https://KateCambridge.com
Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kate-Cambridge/e/B01BD3X4ZU
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MY15PIC/
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Pleasance’s First Love #6 - Kristin Holt
No one will ever know how badly Pleasance Benton’s abandonment threw Jacob Gideon. He landed hard, hard enough he didn’t care to find a replacement. Now that he needs a woman, he figures the safest way is to order one from a catalog.
Pleasance is back to reclaim her rightful place at Jacob’s side. One way or another she’ll remind him theirs is a match made in heaven…once the shock wears off. The teensy-weensy problem? Jacob doesn’t know that she—his first love—is his catalog bride.
http://www.kristinholt.com/
Amazon Page: http://amzn.to/2ccSQWR
Purchase Link: http://amzn.to/2iykNfm
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Zebulon’s Bride #7 - Patricia PacJac Carroll
Zebulon Benton dreams of going to Montana, but he’s the only son and his mother doesn’t want him to go and his father needs help with the family store. Unknown to Zeb, his mother sends off for a mail order bride. After all, if Zeb marries and settles down, he won’t want to leave.
Enter Amy Gordon from New York. She appears to be the perfect bride for Zeb. Except she also wants to go to Montana and nothing is going to stop her especially her love for Zeb.
http://www.pacjaccarroll.com/
Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/Patricia-PacJac-Carroll/e/B008R9JCN2/
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBQQBP...
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Ione’s Dilemma #8 - Linda Carroll-Bradd
Relocating from Des Moines to the Texas frontier brings more challenges than socialite Ione has ever faced. All she wants is to avoid scandal but local carpenter Morgan is intent on courtship.
www.lindacarroll-bradd.com
Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/lindacarroll-bradd
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Iones-Dilemma-Dorado-Grandmas-Wedding-ebook/dp/B01MXZLIXG/
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Josie’s Dream #9 - Angela Raines
Could Doctor Josephine (Josie) Forrester and Lawman William Murphy get past their beliefs about life and love and find the future they were meant to have?
Author Page: http://amzn.to/1I0YoeL
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1XSYZ...
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Chase’s Story #10 - P. A. Estelle
Chase wanted no part of going to college or following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a Doctor. His dream involved cattle and horses and he follows that dream to the Arizona Territory. One cold, rainy day his life takes a turn when he finds himself looking down the muzzle of a Colt Walker barely being held up by a woman who has been badly beaten along with her three-year old son. Will she be someone Chase could let into his heart or someone who could destroy his life?
http://www.pennystales.com
Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Penny-Estelle/e/B006S62XB
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Chases-Story-Grandmas-Wedding-Quilts-ebook/dp/B01N2VL9KA/
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Gloria’s Song - #11 - Kathryn Albright
Gloria always does the proper thing, the expected thing as the daughter of a shipping tycoon. Having, Colin, a local tavern pianist, help her with an audition is crazy. But if music can cross class lines… can it also harmonize two hearts?
Will Gloria agree to marry a man chosen by her parents, or will she find courage to shun tradition and grasp a future, insecure and thrilling, beside the man she loves.
http://www.kathrynalbright.com
Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/kathrynalbright
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Glorias-Song-Grandmas-Wedding-Quilts-ebook/dp/B01N5DZTTL/
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Tad’s Treasure #12 – Shanna Hatfield
Tad Palmer makes a promise to his dying friend to watch over the man’s wife and child. Will his heart withstand the vow when he falls in love with the widow and her son?
https://shannahatfield.com
Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/Shanna-Hatfield/e/B0056HPPM0
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Tads-Treasure-Grandmas-Wedding-Quilts-ebook/dp/B01N7JZAC8/
Author’s Note
This series has been fun for me to participate in, not only because it is a great group of authors, but also because I love quilts.
Both of my grandmothers quilted, although my dad’s mother was the one who always seemed to be working on a quilt project. I have two quilts she made just for me: a sweet Parasol Lady quilt from my childhood, and a beautiful Rose of Sharon quilt she made (with help from my mom) as a wedding gift when Captain Cavedweller made me his bride.
