head in disgust, but not a strand of her beautifully styled blond hair shifted out of place. Audrey didn’t know what product Merrill used on her hair, but it was always perfect. Even in tonight’s humidity.
“You are really thirty, right, Ava?” Merrill asked. “Thirty in an eighteen-year-old body.”
“Almost nineteen,” Ava said prissily. “My father made me promise to never ride in a car with someone who’s been drinking, or won’t wear a seat belt.”
Merrill made a big show out of finding the seat belt and clicking it in place. “There, I’m buckled,” she said, then turned back to cuddling Jude, who let out a yelp of excitement.
“We’re graduates,” he screamed, and pounded on the horn.
“Graduates,” Audrey and Merrill echoed as he continued beeping.
Ava was not a scream-with-excitement sort of girl, but Audrey noticed she was smiling as they all acted like lunatics.
Audrey might have complained about wasting time at the practice, but she was as excited as the others at the thought of graduating. Finally, she was going to start her life. She’d have a career—though she wasn’t sure what it would be—and a family. People who loved her and would always have her back.
She knew she had that in Ava and Merrill. They were more than friends. They were her family. They’d saved her in so many ways.
“We’re graduates,” Merrill hollered again. Jude and Audrey joined in, while Ava simply sat watching them.
Her life was going to be amazing. Audrey just knew it. She was going to have everything she’d always dreamed of. All the things she’d wanted but could never have.
Ava’s smile gave way to a frown. “Slow down, Jude.”
“Come on,” Audrey teased her. “We’ll only be this young once. We’re going to have to work hard again in the fall, but tonight we’re...graduates!” She screamed and Merrill and Jude joined in.
They all waited and finally Ava added her voice to their chorus.
“Graduates!” they shouted at the top of their voices, and Jude beeped the horn again.
“Gradu...”
They never finished the cheer because in that split second everything changed.
All her hopes, all her dreams.
In that single moment Audrey’s future was transformed.
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_c4c06ba1-f36a-56c5-9084-d07a1991f002)
“JUST A MINUTE,” Sawyer Williams bellowed. He was pretty sure he knew who was at the door, and he was absolutely sure he wasn’t going to be pleased.
He was right. A teenage girl stood on his porch. Her black hair fell softly to her shoulders today instead of standing straight in the harsher spikes she normally wore. Her expression said she wasn’t any more pleased to be here than he was to have her here.
It was the same girl who’d stood on his porch each Saturday for the past month. And for the past three Saturdays, he’d cut her off and told her to leave his property or he was calling the cops. Every visit ended the same way...with him slamming the door in her face.
And here she was again. His first inclination was to actually call the cops this time. But the curiosity that had nibbled at him since that first visit finally got the better of him. He knew who she was, but had no clue why she was here.
Whatever she wanted to say had to be important. At least to her. Still, instead of threatening to call the cops or slamming the door, this time he asked, “Fine. I give up. What do you want?”
The girl jumped back, as if she hadn’t anticipated him asking a question. Her dark blue eyes met his as she took a deep breath and said, “Mr. Williams, I’m Willow Jones.”
“I know exactly who you are and I know exactly what you are.” He’d testified against her, after all. “I repeat, what do you want?”
She glanced at the red SUV in his drive and then turned back to him. She straightened her spine. “I know you’re not happy to see me. Trust me, I am not happy to be here.”
He’d gathered that much from her expression. “So, if you don’t want to be here any more than I want to have you here, why are you on my porch, knocking on my door for the fourth Saturday in a row?”
“I want to ask you if I could mow your lawn this summer.”
