The Dutiful Daughter. Jo Ann Brown
Читать онлайн книгу.
She Must Marry for Duty
Sophia Meriweather will—if all goes as it should—marry the heir to her father’s estate. If she’s to secure her family’s future, Sophia must put her would-be groom’s best friend from her mind. But keeping the darkly handsome widower and his two young children out of her heart is proving nearly impossible.
Charles Winthrop, Lord Northbridge, doesn’t believe in love. Lovely Sophia may have charmed his normally silent children, but, for a man of honor and duty, she was a wife he dared not wish for. Yet nothing is as simple as it seems—especially when it comes to matters of the heart….
Sophia was overtaken by her reaction to the earl.
Had she lost her mind? Not only was it assumed she would marry another man, but Lord Northbridge remained in mourning for his late wife. She should help him become closer with his children, not closer to her.
“Can we play draughts?” his son asked, pointing to an upper shelf. “I see a board right up there.”
“Of course,” Sophia said. “I will bring it over to the table, and we will set it up there.”
Michael ran away, calling to his sister to come and play the game with him.
Sophia rose on tiptoe to take down the board and the round draughts. Her hand bumped into Lord Northbridge’s as he reached for the board, too.
“I can get it,” she said.
“I know you can, but allow me to do so in an effort to atone for my son’s intrusion.”
“There is nothing to atone for.”
“For him or for me?” His low voice was almost as warm as his touch.
“Neither of you.”
“I am glad to hear that.…”
JO ANN BROWN
has published more than one hundred titles under a variety of pen names since selling her first book in 1987. A former military officer, she enjoys telling stories, taking pictures and traveling. She has taught creative writing for more than twenty years and is always excited when one of her students sells a project. She has been married for more than thirty years and has three children and two spoiled cats. Currently she lives in Nevada. Her books have been translated into almost a dozen languages and sold on every continent except Antarctica. She enjoys hearing from her readers. Drop her a note at www.joannbrownbooks.com.
The Dutiful Daughter
Jo Ann Brown
MILLS & BOON
Before you start reading, why not sign up?
Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!
Or simply visit
Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.
Everlasting joy shall be upon their head:
they shall obtain gladness and joy;
and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
—Isaiah 51:11
For Regina Scott
A dear friend whose books always delight me.
Thanks for answering all my questions!
I’m sure there are more to come.
And, as always, for Bill.
Contents
Chapter One
Meriweather Hall, Sanctuary Bay, North Yorkshire
September 1816
“He is here? Now?” Sophia Meriweather stared at Ogden, the family’s butler, in dismay.
Ogden nodded, his silvery hair catching the light from the book-room window. Even though he had been in service in the house since her father was a boy, the butler was not bent with age. His black livery was perfect, as always, but she noticed the slightest quiver in his fingers. And why not? Everything was going to change from this moment forward.
That was not quite true. Everything had changed when Sophia’s father took his last breath without a male heir. Without a brother or even a nephew. Only a distant cousin several times removed who had never visited Meriweather Hall on its promontory overlooking Sanctuary Bay. A distant cousin named