In fact, as soon as I decided to participate in Grandma’s Wedding Quilts, I knew the quilt made with such love by my grandma and mother had to be on the cover of Tad’s Treasure.
You’ll see it there in the background, every stitch made with love.
My mom also made several quilts. Even with a busy household full of children and grandchildren, she often had a quilt frame set up in our living room during the winter months. In later years, she used a big hoop to do her quilting from the comfort of her rocking chair. Sadly, Mom can no longer see to do those tiny little stitches. Despite her best efforts to teach me, I apparently lack the gene that enables one to be a master quilter (or even a passable quilter).
But I do treasure each and every quilt we have received from family members.
Quilts are so unique and lovely and have a way of wrapping us in a warmth that goes far beyond a snuggly covering. It’s more about being wrapped up in love, knowing someone went to a lot of work and effort to create something special just for us.
I hope you’ve enjoyed all the stories in the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series. Wishing you wonderful days ahead, hemmed with love and sweet romance.
Crumpets and Cowpies (Baker City Brides, Book 1)
Readers' Favorite Silver Award Winner
RONE Finalist 2016
Detestable! Arrogant! Insufferable!
He'd been called worse...
Reluctant to leave his Eastern Oregon ranch to settle his brother’s estate in England, Thane Jordan discovers he’s inherited much more than he could possibly have imagined.
Lady Jemma Bryan had no idea her brother-in-law had any siblings, let alone one so insufferable… and handsome.
A marriage of convenience to keep their niece and nephew together provides many opportunities for laughs and adventure in this sweet historical romance.
Turn the page for an excerpt!
Chapter One
Liverpool, England
September 1890
“I could ravish you with kisses.”
The urge to press his lips to the firm, unmoving surface beneath his feet nearly overcame Thane Jordan. Gratitude filled him as he placed his cowboy boots on solid ground and glanced back at the ship that had served as his floating home for the past thirteen days.
“Merciful heavens!” A feminine voice, gasping in shock, drew his attention to his immediate right. A matronly woman with an attractive girl at her side gaped at him. “Well, I never, sir!”
Thane tipped his hat to the young woman, winking roguishly. Slowly turning to her affronted chaperone, he gave her a thorough once-over. “Maybe you should, ma’am. Your bloomers might not be in such a tight bunch if you did.”
“Oh!” Insulted, the woman spun around, grabbing her young charge by the arm and marching away from the pier where passengers continued to disembark. The girl smiled coyly at him before disappearing into the crowd.
Thane chuckled at their hasty retreat. He could have simply explained he aimed his comment at the ground he stood on, not either of them, but he found inordinate satisfaction in irking the uptight woman. He held little regard for propriety and bucked it every opportunity he could.
Removing his hat, he raked a hand throu
gh his dark blond hair, grown long from his continued procrastination of visiting a barber. After replacing the Stetson on his head, he rubbed at the scruff growing on his face and frowned at the ship behind him.
If a desperate need to return to his ranch in eastern Oregon didn’t force his impending journey back across the ocean, he’d refuse to leave dry land again. No wonder his brother, Henry, chose to stay in England instead of sailing back to New York when he left fourteen years earlier.
Thoughts of his brother made his chest constrict with unwarranted pain. He picked up his leather traveling bag in one hand and propelled his feet forward, still a little wobbly on his legs as he adjusted to being on land again.
He’d spent most of the time aboard ship seasick. Every movement up and down with the waves sent his stomach churning.
Determined to wipe the misery from his mind, he wanted to find somewhere he could soak in a hot bath, eat a decent meal, and sleep through the night.
Instead, he walked along the pier, taking in the stacks and stacks of cotton bales. Most of the world’s raw cotton traveled through Liverpool’s ports. Cotton was the reason Henry left America and Thane moved to Oregon.
