Blood Brothers
Another page-turning story of tragedy and triumph from the No.1 bestselling author of The Loner and The Journey.Alice Jacobs has finally found the family she always wanted…With her shy smile and kind nature, Alice wins the hearts of the Arnold family. A decent and well respected couple,Tom and Nancy Arnold have raised two very different sons, Frank and Joe.Frank is a devious, brutal man. Seeing Alice as the key to his fortune, he is determined to have her for himself. However, his younger brother Joe has fallen in love with Alice, so when she and Frank become engaged to marry, Joe leaves home, determined to put a distance between himself and temptation. He reluctantly returns when Frank summons him to be his best man.Alice finds herself inexplicably drawn to Joe, but feeling it to be her duty, she goes ahead and marries Frank, not wishing to hurt him. On their wedding night Frank shows his true colours and when he forces Alice to reveal a devastating secret, and his evil nature reaps a shocking revenge.In his blind hatred, intent on punishing those who have crossed him, Frank plans the final, ultimate retribution. An act that could tear apart not only the Arnold family, but shatter the lives of those around them forever. Unless someone can stop him …
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Blood Brothers
Josephine Cox
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2010
FIRST EDITION
Copyright © Josephine Cox 2010
Josephine Cox asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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EBook Edition © FEBRUARY 2010 ISBN: 9780007353231
Version: 2017-08-10
This book is for my Ken, as always
Second Dedication
Writing is often a lonely thing, but I find great joy in being part of the story, where the characters are like family; some you love, some you fear, and some you see as being very close like a friend or relative.
When a book is finished and the characters are launched onto an unsuspecting world, you wonder how the story and its people might be received.
I am always humbled and deeply moved by the opinions of people who interview me and by the way the world seems to have taken my stories to heart.
The letters from readers are a joy, and I want to thank you lovely people of all ages and genders, who talk to me through their correspondence, and who live the stories through reading, as passionately as I live the stories when writing them.
I want to say thank you to all my readers, for taking the time to write to me in your thousands!
And to apologise for being late with my reply. You will always get one, I promise – love and best wishes to you all. Jo x
P.S. I look forward to meeting many of you at the planned event in the Spring.
Table of Contents
GENTLY CRADLING THE injured bird, he stood on the high ground, his quiet gaze drawn to the field below.
Up there, in the windswept heights, he cut a fine figure of a man. He was not broad of shoulder, nor thick with muscle, but there was something about him, a certain strength and solitude, and the tall, proud manner in which he stood.
He was a man of integrity. He knew when to speak his mind and when to keep his silence. He also knew when to walk away.
A year ago, he had done exactly that, yet against his better instincts, he had answered his brother’s letter and made his way back. Even now he felt uneasy in this familiar place, with his family less than a mile away, and Alice just a few steps from where he now stood.
It seemed he had been away forever. A year ago he left this haven to travel far and wide to search for a quietness of heart that might allow him to build a new life and move on. Yet all he ever found was loneliness.
Out here, in the wide open skies and with only the wild creatures for company, he was at home.
When he was away, this was what he missed. This…and a woman who was not his, and never could be.
Now that he was so close to home, he still wasn’t sure he had done the right thing. ‘It might have been better if I’d stayed away…’
Deep down he had always known it would not be easy, seeing her again. Yet now, here he was and she was just a heartbeat away. Thankfully, she had not yet seen him.
He whispered her name, ‘Alice.’ Her name was oddly comforting on his lips, ‘Alice.’
After a while he moved into the spinney where he kept watch, secure in the knowledge that she could not see him.
Discreetly, he continued to watch her through the branches of the ancient trees. He shared her joy as she raced across the field, her green skirt billowing in the breeze, her long chestnut-coloured hair playing over her shoulders. Behind her the lambs followed like children, calling and skipping as she led them, like a pied piper, down to the water’s edge.
His thoughtful brown eyes followed her every step. She was the reason he had turned his back on friends and family, and yet it was not her fault, for she had done nothing wrong.
