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His Frontier Christmas Family
Regina Scott
A Family Made at ChristmasTaking guardianship of his late friend’s siblings and baby daughter, minister Levi Wallin hopes to atone for his troubled past on the gold fields. But it won’t be easy to convince the children’s wary older sister to trust him. The more he learns about her, though, the more he believes Callie Murphy’s prickly manner masks a vulnerable heart…one he’s starting to wish he were worthy of.Every man in Callie’s life chose chasing gold over responsibilities. Levi—and the large, loving Wallin family—might just be different. But she can tell he’s hiding something from her, and she refuses to risk her heart with secrets between them. Even as they grow closer, will their pasts keep them from claiming this unexpected new beginning?Frontier Bachelors: Bold, rugged—and bound to be grooms
A Family Made at Christmas
After taking guardianship of his late friend’s siblings and baby daughter, minister Levi Wallin hopes to atone for his troubled past on the gold fields. But it won’t be easy to convince the children’s wary elder sister to trust him. The more he learns about her, though, the more he believes Callie Murphy’s prickly manner masks a vulnerable heart...one he’s starting to wish he was worthy of.
Every man in Callie’s life chose chasing gold over responsibilities. Levi—and the large, loving Wallin family—might just be different. But she can tell he’s hiding something from her, and she refuses to risk her heart with secrets between them. Even as they grow closer, will their pasts keep them from claiming this unexpected new beginning?
“What about you, Callie? Do you want nothing for yourself?”
Her gaze brushed his, and for a moment Levi thought she’d confess some dream of her own. Then she shrugged as if dismissing it. “You do right by my kin, preacher, and I’ll be satisfied.”
So brave. He might have given another woman a brotherly hug to encourage her, but something told him Callie wouldn’t take kindly to the gesture.
Lord, I thought You sent me here. I thought You were offering me a chance to be the man You want me to be. Give me the words. Help me win her over, for her sake and mine.
“You don’t believe I’ll take care of you all,” he said aloud.
She shrugged as if she didn’t believe much of anything.
He released her shoulders. “I want to help you, Miss Murphy. I want to honor your brother’s wishes.”
She scrubbed at her cheek, but not before he saw the tears that had dampened them. “Adam’s gone. Besides, it wasn’t as if you two were partners.”
Partners. The most sacred of ideals where she came from. And that gave him an inkling of how to proceed.
“We weren’t partners,” he acknowledged. “But you and I might be.”
Dear Reader (#u52076679-b701-5138-ae23-b95a263f4e2e),
Thank you for choosing Levi and Callie’s story. The youngest Wallin brother has finally come into his own. I’m glad he found the right lady to stand by his side. If you missed the other stories about the Wallin brothers, look for Would-Be Wilderness Wife (Drew and Catherine), Frontier Engagement (James and Rina), A Convenient Christmas Wedding (Simon and Nora) and Mail-Order Marriage Promise (John and Dottie).
I smiled when I wrote about Callie throwing her bouquet. It is very like the scene at my own wedding. Most of my friends wanted to remain single at the time, so, when I tossed the bouquet, they punted it into the arms of my flower girl! She is happily married now with two boys of her own, but she did have to wait a decade and more.
I love to connect with readers. Please visit me at my website at www.reginascott.com (http://www.reginascott.com), where you can also sign up to be alerted when the next book is out.
Blessings!
Regina Scott
REGINA SCOTT has always wanted to be a writer. Since her first book was published in 1998, her stories have traveled the globe, with translations in many languages. Fascinated by history, she learned to fence and sail a tall ship. She and her husband reside in Washington State with an overactive Irish terrier. You can find her online, blogging at nineteenteen.com (http://www.nineteenteen.com). Learn more about her at reginascott.com (http://www.reginascott.com) or connect with her on Facebook at Facebook.com/authorreginascott (https://www.facebook.com/authorreginascott).
His Frontier Christmas Family
Regina Scott
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!
—2 Corinthians 5:17
To Kristy J. Manhattan, my fool dream, and to the Lord, for encouraging us to dream beyond ourselves.
Contents
Cover (#u4627fc23-96ce-58a1-9bbb-a9da8c366c63)
Back Cover Text (#uef2bcf9a-9c0d-57f6-9d88-fa11467e2d6f)
Introduction (#u58fa5cc9-52b2-5517-8a4b-b2893463228e)
Dear Reader (#u111bbad6-c542-5991-a395-6a81fc0c68e8)
About the Author (#u5390a5fd-bbe7-5e42-a0ba-22452c900f91)
Title Page (#u14d3df73-0017-527c-9b23-9c13644a1455)
Bible Verse (#ub586a3f0-d5a3-5977-99aa-122d7347ef9f)
Dedication (#ua08fd087-b3d5-5267-9239-281d8890f00d)
Chapter One (#u63384fc9-f0c4-5479-900d-6286f33dc276)
Chapter Two (#u713005db-74cb-597e-83f8-5c7629fd554f)
Chapter Three (#u68074889-5be3-538d-a883-d93790c16c4c)
Chapter Four (#uf25ef4ac-83b9-55ec-b810-44ce9b139c4e)
Chapter Five (#ue1d5a481-88ef-5c0f-82d5-6a29bd077d24)
Chapter Six (#u76e29363-eec3-5c4e-8fe8-39f95dfb7e32)
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)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u52076679-b701-5138-ae23-b95a263f4e2e)
Near Seattle, Washington Territory
December 1874
Someone was watching her.