Once he reached the street, Thane hailed a hansom cab and handed the driver the address of Henry’s solicitor, a man named Arthur Weston.
A month ago, Thane looked up from fixing fence on his sprawling cattle ranch to see his friend Tully Barrett racing across the pasture toward him. The telegram he delivered, from Mr. Weston, informed Thane that Henry passed away from injuries sustained when he took a fall from his horse.
Named as Henry’s sole beneficiary, the missive from Weston asked that Thane make immediate arrangements to travel to England to settle his brother’s estate. A flurry of telegram messages passed between the two men as Thane demanded to know why he needed to make the journey. Weston provided vague responses, continuing to insist he come.
Finally giving in to the solicitor’s unyielding request he attend to matters in person, Thane tied up loose ends on the ranch. He left with Tully’s promise to keep watch over the place until his return.
The train carried him from Baker City, Oregon, across the country to New York City. He booked passage on the first boat headed to Liverpool and regretted leaving the peaceful sagebrush-dotted hills of his ranch with every mile the ship crossed on the open sea.
As he settled himself against the smooth leather seat of the cab, Thane took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of saltwater, fish, coal, and roasting meat. Hungry after days of illness with little more to eat than hardtack and soda crackers, the rich aroma of the meat made his stomach rumble.
“Solicitor, bath, then food,” he muttered as the cab rolled along cobblestone-paved streets, lined with lamps and neat brick buildings standing three and four stories high.
Men in top hats strolled beside women dressed in the latest styles, enjoying an afternoon outing in the warmth of the sun.
Since he spent the majority of his time alone or with his hired hands, Thane possessed limited knowledge about women’s fashions, other than what his friend Maggie tried to teach him. He held no interest in seeking an education on the matter. As long as his female counterparts appeared pleasing to the eye, he didn’t care what they wore.
However, the finely dressed women drew his gaze while the passing scenery captured his admiration.
While the cab traversed down the busy street, he took in a store with a cutlery sign in the window just a few doors down from a café. A hotel sign hung high overhead, welcoming guests. Making note of the location of both the hotel and café, Thane decided he might soon be able to find a filling meal and a comfortable bed.
The cab finally pulled to a stop in front of a red brick building with ornate gold lettering painted on the shiny glass windows.
“’Ere we are, good chap. Mr. Weston’s office is up on the second floor, it ‘tis.” The cabby grinned at Thane as he stepped out of the conveyance and paid him. Thane tipped his hat to the cabby and started toward the door.
“Do ye need me to wait for ye, sir? ‘Appy to wait for ye.” The cabby gave him a hopeful glance, grateful for the generous tip Thane included with his fare.
“You best move along. I don’t know how long I’ll be here or where I’m going when I leave.” Thane nodded to him again and turned the knob on the door, stepping inside the building and staring at a broad set of wooden stairs.
Resolute, he jogged up the steps and read a large brass sign hanging on the wall, finding Mr. Weston’s name among those listed. A few paces down a corridor, he knocked on a door bearing the man’s name and opened it.
A pale, slight young man glanced up from a desk covered in papers and files, pushing a pair of round spectacles up the bridge of his nose.
“May I assist you, sir?”
Thane neither frowned nor smiled, keeping his face impassive as he spoke. “I’m here to see Arthur Weston. He’s expecting me.”
“I see.” The young man rose to his feet and looked up at Thane. He stood with his feet slightly apart, towering above the clerk on the opposite side of the desk. “And your name sir?”
“Thane Jordan. Brother to the late Henry James Jordan.”
“Just a moment, sir.”
The young man quietly walked to a door behind him, tapped lightly, then stepped inside.
He reappeared within a moment and motioned for Thane to have a seat on a straight-backed chair beneath a window.
“Mr. Weston is indisposed at the moment. If you’ll please be seated, he’ll attend to you directly.”
Thane nodded his head and took a seat on the hard chair. He set the traveling bag on the floor before crossing a foot over the opposite knee, leaning back, and waiting.
The young man picked up a pen, dipping it in a well of ink, and continued writing on a thick piece of stationery.
As the pen scratched across the paper, it grated on Thane’s tightly strung nerves. Mindlessly drumming his fingers on his thigh, he fastened his steely blue gaze on Mr. Weston’s door, willing the man to appear.
Patience had never been his strong suit. Tired and hungry after traveling more than twenty-five hundred miles across America and that far again on the ocean, he just wanted to sign whatever necessary papers Mr. Weston needed and be on his way home. In fact, if they completed business immediately, he could be on a ship headed home by the following afternoon.
The sound of voices carried across the open space as two men exited Mr. Weston’s office. A tall, white-haired man with a tan face and athletic build walked out accompanied by a short, portly man nervously twirling the end of his walrus mustache between his fingers.
The two shook hands at the door then the portly man touched a finger to his top hat and exited.
Thane uncrossed his foot from his knee and stood, pleased Arthur Weston appeared to be of sound mind and body.
“Mr. Jordan, I offer my sincere apologies for the wait. I received your telegram, but held no certainty as to the day of your expected arrival. Welcome to Liverpool, sir. Arthur Weston at your service.”
“Mr. Weston, nice to meet you. I appreciate you meeting with me since I don’t have an appointment.” Thane shook the man’s proffered hand then picked up his bag and followed the solicitor into his private office.
Anxious to settle Henry’s affairs, he took a seat in a leather-upholstered armchair. Thane dropped the bag at his feet, waiting for Weston to get to the point of why he had to travel thousands of miles to sign a few papers.
“I trust you had an uneventful journey?” Weston asked as he opened a drawer and removed a file stuffed with papers.
“Most people would consider it so,” Thane answered vaguely. “I don’t particularly enjoy the water.”
“Were you seasick on the crossing, sir?” Weston glanced at him as he riffled through papers.
“You could say that.”
“Nasty bit of business, what? I must say, I try to avoid the need to sail myself. These legs much prefer solid ground
beneath them.”
Thane nodded his head. “I’m curious, Mr. Weston, why I had to travel all this way to sign a few papers for Henry’s estate. Couldn’t you have mailed them to me?”
“No, sir. I assure you, settling your brother’s estate entails much more than signing a few papers, as you so aptly put it.”
Weston slid a thick stack of papers across his desk to Thane. “These are the legal documents regarding Henry’s business holdings.”
Thane sat up a little straighter and leaned forward as Weston slid another handful of papers toward him.
“These papers detail his personal holdings.”
Thane felt the muscle in his jaw tighten. So much for signing a few papers and heading home tomorrow. “Anything else?”
“Yes, sir. This includes the terms of his will.”
Thane stared at the third stack of papers the solicitor slid his direction, holding back a discouraged sigh.
Weston sat back in his chair and studied Thane Jordan. He’d known Henry since the day he arrived in Liverpool until his death. His mind worked to associate the tough, rugged man in front of him to the jovial, smiling friend he’d known. Henry was a gentleman in every sense of the word, maintaining a meticulous appearance as a successful and prosperous businessman.
The cowboy sitting across the desk from Weston needed an appointment with the barber and a set of respectable clothes. Although he didn’t arrive dressed in buckskins, like Weston rather imagined a man living in the western wilds of America might appear, his woolen jacket and corded front chambray shirt were not of the quality he’d expect someone related to Henry to wear. He absently wondered if Thane Jordan even owned a decent suit.
From what information Henry had shared when he engaged Weston to prepare the details of his will, he knew Thane disappeared from Henry’s life when the lad turned sixteen and moved from his last known location without sending his brother any forwarding address. Henry engaged any number of men of questionable character over the years to track down Thane, finally locating his whereabouts in late spring.
Tad's Treasure (Grandma's Wedding Quilts Book 12) Page 11