Callie Murphy kept her fingers moving as she pinned another diaper to the clothesline stretching from the cabin to the closest fir tree. She felt as if a gaze was fixed on her back, pressing against the buckskin coat that covered her cotton shirt and trousers. She had to be mistaken.
Her brother Adam had filed for a homestead a good five miles south of Seattle. He’d wanted space and quiet, claiming he was tired of the crowded gold rush camps in which they’d been raised. Mr. Kingerly and his wife lived a mile away, and the kindly older man would walk up to Callie if he wanted her help with something. The last stranger had passed this way months ago.
Still, she couldn’t help glancing around. The one-room cabin stood in the center of the clearing her brother had widened in the forest, but the forest was trying to reclaim it. Already ferns poked up heads along the edges, and blackberry vines, withering with the coming winter, snaked across the dirt. As for the forest beyond, the most movement was a bird flitting from branch to branch.
In the wash basket at her feet, Adam’s daughter blew bubbles, her round face a wreath of smiles. With shiny black curls and big blue eyes, six-month-old Mica reminded Callie of the porcelain-headed baby dolls on display in a Seattle mercantile window, especially around Christmas. The little girl looked far more like her late mother, Anna, than anyone on her father’s side of the family. Every Murphy, including Callie and her little brothers Frisco and Sutter, had hair the color of amber and eyes like slate.
“Hush, little baby, don’t say a word,” Callie sang softly, feeling that itch between her shoulder blades that said her watcher was still there. “Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.”
Mica gurgled her delight, rocking from side to side to the tune.
“And if that mockingbird don’t sing,” Callie continued. “Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.”
Mica laughed.
Callie shook her head. Who was she to promise diamond rings? That was almost as bad as Pa’s promises, saying he’d strike it rich. Always one more hill to climb, one more creek to pan. Always little to show for months of labor. That was the way of the men she’d met. They either dreamed dreams too big to realize or thought only of themselves.
“If you’re looking to rob us,” she called into the forest, “it’s only fair to tell you we got nothing of worth.”
The forest was still, as if everything was waiting. In defiance, she bent and picked up another diaper, hanging it alongside the others. It didn’t matter who was watching or why. She had one goal: to keep her, Frisco, Sutter and Mica safe until Adam returned. She’d protected her family most of her life, starting with her younger twin brothers after her mother had died of influenza, now with them and Mica. She knew what she was doing.
Still, this feeling was too much like the last time she’d lived on the gold fields, five years ago at the Vital Creek strike in the British Territories. At fifteen then, she’d just started getting her womanly curves. Most of the miners had noticed.
“You don’t strike it rich, Murphy,” one had told her father, “you let me know. I’ll buy your daughter off you.”
Pa had thrown himself at the fellow, and Adam had jumped in right after. That was when she’d started wearing loose clothing, washing and combing her hair less often, keeping her head down and her rifle close.
She almost shuddered at the memory, but she refused to give her watcher the satisfaction of knowing she was nervous, and for good reason. She’d grown complacent in their little hideaway. Her rifle was hanging on its hook over the hearth.
As if she felt the same concern, Mica frowned.
Callie made herself brighten at the baby braced in the wash basket as she retrieved one of the boys’ shirts. “Isn’t it a nice day to hang the clothes, Mica?”
A twig snapped in the woods. Ice raced up her spine. Callie stepped closer to Mica, bent as if to choose another piece of clothing and closed her hand on the stick she used to stir the wash.
“Excuse me.”
Callie whirled, stick raised like a club with Mica behind her. The fellow standing there held up his hands as if in surrender.
“Sorry I startled you. I’m looking for the Murphy family.”
Callie eyed him. He looked about Adam’s age, with curly hair a shade darker than hers and eyes so deep a blue they were nearly black. Something about those eyes seemed sad, weary, as if he’d come a long distance and still had a ways to go. He didn’t look particularly dangerous.
She held the stick high anyway.
“What do you want with the Murphys?” she asked.
“I have news about their brother Adam,” he explained. “Are you California?”
This time she did shudder. Why had Pa picked such silly names for his children? Adam had the only name that sounded normal, and only because Pa had thought the first boy in the family should be called after the first man in the Bible. When Callie had asked her mother, God rest her soul, about why she hadn’t protested, Ma had smiled.
“You know your pa,” she’d said. “When he gets an idea in his head, there’s no arguing with him.”
That was why they’d followed him from San Francisco in the south to the British Territories in the north.
Still, only family knew Callie’s real name, which meant this man must have talked to Adam. She lowered the stick but kept it at the ready.
“I’m Adam Murphy’s sister,” she acknowledged. “What do you know about my brother?”
He dropped his hands and took a step closer. Her fingers tightened on the stick. He must have noticed, for he paused.
“I mean you no harm. My name is Levi Wallin. I’m a minister.”
A minister? Now, that made no sense. Why would a minister bring her news from Adam?
“I don’t know your game, mister,” she told him, “but I think you better leave. I have two other brothers, and they don’t take kindly to strangers.”
